Who doesn’t love a team of anti-heroes? From The Dirty Dozen to The Suicide Squad to The Inglorious Basterds — a team of morally complex killers that have to put their differences, traumas and egos in check in order to complete an impossible mission is such delectable subject matter.
Marvel Comics relaunched Thunderbolts — one of their many anti-hero teams — in December 2023. The timing could not have been anymore perfect as the big screen adaptation of the comic series is currently in production with Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour and Wyatt Russell in the lead roles (amongst others). However, it needs to be stated this series is not a promotional run for the film as there’s numerous differences. The main team is definitely different and the overarching plot does not deal with the multiverse or anything happening directly in the MCU (yet).
The series follows Bucky Barnes, in full Winter Soldier mode, on a mission to once and for all end the reign of terror perpetrated by Red Skull. It’s a mission he and Steve Rogers have been failing at for years. Thanks to international law Red Skull has been protected from governments and agencies from taking him down. This has allowed him not only to build a new HYDRA and spread his Nazi-fueled hate via a podcast network but he’s also amassed a massive cache of cash and world power. So, in order to get the job done Bucky has to enlist some less than above board allies in Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine (the former Madam Hydra), The Destroyer (we’ll leave that reveal for your surprise), Ylena Belova, Natasha Romanov (complete with a spider symbiote) and a few other surprise friends to take Skull and his worldwide operation down.
In Issue #1 of Thunderbolts, you can see from the cover it looks like Bucky has succeeded — but in classic comic book tradition — looks are absolutely deceiving. In Issue #2 of Thunderbolts which dropped in early January, we find Bucky and team infiltrating the notorious Hellfire Club in order to rob/seize/destroy Red Skull’s wealth which the one and only Kingpin (who is now in charge of Hellfire) is overseeing/taking/stealing.
The story arcs in these two episodes are just fantastic stuff for fans of heists, team-ups and espionage. Bucky Barnes is thrust to the forefront of the series as the team leader. For those who only know the character’s latter day personality from the MCU (e.g. this writer) it’s very enjoyable to see him in a more proactive, leader role instead of the brooding heavy that can crack wise when needs be. Bucky, here, feels more like the other side of the Captain America coin — someone hellbent on justice, but willing to break the rules in order to accomplish his goals.
The series does a nice job of planting the seeds of Val turning heel on the team. Literally every character — whether good or bad — tells Bucky she’s going to turn on him. No matter what happens here, the pay off feels like it’ll be very well-earned. Val is not shy about her criticisms of everything Bucky does, but she’s also given zero for us to believe she actually will turn. So if, she does in fact turn heel, it’ll be a “I knew it!” moment. If she remains on the side of the angels, it’ll be a huge surprise that the once staunch agent of HYDRA will be working to take everything she built down.
The first two issues of Thunderbolts is an extremely tight, action-packed and surprisingly funny re-introduction of Marvel’s classic group of anti-heroes. It’s a really terrific read that would make for a really great live-action episodic adaptation. As a writer just diving back into comics for the first time in 30+ years, this has been a blast of a series to get hooked into and veteran comic fans will definitely enjoy the universe-spanning integration of heroes and villains alike in the world of action and espionage.
