SECRET AVENGERS versus BARON ZEMO

Swimming With Sharks (Marvel)
Where: Thunderbolts #105 When: October 2006
Why: Fabian Nicieza How: Tom Grummett

The Story So Far...
Concepts of law and justice are challenged when the US Government initiates a program called the Superhuman Registration Act. It comes as a response to the death of hundreds of civilians as a result of reckless heroics outside of a Connecticut school.

In their zeal to control super-humans of all persuasions, the government forms a pact with known super-criminal Baron Helmut Zemo. As leader of the once duplicitous Thunderbolts; Zemo is sanctioned with the task of capturing super-criminals for incarceration in Prison 42: an inescapable Negative Zone facility designed by Reed Richards.

Although Baron Zemo and his Thunderbolts comply, the one-time villain draws his own plans to deal with the onset of superhero civil war - and a coming contest with The Grandmaster! Seemingly on the path to being a better man, he reaches out to Captain America's renegade Secret Avengers with an offer of allegiance. An olive branch they aren't as ready to accept as the government.

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Hercules 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Baron Zemo 4 (Tactician)
Speed: Captain America 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Hercules 5 (Marathoner)
Agility: Iron Fist 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Iron Fist 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Iron Fist 3 (Explosives)


The Secret Avengers are: Captain America, Falcon, Hercules and Daredevil, with Redwing.

An interesting time in Marvel Comics history. 2006 was all about Civil War, but there were a lot of intertwining and far reaching effects you could be forgiven for forgetting, or missing completely. We'll touch on a couple of them today.

The Secret Avengers began as heroes operating in defiance of the government's Superhuman Registration Act. They're led by principled hero Captain America, who stands opposed to the cataloguing of peoples, and federal intrusions upon civil liberty. Siding with Cap's rebel stance is an eclectic early line-up that includes: Luke Cage, Cable, Vision, Cloak & Dagger, The Young Avengers, and the membership featured today! We saw them all in action together during the first big stand-off with Iron Man's pro-registration team in Civil War #3.

One of the interesting quirks of the period is Daredevil: a Secret Avenger in name and costume only! Matt Murdock (Daredevil) wasn't far removed from declaring himself Kingpin of Hell's Kitchen and grappling with issues of exposure and opposition. He was incarcerated in prison at the time - leading "Iron Fist" Danny Rand to assume the mantle in his absence. He joined the superhero civil war in his borrowed identity - even though he'd taken up the devil horns without Murdock's foreknowing [see; Daredevil #87]!

Baron Zemo represents a legacy of evil as the son of Baron Heinrich Zemo: a German scientist working for the Nazi Party during World War II. In the modern era, Helmut Zemo inherited his father's fortune, intellect, and hatred for Captain America. He adopted the purple masked mantle after his face was hideously scarred in battle with the returned hero, but it isn't the only mask he's worn.

When Earth's mightiest heroes were trapped in the Heroes Reborn pocket universe, Zemo became Citizen V - leader of a cadre of villains masquerading as a new generation of heroes called The Thunderbolts! It's in this capacity he's been most featured here on The Comic Book Fight Club, leading his T-bolts to victories over heavy duty opponents: Hulk [Incredible Hulk #449] and The Wrecking Crew [Thunderbolts #1]!

Against the Secret Avengers, Zemo doesn't have a team to do his fighting for him. He has had plenty of time to prepare and strategize, however. As an accomplished swordsman he can handle himself in combat, but his greatest weapons are his former teammate's Moonstones. The alien artefacts grant Zemo mastery over a range of physics principles, including gravity, time and space, as well as more standard energy projection.

Zemo directed Hercules into a coma during The Masters of Evil's infamous siege of Avengers Mansion. His history with Cap and Falcon is extensive and well documented. Iron Fist is the only hero present without serious baggage, but he's more than capable of handing a whooping to the mastermind villain if the other heroes are on board. Everything about the scenario says an Avengers win, but you can never completely count out a villain like Zemo.

The Tape: Captain America Ranking: Captain America (#7)

What Went Down...

The Avengers are none too pleased when confronted with the visage of one of their deadliest enemies. Iron Fist is the first to leap into action, nimbly avoiding the thrust of Baron Zemo's sword. Hercules closes in behind the villain, bellowing a warrior's insults for his hated foe. It does him no good!

Zemo uses the power of the Moonstones to suspend the attacking demi-god and replacement hero helplessly in mid-air! While they're there, he pleads his case to Falcon and Captain America -- submitting their vulnerability as an example of the purity of his intentions. His example of hypothetical quantum dissections does little to persuade the sentinels of liberty.

Falcon beckons for his avian ally: Redwing! "The bird" the Baron had almost forgot swoops down to snatch the levitating Moonstones -- leaving him vulnerable to a two-prong attack from the legendary duo!

Falcon leaps into the air - while Cap tosses his shield in the direction of Baron Zemo's sword. The expertly targeted trajectory leaves Zemo forcibly disarmed and open to an aerial assault!

Falcon delivers a torpedo-like right hand that would knock any ordinary man into next week! Apparently the Baron has been working on his glass jaw -- as well as controlling the Moonstones without being physically linked to them!

Energy crackles around Redwing before the soaring falcon disappears -- leaving only the glowing stones! Emotionally and telepathically linked with his bird - the man Sam Wilson is incensed!

Cap holds his friend back from doing anything rash, while the benevolent Baron restores the bird at Falcon's side -- before sending them both through a "gravimetric phase shift" along with Iron Fist and Hercules!

Captain America quizzes his old nemesis on whether or not his methods are fatal. "A fate worse than that. I sent them to Bayonne, New Jersey."

Using the power of the Moonstones once more, Zemo manipulates the mass of Captain America's greatest tool - his red, white and blue shield! The force of its gravity drags Cap down to one knee.

The Captain untethers himself from the shield's straps and leverages his position into swinging his right leg around for a devastating kick! It finds nothing but air as the target once again uses the Moonstones, this time to render himself completely intangible - a mere ghost: "I am quite done being hit, thank you."

The stones' energy surrounds Captain America and the arrogant Baron tosses his old foe against a nearby brick wall. The twelfth generation Barons' idea of parental discipline, apparently.

Holding his foe in cosmic bondage without hope of recourse - Baron Zemo speaks his mind. He repeats his goal to forge a truce with the hunted hero. He declares a change in character for the notorious Zemo lineage. A desire to do right - even as the definition of the word changes around a civil war of heroes.

Zemo releases his would-be ally from his hold, and Captain America listens...

The Hammer...

The last two masked men standing may have reached a peaceful resolution, but for the purposes of combative notation we declare Baron Zemo the victor! He not only dealt with the attacks of the other heroes, but also worked to pacify Captain America.

As you may know, Baron Zemo appears as one of the mastermind villains lurking behind Captain America: Civil War. If you're just joining us after seeing the movie in theatres, I hope you've enjoyed getting a taste of the comic book version. Baron Zemo likes to talk about being superior, and I tend to think it's the comics version(s) that fit that description.

The movie is notably getting rave reviews, but many elements arrive without the teeth of their source material. The "Civil War" high-concept proves far more mild in the movie. Methods leave the heroes untarnished enough to continue to lead uncomplicated, mainstream movie franchises that are presently too small to really pull off an all-out war. Iron Man and Captain America are alive and able to reconcile. Instead, Baron Zemo ascends as the villain of the piece to clarify exactly why this is a Captain America sequel.

Civil War had its detractors when it was published in 2006, and I suspect there are even more who resent its legacy as the top selling event that Marvel Comics has been trying to emulate ever since.

I tend to remember Civil War fondly, not only for its effective central concept, but for the many tendrils that extended in other series. Fans have been complaining about inter-connected crossovers for the better part of the last twenty years, but Civil War seemed to thrive on its central premise, inspiring a plethora of off-shoots for readers to pick 'n' mix. Thunderbolts was a series ready and waiting to capitalize on the premise.

If you tried to wrangle the monster of every conceivable Civil War tie-in - more power to you! I think most were best served by finding the branches that interested them the most, and pursuing them outward from the central event, which, admittedly, ran a bit lean at times.

Secret Invasion was as a pretty tedious follow-up, but the Dark Reign of Norman Osborn that followed re-connected the pieces of instability put in place by Civil War well. It was key to a great year in Marvel Comics! A lot of fun with screen potential!

Of course, the fun of Dark Reign depended on your tolerance for indulging the temporary success of super-villains. I rather enjoyed today's feature fight for that very reason. I don't harbor dark designs of tyranny or sympathy for any devils. It's just an interesting break in the formulaic expectation of heroes winning. A necessary exercise in credibility when your villains have to keep coming back month over month, year over year. Marvel have some of my favourite villains in that respect, but the movies leave a lot to be desired.

Marvel's cinematic dominance highlights some of the unique cultural differences between pulp savvy comics and blockbuster movies. A glaring omission from the film universe has been Nazi Germany. It was at its most absurd in 2011's period introduction - Captain America: The First Avenger. In that episode, World War II managed to lose the looming menace of its major villains. They even stripped the Red Skull of his explicit Nazi persuasions in favor of creating the oblique evils of Hydra that continue in Marvel film and TV.

For the uninitiated, it can seem a little strange to lament the absence of Nazis - arguably modern history's worst villains. It all boils down to the significance of the 1940s and World War II to the timeline of American comic book publication.

Mandrake the Magician and The Phantom began the evolution of pulp and radio mystery men into comic book superheroes in the mid-thirties. Superman and Batman kick off the Golden Age of superheroes by the time war is breaking out in Europe. Major superhero identities flourish from there, joining the war effort in many cases, and establishing the idea for future generations to mine the time further. By the seventies and eighties, Nazis were perennial whipping boys. Villains for all time to be racked, stacked, and whacked by every hero fighting for truth and justice - no questions asked!

Given Baron Zemo's flirtations with redemption in the comic books, it's probably not such a bad idea to disconnect the son from his WWII Nazi father. I'd think a film version of The Masters of Evil is probably more likely than a Thunderbolts movie appearance, but with General Ross taking a bigger role, you never know.

I do know I'm very disappointed to see another classic Marvel character arrive on screen without their iconic visual. Marvel in general have been pretty guilty of continuing Hollywood's long, confused tradition of fearing superhero design. The Captain America films, in particular, have struggled to come to terms with visually striking characters. Red Skull awkwardly hid his true face behind a Hugo Weaving mask for much of the first film, while Batroc could only wear his shirt in the second, and Crossbones got a dorky home-made paintball version of his straight-forward comics look. Zemo was out of luck. No purple mask for you!

There'll be a whole lot more masks and costumes in our future as we continue to wage Secret Wars on Infinite Earths!

Soak up more Civil War influences with Old Comics Wednesday spotlights on Captain America and Spidey Team-Ups! Or find even more famous fights and curious callbacks via the Secret Archive!

Support the site and get the full story by using Amazon purchase links provided [right]!

Winner: Baron Zemo

#7 (--) Captain America

#40 (--) Iron Fist

#101 (+224) Baron Zemo

#340 (-14) Hercules

#777 (new) Redwing

#803 (-23) Falcon

THUNDERBOLTS versus WRECKING CREW
Justice... (Marvel comics)
Where: Thunderbolts #1 When: April 1997
Why: Kurt Busiek How: Mark Bagley

The story so far...
Earth's mightiest heroes are dead: Killed saving Manhattan and humanity from the threat of the dreaded Onslaught!
In their stead they leave a gaping justice-shaped hole and a population of villains ready to take advantage of the power vacuum.

Then, as if from nowhere -- Justice like lightning!
Enter the Thunderbolts! A team of mysterious heroes with strange and fantastic powers, led by the courageous WWII inspired patriot, Citizen V.

The Thunderbolts represent a new wave of protectors, tackling threats like the Hulk and the Masters of Evil! Or do they? Though these mysterious heroes have manipulated the media to cement their success, what dark secrets lie beneath their colourful costumes and masks? Maybe the Wrecking Crew will find out!

Previous Form:
Baron Zemo (#287): Defeated by Hulk, Captain America and Cable.
Songbird (#162): Present for multiple instances of the team.
Thunderbolts [#14]: Split results, defeating Jack Flag, with a loss to Hulk.
Wrecking Crew: Have not yet been featured on the site.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: The Wrecker 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Techno 6 (Genius)
Speed: Moonstone 4 (Olympian)
Stamina: Bulldozer 6 (Generator)
Agility: Citizen V 3 (Athlete)
Fighting Ability: Citizen V 4 (Trained Fighter)
Energy Powers: Moonstone 5 (Lasers)


Well, I've been busy-busy, but it's about damned time we get talking about The T-bolts, and the Wrecking Crew. Serious business, friends!

While not as prevelant as the Avengers or X-Men, we've had the opportunity to see a couple of incarnations of the Thunderbolts in action, and unless you've been living under a comics rock for ten years, you'll have some idea that the Thunderbolts generally have an association with some form of villainy.

Traditionally villains are not particularly cohesive or proficient fighting units, but the Thunderbolts were able to exceed the individuals, to become a superior fighting whole. Thus, let us deduce that motivation strengthens team dynamic, and therefore gives the Thunderbolts a numerical edge against their construction crew foes.

The Wrecker, aptly named leader of the Wrecking Crew, gained his powers through dumb-luck and mistaken identity, and has ever since had the enchanted power of an Asgardian. Like a good working stiff, he shares this power with his fellows in the gang; Thunderball, Bulldozer & Piledriver. Spreading the enchanted power not just to their chosen weapons, but also to each of their selves.

These days Wrecker does this without cost to himself, thanks to a little wax-on training with Ulik. This roughly equates to a quartet of badly dressed Thor-level villains, complete with construction based gimmicks, and a whole lot of average joe 'tude.

The Thunderbolt's find their key to victory in their versatility.
Under the strategic guidance of a disguised Baron Zemo - who is no fighting slouch - they are able to utilize their combination of strength, technology and super powers to deliver an encompassing attack on the one-note foes.

Likewise, the Thunderbolts, at least in this period, have the element of surprise. Most villains are completely unfamiliar with their techniques, while the former Masters of Evil have unique incite to the strategums and capabilities of their foes. This is perhaps the true edge, not seen against the likes of the Hulk. [Incredible Hulk #449]

The Math: The Thunderbolts (Total) The Wrecking Crew (Average)
The Pick: The Thunderbolts

What went down...
With New York City still reeling from the mass destruction unleashed by Onslaught, the Thunderbolts occupy their time dealing with the scavenging baddies, The Rat Pack. Having already defeated them, the team is quick to pose and rally in front of the press, mounting their efforts to again take the battle to the villainous clan.

The Rat Pack are quick to take to the skies, and even though they fully recognise the maneauver as an ambush, the Thunderbolts take chase, following the lowly crooks out of Manhattan toward Liberty Island.

There, they find themselves under the attack of an enchanted wrecking ball -- the calling card of Thunderball! His weapon destroys the V-wing, forcing the team to rally, those with capabilities of flight aiding those without.

Techno shows reluctance to battle hired crooks that might otherwise be counted as colleagues, but Citizen V quickly stems his remarks, masking them with the bold baratone of a charging superhero. Taking the cue, Atlas extends his size and strength to make an explosive landing on the island, bowling Wrecker and Piledriver, while Moonstone lends the assist against Bulldozer.

Apparently unaware of the history of the Citizen V monicker, Wrecker engages his team-leading counterpart in physical and mental combat. The Baron is more than ready to engage him in both, lithely avoiding a savage crowbar attack, with a razor edged retort of defeats passed.

While the rest of the teams duel it out, curious tourists on the island come under threat of falling rubble. Fortunately for them, Songbird is there to lend her sonic constructs as protective shields.
As Bulldozer barrels down on her, it is fortunate for Songbird that Mach-1 is on the scene to scoop up the threat with rocketting precision.

Continuing the theme of teamwork, Atlas comes to the aid of an overwhelmed Citizen V, using his impressive size and strength to clobber Wrecker into a self-made crater. Alas, Citizen V's warnings come too late, the cocky Atlas succumbing to a little teamwork from the away side.

As Atlas hurtles into the drink from the impact of Thunderball's strike, Meteorite does her best aerially to deal with Piledriver.

The super-powered menace uses his unusually large and powerful hands to wrench a piece of concrete from the battleground, using it as a massive projectile to send Meteorite hurtling into the Statue of Liberty like her namesake!

With the city watching on in horror, the Wrecker strikes at the base of the statue, sending a quiver up Liberty's spine. He challenges the star-spangle clad Citizen V to surrender, or face the consequences of being responsible for the symbol's destruction on national television.

Revelling in their apparent checkmate, the Wrecking Crew barely notice Mach-1 circling around in the air to fire spherical projectiles from the wrist mount of his armor. Each globe reaches it's target, stuffing the gobs of the cackling villains, before spewing forth noxious gas!

Under the direction of Citizen V, Songbird uses her sonic constructs to create forcefields around the Wrecking Crew's heads, trapping the gas that smothers them into unconsciousness.

His mouth shielded, the still intimidating Bulldozer mocks the Thunderbolts, but even as he speaks, his confidence begins to wither in direct response to the looming shadow from above.

A half-drowned and thoroughly ticked Atlas calls a grudge for Thunderball, but agrees to settle for the last man standing, thundering down a giant-sized fist that knocks Bulldozer back far into the city.

As the team reassembles, a strange noise begins to flood over the tiny spirited island. A sound recognizable, but yet definitely unfamiliar to the Thunderbolts.
The sound of the people cheering. The gratitude worthy of heroes.

The hammer...
Awww, ring the bell, sucka! School's back in, and the T-bolts be puttin' on a masta class of ass kickification, son!

... No good? Yeah, well, the Thunderbolts are the winners, whether my exploits as a jive talking web wacky work or not!
Bahlactus has been getting all the press for a while now, but lately respect has finally come home to roost for Secret Earths, and I've got to bring the hammer down on a whole lot of thanks to those guys.

Some of that respect finally motivated me to get on to this week's Ultimate Alliance entry, featuring the Wrecking Crew. For my estimation those guys have been about the only thing worth talking about from Mike Oeming's latest writing effort, which seems to have been downgraded from on-going to Omega Flight mini.

Even with the disgraceful slow burn and distinct lack of Mike Oeming: penciller, Omega Flight did open with some big action, and we'll probably get an opportunity to talk more about that series some time in the future.

What really knocks me on my ass here is the Thunderbolts.
While his work seems to have meandered somewhat through some easy standards; Warren Ellis has had many-a fan, myself included, several shades of jazzed over the villain-cum-hero team.

What's especially bizarre about finally discovering a love of the team is the fact that they're now a seasoned outfit, having a full decade of superheroics and internal squabblings under their belt. It was over ten years ago that we gazed upon that fateful scene where Citizen V revealed himself and his teammates as none other than The Masters of Evil! Wow!

Sadly, I was somewhat excited by the concept, but utterly bemused by the product itself. The characters were mostly second-tier villains that weren't obscure favourites, and the designs of the hero costumes, with the exception of Citizen V, inspired barely. It wasn't a book that lived up to the hype.

Some ten years later it's instability has been fully realized, but the formula has been refined in a world where superhero politics makes the lines between hero and villain all that much more blurred. The Thunderbolts exist now in a world almost inadvertently made for them, living their lives as heroes admist laws that willfully empower them to hunt down their costumed nemesis like dogs.

It's with hindsight that it can be debated that the Thunderbolts are by design a gauge of the zeitgeist of the Marvel universe. From their inception, they were the brilliantly simple response to the a power vaccuum left in the wake of Heroes Reborn, and now they again react to events in Civil War and redefinition of what a hero and villain is to the Marvel universe.

I don't mean to discount the work that went on between, and mark missing out on the so-called "fight club" years as a disappointment; but in an era still feeding and learning from the 'grim and gritty' progression of the eighties, maybe we can propose the Thunderbolts represent the final step in that exploration.

I'm confounded by regular references to the necessity of likeable and heroic characters in comics. It strikes me as foolish to claim entertainment and fiction require anything but the barest means of relating and approving.
I'd like to think maybe one day we will look back on books like Thunderbolts and recognise their contribution to our medium as the catalyst for motivated writing, over conventions of 'heroes', 'villains', and 'anti-heroes'.

And after that stretch of a musing, I'll wrap things up.
Still more Fantastic Fridays as we try to catch-up on June's delays, before reverting back to the original Friday Fight Nights. In the mean time, stay tuned!

The Fight: 4 The Issue: 4
NEXT WEEK: What evil lurks in the heart of The Lizard? The Spider-man knows!

THE THUNDERBOLTS versus HULK
(Marvel comics)
Where: Incredible Hulk #449 When: January, 1997
Why: Peter David How: Mike Deodato Jr.

The story so far...
When the world's most powerful telepathic mutant, Professor Charles Xavier, can no longer contain his bottled up emotions, it spells trouble for the entire Marvel universe.

The battle with Xavier's dark shadow, Onslaught, forces Marvel's greatest heroes to band together like never before, to focus their efforts on a single threat.

The final confrontation sees the unthinkable realised: Earth's mightiest heroes are dead. The only survivor is the Hulk, who walks away mindless, confused, and not quite feeling himself.
As he treks across the country, new heroes emerge to pick up the slack.

Recommended reading:
Iron Man #1-#3: Heroes Reborn: Bruce Banner becomes the Hulk all over again.
Thunderbolts #1: The villains as heroes spin-off into their own series.
Deadpool #4: Hulk continues to struggle with the mysterious weakness.

Tale of the tape...
Strength: Hulk 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Techno 6 (Genius)
Speed: Moonstone 4 (Olympic Sprinter)
Stamina: Hulk 6 (Generator)
Agility: Baron Zemo 3 (Acrobat)
Fighting Ability: Hulk 6 (Warrior)
Energy Powers: Moonstone 5 (Arsenal)

Well, here you have something I don't think we've encountered on Secret Earths since month one with our first and third entries. Looking back, we find mixed results from those one man against a whole team, which doesn't paint a great picture for the Hulk, incredible as he may be.

The relative inexperience of the Thunderbolts as a cohesive unit casts at least some doubt in their direciton, but even if they aren't a 'champion team' they still pack a punch as a team of champions.

Physicality is always something relevent to a fight with the Hulk, and the Thunderbolts roll their powerhouses in in the form of Atlas and Moonstone.
The application of Atlas' strength is potent, but fairly minimal, while Moonstone's element of the cosmic broadens her use in a fight such as this. In fact, on a good day, one might even just about be willing to say Moonstone could take Hulk alone.

When you throw in the smarts of Techno and Citizen V, it's a potent combination of brain and brawn, with some energy blasts, solid soundwaves and flying armored guys to boot.

Taking all of that surface information into account, one starts to lean toward the Thunderbolts as the likely victors, given the scenario. This is further the case when one acknowledges the continuity of Hulk's encounter with Onslaught, and the plot threads of Heroes Reborn.

The Hulk simply isn't feeling himself, which is potentially a catalyst for unbridled, and desperate rage. Even with the potential calming effect of Janis [Joplin?] Jones in tow, keeping an eye out for the big green lumbering dummy, Hulk can wipeout ANY team on a good day.
That said, as we saw when he faced Deadpool, Hulk simply isn't up to it in the strength stakes. So, at the end of the tape, you'd have to tip Thunderbolts in this dual.

What went down...
For citizens of the Marvel universe, the sound of a rampaging Hulk getting nailed by airborn missile is probably a horrifying sound. It might even be more frightening to hear the jet engines of a flying armored superhero coming to the rescue, too, since that means chances of a fight are likely.

Yet, as the Thunderbolts [Moonstone, Techno, Atlas and Songbird] would discover, the only thing more terrifying than a rampaging Hulk, is a Hulk surrendering...

Notably stunned, the Thunderbolts take no chances.
Taking a field command role, Techno throws up his shoulder-mount laser cannon thingy, and orders Songbird to construct a solid sound prison to contain the jolly jade giant until their fearless leader can arrive.

A light hearted riff of Brian Bendis proportions gets a second run, as Atlas and Moonstone exchange 'human' words on the bizarre situation before them. Ordinarily this exchange wouldn't warrant mention, however -- DUN DUN DUN -- apparently Moonstone has a mysterious past with the Hulk!

Bad ass, mohawk sporting refugee from a future imperfect - Janis Jones - has been accompanying the Hulk, and it's at this point she observes Mach-1 making a sudden dash instead of getting revenge after she kapowed him with her low-tech Mad Max future staff... that shoots lasers.

As it turns out, Mach-1 was conveniently speeding up the introductions reveal Citizen V! Mysterious masked leader of these new champions of truth, justice, and apple pie.
With sword held high, he asks the imprisoned Hulk exactly what it is he's waiting for -- too which the Hulk reveals, "I was waiting... ...for all of you. In one place."
Yes kids. Excessive pauses did exist before Ultimate Spider-man.

The Hulk claps his hands together at startling speeds, forcing Songbird to break her vocal vibrations to create a defensive sonic buffer, thus protecting her from the kinetic effects of Hulk's sonic clap. (Or something).

Apparently, despite allowing the Hulk success in initiating his plan, Citizen V had actually brilliantly deduced this on his trip to the scene. He orders Mach-1 to fire off his heat seeking missiles, while Techno fires off rounds from his shoulder cannon.

Hulk leaps away from the cannon blasts, but is unable to outrun the heat seaking missiles that plow him into the ground, in much the same fashion as the opening pages of the issue.

Hulk is surprised to find that, despite feeling stronger than ever before, much like his encounter with Deadpool, he has been hurt. Bleeding from the chest, the Hulk is rescued by the most unlikely of archetypes -- puny human, Janis Jones!

Jones uses her unassuming staff to blast Moonstone and Mach-1 off target, and avoids Songbird sonic knives long enough for Hulk to recover.
For a moment Atlas is given the false impression he can go toe-to-toe with the Hulk, and to his credit he's more than just a puny human. In fact, as Hulk proves, he's perfect for hurling at pesky moustached inventors like Techno.
[Maybe when he gets back to Earth, Hulk should try hurtling Atlas at his pro-registration leader: Tony Stark. - Mike]

Strength in numbers allow the Thunderbolts to stay one-foot in the game, as the Hulk clearly begins to grow flustered.

Green blood smeared across his chest, Hulk stands like a lion caged as the Thunderbolts warn him there is no escape.

Still, this Hulk isn't any dummy, and is able to turn Citizen V's own words against him in a switcheroo that would have made Foggy Nelson proud!
Acting on their vow to protect the innocent (and get good PR), Hulk throws himself straight through the dam infront of which he fought valiantly, endangering thousands in the villages below.

The Thunderbolts have no choice but to act, and in the end, Hulk manages to make a sneaky exit with his sheet-wearing gal pal, before his injuries get the better of him.

The hammer...
Well, this was quite a tough one to call.
On points, the Hulk had his opponent's number, dominating for hte majority of the fight, but by the end his opponents were still willing and able to fight on. Hulk, on the other hand, technically made a retreat, and for that reason, he should officially be the loser.

Because Hulk was so dominant, I think you'd have to give him the win, but the Thunderbolts make a pretty might effort of their first outing.

Of course, by now we all know the Thunderbolts' nasty secret.
Surprisingly enough it had nothing to do with being a fairly bland combination of designs and characters, and more to do with being alter-egos designed by the Masters of Evil to fool a vulnerable world into trusting them while their greatest heroes were assumed dead.

This initial premise garnered much deserved attention, but like many things from the mid-nineties, it's probably gladly forgotten. Now the concept lives-on with, presumably, far superior execution, even though I'm descriminately disinterested in the book.

I chose this title because it's one of the modern Hulk milestones marking the first appearance of The Thunderbolts, but it really isn't a remarkable issue by any means.

I would say this issue actually highlights the struggles the character has endured at various points throughout the last two decades.
While Peter David will be fondly associated by many with the character, his revisitations have not been anywhere near as fruitful as previous projects.
While the Hulk on the Heroes Reborn side of the equation is having all kinds of Whilce Portatio fun, this half of the character is stuck in stagnant, boring, comic-booky melodrama laced with uninteresting guest characters, and a wandering plot.

This mediocre presentation is helped very little by, as quipped previously, PAD's pre-puBendis dialogue. It certainly intrudes much less than scenes from Ultimate Spider-man, but the quieter moments are unattractive parodies of legitimate characterization.

All of that said, Peter David can write a fight scene. Hot damn, yes he can!
While the overall arc of the fight in this issue is not particularly large, we are privvy to the cramped introduction of an entire cast of gimmick-packing characters who would be the subject of their own heavily promoted title.

We gain insight into the determination and dedication of these characters, while also getting a good whiff of the shocking twist ending that would end Thunderbolts #1.
Much like The Sixth Sense, more people would claim to have seen it coming than had actually read the damn thing before they knew.

Deodato's artwork is fairly typical of the time, and could probably benefit from denser layouts. Some benefit of the doubt has to be given due to the fact that the majority of scenes occur in barren desert location.
Still, pencils seem relatively standard, and a little uninspired. Colours and inks do little to service the page, producing fairly flat blanks of primary colours, and fairly standard blacks.

Points would also have to be deducted for reusing the same image of Techno and his shoulder blast cannon on pages six and thirteen. Thirteen, unlucky for some.
Maybe editorial was just a little hectic during the Heroes Reborn period. I'm sure there's a way we can blame this all on Lifeld, and be done with it.

The Fight: 4 The Issue: 3

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