Get to know Marvel’s Suicide Squad, The Thunderbolts

Suicide Squad is releasing this Friday, August 5th, and despite mostly negative reviews, it is likely to be one of the biggest films of the year. The basic premise behind the movie revolves around incarcerated super villains hired by the US government to go on highly dangerous missions in order to cut down on their jail time. It’s an interesting concept, and one that competing comic publisher Marvel capitalized on.

The closest thing Marvel has to their own Suicide Squad are the Thunderbolts, which is an equally awesome name. The original team was formed when the Avengers were presumed dead after Onslaught, an entity created by the consciousnesses of Professor X and Magneto, wrecked the entire Marvel universe. Originally thought to be a group of new heroes, it is revealed at the end of their first issue that they are actually the Masters of Evil in disguise. Consisting of Beetle, Fixer, Moonstone, Screaming Mimi and led by Baron Zemo, the premise of Thunderbolts is different to that of Suicide Squad. After the loss of the Avengers, Zemo hatched a plan to gain the public trust by posing as a new team of heroes. Once they got to a certain echelon and had access to S.H.I.E.L.D, he planned to use the knowledge for nefarious means.

However, as time went on and the Thunderbolts went on more heroic missions, some members started to believe themselves to be actual heroes. They even went to the point of recruiting an actual hero by the name of Jolt, who was unaware of her teammates’ true identities. Things were further complicated by the return of the Avengers who, surprise surprise, were not actually killed by Onslaught. Fearing mutiny from his team and threatened by the return of Captain America and company, Zemo unveiled the true nature of the Thunderbolts to the world.

The rest of the team was not happy with Zemo’s decision, as most had jumped on the hero bandwagon. The Baron’s greatest fear that the Thunderbolts would turn against him came true, and using mind control had the Avengers fight them in an ironic role reversal. The Thunderbolts ultimately defeated Zemo, and tried to present themselves as reformed criminals. However, their sordid pasts as supervillains made them fugitives, despite help from actual good guy Hawkeye to change public opinion.

The team since then has gone through a huge roster of characters, ever shifting between supervillains such as Venom, Bullseye and Norman Osborn, and the more scrupulous superheroes like Black Widow, Elektra and The Punisher. They have both acted on their own accord and as a specific tool for the government. It wouldn’t be hard to see that Thunderbolts could even act as a bridge between Marvel’s TV platforms, with the inclusion of Ghost Rider on Agents of Shield and the Punisher now getting his own fully fledged Netflix original series. I’m sure Marvel Studios will be looking at the commercial success of Suicide Squad closely to weigh if an MCU version of the Thunderbolts would be beneficial to their line-up of content. Come on: who wouldn't see a live action version of this?