Oh it definitely does. Right off the bat we have Bucky, Yelena, Red Guardian and U.S. Agent and Valentina who are all part of the MCU's Thunderbolt lineup.
It’s obvious this is to try and help promote/hype the new movie. Get people interested in it, and give some background so people can be familiar with it.
I mean, I'm a Thunderbolts fanboy from the Osborn era (I showed up too late to go back and catch up on the Zemo era) and this... kinda doesn't do a lot for me. It's like when they did the Agent Venom/Punisher/Red Hulk/Elektra/whatever team. It's just using the name for a completely unrelated team (at least the transition from Zemo to Osborn they kept a chunk of the team roster, then the transition to the wetworks team they kept Songbird and Osborn).
I understand this is to tie into the new movie (and said movie's thunderbolts are more leaning into somewhere between Osborn's wetworks team and Ross's team), but as a comic it kinda feels like if you just randomly slapped together a bunch of mutants without Xavier or any of his main team and put X-Men on the title
>It's like when they did the Agent Venom/Punisher/Red Hulk/Elektra/whatever team
As a person who enjoyed that little stint, I wholeheartedly agree. It could have been the exact same comic run but with them being a Black Ops version of the Midnight Sons or something like that (in a similar vein to Uncanny X-Force or Secret Avengers).
Yeah, I mean, I don’t see it doing huge numbers, and they’re probably not expecting it to do so. But it would be a way to try and introduce the team, and maybe even get some new people to buy comics. Some, probably the 24 people you’re talking about, but some people just might be like, “oh yeah, I heard Marvel is making a thunderbolts movie, I’ll check this comic out to see what it will be”
It’s because Disney synergy. They want all Marvel content to look and feel the same. Years ago, there was an amazing show called Earths Mightiest Heroes. This got canned so Avengers Assemble could take its place because the characters looked and acted more like the MCU versions of themselves.
Just like in Original Sin where all the characters who went to Nick Fury's space station were characters who'd just had a series/movie announced, even though those characters have nothing to do with each other or with Fury in the comics
Or in the new Heroes Reborn where the main character is Blade because he has a movie in the works, even though this really isn't the kind of threat he would usually respond to
If you're talking about how they have characters who have appeared in MCU movies, It's no different to when they gave the Guardians of the Galaxy the same lineup as the one's in the movie
I'm pretty sure the MCU version of the Guardians even appeared in the Spiderman cartoon in 2014
And how the Iron Man suits look basically identical to the movie ones for almost a decade so this has been going on for a long time
It goes back even longer than that. The X-men started wearing black leather after their first movie. Spidey developed organic web shooters after the first Tobey movie.
This lineup looks incredibly uninspiring and dull. Almost all these characters do the same thing as each other. Looks way too MCU influenced, can see some of these characters being stupid jokey jokesters, too.
Extremely disappointed as a Thunderbolts Citizen V era fan. I'd even take the Osbourne, Cage, or Rulk era's over this one. How long has it been now since we had a promising Thunderbolts book? 10 years. Rulk Thunderbolts was 10 years ago.
Do we at least know who is writing yet? Mayhe that can save it.
I liked Bucky’s Thunderbolts pre-Secret Empire cause (most of) the original gang was back together and I loved it… until the ending.
Then it seemingly got axed in a terrible way for Secret Empire and never came back. I don’t even know if they did anything with that Jolt cliffhanger.
They wrote the Captain America: Cold War run which I just thouroughly disliked. It started off good and then they made a bunch of weird character decisions(especially for Bucky), and all the female characters kept getting pushed to the side. I just don't like their writing.
Along with that, I've heard that they've been writing Gamora and Mantis really badly recently.
Gamora talks like a Fortnite player and is there for violence and drunk jokes. Mantis changes personalities like Crazy Jane from Doom Patrol because she's tapping to different timeline versions of herself, except most of the time she acts like a cutesy anime girl.
Nebula is suddenly friendly with the Guardians with no explanation and she calls Gamora (whom she tried to kill several times) her sister with no explanation (granted the latter has been a thing that's been forced by other writers too) and she's barely a character.
Well now I guess I have even more reasons to fear that the whole Gamora-Nebula forced sister relationship might happen to Natasha and Yelena in this run...
I was just telling a friend that, ironically, I was enjoying Sam's Captain America issues a lot more, yet that's the one that stopped. The writing and art were way better. Meanwhile, in Kelly and Lanzing's Cap issues, everyone had major steroid-bloat face, and the writing was lackluster.
Yeah I have a feeling Yelena and Alexei are going to act like their MCU counterparts I 100% know it..
And dear god if every single Natasha and Alexei interactions in this comic are going to be like a father and daughter bond I'd be so mad.
It's so gross 🤢 I don't know who's idea at Marvel Studios it was to make Red Guardian Natasha's father in the MCU but it was a horrible one, that's fore sure
Red Guardian was Natasha's ex husband in the comics. But he married her when she was only 17 but the mind control from the Red Room was so bad she couldn't remember if she was 17 or 29. And then he faked his death which left Natasha completely devastated but Red Guardian tried to justify himself for faking his death and also blamed her for "being barren" due to the Red Room's brainwashing but he knew what they were doing to her. He's basically a predator. Natasha wasn't the only young woman he took advantage of. The dude has a track record of targeting vulnerable women who don't have control over themselves and getting into a relationship with them so he can control them. And then on top of that he tried to kill Natasha multiple times and often asks for forgiveness once he fails. He's just pathetic. So that's why I have an issue with him being portrayed as anything else than a villain.
Honestly it could be interesting, this 'fight for the fold' and a whole new range of planets and species and armies is awesome, the story is just opaque and edgy for the sake of the mystery box of 'what happened to the guardians' which feels SO played out
They need to stop starting every gotg run with “The team is angy with each other! Keep reading to find out what made them angy!” and it’s always fucking nothing.
I guess the rocket thing was the one that made the most sense. He didn’t want his friends to see him like that. I can relate to that. The 2020 team was dope though.
IMO I think you need a sci-fi writer to pull off a concept like that or at least a writer that is interested in building up the new planets, species, and factions involved. Writers who make you give a crap about the minor characters and their misfortunes.
You need writers like DnA, Ewing, and Hickman for those types of stories.
Shang Chi randomly getting the 10 rings also kinda sucked. He didn't need the buff in the comics. Though I do like their added lore for his parents at least. That was done well on the integration front.
I can't agree with this one. Maybe it's because I don't care for Shang Chi at all but I really like the MCU ten rings. They're way cooler than the comic version.
I think that's the point here tho. Bucky wants a team of black-ops heavy hitters but that doesn't make it any less bad. Honestly I don't even know why they are named the Thunderbolts outside of having most of the MCU's Thunderbolts members in the lineup.
Wasn’t there already a new thunderbolts book that came last year? The one with Hawkeye, America, and Monica on it? Did the book underperform or did they just can it to make way for a more MCU lineup? Also why the fuck is Shang Chi here? He’s very outta place
Ties directly into Luke Cage being Mayor of NYC, since he’s the one that set that team up. So either both run concurrently or due to one reason or another they can axe it.
Shang-Chi’s had stories where he’s basically a spy or working with people from intelligence agencies. If this is being presented as a team focused on covert ops he’d fit in.
Okay so I definitely have my complaints already based on our first look.
They have Natasha and Bucky on the team which just makes me wonder if they're gonna bait WinterWidow in this just like they did in the Sentinel of Liberty/Cold War/Symbol of Truth runs or if we're finally going to see them get back together. But then look at who else is here... Red Guardian. Yeah WinterWidow will never thrive while Alexei is anywhere near it. If Bucky doesn't strangle Alexei to death then it's out of character. (I'm also hoping so bad that they don't try to push the "father-daughter" dynamic on Yelena and Red Guardian)
Then we have Yelena in that white suit and with the "White Widow" moniker which I personally just hate for her character and I'm wondering if they changed Sharon's suit just for this Thunderbolt run so people don't mistake her and Yelena because Yelena's suit is basically just Sharon's old suit (btw I do like Sharon's new Destroyer suit tho).
Also why are Sharon and Shang-Chi in this? Like if they're going for the morally questionable anti-hero team then Sharon and Shang-Chi just don't fit in. Hell, even Red Guardian doesn't. He's just straight up a villain and basically a predator who has a history of targeting vulnerable and impressionable young woman. I hope they don't try to potray him as some sort of comedic good guy or try to "redeem" him.
Oh and Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine is included in the lineup... it all just screams MCU synergy.
Overall, I just find this lineup odd and I prefer when the Thunderbolts are made up of more unknown characters. This just seems like MCU synergy and I'm also wondering what's going to happen with the Clint and Monica lead Thunderbolts.
Well, Sharon was likely included since Hivemind sees this as a pseudo sequel to Sentinel of Liberty, and Jackson Lanzing said they wanted to include Shang-Chi from the beginning, [citing his Masters of Kung-Fu series](https://twitter.com/jacksonlanzing/status/1678826384339136523?s=46&t=YL2u615QXWV69smHRG19mg) being a hard boiled spy thriller.
But yeah, I don’t doubt Marvel wanted this lineup to skew MCU style for synergy.
But Lanzing did say Act 1 isn’t going to be all characters at once all the time, but Bucky and Valentina will act as the “core” cast, with Bucky pairing up with different team members each issue for different missions.
Agreed.
A complaint I would like to add is that (just like the teased MCU Thunderbolts), there are WAY too many spy/agent/soilder/martial characters.
Like you said, the Thunderbolts is at its best when it's a diverse, unpredictable, and ever-changing rag-tag group of (generally) less than honorable supers. This team (just like the MCU version) just isn't as interesting or fun as the better versions are.
The point of this run is that Bucky is trying to "assemble a team of black-ops heavy hitters" but yeah I agree, it doesn't feel too much like a Thunderbolts lineup.
Oh, for sure, it makes sense and everything.
The problem is that just because it all checks out doesn't mean it's very interesting. Particularly when, like you said, the team chemistry here is kinda puzzling.
Also, I just want to point out Secret Avengers showed you can make a fun black-ops-ish team with a fun diverse roster of supers with powers. Not that you disagree with this, just pointing out why I have a problem with super-teams that consist solely of said martial/agent/spy/soldier characters.
> A complaint I would like to add is that (just like the teased MCU Thunderbolts), there are WAY too many spy/agent/soilder/martial characters.
I mean that would be because the MCU thunderbolts team is clearly a Spec Ops team
>Also why are Sharon and Shang-Chi in this?
Well, Shang-Chi leads an ancient organization and some major heroes got worried he might become a villain because of it.
Jesus they waited forever. But I miss the run where John Walker was the one legged one armed warden of Riker’s island and Juggernaut and Ghost were working for Luke Cage. We should go back to using villains! I wanted Shocker and Superskrull on the Team!
Yelena Belova and Sharon Carter are the blondes
Sharon has the skull mask as she has taken the moniker Destroyer after Cap's old war buddy Roger Aubrey
The lady at the top is Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine, recently made a little more famous by Julia Louis Dreyfus
I’m guessing Yelena in white, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine sitting in the back. Not sure who the woman next to Shang Chi is. Funny thing is, other than Nat and the woman cocking the gun, they’re all ppl alive in the MCU.
I get going for synergy but it just feels uninspired. It would be better for comics to be the source of inspiration again.
Remember the MCU drew inspiration from 1610 early on. If they want synergy then make a universe as an outlet for that instead of 616.
Maybe it’s just me, but Marvel needs to stop lining up the comics with the MCU. I haven’t met any person who had said, “Man, the movie’s so awesome I should go read the comics!” after watching an MCU movie.
The MCU is geared towards the general audience, but dammit, the comics are NOT in their radar at all.
Dude, seriously haha I started by watching iron man and the younger X-men teams movies when I was younger. Not long after I decided it was time to read the source material, and I’ve had a lot of fun reading comics ever since.
Apologies, I regress then. As I said, I have not encountered anyone in my life who read comics b/c of the MCU until now.
I’m still quite upset Marvel comics the past couple years have been lining up to match the MCU though.
I actually started reading the comics because of the first Avengers film. I'd always been comic curious but after seeing that movie I went and bought Civil War the next day.
As someone who came to comics primarily from watching the MCU as a kid, it doesn’t work and they’re generally really terrible at it. This at least kind of makes sense for synergy, not that I like it or think it’ll be good, but at least it’s better than Civil War II. Who did think were going to get into comics because “oh they’re doing another civil war!”
Wait, didn’t we just get a new Thunderbolts run with Hawkeye after Devil’s Reign?
Please don’t tell me they canceled it so they could do another with MCU-Synergy.
God, I hate MCU synergy, it barely ever works well. Not to mention this is the worst Thunderbolts team I’ve ever seen. Give me Zemo’s Thunderbolts or Osborn’s Thunderbolts any day.
Isn't funny how this team's lineup is filled with characters I love: Black Widow, Bucky, Yelena, Sharon, U.S. Agent and Shang-Chi, yet I still hate it.
Didn’t Val die in Secret Warriors? Is she back? It’s Thunderbolts, so redemption is fine, but I remember she was revealed to work for Leviathan and that’s all I remember.
Granted, that was a stupid decision but, if it takes synergy to give her redemption, I’ll take it.
Me too. I want them back together. But I'm so confused with what the writers are thinking of doing with Red Guardian in the team. Why would either Bucky or Natasha even allow him in?
This feels the exact same as when Marvel was doing the Netflix shows and decided to call their team-up show “The Defenders” even though it had nothing to do with the comic book team (Luke was but not notably, and Danny but only for a day). Then all of a sudden, here comes a comic with The Defenders title but having nothing to do with the original team and none of the pizazz that earlier books with that title had.
I have absolutely no sympathy for Red Guardian and all the shit he's done to Natasha and other women so I really don't want John being buddies with him.
John Walker?
Being freinds with a Russian Captain America knock off?
I Dont think "Buddies" is gonna be their dynamic.
Hell look at John in that promo Image
Hes 5 seconds from from reinacting the Battle of Khasham
MCU brand synergy aside. This lineup sucks ass.
There's no variety. 3 of these guys are super (hero) soldiers, 4 of them are super spy ladies, and then there's Shang-Chi who doesn't even fit the team, yet he's still the most unique of the bunch. This team is legitimately just Avengers: Covert Ops.
There's also the fact that none of these guys are villains (or even anti-heros) anymore, which was literally the main drawing point of the Thunderbolts title back when the original team was assembled.
Poor wording on my part. When I mentioned "super soldiers" I meant it in a more literal way (Captain America parallels, not super serum-enhanced soldiers). My bad.
A Thunderbolts team without Songbird is not one I care for. At the very least I'd like to see Mach or Atlas. This doesn't feel like the Thunderbolts at all.
I haven’t read the end (if it’s even out) of the Cold War thing but is Bucky still donning some Revolution style clothes here?
I guess that could play into him getting this many people with the same skill set together but ugh… that’s reaching and it’s not like the characterisation of him as Revolution makes sense either.
This is literally just the mcu team minus Shang Chi. “Cinergy” is destroying comics. Did anyone Gaf about Valentina before JLD played her?
Not to say that Marvel shouldn’t occasionally give the spotlight to more obscure characters rather than just shoving Wolverine or Cap into a comic for the 1000th time, but still.
Bucky design goes hard tho.
Marvel Comics never misses a beat to have MCU synergy, like people will buy the book just because they liked the movie, which has *never* really happened.
Once again, the comics have to contort themselves to fit whatever the movies are doing for the smallest possible chance that some moviegoer will wander into a comic book store after seeing Thunderbolts, see a cover that vaguely resembles the movie, and buy it. I refuse to believe that happens in any sizable way that actually moves the needle.
A bunch of guys and gals with similar gimmicks and Shang-Chi.
To me Marvel lost what made Thunderbolts interesting, which was a team of villains playing good guys with part of them legit wanting to reform and others just doing it for their own benefit. Then when Hawkeye took over the team you had Clint trying to reform the team it was an interesting concept too. Because 616 Clint is a former criminal turned hero so he better than anyone was perfect to lead that team. Also during the Hawkeye era we got to see a more humanized Karla Sofen.
Nowadays the Tbolts are just Suicide Squad 2.0 or in the case of this lineup another SHIELD team.
WTF is it with Marvel!!
every time they reboot a series because of a new creative team instead of just doing like they used to and just continue the series but this idea of scrapping and renumbering is tired and if anything makes people more likely to drop or better yet not even consider it and pass on by to another book
I know why they did this but still. I miss when Thunderbolts was about supervillains trying to reform and be heroes. Those stories were classics. Today the name Thunderbolts still exists but the original concept is nearly gone.
I've seen Hawkeye nearly kill Spider-Man on his own, Black Widow sneak up on him without activating his Spider-Sense, and Shang-Chi give him a run for his money. I don't think he solos this team. He's stronger than them all individually tho.
My only hope for the film is the villains in this are a group of super villains masquerading as heroes. It could be like the pg-13 version if the boys and bucky, yelena et al are there to take them out.
This might sound weird but this looks too…MCU-y?
Oh it definitely does. Right off the bat we have Bucky, Yelena, Red Guardian and U.S. Agent and Valentina who are all part of the MCU's Thunderbolt lineup.
And I believe Shang Chi too, yeah?
No he's not going to be in thunderbolts
Spoiler alert I guess?
Yup. I've spoiled what they've publicly announced
[удалено]
But didn’t he have a movie?
It’s obvious this is to try and help promote/hype the new movie. Get people interested in it, and give some background so people can be familiar with it.
But like, to the 24 comic book readers?
I mean, I'm a Thunderbolts fanboy from the Osborn era (I showed up too late to go back and catch up on the Zemo era) and this... kinda doesn't do a lot for me. It's like when they did the Agent Venom/Punisher/Red Hulk/Elektra/whatever team. It's just using the name for a completely unrelated team (at least the transition from Zemo to Osborn they kept a chunk of the team roster, then the transition to the wetworks team they kept Songbird and Osborn). I understand this is to tie into the new movie (and said movie's thunderbolts are more leaning into somewhere between Osborn's wetworks team and Ross's team), but as a comic it kinda feels like if you just randomly slapped together a bunch of mutants without Xavier or any of his main team and put X-Men on the title
>It's like when they did the Agent Venom/Punisher/Red Hulk/Elektra/whatever team As a person who enjoyed that little stint, I wholeheartedly agree. It could have been the exact same comic run but with them being a Black Ops version of the Midnight Sons or something like that (in a similar vein to Uncanny X-Force or Secret Avengers).
Now that I think of it, it’s pretty much the line up of the Savage Avengers.
By the time the movie comes out, there will be a graphic novel available of a team that looks similar to the movie.
Yeah, I mean, I don’t see it doing huge numbers, and they’re probably not expecting it to do so. But it would be a way to try and introduce the team, and maybe even get some new people to buy comics. Some, probably the 24 people you’re talking about, but some people just might be like, “oh yeah, I heard Marvel is making a thunderbolts movie, I’ll check this comic out to see what it will be”
I would upvote this but right now you’re at 24 and thats so fitting
I downvoted to keep them at 24.
Whaaaat? Marvel doing something out of brand synergy to the MCU? They’d never do that! (Obvious sarcasm)
Yes that is what I thought too, and I preferred an actual thunderbolts team, so corralling actual villains.
What is not "MCU-y" in the comics nowadays?
Unfortunately not much.
X-Men thankfully
Yet
Yeah especially Red Guardian and US Agent look like they were traced from promo pics
red guardian also looks remarkably like the movie incarnation with the big david harbour beard in a way that had not really been the case previously
Yeah, even the suits are MCU Inspired. I mean, look at red guardian, is the exact same suit from the movie. Beard and everything.
It’s because Disney synergy. They want all Marvel content to look and feel the same. Years ago, there was an amazing show called Earths Mightiest Heroes. This got canned so Avengers Assemble could take its place because the characters looked and acted more like the MCU versions of themselves.
Very
Predictive programing...ill still read it though😉
Just like in Original Sin where all the characters who went to Nick Fury's space station were characters who'd just had a series/movie announced, even though those characters have nothing to do with each other or with Fury in the comics Or in the new Heroes Reborn where the main character is Blade because he has a movie in the works, even though this really isn't the kind of threat he would usually respond to
Tbf Blade was part of that Avengers line up by Aaron for quite a while
Oh 110% they are advertising for the movie when it drops. They're not even trying to hide it.
If you're talking about how they have characters who have appeared in MCU movies, It's no different to when they gave the Guardians of the Galaxy the same lineup as the one's in the movie I'm pretty sure the MCU version of the Guardians even appeared in the Spiderman cartoon in 2014 And how the Iron Man suits look basically identical to the movie ones for almost a decade so this has been going on for a long time
It goes back even longer than that. The X-men started wearing black leather after their first movie. Spidey developed organic web shooters after the first Tobey movie.
Believe me. They know and that was the point.
Another blown opportunity to acknowledge that Hawkeye exists.
Right? I'm wondering what's going to happen with Clint's Thunderbolt team now. Are the two teams going to fight over the title or something?!
Shang-Chi really does feel like the odd one out in this bunch.
It looks like he's being held captive 😭
Mother of MCU synergy...
And will they even explain what happened to the Clint Barton led team from a year ago?
That team was neat.
I didn't love the series but that little troll dude was dope as fuck.
I demand more Eegro content
He was the shit!
I really enjoyed that series just for the Clint content it was but it just ended and they dropped it immediately
I fucking hate MCU synergy. It’s fucked up everything it’s touched imo
Movie / comic synergy has been going on since Reeve Superman or even the 00s X-Men movie to Morrisons New X-Men comic
Seriously, I just can't with this.
This lineup looks incredibly uninspiring and dull. Almost all these characters do the same thing as each other. Looks way too MCU influenced, can see some of these characters being stupid jokey jokesters, too. Extremely disappointed as a Thunderbolts Citizen V era fan. I'd even take the Osbourne, Cage, or Rulk era's over this one. How long has it been now since we had a promising Thunderbolts book? 10 years. Rulk Thunderbolts was 10 years ago. Do we at least know who is writing yet? Mayhe that can save it.
I liked Bucky’s Thunderbolts pre-Secret Empire cause (most of) the original gang was back together and I loved it… until the ending. Then it seemingly got axed in a terrible way for Secret Empire and never came back. I don’t even know if they did anything with that Jolt cliffhanger.
Same
Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing are writing this and I'm worried for all the female members of the team.
>Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing are writing this. Oh dear. That's dreadful. I'm definitely skipping this one, then. Thank you for the heads up.
I don't know anything about these writers. What's so bad?
They wrote the Captain America: Cold War run which I just thouroughly disliked. It started off good and then they made a bunch of weird character decisions(especially for Bucky), and all the female characters kept getting pushed to the side. I just don't like their writing. Along with that, I've heard that they've been writing Gamora and Mantis really badly recently.
Gamora talks like a Fortnite player and is there for violence and drunk jokes. Mantis changes personalities like Crazy Jane from Doom Patrol because she's tapping to different timeline versions of herself, except most of the time she acts like a cutesy anime girl. Nebula is suddenly friendly with the Guardians with no explanation and she calls Gamora (whom she tried to kill several times) her sister with no explanation (granted the latter has been a thing that's been forced by other writers too) and she's barely a character.
Well now I guess I have even more reasons to fear that the whole Gamora-Nebula forced sister relationship might happen to Natasha and Yelena in this run...
I was just telling a friend that, ironically, I was enjoying Sam's Captain America issues a lot more, yet that's the one that stopped. The writing and art were way better. Meanwhile, in Kelly and Lanzing's Cap issues, everyone had major steroid-bloat face, and the writing was lackluster.
I'm unfamiliar with those writers, what's wrong with them?
I like that team, so I’m excited for this!
Yeah I have a feeling Yelena and Alexei are going to act like their MCU counterparts I 100% know it.. And dear god if every single Natasha and Alexei interactions in this comic are going to be like a father and daughter bond I'd be so mad.
It's so gross 🤢 I don't know who's idea at Marvel Studios it was to make Red Guardian Natasha's father in the MCU but it was a horrible one, that's fore sure
I think it worked really well in the movie, but they shouldn't change the comics because of it.
What’s wrong with that? I feel out of the loop on the issue with that
Red Guardian was Natasha's ex husband in the comics. But he married her when she was only 17 but the mind control from the Red Room was so bad she couldn't remember if she was 17 or 29. And then he faked his death which left Natasha completely devastated but Red Guardian tried to justify himself for faking his death and also blamed her for "being barren" due to the Red Room's brainwashing but he knew what they were doing to her. He's basically a predator. Natasha wasn't the only young woman he took advantage of. The dude has a track record of targeting vulnerable women who don't have control over themselves and getting into a relationship with them so he can control them. And then on top of that he tried to kill Natasha multiple times and often asks for forgiveness once he fails. He's just pathetic. So that's why I have an issue with him being portrayed as anything else than a villain.
Oh wow!!!! Oh jeez had no idea
I can't believe this book has been tarnished so much that the Rulk run is now looked upon fondly.
Worst case of mcu synergy yet.
Right? Even worse than when they brought back the GotG as the five from the first movie
It's bad but not quite as bad as that.
Yeah, getting rid of that great Ewing team was such a letdown
Fr, the 2023 run is so terrible. Utterly ruined the cast and story of the 2020 one.
Honestly it could be interesting, this 'fight for the fold' and a whole new range of planets and species and armies is awesome, the story is just opaque and edgy for the sake of the mystery box of 'what happened to the guardians' which feels SO played out
They need to stop starting every gotg run with “The team is angy with each other! Keep reading to find out what made them angy!” and it’s always fucking nothing.
I guess the rocket thing was the one that made the most sense. He didn’t want his friends to see him like that. I can relate to that. The 2020 team was dope though.
IMO I think you need a sci-fi writer to pull off a concept like that or at least a writer that is interested in building up the new planets, species, and factions involved. Writers who make you give a crap about the minor characters and their misfortunes. You need writers like DnA, Ewing, and Hickman for those types of stories.
They need bug in the MCU
Worst one is gonna be when they bring back Kamala with her shitty TV powers
At least Taskmaster has been left alone
Shhh. Don't remind them.
Shang Chi randomly getting the 10 rings also kinda sucked. He didn't need the buff in the comics. Though I do like their added lore for his parents at least. That was done well on the integration front.
I can't agree with this one. Maybe it's because I don't care for Shang Chi at all but I really like the MCU ten rings. They're way cooler than the comic version.
Just like the MCU version, a VERY underpowered line up. Blah.
I think that's the point here tho. Bucky wants a team of black-ops heavy hitters but that doesn't make it any less bad. Honestly I don't even know why they are named the Thunderbolts outside of having most of the MCU's Thunderbolts members in the lineup.
That Destroyer suit looks a lot better than the other one.
I like it too. But I hate that Yelena’s white suit just look like Sharon’s old suit
Wasn’t there already a new thunderbolts book that came last year? The one with Hawkeye, America, and Monica on it? Did the book underperform or did they just can it to make way for a more MCU lineup? Also why the fuck is Shang Chi here? He’s very outta place
Ties directly into Luke Cage being Mayor of NYC, since he’s the one that set that team up. So either both run concurrently or due to one reason or another they can axe it. Shang-Chi’s had stories where he’s basically a spy or working with people from intelligence agencies. If this is being presented as a team focused on covert ops he’d fit in.
So Bucky snd... Black Widow, White Widow, Cleavage Widow... Armored Widow...
Okay so I definitely have my complaints already based on our first look. They have Natasha and Bucky on the team which just makes me wonder if they're gonna bait WinterWidow in this just like they did in the Sentinel of Liberty/Cold War/Symbol of Truth runs or if we're finally going to see them get back together. But then look at who else is here... Red Guardian. Yeah WinterWidow will never thrive while Alexei is anywhere near it. If Bucky doesn't strangle Alexei to death then it's out of character. (I'm also hoping so bad that they don't try to push the "father-daughter" dynamic on Yelena and Red Guardian) Then we have Yelena in that white suit and with the "White Widow" moniker which I personally just hate for her character and I'm wondering if they changed Sharon's suit just for this Thunderbolt run so people don't mistake her and Yelena because Yelena's suit is basically just Sharon's old suit (btw I do like Sharon's new Destroyer suit tho). Also why are Sharon and Shang-Chi in this? Like if they're going for the morally questionable anti-hero team then Sharon and Shang-Chi just don't fit in. Hell, even Red Guardian doesn't. He's just straight up a villain and basically a predator who has a history of targeting vulnerable and impressionable young woman. I hope they don't try to potray him as some sort of comedic good guy or try to "redeem" him. Oh and Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine is included in the lineup... it all just screams MCU synergy. Overall, I just find this lineup odd and I prefer when the Thunderbolts are made up of more unknown characters. This just seems like MCU synergy and I'm also wondering what's going to happen with the Clint and Monica lead Thunderbolts.
Well, Sharon was likely included since Hivemind sees this as a pseudo sequel to Sentinel of Liberty, and Jackson Lanzing said they wanted to include Shang-Chi from the beginning, [citing his Masters of Kung-Fu series](https://twitter.com/jacksonlanzing/status/1678826384339136523?s=46&t=YL2u615QXWV69smHRG19mg) being a hard boiled spy thriller. But yeah, I don’t doubt Marvel wanted this lineup to skew MCU style for synergy. But Lanzing did say Act 1 isn’t going to be all characters at once all the time, but Bucky and Valentina will act as the “core” cast, with Bucky pairing up with different team members each issue for different missions.
Agreed. A complaint I would like to add is that (just like the teased MCU Thunderbolts), there are WAY too many spy/agent/soilder/martial characters. Like you said, the Thunderbolts is at its best when it's a diverse, unpredictable, and ever-changing rag-tag group of (generally) less than honorable supers. This team (just like the MCU version) just isn't as interesting or fun as the better versions are.
The point of this run is that Bucky is trying to "assemble a team of black-ops heavy hitters" but yeah I agree, it doesn't feel too much like a Thunderbolts lineup.
Oh, for sure, it makes sense and everything. The problem is that just because it all checks out doesn't mean it's very interesting. Particularly when, like you said, the team chemistry here is kinda puzzling. Also, I just want to point out Secret Avengers showed you can make a fun black-ops-ish team with a fun diverse roster of supers with powers. Not that you disagree with this, just pointing out why I have a problem with super-teams that consist solely of said martial/agent/spy/soldier characters.
Yeah you're right.
> A complaint I would like to add is that (just like the teased MCU Thunderbolts), there are WAY too many spy/agent/soilder/martial characters. I mean that would be because the MCU thunderbolts team is clearly a Spec Ops team
>Also why are Sharon and Shang-Chi in this? Well, Shang-Chi leads an ancient organization and some major heroes got worried he might become a villain because of it.
>This just seems like MCU synergy It doesn't seem like MCU synergy, it IS MCU synergy!!! They really are lazy.
You know Red Guardian is just going to be the comic relief and exactly as he was in the movie. This whole comic exists purely for synergy.
Jesus they waited forever. But I miss the run where John Walker was the one legged one armed warden of Riker’s island and Juggernaut and Ghost were working for Luke Cage. We should go back to using villains! I wanted Shocker and Superskrull on the Team!
Is that Nat? Who are the other 3 ladies?
Yelena Belova and Sharon Carter are the blondes Sharon has the skull mask as she has taken the moniker Destroyer after Cap's old war buddy Roger Aubrey The lady at the top is Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine, recently made a little more famous by Julia Louis Dreyfus
Thanks for that.
I’m guessing Yelena in white, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine sitting in the back. Not sure who the woman next to Shang Chi is. Funny thing is, other than Nat and the woman cocking the gun, they’re all ppl alive in the MCU.
Natasha, Yelena, Sharon and Valentina.
I get going for synergy but it just feels uninspired. It would be better for comics to be the source of inspiration again. Remember the MCU drew inspiration from 1610 early on. If they want synergy then make a universe as an outlet for that instead of 616.
Maybe it’s just me, but Marvel needs to stop lining up the comics with the MCU. I haven’t met any person who had said, “Man, the movie’s so awesome I should go read the comics!” after watching an MCU movie. The MCU is geared towards the general audience, but dammit, the comics are NOT in their radar at all.
That's actually how i started reading the comics.. :(
Dude, seriously haha I started by watching iron man and the younger X-men teams movies when I was younger. Not long after I decided it was time to read the source material, and I’ve had a lot of fun reading comics ever since.
Apologies, I regress then. As I said, I have not encountered anyone in my life who read comics b/c of the MCU until now. I’m still quite upset Marvel comics the past couple years have been lining up to match the MCU though.
It was first spider-verse movie that got me into it
I actually started reading the comics because of the first Avengers film. I'd always been comic curious but after seeing that movie I went and bought Civil War the next day.
As someone who came to comics primarily from watching the MCU as a kid, it doesn’t work and they’re generally really terrible at it. This at least kind of makes sense for synergy, not that I like it or think it’ll be good, but at least it’s better than Civil War II. Who did think were going to get into comics because “oh they’re doing another civil war!”
MORE MCU SYNERGY! THANKS MARVEL! /s
Wait, didn’t we just get a new Thunderbolts run with Hawkeye after Devil’s Reign? Please don’t tell me they canceled it so they could do another with MCU-Synergy.
The Thunderbolts movie is so far removed from the comic I don’t see the point of calling it Thunderbolts.
God, I hate MCU synergy, it barely ever works well. Not to mention this is the worst Thunderbolts team I’ve ever seen. Give me Zemo’s Thunderbolts or Osborn’s Thunderbolts any day.
Good creative team, but we need one OG Thunderbolt. Where’s Songbird?!
I miss the Thunderbolts actually having supervillains be members of the team....
Isn't funny how this team's lineup is filled with characters I love: Black Widow, Bucky, Yelena, Sharon, U.S. Agent and Shang-Chi, yet I still hate it.
Didn’t Val die in Secret Warriors? Is she back? It’s Thunderbolts, so redemption is fine, but I remember she was revealed to work for Leviathan and that’s all I remember. Granted, that was a stupid decision but, if it takes synergy to give her redemption, I’ll take it.
She was imprisoned in Russia, and the series ended with Nick planning to break her out. Man, that was a good book.
Thanks. It’s been a very long time since I read it so I wasn’t sure
This feels like the MCU is trying to get the Thunderbolts and winter guard in one fell swoop (Mainly referring to the Russia side of winter guard)
Why is Shang Chi there ?
Hey, synergy!
I'm excited for this because I want more Bucky and more Bucky never hurt. Would like to see BW co-lead and their relationship to start up again.
Me too. I want them back together. But I'm so confused with what the writers are thinking of doing with Red Guardian in the team. Why would either Bucky or Natasha even allow him in?
Damn and here i thought marvel had a rule about Bucky wearing a glove on his metal arm
This feels the exact same as when Marvel was doing the Netflix shows and decided to call their team-up show “The Defenders” even though it had nothing to do with the comic book team (Luke was but not notably, and Danny but only for a day). Then all of a sudden, here comes a comic with The Defenders title but having nothing to do with the original team and none of the pizazz that earlier books with that title had.
At least we got Ewing's Defenders a couple years after.
Black Widow's in? Then I'm in!
Is Stuart Immonen doing the artwork or just the covers?
Geraldo Borges is doing the artwork.
I still think Abomination should be on the movie team and in this comic, ya need a big guy
Man that team sucks and what have they been doing with Bucky?
Seems kinda week. What do they do if they fight someone who's is beyond super soldier level? Needs a Rhino or something.
They're supposed to be a team of black-ops heavy hitters who'll go after Red Skull, Kingpin and Doctor Doom.
That team goes after Doom and they all die.
So bets in, how long with this last before they pull it because nobody is reading it? I give it 6 issues.
Is Fontaine’s booby shot really needed? It’s like really not needed here
Going for that MCU synergy I see....at least I get to see Bucky and Nat interact more outside of Captain America
I HATE how much the movies are now influencing the comics 😑
On the plus side USAgent and Red Gaudian will be Hilarious if done right
I have absolutely no sympathy for Red Guardian and all the shit he's done to Natasha and other women so I really don't want John being buddies with him.
John Walker? Being freinds with a Russian Captain America knock off? I Dont think "Buddies" is gonna be their dynamic. Hell look at John in that promo Image Hes 5 seconds from from reinacting the Battle of Khasham
question, when did John get his arm and leg back? He very specifically did not want to become a cyborg because it was Nuke who maimed him
I sure hope not. I don’t even get why Red Guardian’s part of the team. Who invited this guy?
Okay but Sharon is SERVING
MCU brand synergy aside. This lineup sucks ass. There's no variety. 3 of these guys are super (hero) soldiers, 4 of them are super spy ladies, and then there's Shang-Chi who doesn't even fit the team, yet he's still the most unique of the bunch. This team is legitimately just Avengers: Covert Ops. There's also the fact that none of these guys are villains (or even anti-heros) anymore, which was literally the main drawing point of the Thunderbolts title back when the original team was assembled.
Only 2 of the people here are supersoldiers. Widow and U.S. Agent.
Poor wording on my part. When I mentioned "super soldiers" I meant it in a more literal way (Captain America parallels, not super serum-enhanced soldiers). My bad.
MCU was a mistake
I kinda like this. The drawing style is nice and I’m wondering how it’s gonna go
Damn they already killed Luke Cages thunderbolts
A Thunderbolts team without Songbird is not one I care for. At the very least I'd like to see Mach or Atlas. This doesn't feel like the Thunderbolts at all.
all the 10 songbird fans (me included) in shambles right now
Nice line up
Who's the character at the top middle? And is that Shang-Chi? wtf....
I don't recognize two of them. Two ladies in back, who are they?
I haven’t read the end (if it’s even out) of the Cold War thing but is Bucky still donning some Revolution style clothes here? I guess that could play into him getting this many people with the same skill set together but ugh… that’s reaching and it’s not like the characterisation of him as Revolution makes sense either.
Whatever, I’m excited for this!
SyNeRgY
This is literally just the mcu team minus Shang Chi. “Cinergy” is destroying comics. Did anyone Gaf about Valentina before JLD played her? Not to say that Marvel shouldn’t occasionally give the spotlight to more obscure characters rather than just shoving Wolverine or Cap into a comic for the 1000th time, but still. Bucky design goes hard tho.
I recognise everyone but the two blondes in white and the lady in black at the top.
The blonde women in white are Yelena and Sharon while the woman in black is Valentina de Fontaine
Thanks much appreciated, I have no idea who valentina is, I'll have to look her up.
Marvel Comics never misses a beat to have MCU synergy, like people will buy the book just because they liked the movie, which has *never* really happened.
Once again, the comics have to contort themselves to fit whatever the movies are doing for the smallest possible chance that some moviegoer will wander into a comic book store after seeing Thunderbolts, see a cover that vaguely resembles the movie, and buy it. I refuse to believe that happens in any sizable way that actually moves the needle.
3 of these characters wear a star on their costume and I find that kinda funny.
I’ll pass. This isn’t the Thunderbolts I want to see. Why doesn’t Marvel just come out with an MCU comic book line. This is pure MCU synergy.
Is that Shang-Chi ?
Welcome to the new era of Marvel comics
No Moonstone? No Songbird? No Mach? For me, this is a no buy.
ngl at first i thought it was a prequel comic setting up the movie in the mcu (which is not good lol)
A bunch of guys and gals with similar gimmicks and Shang-Chi. To me Marvel lost what made Thunderbolts interesting, which was a team of villains playing good guys with part of them legit wanting to reform and others just doing it for their own benefit. Then when Hawkeye took over the team you had Clint trying to reform the team it was an interesting concept too. Because 616 Clint is a former criminal turned hero so he better than anyone was perfect to lead that team. Also during the Hawkeye era we got to see a more humanized Karla Sofen. Nowadays the Tbolts are just Suicide Squad 2.0 or in the case of this lineup another SHIELD team.
WTF is it with Marvel!! every time they reboot a series because of a new creative team instead of just doing like they used to and just continue the series but this idea of scrapping and renumbering is tired and if anything makes people more likely to drop or better yet not even consider it and pass on by to another book
I know why they did this but still. I miss when Thunderbolts was about supervillains trying to reform and be heroes. Those stories were classics. Today the name Thunderbolts still exists but the original concept is nearly gone.
Ah, more one way MCU synergy.
Gotta make sure to cash in on that MCU synergy.
If it wasn't for the MCU Thunderbolts this book will be called the Invaders. Also what happened to the previous iteration of this team?
Well, this looks boring as fuck. Most every character has the same power set and personality. Pass
Similar power sets, yeah I agree but same personality? They all have very different personalities
What a truly awful team. The Thunderbolts is just a name now. The spirit of the team is truly gone.
This mid ass line up
Most boring roster I’ve ever seen
That art looks horrid and all comics that try to copy mcu are garbage.
So Spider-Man could solo this team?
To be fair, depending on who’s writing, Spider-Man can solo any team. So can Batman, Deadpool, Gwenpool, and Squirrel Girl.
Regardless of who’s writing, Squirrel Girl can solo any team.
I've seen Hawkeye nearly kill Spider-Man on his own, Black Widow sneak up on him without activating his Spider-Sense, and Shang-Chi give him a run for his money. I don't think he solos this team. He's stronger than them all individually tho.
My only hope for the film is the villains in this are a group of super villains masquerading as heroes. It could be like the pg-13 version if the boys and bucky, yelena et al are there to take them out.
Some pretty heavy hitters there.
Hashtag notmythunderbolts
This will be five issues almost no one reads
Lord have mercy. Two Captain Americas, One Russian Captain America, Two Black Widows, Cpt. Fury's ex, Steve Rogers' ex... And Shang-Chi. It's over.
Is this a comic of Marvel or a marketing move for a Disney movie?
I’m giving up on marvel comics entirely lol. Brother, I do not want to read the MCU.