"Revelations!" Thunderbolts 48 (March 2001)
"Explanations!" Thunderbolts 49 (April 2001)
"Redemption?" Thunderbolts 50 (May 2001)
(2001/03/01)

Reader Rating: Extraordinary

Roll Call: Charcoal, Hawkeye, Jolt, MACH-2, Moonstone, Songbird

Summary: The End of the Thunderbolts begins as the team returns from Saturn to discover Atlas dead, Jolt reborn, and Mt. Charteris in the hands of SHIELD. The revived Ogre hides deeper in the mountain with his mysterious cryotube experiment. The ’Bolts track down Scourge, reveal him to be The Nomad (Jack Monroe) and discover that Scourge is being controlled by Gyrich. But Gyrich’s goal is nothing less than the destruction of all super-humans, which brings the V-Battalion into the picture. To stop Gyrich, Citizen V forms a new team, dubbed The Redeemers. They are: The Beetle, The Fixer (a restored human P. Norbert Ebersol), Meteorite, The Smuggler (Erik Josten’s brother, Conrad), and a construct known as Scream. The Thunderbolts and The Redeemers beard Gyrich in CSA headquarters and stop him from using his infernal device but, in the aftermath…

…Abe, Melissa, Karla and Erik (posthumously) are given Presidential pardons, but forbidden to use their powers. Hawkeye takes the rap for the team and is sent to jail. Charcoal, Jolt and Ebersol join with The Redeemers, now under the guidance of SHIELD and Captain America. And the V-Battalion vows to discover the mastermind behind Gyrich.

Continuity: Songbird finds Scream familiar, for reasons that will be revealed in "Silent Scream!" (2002/02/01). The Beetle armor is inhabited by someone named Leila. Jolt is revealed to be physically disabled in her human form. The Fixer appears to have no memory since the Elements of Doom snapped his neck in "Unstable Elements" ( 1997/09/01). Citizen V introduces himself as John Watkins III, grandson of the original and "…the man Helmut Zemo was impersonating when he started the Thunderbolts ruse to begin with."

Comments: While the execution is short of perfect – there are a number of production errors and continuity bumps – the scope and sheer nerve of the storytelling is breathtaking.

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This page was revised on January 20, 2002