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Thunderbolts #141: Review

Apr 2010
Jeff Parker, Miguel Sepulveda

Story Name:

(no title given)

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

Thunderbolts #141 Review by (October 16, 2018)
This issue is part of the Siege event. It is spread across Siege #1-3. The 1st half up to and including Amadaeus Cho contacting US Agent runs in parallel with #1. The bit where USA picks up Cho is placed by the Marvel Chronology Project within #2. The adventures of the Thunderbolts in Asgard are matched with #3, mainly because Stature and Vision do stuff beforehand with Captain America's team in #2-3.

This also begins a crossover within Siege with Mighty Avengers #35-36. The relevant events here are those involving Amadeus Cho, Stature, US Agent and Vision.

Odin has been absent since the Asgardians all 'died' in Thor (1998) #85 as part of Avengers Disassembled. When Thor returned in 2007 he brought back the other Asgardians except Odin. In that volume's #8 he learned that Odin was now in permanent battle with Surtur. But of course Odin *will* be returned to Marvel reality.

At the end of last issue Ghost left on a mission which editorial comment indicated was in Iron Man (2008) #20-24, and here he blames Tony Stark for winding up in Asgard. There are some discrepancies between the IM issues and the TBolts ones. Last issue Ghost said it was a personal mission, but in IM he was sent by Madame Masque working for Norman Osborn. And at the end of IM#24 Stark claimed to send him to South Korea, not Asgard.
Whatever, the MCP puts the IM issues between our #137 and 138, to make room for a couple of other Tony Stark apps between then and Siege #1.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Thunderbolts #141 Synopsis by Rob Johnson
In their Cube HQ Scourge (Nuke) orders the Thunderbolts to report to their plane the Zeus immediately. They've heard about the explosion in Chicago and they figure that Osborn is sending them against the Asgardian gods. Ant-Man tries to talk Paladin out of going but Paladin is a professional mercenary and goes where he's paid to go. They meet up with Grizzly and join Scourge and Mr X in the plane.

Norman Osborn fills them in on their mission by prerecorded video. As a result of the death toll in Chicago 'caused' by the Asgardian Volstagg he has declared martial law in Broxton, Oklahoma where the city of Asgard is now situated (we see an image of Volstagg fighting the U-Foes in Siege #1). He is on site with his initial forces (we see images of the Dark Avengers) but he's expecting reinforcements. He says their 1st hurdle will be Thor (we see Thor fighting Sentry in Siege #1, but presumably that hasn't happened yet).

Osborn tells the team he's sending them on a stealth mission to break into the Asgardian armoury  and steal the Spear of Odin (which he shows them a handy image of). Odin is currently out of the picture, but unlike Thor's hammer Mjolnir the Spear can be wielded by *anyone*. Norman butters them up by listing their individual skills which qualify them for the job. But he includes Ghost and Headsman on the list so obviously doesn't know that Scourge killed Headsman last issue, and no-one knows where Ghost is.

*We* see Ghost materialise in Asgard after an uncontrollable teleportation which he blames on Tony Stark. When he recovers his senses he goes invisible and intangible. He gets the message from Osborn but is suspicious because the Chicago disaster sounds improbably like the Stamford incident which sparked off Civil War I. He figures Osborn arranged it, but also figures it's no use telling his teammates because Scourge wouldn't allow them to abort their mission. So he decides to pass the info on to others who may make use of it.

(Ghost isn't a good guy, but we've already seen him do other things to put spanners in Osborn's works. 1 reason may be because he's anti-corporations, and Norman is a corporate bigwig. But really it's just a way to set up this crossover with Mighty Avengers.)

He fails to get through to various other people but finally manages to download the data into the pocket computer of Amadeus Cho. He in turn tries to contact the other now-disbanded Mighty Avengers. He can't reach Quicksilver, Stature or Vision, but eventually gets U.S. Agent. And a short time later USA picks him up in a borrowed Air Force VTOL jet.

As the Zeus approaches Asgard Hogun the Grim fires an arrow at it. Most of the team scoff at this but Paladin urgently tells them to evacuate the plane. The arrow blows the plane up, and the TBolts paraglide down towards their destination building (with Ant-Man on Paladin's shoulder).

On the ground leader Scourge takes issue with Paladin ordering the evac. There are already 2 of the team missing and he won't tolerate insubordination. Mr X objects that Scourge *killed* 1 of the 'missing'. Scourge claims that was due to psychic manipulation (by the Uranian of the Agents of Atlas). X says it's an example of Scourge's mental instability. So the leader pulls a gun on him.

But Grizzly calls for help pushing open the god-heavy door to the armoury. And Paladin says he hears an Asgardian coming so they nip inside sharpish. They see a motley collection of weapons ancient and modern. Grizzly spots a door bearing a symbol they saw on the Spear in the video. Mr X finds a finely-balanced chain weapon which he tests by decapitating a statue, and also picks up a shield which he guesses will be proof against Earthly bullets.

Ant-Man climbs inside the keyhole of the inner door and unlocks it, and Grizzly again provides the muscle to open it. Inside they find loads of gold coins and objects, which unfortunately Ant-Man can't shrink because that's not 1 of the powers of his super-suit. They discuss what they'd do with the money this could get them. But Scourge fires his machine gun to remind them of their mission.

They locate a large chest which working together they manage to open. Inside they *do* find they Spear of Odin. But an Asgardian heard the machine-gun and now attacks them. After an intense fight Mr X manages to kill him (but not with the chain). Scourge orders them to take the Spear and leave before reinforcements arrive. But reinforcements *do* arrive in the shape of Cho, Stature, US Agent and Vision.



Miguel Sepulveda
Miguel Sepulveda
Frank Martin
Adi Granov (Cover Penciler)
Adi Granov (Cover Inker)
Adi Granov (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: Albert Deschesne.
Editor: Bill Rosemann. Editor-in-chief: Joe Quesada.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Ant-Man
Ant-Man

(Eric O'Grady)
Hogun
Hogun

(Hogun the Grim)
Iron Patriot
Iron Patriot

(Norman Osborn)
U.S. Agent
U.S. Agent

(John Walker)

Plus: Grizzly, Mr X, Nuke, Paladin, Stature, Vision (Jonas).

> Thunderbolts: Book info and issue index

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