THUNDERBOLTS #48-49 (2001): Scourge revealed

Jolt is back. Scourge shot her in the head a few issues ago, and it turns out, she survived–with brain damage.

Yeah. That happened.

They track Scourge down and fight him, unmask him, and learn he is…Steve Rogers?!?

No, that’s just another disguise.

It’s really Jack “Nomad” Monroe, Captain America’s former partner.

We also learn that Hawkeye lied to the team, telling them they could earn pardons if they did good deeds: No such deal was ever on the table. Hawkeye just wanted to get them to do good, and wanted to be team leader.

Monroe was being mind-controlled. There’s a whole backstory, which is basically the same backstory as Winter Soldier–only when Ed Brubaker tells that story, it will be much, much better.

And who is the big villain behind it all?

Henry Peter Gyrich.

Also, the new Citizen V is shown in training sessions with new versions of the aliases of the villains who first formed The Thunderbolts under Baron Zemo.

Meteorite. Scream (Angar the Screamer).

Beetle, who is The Ringer’s wife (Ringer is in prison).

Fixer, who is the same dude. We all thought he was dead, but he’s not. And Smuggler, who is the deceased Eric Josten’s brother.

They call themselves The Redeemers.

And their leader, Citizen V, has lied to them about getting pardons–just like Hawkeye did.

Lots of parallels. Aliases under aliases under aliases. Fabian Nicieza appears to be turning the Thunderbolts comic into versions of itself. Very meta, and an enjoyable read.

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