Andy Diggle barely got a year in before he left this book, which is too bad. He did really good work here—maybe his best at Marvel. But I guess they couldn’t wait to rush him off to ruin Daredevil. Anyway, this story introduces yet-another Scourge, shakes the team up, and takes us to the end of the Dark Reign era.
Storywise, Ghost is revealed to have an anarchist agenda: He is waiting for the right time to infect Osborn’s computers with a “terminal virus.” White Widow also is shown to be a double agent–working for NIck Fury! Ant-Man and Paladin also want to quit, but are too afraid of Norman Osborn.
In short, this isn’t a “team.” It’s a bunch of saboteurs and hostages.
As for the new Scourge, he’s introduced as a mysterious new member brought on by Norman Osborn. By the end of this story, we know he’s Nuke from the classic Daredevil: Born Again story.
Songbird, who is no longer on the team, is living on the streets foiling HAMMER operations. She brings together former Thunderbolts (Fixer and Beetle) to take on Norman Osborn’s team.
The best parts of this arc, though, are the big reveals. It’s a Thunderbolts tradition that the characters you think you see are often not the ones you’re seeing. White Widow, who took on the Black Widow identity for Osborn, is revealed to be the real Black Widow.
This explains why she’s working with Nick Fury. Only it’s not Nick Fury. It’s Phobos. And not only has White Widow been Black Widow all along, but Osborn KNEW IT–and he tricked Natasha into thinking she was working for Nick Fury.
The whole thing wraps in a big fight.
Black Widow and Songbird do pretty well, but can’t take the Thunderbolts down. Osborn takes Natasha into custody and tells Bullseye to torture her until she tells him where to find Bucky Cap, and reveals that he also has the real White Widow prisoner and he’ll be releasing her and making her team’s new field leader.
A great end to a great run on a book that sadly has not had a lot of truly great runs.
English (US) · 