With the Thunderbolts making their highly anticipated live-action debut, Marvel Comics is set to expand the team's narrative on the printed page. The current Thunderbolts team is pivotal in the upcoming One World Under Doom crossover event, and fans can look forward to an entirely new Thunderbolts team shortly after the movie hits theaters.
Marvel has unveiled New Thunderbolts*, a new series penned by Sam Humphries, known for his work on Uncanny X-Force, and illustrated by Ton Lima, who previously worked on West Coast Avengers. The cover art for issue #1 is crafted by Stephen Segovia. Take a look at the striking cover below:
While the new series is designed to synergize with the upcoming movie by featuring Bucky Barnes as the team leader and sporting a mysterious asterisk in the title, the team's composition diverges significantly. The roster includes newcomers to the Thunderbolts such as Clea, Wolverine (Laura Kinney), Namor, Hulk, and Carnage, with Eddie Brock currently embodying the Carnage mantle.
The narrative kicks off with Bucky and Black Widow confronting an existential threat posed by doppelgangers of the Illuminati, which are disrupting the Marvel Universe. They will recruit a new ensemble of formidable characters to tackle this crisis, though managing such a diverse and volatile group will prove to be a challenging endeavor for Bucky.
"I love every iteration of Thunderbolts," Humphries stated in Marvel's press release. "I'm thrilled to continue the franchise's proud tradition of hard-hitting action, powder-keg personalities, and explosive surprises into a new era. This is a gang of seven of the biggest badasses and loose cannons from different corners of the Marvel Universe. Assembling a super team is like inviting the right combination of guests to a dinner party. So I imagined a dangerous, disastrous, unhinged Marvel dinner party, and went with that."
"I'm having a blast working on this book with Mr. Humphries and the team," Lima added. "Look at this lineup... it's crazy. They're not here to talk; they jump straight to the action! And that's the most fun part to draw. None of them are known for taking it easy on the job, so I can't either."
New Thunderbolts* #1 is slated for release on June 11, 2025.
For further insights into the Thunderbolts* movie, delve into details about Lewis Pullman's character, The Sentry, and explore the significance of the asterisk in the title.
