[1] The Thunderbolts were first presented, both to readers and to the Marvel Universe, as a group of super-powered figures who became heroes to help protect the world when the Avengers were declared dead after the events of the 1996 "Onslaught" crossover.

The final page of the first issue of their comic book, however, revealed that the Thunderbolts were actually the Masters of Evil in disguise, a surprise twist carefully guarded by Marvel.

[citation needed] The book has also garnered critical praise for its use of secondary characters from other Marvel Comics and its use of continuity-themed storytelling.

No mention was made of the connection between the Thunderbolts and the Masters of Evil in this appearance, save perhaps for the Hulk almost recognizing Meteorite's voice (having fought Moonstone before).

The first issue, cover dated April 1997, was played largely as a straight superhero story, until the revelation of the Thunderbolts' true nature on the last page of the comic.

Despite critical acclaim, the book was reformatted with Thunderbolts #76 (March 2003), removing the entire cast and creative team and replacing it with a brand new set of characters, along with a new writer, John Arcudi.

However, the new direction for the series—an underground fighting circuit that employed predominantly newly created super-villain characters—was a commercial failure[citation needed] and canceled after six issues.

The storyline continued the events from Avengers/Thunderbolts as well as the fall-out of "Avengers Disassembled" and returned to the original series concept, though with a roster that lacked many fan favorites (such as Baron Zemo, Moonstone, and Techno).

[16][17] This team debuted in Thunderbolts #128-129, a story that dealt with "Dark Reign", the Secret Invasion aftermath,[17][18] which was followed by "Magnum Opus", a 4-issue crossover with Deadpool (vol.

[33][34] The Thunderbolts comic book was renamed Dark Avengers beginning with issue #175, but the creative team remained unchanged.

[39] In July 2023, a new Thunderbolts series was announced for a December release and will be written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing and illustrated by Geraldo Borges.