Are the Thunderbolts Good or Bad?

The Thunderbolts have included some of the greatest heroes and most terrifying villains in the Marvel Universe. Although this super-team was initially formed by the Masters of Evil as part of a villainous plot, the original Thunderbolts evolved into a genuine group of heroes who proudly fought alongside teams like the Avengers. While heroes like Hawkeye: Clint Barton and the Winter Soldier carried on that heroic tradition through later incarnations of the Thunderbolts, villains like Norman Osborn and the Kingpin reshaped other versions of the team into a hero-hunting strike force for their own ends.

Now, we’re taking a closer look at the Thunderbolts and how heroic (or antiheroic) the team has been across their tumultuous history. We’ll be breaking down each major Thunderbolts team to see what kind of influence they exerted in the Marvel Universe.

THE ORIGINAL THUNDERBOLTS

When the Avengers and the Fantastic Four were trapped in another dimension and presumed dead (the original “Heroes Reborn” arc), the Thunderbolts presented themselves to the world as heroes in THUNDERBOLTS (1997) #1 by Kurt Busiek, Mark Bagley, Joe Rosas, and Vince Russell. However, this team was effectively the Masters of Evil in disguise, led by Baron Zemo under the guise of the patriotic hero Citizen V. The original team also saw Goliath become Atlas, Screaming Mimi become Songbird, the Fixer become Techno, the Beetle become MACH-I, and Moonstone become Meteorite.

After (briefly) operating as heroes, most of these Thunderbolts genuinely wanted to reform. Although Zemo and Techno left the group, the teen heroes Jolt and Charcoal joined the team, and Hawkeye took over as the group’s leader. Moonstone, Songbird, and MACH-I all led the team too, and a somewhat repentant Zemo eventually returned to the Thunderbolts with hopes of saving the world through his harsh methods. Despite the group’s frequent trouble with the law, this version of the Thunderbolts lasted until shortly after CIVIL WAR, where Tony Stark brought numerous villains into the “Thunderbolts Army” as part of his Pro-Registration forces. Although Zemo tried to manipulate the team for his purposes, this incarnation of the Thunderbolts established itself as a group of former villains trying to do some good under the best intentions.

NORMAN OSBORN’S THUNDERBOLTS

After the Superhuman Registration Act passed following CIVIL WAR, the Thunderbolts regrouped as a government-sanctioned team of hero hunters under the leadership of a (seemingly) reformed Norman Osborn in THUNDERBOLTS (2006) #110. This group saw Songbird, Moonstone, Swordsman, and the Radioactive Man joined by Venom (Mac Gargan), Bullseye, and Penance, the tortured hero formerly known as Speedball. When Osborn’s political power grew after the Skrull takeover of SECRET INVASION, several Thunderbolts joined Osborn’s Dark Avengers or left the team.

In THUNDERBOLTS (2006) #128, Osborn introduced a new Thunderbolts roster to serve as assassins for his H.A.M.M.E.R. organization. This group included Black Widow, Ant-Man (Eric O'Grady), Ghost, Paladin, Mister X, and Nuke, who led the team as the mysterious Scourge. Even though the villains on Osborn’s Thunderbolts teams were working for pardons, these teams spent most of their time fighting heroes. That is, until they disbanded.

LUKE CAGE’S THUNDERBOLTS

After Osborn fell out of power, the Thunderbolts regrouped under the leadership of Luke Cage. This team united veteran members like Songbird, MACH-V, Fixer, and Moonstone with Ghost, Juggernaut, Crossbones, and Man-Thing in THUNDERBOLTS (2006) #144. Designed to help rehabilitate the Super Villain inmates of the Raft prison, this Thunderbolts team was almost entirely a force for good that frequently battled monsters and even helped calm a jailbreak at the Raft. The success of this group also led to the creation of a second Thunderbolts team that included Mister Hyde, Centurius, Troll, and Boomerang.

Along with recruit Satana, members of both Thunderbolts teams saved Chicago from an invasion and became lost in the timestream. On their adventures, this combined Thunderbolts team even encountered the first Thunderbolts squad, which led Fixer to kill and replace his past counterpart. Cage was assigned a new team of unstable Thunderbolts including the Thor clone Ragnarok and the Spider-God Ai Apaec. While that dangerous group quickly evolved into the Dark Avengers, the other Thunderbolts teams returned to the present and disbanded on good terms with Cage and each other.

RED HULK’S THUNDERBOLTS

Although General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross had nothing to do with naming the Thunderbolts, the Red Hulk formed his own Thunderbolts squad in THUNDERBOLTS (2012) #1. Like his previous group, Code Red, this strike force brought together antiheroes like the Punisher, Venom (Flash Thompson), Elektra, and Deadpool. Along with the former Hulk enemy Leader, Ross wanted his Thunderbolts to put their violent tendencies and lethal methods to good use by taking out particularly dangerous targets.

Ross initially chose the unsanctioned team’s targets like General Awa, a dictator on the island Kata Jaya, and Elektra’s brother Orestez, who was involved in building an army of Crimson Dynamos. Ghost Rider: Johnny Blaze eventually joined the team, and each group member got to select a target for their subsequent missions. After the Punisher was tricked into attacking the rest of the team, Ross disbanded this group of antiheroes after battling Leader on Kata Jaya.

WINTER SOLDIER’S THUNDERBOLTS

The Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes, reassembled most of the original Thunderbolts team to look after Kobik, a reality-warping child with the Cosmic Cube’s power, in THUNDERBOLTS (2016) #1. After Kobik befriended Baron Zemo and several former Thunderbolts at S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Pleasant Hill prison (AVENGERS: STANDOFF), the Winter Solider helped Kobik, Fixer, Moonstone, Atlas, and MACH-X evade S.H.I.E.L.D. and take on alien threats like the Chitauri and Zn'rx. Even though this team was ostensibly formed to protect Kobik and recruited the heroic Songbird, these fugitive Thunderbolts still fought heroes like the Squadron Supreme.

In the lead-up to SECRET EMPIRE, Baron Zemo attacked the Thunderbolts with the reformed Masters of Evil before recruiting his old teammates. Atlas, Fixer, and Moonstone rejoined Zemo, but Songbird and MACH-X resisted him. By the time the Thunderbolts disbanded, MACH-X was dead, Winter Soldier was Zemo’s prisoner, and Songbird had been left for dead in the Arctic Circle. Even though the Winder Soldier was technically the leader of this group, most of this team was ultimately loyal to Zemo.

WILSON FISK’S THUNDERBOLTS

Shortly after Wilson Fisk, AKA the dynamo crime boss Kingpin, was elected Mayor of New York City, he gained the legal rights to the Thunderbolts, and he recruited villains to serve as a legally sanctioned team on a few occasions. After Baron Zemo and Jigsaw tried to restart the Thunderbolts to hunt down the Punisher, Fisk assembled his first Thunderbolts team in KING IN BLACK: THUNDERBOLTS (2021) #1. As Knull’s symbiotes attacked Earth, Fisk had villains like Taskmaster, Mister Fear, Star, Batroc the Leaper, and Rhino fight through the Symbiote Hive to rescue Norman Osborn from the Ravencroft Institute.

After Fisk outlawed vigilantes in New York, Fisk assembled “Thunderbolt Units” to apprehend Manhattan’s heroes in DEVIL’S REIGN (2021) #1. These units brought together villains like Rhino, Agony, Electro (Francine Frye), Abomination, Doctor Octopus, Crossbones, Kraven the Hunter, and U.S. Agent, who was under the control of the Purple Man. Despite their legal sanction, these Thunderbolts were unrepentant villains who merely carried out Fisk’s will.

HAWKEYE’S NEW THUNDERBOLTS

When Luke Cage was elected Mayor of New York after Fisk’s defeat, he inherited the Thunderbolts team, which would continue to serve as the only officially sanctioned team in Manhattan. On the advice of public relations consultant Helen Astrantia, Cage recruited Hawkeye: Clint Barton to lead the Thunderbolts once more in THUNDERBOLTS (2022) #1. This team also included America Chavez, Power Man (Victor Alvarez), Photon: Monica Rambeau, Persuasion, and the cyborg soldier Gutsen Glory.

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Designed to rehabilitate the Thunderbolts’ public image, this team is the Thunderbolts’ most outwardly heroic squad. After this team’s first mission revolved around apprehending the villains from Fisk’s last Thunderbolts teams, the group fought and recruited the monstrous Eegro the Unbreakable. Despite numerous setbacks and fights that strained the city's budget, these Thunderbolts also took on the Red Ghost’s Super-Apes and Nightmare.

ARE THE THUNDERBOLTS GOOD OR BAD?

A valid question. The Thunderbolts have always operated in the gray area, and each Thunderbolts team has had its own unique agenda. Ultimately, the leaders of each Thunderbolts team determine how much of a force for good (or evil) their team exerts. Under villains like Norman Osborn, Wilson Fisk, and Baron Zemo, the Thunderbolts were another way for their villainous leaders to carry out their plans. But under Hawkeye, Luke Cage, and even the Red Hulk, the Thunderbolts were a force for good, even with some harsh methods. Though the original Thunderbolts started out as villains, many of its members genuinely reformed to become heroes. And that chance at redemption still stands as the Thunderbolts’ defining legacy.

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