Marvel Celebrating Thunderbolts 20th Anniversary With Return Of The Masters

Today at the “Divided WE Stand” panel from New York Comic Con 2016, Marvel Comics announced plans to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their supervillain team the Thunderbolts.

Here’s ComicBook.com’s Kofi Outlaw’s report from the panel:

Thunderbolts #7 will begin a new story arc called “Caught Red Handed” and Bucky “Winter Soldier” Barnes will be leading them, after being captured by SHIELD while battling Miles Morales. Bucky will be brought face-to-face with Captain America: Agent of HYDRA, and we’re told that sparks will fly when that happens. The rest of the Thunderbolts will have to decide if breaking out their “leader” is a worthy mission. After that, issues #8 and #9 will see the return of classic Thunderbolts (Songbird, Atlas, Mach-1, Moonstone) and issue #10 in February will be the 20th-anniversary issue, with original Thunderbolts artist Mark Bagley and writer Kurt Busiek helping out Jim Zub and Jon Malin. The story will feature the return of Jolt! Finally, Zub teases the ominous upcoming story arc “Rise of the Masters.”

Created by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley in Thunderbolts #1, Jolt is a young girl named Hallie Takahama. Her parents were killed and her home was destroyed by Sentinels during the Onslaught event. She was kidnapped by Arnim Zola’s Rat Pack and was experimented on. These experiments gave her energy and electricity-based superpowers. Once she escaped, she joined the new superhero team called the Thunderbolts that had sprung up after the Avengers and Fantastic Four had disappeared in the wake of the Onslaught disaster. The Thunderbolts later made a trip to Counter-Earth, the pocket universe that Franklin Richards had hidden the missing heroes away in (as seen in the Heroes Reborn event). Jolt decided to stay on Counter-Earth as a member of the Young Allies.

The “Return of the Masters” storyline hints at the return of the Masters of Evil. Those who know Thunderbolts history remember that the Thunderbolts were originally conceived us as a facade by Baron Zemo to mask the true intentions of his Masters of Evil.

Thunderbolts #10 goes on sale in Feb. 2017. Check out Bagley’s Jolt variant cover below.