[2][3][4] The Thunderbolts were first presented, both to readers and to the Marvel Universe, in The Incredible Hulk #449 (January 1997), written by Peter David with art by Mike Deodato Jr., 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.

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.

[22] Jolt, an Asian American teenage girl whose entire family was killed by Onslaught and was experimented on by Arnim Zola, soon joined the team after she came to the Baxter Building seeking the help of the FF.

[35] All four characters apparently killed by Scourge had survived in some form: the robotic Techno had recovered Jolt's body and used her electrical powers to resurrect her from the dead, even while he "died", imbuing her with the knowledge that Hawkeye had failed to get the team pardoned in the process.

Most of the members of the Crimson Cowl's Masters of Evil also joined, including: Cardinal (now Harrier); Gypsy Moth (now Skein); Man-Killer (now Amazon); and Cyclone, who did not change his codename.

[41] While the Thunderbolts eventually defeated the Purple Man, before they could interrogate him he was teleported away by his boss, Baron Zemo, who tortured him by inducing rigor mortis in his body and sent him back to prison where his powers would be nullified.

[volume & issue needed] Meanwhile, new threats were rising as Fixer resurfaced and recruited both MACH-IV and Blizzard to work with him on a top secret project, which was also run by Zemo.

[volume & issue needed] Soon after Nighthawk joined the team, the Thunderbolts discovered that Photon's awareness of all space and time brought with it a vision of the destruction of the universe at his hands.

The three heroes, all supporting the Superhuman Registration Act, informed Zemo that they wanted the Thunderbolts to hunt down supervillains and recruit them to the Pro-Registration cause, which would be their chance at redemption.

[volume & issue needed] Some of the Army of Thunderbolts, consisting of Venom, Lady Deathstrike, Taskmaster, Bullseye, Jester, Jack O'Lantern join Songbird assembled as the Pro-Registration side's task force to hunt down Anti-Registration heroes at the end of Civil War #4, but never officially saw any real combat.

The journey forward in time was a prolonged "moment of clarity" experience for Zemo, who saw his family's true history and not the rose-colored version his father and grandfather had taught him.

[volume & issue needed] Barely surviving the fight due to Khn'ner's inability to deal with the implanted memories inside of him belonging to Mar-Vell, the group went on the offensive against the Skrull armada as they invaded Washington DC.

After the Thunderbolts defeated the Skrull armada attacking Washington, D.C., which included two Super-Skrulls, Osborne begins to play up he and his team's role as superheroes to the media, making them appear to be the force that is saving the Earth from Tony Stark's bungling.

The group deports Radioactive Man back to China after Norman has his work visa revoked, and Moonstone has Penance sent to a corrupt maximum security mental institution where he would be held prisoner for the rest of his natural life.

[60] With Bullseye, Moonstone, and Venom being transferred to Norman's new team the Dark Avengers,[58] Osborn decided to create a new Thunderbolts roster, one that would provide themselves as assassins for H.A.M.M.E.R.

[83] As Centurius adapts the name of Doc Century for this time period, the American Thunderbolts continue their fight with the Nazis and the Human Torch androids that were created by Baron Heinrich Zemo.

In the aftermath of the destruction, Songbird scours the snowy horizon for Abe, who is presumed dead, while Ghost—who has been spying on the Thunderbolts for some time—rescues a pocket-sized Jolt, who has shrunk due to her power exertion during the battle with the Masters of Evil.

[106] Moonstone and Mayor Fisk ultimately goad an over-confident Zemo into confronting Punisher again and "Citizen V" musters a rousing speech to rally spooked Hydra agents.

The battle is fierce and even though Frank shoots down Fixer (or possibly a robotic copy) and corners "Citizen V," Jigsaw intervenes... and the Thunderbolts escape with Rachel as a hostage.

[109] Norman Osborn and the Thunderbolts make their way through Ravencroft amidst the Symbiote attacks where they joined up by Figment, Foolkiller, Grizzly, Man-Bull, and Mister Hyde.

[110] Osborn then leads the Thunderbolts into retrieving Sentry's corpse so that it can be used as a nuke to destroy Knull's lair on top of the Empire State Building with it being a suicide mission.

[111] During the "Devil's Reign" storyline, Mayor Wilson Fisk sets up the expanded Thunderbolts units to help crack down on superhuman vigilantism while partnering up with Senator Arthur Krane of the Friends of Humanity and other benefactors.

She and Mayor Cage plan to ask Hawkeye to lead the Thunderbolts since Black Knight, Falcon, Mockingbird, Spectrum, and Wasp don't want the job.

[117] Hawkeye is eventually chosen to lead the Thunderbolts with America Chavez, Power Man, Persuasion, and a new character named Gutsen Glory whose background and how Helen Astrantia obtained his services are classified.

[119] After spending a night with Blue Marvel, Spectrum joins the Thunderbolts in a training mission in Central Park as Helen Astrantia arrives straight from a perfume photo shoot with Persuasion and Eergo the Unbreakable as she states to Hawkeye that he will not need to wear his mask.

[121] As Hawkeye has a vision of him and the Thunderbolts being zapped by Terminus, it is shown that Nightmare is responsible as he plans to use America Chavez' powers to access the Multiverse and take over its respectful waking worlds.

[122] Following the events of the Captain America: Cold War storyline, Bucky Barnes becomes the Outer Circle's New Revolution and inherits the shadowy organization's decades of valuable intel after dissolving it.

With these resources at his disposal, the Revolution meets with Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (later revealed to be a Life Model Decoy of the original) to form a new Thunderbolts team to eliminate the Red Skull and his enterprises.

Known as the "Thunderbolt Department", they are equipped with the universe's version of the Venom Symbiote, Variable Engagement Neuro-sensitive Organic Mesh, or V.E.N.O.M, and join President Osborn's campaign against Spider-Punk and his Spider-Army.

By June 2022, Thunderbolts* was in development at Marvel Studios, with Jake Schreier attached to direct and Eric Pearson and Lee Sung Jin writing the screenplay.