From the Ashes of Avengers: Standoff Comes THUNDERBOLTS #1!

UPDATED JANUARY 22nd: Answers! Sweet, glorious, answers! Finally, our long national nightmare of not knowing who was on this squad has been lain to rest. Nah, just kidding, it was pretty fun and best of all, we’re getting a new Thunderbolts book for realsies by the awesome creative team of Jim Zub and Jon Malin! And check out who’s leading this group, Mr. James Buchanan Barnes himself! Here’s the full official Press Release and completed image:

With a flash of lightning, the Thunderbolts have returned! Today, Marvel is pleased to announce THUNDERBOLTS #1 – the new ongoing seires from creators Jim Zub and Jon Malin! From the ashes of AVENGERS: STANDOFF, the Winter Soldier assembles the original Thunderbolts – Moonstone, the Fixer, MACH-V, Atlas and a mysterious new character for a dangerous new mission. One that will put them at the forefront and in the crosshairs of the Marvel Universe!

“Doing the right thing is different than being good,” says writer Jim Zub in an speaking with Marvel.com. “We’ve assembled a potent mix of characters to explore with big drama, big action and unexpected twists along the way. The new team is stacked with powerful personalities and a mission that’s going to tear them up and get right to their core. I’m excited about putting them in tough spots and letting the sparks fly.”

The threats no one else is prepared for. The difficult choices no one else can make. The Thunderbolts are ready to answer the call. Witness their formation this Spring in AVENGERS: STANDOFF and follow their adventures when THUNDERBOLTS #1 comes to comic shops and digital devices this May!

THUNDERBOLTS #1
Written by JIM ZUB
Art & Cover by JON MALIN
Variant Cover by MARK BAGLEY

On Sale in May!

UPDATED JANUARY 21st: You know the drill…

The latest update to Marvel’s “fill-in-the-silhouette” game of PR genius brings us two more characters: Big A-Guy and Cyborgy-looking Guy! What? Oh, okay, it’s Atlas and Fixer joining their teammates to deliver Injustice, Like Lightning! Catchy tag line there, isn’t it? All that’s left to be revealed is the figure in the foremost foreground and whomever that is looks to have some luscious locks. Presumably it should be Citizen V since he was in that early All-New, All-Different Marvel promo art, but last I checked Citizen V’s whole deal was wearing a mask and this mysterious person looks to be letting their hair down to kick some ass. Maybe it’s Maybelline? Maybe it’s Wolverine. It’s always Wolverine. Or Deadpool. Anyway, we’ll know for sure tomorrow! Important to note that either Atlas got a weird tribute tattoo or that signature there indicates that the talented artists who’ve brought us this image are none other than artist Mark Bagley, inker Andrew Hennessy and colorist Sonia Oback. See you tomorrow so we can try and figure out who it is we’re looking at even after they’ve been revealed!

UPDATED JANUARY 20th: But wait, there’s more!

That’s right, Marvel released a new teaser image today revealing two more characters on the “Injustice, Like Lightning” Thunderbolts (maybe, but I mean it’s probably 100% the Thunderbolts) squad. And look who it is! It’s Thunderbolts founding members Moonstone and Mach-VII…probably. They’re wearing masks, so I guess we can’t be sure. People like them though, right? Mach-VII was a-mah-zing in Superior Foes of Spider-Man in any case. Looking at all this information, I think it’s pretty easy to conclude that: A) This will be a comic book, B) The characters on this image will be in it, and C) The shaded silhouettes will be filled in with time because that’s how marketing works. We’re pretty good detectives here, folks. But more seriously, the original Thunderbolts run was tons of fun and this homage to that team hopefully means more baddies-as-goodies goodness is on the way. Any guesses on who’s yet to be revealed?

ORIGINAL POST JANUARY 19th: A fresh Marvel press release was sent out today with the subject line reading “From the Ashes of AVENGERS: STANDOFF…”

Now, this is definitely different than our two previous teaser installments which featured ominous words only, this is pretty clearly promoting a new Thunderbolts team replete with shaded-out figures much like their Uncanny Inhumans promos except for…uh…whoever the hell that ghost-looking kid is. If you know who that is, by all means feel free to rant below at how stupid I am below. We know that Avengers: Standoff will be an Avengers-centric event this March starting with AVENGERS STANDOFF: ASSAULT ON PLEASANT HILL ALPHA #1 and will no doubt involve people in costumes punching things and the horrible repercussions thereof. In this clear cover homage to Thunderbolts #1 from way back in the day (April of 1997 which literally turned me to dust typing that) the original cover featured the tagline “Justice, like Lightning” and starred a group of villains pretending to be heroes. Perhaps then our Injustice-bolts teased above will be the inverse concept and star a group of heroes pretending to be villains? Say what you will about the tenets of Marvel’s short-winded teasers, but its cool to see they’re into the whole brevity thing. Stay tuned for more.