Current Members:
Abner Jenkins a.k.a. MACH-IV
Melissa Joan Gold a.k.a. SONGBIRD
James Sanders a.k.a. SPEED DEMON
Donald "Donny" Gill a.k.a. BLIZZARD
Chen Lu a.k.a. RADIOACTIVE MAN
Janice Yanizeski a.k.a. JOYSTICK
Erik Josten a.k.a ATLAS
Genis-Vell a.k.a PHOTON (Captain Marvel)
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Current Team
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Synopsis:
Once they were the world's latest, greatest team of super heroes -- hailed
and revered by an adoring public. Then, their darkest secret came to light.
In reality, they were the Masters of Evil. Now, the Thunderbolts have
achieved the impossible: redemption and an official pardon for past crimes!
History:
Most of the world's protectors were presumed
dead. The mighty Avengers, the fabled Fantastic Four
and countless other costumed champions had fallen
before the might of the sentient psionic menace known
as Onslaught. In a world without heroes, the Thunderbolts answered the
call to action. Emerging from the ashes to deal justice like lightning
were the enigmatic patriot Citizen V, the towering titan Atlas, the
energy-emitting adventurer Meteorite, the multi-talented man-at-arms
Techno, the sonic sculptress Songbird and the armor-plated aviator Mach-1.
Quelling
the fears of a panicked populace, the Thunderbolts charmed their way
into the heart of a hero-less nation. But the Thunderbolts were a fraud.
In reality, they were the Masters of Evil: Baron Helmut Zemo, megalomaniac
and would-be world conqueror; Erik Josten, a.k.a. Power Man, a.k.a.
the Smuggler, a.k.a. Goliath; Dr. Karla Sofen, a.k.a. Moonstone; P.
Norbert Ebersol, a.k.a. the Fixer; Melissa Gold, a.k.a. Mimi Schwartz,
a.k.a. Screaming Mimi; and Abner "Abe" Jenkins, a.k.a. the
Beetle. Seizing on the absence of the Avengers and their ilk, Zemo had
handpicked his operatives and crafted their true objective. The pseudo-Citizen
V believed the public's trust in the Thunderbolts would enable the villains
to rise up and rule the planet.
But
Meteorite, Songbird, Atlas and Mach-1 came to see themselves as the
heroes they were only pretending to be. Together, they challenged Zemo's
plan to infect the unsuspecting citizens of the world with a computer-transmitted
virus. With the help of Earth's heroes reborn -- and recent recruit
Hallie Takahama, the hyperkinetic teenage sensation known as Jolt --
the Thunderbolts struck down Zemo's broadcast satellite. Now on the
run, hunted and hounded by those they once protected, the T-bolts were
forced to wonder: Is it truly possible for hardened criminals to find
redemption? Or must they eventually be forced to return to their lives
outside of the law?
Overpowered
by a new incarnation of the Masters of Evil, the Thunderbolts were rescued
by the arrow-slinging Avenger known as Hawkeye. Once viewed as a criminal
himself, Hawkeye empathized with the T-bolts' plight. He sought to lead
the wayward adventurers, hoping his support would lend credibility to
their efforts at reformation. Hawkeye convinced the T-bolts that a federal
pardon would be forthcoming if only they could distinguish themselves
as heroes. Accepting him at his word, the team evicted the Masters of
Evil from their hidden base in Mt. Charteris in the Colorado Rockies
with the help of a new member: genetically gifted teenager Charlie Burlingame
-- alias Charcoal, the Burning Man. The Thunderbolts established themselves
in the deserted command center, now aided by the reclusive machinesmith
known only as Ogre -- secretly their former teammate, Techno.
As
the Thunderbolts continued their crusade for justice, unknown forces
were plotted the team's destruction. The mysterious mercenary known
as Scourge first assassinated Jolt, then slew Baron. His third target
was Techno, who managed in the moments before his death to release the
secretly resurrected Jolt. The next Thunderbolt to fall was claimed
not by Scourge, but sacrificed his life in the line of duty -- a true
hero. While attempting to defeat the criminal mastermind called Count
Nefaria, Atlas was forced to absorb into his body a massive ionic discharge.
His own ionic energies thus destabilized, Atlas began to expand uncontrollably.
Ultimately, the chain reaction of events caused him to discorporate.
Revealing that he was not acting according to his own will, Scourge
mercifully contained Atlas' energies within his gauntlet to prevent
him from destroying the nearby town of Burton Canyon.
The
Thunderbolts tracked down the mastermind behind their misery, only to
be opposed by a team of pawns who had assumed their former identities:
Citizen V, the Smuggler, Meteorite, Beetle, the Fixer and Scream. The
T-bolts destroyed the device controlling their foes, discovering in
the process that the government had played a role in the technology's
development. Surrounded by military forces, the team learned that Hawkeye
had lied: Exoneration for past crimes never had been a realistic option.
Armed with his knowledge of the government's complicity in the mind-control
debacle, the archer was able to broker a bargain. He would serve time
for the crimes he committed by joining the Thunderbolts, but his teammates
would be pardoned -- though they were prohibited from using their powers
in any public way.
After their victory, the Thunderbolts were given a choice by the government: if the team
disbanded permanently and MACH-1 and Hawkeye went to prison, the rest of the team would
each receive a full pardon for their past crimes. They accepted, and Jolt and Charcoal,
who were the only two Thunderbolts with no criminal records, were assimilated into the
Redeemers under the leadership of Captain America and then the Zemo-possessed Citizen V.
The Redeemers, save for Citizen V and Jolt, were slaughtered by the supervillain Graviton,
and the Thunderbolts were reformed to defeat him. In the process, however, several of the
team members present (Citizen V/Zemo, Fixer, Jolt, Moonstone, Jenkins as MACH-3 and the merged
Atlas/Dallas Riordan) were transported to Counter-Earth, the world to which the Avengers and
Fantastic Four had vanished when the Thunderbolts had formed. They encountered a group of
their counterparts, whose members included that world's counterparts of both Henrich and
Helmut Zemo and the Phantom Eagle, the counterpart of the first Moonstone, whom Karla had
stolen hers from, and who also wielded a moonstone identical to hers. Zemo's disembodied
mind, which had been transferred into Fixer's "Tech-Pack", was then transferred into his
counterpart's body, while he killed his "father." After the Thunderbolts failed to get on
a rocket home, Zemo convinced them to stay for a time and act as leaders for the planet,
basing themselves on the alternate Attlan, while Moonstone stole the mentally-unstable
Phantom Eagle's moonstone for herself.
Meanwhile, Hawkeye escaped from prison alongside several supervillains, and was reunited
with MACH-2 and Songbird. They formed a second group of Thunderbolts, along with Plantman
(new codename Blackheath) and several former members of the Crimson Cowl's Masters of Evil:
Cardinal (now Harrier), Gypsy Moth (Skein), Man-Killer (Amazon), and Cyclone, who did not
change his codename. Cyclone defected and was turned over to the authorities. These Thunderbolts
finally defeated the Crimson Cowl. Upon investigating a rift consuming the V-Battalion's Vanguard,
they were reunited with their lost teammates, who, in the process of returning home through it,
had closed the rift from the Counter-Earth side (leaving Jolt behind in the process to join
the Young Allies), and the two teams of Thunderbolts closed the rift, although the Vanguard was
lost in the process.
In the aftermath, Atlas and Dallas found themselves separated into their own two bodies once
more; Hawkeye, Amazon and Skein left the team; and MACH-3 & Harrier returned to prison,
leaving Zemo to lead the team.
Zemo led the Thunderbolts (now including Dallas Riordan, under the codename Vantage)
in an atempt to deactivate the powers of all other superhumans on Earth. The team subsequently
fought the Avengers, whose membership at the time included Hawkeye; during this affair, the
Avenger Iron Man assumed the identity of the Cobalt Man and infiltrated the Thunderbolts.
Ultimately, the power that had been drained was channeled into Moonstone, but Iron Man drained
away both the power that she had stolen and her own natural powers, leaving her in a coma. Zemo,
his face burned in the confrontation, took Moonstone's twin moonstones and fled, leaving the
defeated and directionless Thunderbolts to disband. Jolt, temporarily recalled by the Avengers
and MACH-3, returned to the Young Allies and Counter-Earth, a depowered Blackheath returned
to prison, the Fixer fled, Vantage retired to a government job, Songbird was offered reserve
membership in the Avengers but turned it down, and MACH-3 was paroled from prison and decided
to form a new team of Thunderbolts.
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