Marvel Reveals Who Owns The Name Thunderbolts

The King in Black storyline continues throughout Marvel Comics and this week the publisher has released King in Black: Thunderbolts #1, marking the return of the villain-themed team to the pages of the Marvel universe. This new version of the team comes with plenty of familiar faces, but also reveals that the group themselves are under new management in a surprising way. Not only did Mayor Wilson Fisk put this team of Thunderbolts together, but he reveals that he owns the team. While speaking with the team he assembled, frequent Thunderbolts member Taskmaster enquired about the use of the name, noting: “Wasn’t it originally a scam started by a Nazi pretending he was a good guy so he could take over the world?” Fisk replies: “More importantly, it is a name I own the copyright to.”

It’s worth noting that the most recent version of the Thunderbolts that appeared in Marvel Comics had ties to Fisk and that is where this copyright transfer seemingly comes from. In the pages of Matthew Rosenberg’s run on The Punisher, Rosenberg having written this Thunderbolts issue too, Fisk worked with Baron Zemo to put together a team that would go up against Frank Castle. In the end, as you can imagine, that didn’t go well, and though a specific notion of the Thunderbolts as a concept being owned by Fisk wasn’t addressed, this is a nice continuation of that storyline.

For this new team, Taskmaster is joined by Mr. Fear, Rhino, Batroc the Leaper, Star (newcomer, a Captain Marvel villain named Ripley Ryan), plus new villains Snakehead and Ampere. With Fisk in charge, and his long-standing rule against superheroics in the city of New York, he makes a demand of the team as they head out into the symbiote infested city, no masks. They balk at first but eventually relent. They don’t make it far with their fresh faces out in the world before their are casualties though with Snakehead dying from a dragon biting her in half, and Ampere being killed by Mr. Fear himself.

You can read the full synopsis for the next issue below!

King in Black: Thunderbolts #2 (of 3)

(W) Matthew Rosenberg (A) Juan Ferreyra (CA) Kyle Hotz
THE THUNDERBOLTS GET COMMITTED!
• The secret to saving the world lies within the Ravencroft Institute, but can the Thunderbolts get it out?
• Not if a mob of Knullified inmates have anything to say about it!
• The Thunderbolts’ plan to save the world is revealed, and it must be seen to be believed!