10 Best Members of the Thunderbolts, Ranked

Marvel Comics was flailing in the mid ’90s, doing everything to fix the mistakes they themselves made that caused the comic speculator boom and bust of the decade (speaking as someone who there – Marvel almost destroyed the industry, and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying). This included getting Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld to take over the Avengers and Fantastic Four, shunting them to their own universe. This left a paucity of heroes on Earth-616, and The Incredible Hulk #449 introduced a new group: the Thunderbolts. At the time, they felt like a white bread superhero team and we were all measuring them for caskets, but then Thunderbolts #1 blew everyone away, revealing the truth: they were secretly the Masters of Evil.

Since then, they’ve become Marvel’s premiere villain team and they’d eventually end up as the Marvel Suicide Squad. Many characters have found their way to the group, but some of them stand out more than others. These ten Thunderbolts were the best members of the team, helping make them into legends.

10) Venom

Symbiotes have become a big deal in the Marvel Universe, but there was a time when they weren’t as popular, namely the mid ’00s. Eddie Brock stopped being Venom in Mark Millar’s 12-issue Marvel Knights Spider-Man run that no one remembers (for mostly good reason) and Mac Gargan, the Scorpion, bought the symbiote. He’d join the Thunderbolts during Civil War. He was an all-together more brutal version of Venom, and was always good for a laugh. He’d eventually graduate to the Dark Avengers, where he became that team’s Spider-Man.

9) Atlas

Erik Josten was a mercenary who Zemo used an ionic ray on, giving him superhuman strength and durability, acting as Power Man for the Masters of Evil. He’d later be dosed with Pym Particles by Dr. Karlin Malus and became Goliath, rejoining the Masters. As Atlas of the Thunderbolts, he got a taste of the other side of the moral divide and really enjoyed being a superhero, even dating the T-Bolts’ media liaison. He would be one of the members who turned on Zemo, and would act as the team’s powerhouse. He’s rejoined the group several times over the years, but hasn’t reached the heights he did with the original incarnation.

8) Mach-1

Mach-1 was once the Spider-Man antagonist the Beetle. Abner Jenkins was a scrub villain, constantly upgrading his armor to help him battle the Wall-Crawler and other heroes. He’d join the Masters of Evil with Zemo and would become Mach-1 for the Thunderbolts. He was basically the male heroic lead of the book’s first run, and would get upgrades constantly, changing the number of the Mach armor he was wearing in his codename. He was eventually overshadowed by another member on this list as male lead, and never really did anything of note after the team’s original run but he was awesome for a while.

7) Techno

Techno was once the Fixer, one of many super-intelligent villains, known for outfitting his fellow bad guys and trying to outsmart the smartest heroes around. He became an ally of Zemo because of the Masters of Evil, and would become a key part of the Thunderbolts scheme. He was basically the only member of the team that sided with Zemo in the original run of the comic, and would be the most openly villainous member. He’s since became the token betrayer, always working against them in some way, making him a fun spoiler of a character.

6) Bullseye

Bullseye is Marvel’s deadliest mercenary, mostly known for battling Daredevil and working for the Kingpin (he’s also had an amazing fight with Old Man Logan that no one remembers). The villain would end up as a member of the Thunderbolts when they became the Marvel Suicide Squad, and he did what he did best: killed people, needled his teammates in order to start fights, and test the boundaries of the technology that held the team in thrall. Bullseye is always great, and he was especially fun to read in Thunderbolts.

5) Norman Osborn

Norman Osborn is Spider-Man’s greatest foe, and one of Marvel’s best villains. In Civil War, he was recruited by Tony Stark to deal with the Atlanteans, starting a bloody war against the ocean-dwellers that was overshadowed by the superhero conflict. He was made the head of the Thunderbolts when it became the Suicide Squad, having to ride herd on a bunch of the deadliest villains around. He did this by throwing his weight around and manipulating everyone. This was one of the best stretches of the character’s existence and would lead to his blockbuster star turn in “Dark Reign”.

4) Baron Zemo/Citizen V

Some Marvel villains are more dangerous than they seem, and that describes Baron Helmut Zemo perfectly. He took up his father’s mask to take revenge on Captain America and the Avengers for killing the Nazi leader, and would end up as the most well-known leader of the team his father founded, the Masters of Evil. He came up with the Thunderbolts plan, and decided to take up the mantle of Citizen V, a Golden Age hero his father secretly killed, for his part in the whole thing. He didn’t bet on the villains he had recruited betraying him, though, and became the team’s first arch-enemy. He would later rejoin them in the ’00s, but has rarely returned as a member since.

3) Hawkeye

Hawkeye is the most underrated Avenger, becoming a mainstay of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes because he’s one of the bravest people you can imagine. This is a man who uses one of humanity’s oldest weapons against superhumans, monsters, gods, aliens, and cosmic beings, making jokes in the face of death. The T-Bolts showed up to replace the Avengers, but when they came back, Zemo put his plan into double time. Most of the team betrayed him, teaming with the returned heroes to take him down. Hawkeye decided to stay with them, and became the team’s new leader, helping them on their road to becoming actual heroes. He’d return to the team in recent years, leading them again and showing that once a Thunderbolt, always a Thunderbolt.

2) Meteorite/Moonstone

Karla Sofen was an evil psychiatrist who worked with Arnim Zola, and would later get her hands on the Moonstone by manipulating Lloyd Bloch, becoming the next villain to take up the name. She’d end up joining the Masters of Evil with Zemo, and would pose as Meteorite, the team’s field leader. She wasn’t sold on being a hero at first, but eventually joined the fight against Zemo and would help defeat him. She slotted into second in command with Hawkeye before he left, when she ended up becoming leader herself. She’s one of the team’s mainstays, having been on nearly every version of the group, and an underrated powerhouse who would join the Dark Avengers before going back to being the almost heroic villainess we all love.

1) Songbird

Songbird was the villainous Screaming Mimi, her sonic powers enhanced with technology that allowed her to shape the energy into various constructs. She was the female lead of the book in the early days, and one of the first to embrace heroism. She had quite a journey throughout the Kurt Busiek run on the comic, and he even showed her as a future Avengers in Avengers Forever, an underrated classic. She’s since lost most of her character development, but that doesn’t change that she has long been the coolest member of the Thunderbolts.

Who’s your favorite Thunderbolt? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

10 Most Powerful Thunderbolts Members, Ranked