Thunderbolts Return in New Marvel Series With Mysterious Lineup

The Thunderbolts are making a return to the Marvel Universe in a new series, and the publisher released an image to tease the mysterious lineup. The superhero team made their debut in the late ’90s, filling in for the likes of the Avengers and Fantastic Four following their disappearance after fighting Onslaught. However, the final page of their first issue revealed the Thunderbolts were really villains masquerading as heroes, led by Baron Zemo. Marvel has returned to the Thunderbolts franchise on a number of different occasions, with figures such as Norman Osborn, Luke Cage, and even the Winter Soldier spearheading the efforts.

Promotional art for the new Thunderbolts series has the team’s logo at the top and two words marked as classified in an accompanying sentence. It reads, “Thunderbolts. CLASSIFIED CLASSIFIED Like Lightning…” In the middle of the artwork are six silhouettes of our heroes. Not much can be gleaned from looking at them since no one is recognizable. The only other information provided is that Marvel will reveal the entire team and make a full announcement, most likely with the creative team attached, tomorrow on Friday, February 11th.

The Thunderbolts returned to their villainous roots in the Marvel event series King in Black. It was revealed that Wilson Fisk, the former Kingpin and current Mayor of New York City, bought the copyright for the “Thunderbolts” name. The King in Black Thunderbolts team consisted of Taskmaster, Mr. Fear, Rhino, Batroc the Leaper, Star (a Captain Marvel villain named Ripley Ryan), plus new villains Snakehead and Ampere.

Writer Matthew Rosenberg and artist Juan Ferreyra were the creative team on the King in Black: Thunderbolts miniseries, and Rosenberg talked to ComicBook.com about the new lineup and taking part in the Marvel event.

“A big part of the fun of The Thunderbolts is seeing who they are in each new iteration,” Rosenberg said. “You want new faces, clashing personalities, a good mix of the almost heroic, the redeemable, and the truly awful. Also I am a big sucker for the street-level characters who get in over their heads, and this has that in spades. But one of the best parts of seeing villains together is how they work or don’t work well together. We all get that the Avengers are a well-oiled machine who have each other’s backs. The Thunderbolts are almost the opposite- a bunch of loners who don’t much care for each other. So you can great interplay between them because it’s not one big happy family. For me, Taskmaster, Batroc, Star, Mister Fear, Snakehead, Rhino, and Ampere is that perfect balance of will they accomplish the mission or will they tear each apart.”

“Thunderbolts is one of the best concepts Marvel has ever produced. It’s a book that constantly reinvents itself in fun ways and it’s a real honor to carry on that tradition,” Rosenberg continued. “I think we have a really wild premise and unique team, and letting them cut loose during the epic events of King In Black is going to be a really fun trial by fire for them.”

Who do you hope makes it onto the new Thunderbolts team? Let us know your thoughts in the comments, and head back to ComicBook.com tomorrow when the full announcement is made.