The Thunderbolts have been many things over the years: Villains posing as heroes under Baron Zemo and Norman Osborn. True heroes under Hawkeye’s leadership. Seeking redemption under Luke Cage. In Thunderbolts: Doomstrike #1, the team takes on a new role: revolutionaries. Following Doctor Doom’s takeover in One World Under Doom, he comes to Bucky Barnes with an offer…and a revelation that Bucky’s actions might have inspired his current crusade in the previous Thunderbolts miniseries. But the former Winter Soldier is more than willing to tear down Doom’s new empire…unaware that Doom has formed a strike force to retaliate.
Reading through Doomstrike reveals a calculated balancing act on the part of writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly. Not only is it tying into One World Under Doom, but it’s building upon their work in Thunderbolts: Worldstrike and Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty. It takes some serious skill to balance the needs of being an event tie-in and working as a continuation of a previous story, but Lanzing and Kelly definitely make it work.
The “Hivemind” also show off their love of Marvel’s comics history, and their ability to innovate, with their story. Due to Doom’s machinations, Bucky can only rely on a skeleton crew of Thunderbolts: the Black Widow and original Thunderbolt Songbird. In contrast, Doom has the entire world at his beck and call – and his own Thunderbolts, which includes a surprising new take on Citizen V. My favorite moments have to involve the opening confrontation between Bucky and Doom, which perfectly sums up their characters. Doom is smug, standing tall above his “subjects”, while Bucky defiantly stares him down.
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Doomstrike also looks visually striking thanks to the artwork of Tomasso Bianchi. Bianchi goes for blockbuster-level sequences whenever possible, and the results hit – if you’ll pardon the pun – like a bolt of lightning. When Bucky attempts to escape to Thunderbolts Mountain, Doom sends a literal thunderbolt from the sky to shatter it into rubble. Another sequence features Bucky riding a missile as it falls to Earth, recalling the tragic moment that turned him into the Winter Soldier; to make it hit harder, Bianchi inserts flashbacks of the exact moment when Bucky first disarmed a rogue missile.
Bianchi’s best work comes in the opening two pages. One page more or less acts as a way to recap what happened in the previous Thunderbolts series, and a lead-in to One World Under Doom #1. The other features Doom hovering above Bucky, which is an imposing sight – and the color art from Yen Nitro only highlights this, making Doom a striking figure in his gunmetal gray armor and dark green cloak. That green also shows up in the military uniforms and vehicles, serving as a visual reminder of how the world’s under Doom’s grip.
Thunderbolts: Doomstrike #1 isn’t just your regular event tie-in; it’s also a reminder of how the Thunderbolts have changed over the years. Lanzing, Kelly, Bianchi and Nitro threw the gauntlet down in their opening issue, and I hope that the rest of Doomstrike matches this energy – especially since more Thunderbolts are slated to appear down the line.
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