Godzilla Vs. Hulk #1 has hit the stands, the first salvo in Godzilla’s major crossover with the Marvel Universe. Godzilla has a long history with Marvel, the kaiju’s first American comics being made by the publisher. Godzilla Vs. Hulk #1 references this by using his old villain Doctor Demonicus, but the story is set in another version of the Marvel Universe than the old comics. The Hulk is secretly working with Thunderbolt Ross, who has been tasked with fighting against Godzilla and the other kaiju. While the issue definitely has some great Godzilla and Hulk action, the most interesting part of it comes form Ross’s force, which has a very familiar name to Marvel fans, both to comic and MCU fans — the Thunderbolts.
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The Thunderbolts have played a rather interesting role in the Marvel Universe since their debut in 1997, which coincidentally enough was in the Hulk’s own comic. The Thunderbolts made a huge splash, with their dark secret becoming the focus of their ongoing series — that the Thunderbolts were the Masters of Evil in disguise. Over the years, the Thunderbolts have changed a lot, but this newest evolution is easily their coolest.
The Thunderbolts Have Been an Important Part of Marvel for Almost Thirty Years
1997 was a very different time in the Marvel Universe. “Onslaught” saw the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and Bruce Banner, separated from Hulk by the fight with the nigh-omnipotent Onslaught, “sacrifice” themselves to allow the X-Men to defeat Onslaught. However, they were shunted to another universe. Meanwhile, the Hulk was still around without Banner and in his feral state. A new team of heroes, the Thunderbolts, showed up to fight him. They were given an ongoing series, which was pretty perplexing to fans at the time since they seemed like a kind of basic superhero team, and the first issue revealed the truth — that Baron Zemo had recruited some of his old Masters of Evil teammates to pose as heroes to take the Avengers and FF’s place. This would allow the Thunderbolts to take over the world. However, most members if the team started to like being heroes and when the Avengers and FF returned, most of the team turned on Zemo and Hawkeye became their leader for a time.
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The Thunderbolts were relatively popular for a time, but that faded away by the early ’00s. A new version of the team returned in the mid ’00s, but seeing as how it didn’t have the bait and switch of the original series, it never got as popular. However, another Marvel event would bring the Thunderbolts back to the big leagues — Civil War. Iron Man recruited villains to work with the Superhero Initiative and SHIELD, reforming the Thunderbolts under Norman Osborn, the team basically becoming Marvel’s Suicide Squad. This led to Osborn saving the world from the Skrulls in Secret Invasion, becoming the director of the Superhero Initiative, and seeing his team of Thunderbolts become the Avengers. This was the last time the Thunderbolts were a major part of the Marvel Universe, although there have been several attempts to reboot them. The Thunderbolts have become synonymous with villains acting as heroes, and Godzilla Vs. Hulk #1 plays into that.
Godzilla Vs. Hulk #1 Introduces the Thunderbolts as a Kaiju-Fighting Force
Godzilla Vs. Hulk #1 introduces the Thunderbolts almost right away. Their base is called “Thunderbolts Ranch”. Readers get their first glimpse of the ‘Bolts during a battle between Mothra and Kumonga, one meant to lure Mothra’s friend Godzilla to the Ranch. Kumonga is seen with a machine with the Thunderbolts logo, which is revealed to control him for the Thunderbolts, created by Doctor Demonicus, a villain created for the Marvel Godzilla comics. Later in the issue, it’s revealed that Tony Stark created Mechagodzillas, which are piloted by Ross and Banner into battle with Godzilla.
This Thunderbolts isn’t just a group of villains teamed up, but a kaiju fighting force meant to battle Godzilla. The Thunderbolts has always been a cool idea — well, the original conception not the Suicide Squad ripoff it became — but making them a kaiju fighting force tips the scale. This is the best version of the Thunderbolts and hopefully the upcoming Godzilla Destroy the Marvel Universe will give readers more of them.
Godzilla Vs. Hulk #1 is on sale now, and if you want to talk about it, head on over to @crustyoldfan.bsky.social.
