Antebellum Marvel: Thunderbolts #103
Previously in Civil War #2
- Issue: Thunderbolts #103
- Writer: Fabian Nicieza
- Penciler: Tom Grummett
- Inker: Gary Erskine
- Colorist: SotoColor’s J. Brown
- Letterer: RS & Comicraft’s Albert Deschesne
Who’s In It:
Tony Stark (Iron Man), Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic), Baron Helmut Zemo, The Thunderbolts (see above)
What Happens:
I don’t know who the hell The Thunderbolts are beyond the brief intro in this issue, but I’m fascinated by the concept of using former super villains to catch actual super villains to align with them to do good. Well, good as Tony Stark and the government sees it.
Their first assignment is bringing in several college students who stole early version of M.A.C.H. IV’s (Abe Jenkins) suits.
The fight which follows allows us to learn more about how The Thunderbolts’ powers work, and see how they interact with one another. After they’ve won, some express concern as to whether or not they’ve become the very thing they fought against. Songbird wonders if they’ve really achieved anything since this new role was handed to them.
Baron Zemo assures her their plan is going well. They not only agreed to apprehend vigilante villains, but to contain them as the government is not yet equipped to do so. They’re keeping them in containment braces which renders their prisoners unconscious. And while they sleep, they’re being fed dreams which will brainwash them into wanting to join The Thunderbolts.
And if that’s not bad enough: They’ve already been doing this for weeks before Stark asked, so their would-be army is already quite large.
Overall Thoughts:
- This was a pretty decent issue considered I had no prior knowledge of The Thunderbolts, nor did I really care about them once they were introduced. Their overall plan, however, is very interesting. I can’t believe Stark wouldn’t have prepared for this - containment and being betrayed.
- Still, this felt like a bit of filler until we can get back to the stuff I really care about: fallout from Parker’s confession and Captain America’s resistance.
