Synopsis
Thunderbolts: Doomstrike (2025 series) #2 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
In the previous series Bucky Barnes (now the Revolutionary) tricked Dr Doom into killing Red Skull. Since then DrD became Sorcerer Supreme and has taken over the world in the One World Under Doom event. Last issue Bucky refused to lead Victor von Doom's secret police, the Fulgur Victoris. He and his allies Black Widow, Songbird and the LMD version of Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine attempted to destroy Doom's orbiting nuclear arsenal. For all these insults Doom destroyed Bucky's Thunderbolts Mountain HQ and LMD Val, and then nuked Bucky's hometown Shelbyville, Indiana and framed Bucky for it.
Now Bucky's brooding over the losses and planning revenge involving a train, some insurgents in Texas and an old pal Sal. Black Widow has discovered his plan and has arranged for him to meet an ally who she's told of his innocence - John Walker/US Agent (whose windpipe and voice have obviously recovered from being crushed by Skull in the previous series). Walker's drinking and has just thrown his shield through his TV screen because it kept showing coverage of Shelbyville. Barnes reckons Walker hates Doom more than he hates him, so they should go ruin his day.
They go to Austin, Texas, now known as (Doom-)Free City, to contact the insurgents. They know where their base is but not the password, so Bucky just asks for WWII Veteran Sal but they don't know who he's talking about. He tries to talk his way in but they're approached from behind by some insurgents led by another alumnus of last series, Sharon Carter, the Destroyer, with her Neganite bat. She has to be convinced that he didn't destroy Shelbyville, and also that Doom did it partly because of what they did last series - so she has to help make it right.
Carter isn't convinced they can do anything more than hold their little patch of ground. Bucky tells her gang that Doom is using LMD Val's OXE organisation which he has co-opted to move something big through Texas by train. Walker points out that Bucky already failed to expose Doom's secrets last issue, as Steve Rogers (Captain America) also failed (with lots of other heroes in OWUD#1), and whatever they do Doom will probably retaliate. Barnes tells them a WWII tale of when he was in the Invaders with Cap. Winston Churchill sent them into battle by saying that when you see people ground by the gears of a machine the only thing you can do is "be the wrench" that stops the machine. So the galvanised troops go out to do battle.
The train they're after is piloted by a pathfinding AI modelled on Doom's brain and doesn't need tracks because it rides on a bed of magic. But a recent freak storm remodelled the local terrain so Doom's map is out-of-date. They also herd it using bazookas and other explosive devices to get it where they want it - to meet Bucky's pal Sal who is Sal Romero, the WWII Ghost Rider, who he's managed to tempt out of retirement with the prospect of Nazi-bashing. Biker GR's hellfire chain starts to tip the locomotive over, Destroyer's bat helps it on its way and USA's partially-Vibranium shield finally kills its momentum. The insurgents deal with protective Doombots and then they await an airlift for the cargo.
But what they get is an attack by the latest Citizen V who was revealed to us last issue as the long-thought-dead real Val de Fontaine and original founder of the OXE. Recovering from his surprise that she's alive (not actually surprising for a Marvel char) Bucky tells the others to run. The villain stamps on US Agent's head and we learn that he was *supposed* to stop them. She starts shooting and stabbing insurgents until Destroyer takes her on, telling her remaining troops to take the prize to the rendezvous or their comrades will have died for nothing. CV says they *have* already because this was all a trap planned by her, and she casually chops Carter's bat in half. But GR wraps his chain round her arm and drags her away telling the others to escape. Bucky warns him that her sword's special as she cuts through the chain and kills GR with it.
The Contessa claims the LMD Val was sent out into the world to distract from her own activities. Natasha Romanova calls to say that the extraction is ready but Bucky won't leave John Walker behind. Sharon calls to say her group have escaped and opened the box to reveal bars of Vibranium. The escape wire dangling from Nat's plane arrives and Bucky takes it. But USA tells Val he still doesn't regret his decision, as she says he'll be imprisoned in Latveria where she'll torture him. But only after she's returned from Wakanda (home of Vibranium) where Barnes is now bound to go as she planned.
And now Bucky has more dead on his conscience.
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Destroyer (
Sharon Carter), Ghost Rider (
Sal Romero), Revolution (
Bucky Barnes).