Thunderbolts, Vol. 5: Punisher vs. the Thunderbolts

Thunderbolts (2012) (Collected Editions)

by Ben Acker, Ben Blacker, Carlo Barberi (Illustrations)

Writers Ben Acker and Ben Blacker, creators of The Thrilling Adventure Hour, take control of the Thunderbolts - and tear them apart! The Punisher and the Thunderbolts square off! Frank moves in to take out his former allies one by one - but as he faces off with Ghost Rider, Elektra and even the Red Hulk, another former T-Bolt closes in on them all! Will the Thunderbolts prove to be the complete failure the Punisher believes them to be? It's about to get pretty bloody in this series finale that reveals all! Guest-starring the Avengers! Plus: It's a disturbing new mission as the T-Bolts are ordered to kill Dr. Strange! Of course, they're gonna need a pretty special arsenal for that. Get ready for a whirlwind tour of the Marvel Magicverse!

Collecting: Thunderbolts 27-32, Annual

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy

144 pages, Paperback

First published November 25, 2014

About the author

Aka: Benjamin Acker

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Et tu, panda…”

Frank Castle aka The Punisher is probably the last guy in the Marvel Universe I’d want to anger. The Thunderbolts, led by the Red Hulk, decide to keep Dr. Faustus and employ him instead of killing him, even though he just brainwashed and killed a bunch of high school students.

This goes against the Punisher creed – Do the crime, get a bullet to the head.

So it’s “See ya, Frank. Don’t let the Thunderbolts club house door hit you on the backside on the way out” and:



This infuriates the Punisher, who declares war on the Thunderbolts, but it’s kind of hard to get around the fact that the Thunderbolts have a Hulk…



…and an Elektra.



*long pause* Where was I? Uh, yeah, Elektra… *sigh*



Bottom line: This was surprisingly entertaining; however, warning, I’m in the minority as far as liking the Thunderbolts run (since cancelled. *sob*). Written by the duo of Blacker and Acker, with good humor, a fairly effective Deadpool contribution and some creative artwork in the Elektra issue, this final volume is a fun send off to this title.



Bonus content for the ladies: Dr. Strange in his underwear



Ladies, be my guest and substitute Cumberbatch’s melon for the good Doctor’s.

You’re welcome!

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A kind of lackluster ending to an overall pretty fun series.

Thunderbolts Volume 5 is basically punisher versus the Thunderbolts. Now the big twist is so obvious. I mean so obvious that if you don't guess this, I guess you just don't read much. But even though I already knew it was going to happen about 5 seconds into the storyline, it was still entertaining to see the punisher take on all of the Thunderbolts.

The art holds up for the most part showcasing some really cool fighting moments. I also think that Ross is entertaining in this volume as he is in pretty much this whole series. The punisher and electric stuff is more weird than exciting. and I have to say the very ending was not great that last issue was pretty weak.

but overall, even though this might be the weakest part of this entire run, it was still entertaining and that's more than I could say about most thunderbolt runs where there's usually lower points than this.

[The Lion's Share · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the quality dropped on this final volume, Ackerman took over writing from Soule and it just didn't have the gel that the previous volumes had.

Overall though this is a cracking good run and well worth the fun read.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering my opposition to this title when it was launched, I've actually grown quite fond of it. Charles Soule reinvigorated the book, and whilst this final arc is written by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker, the quality doesn't drop. This final story deconstructs the TBolts as all their dirty laundry comes out and they must fight each other as well as their true foe in order to find some kind of closure. It feels like a natural end to the series, and considering the team was never designed to last when you look at the characters that are involved, it's a fitting one too. I wish that the Annual was collected elsewhere however, because stuffing it in the back of this volume makes no sense, since it's obviously set before the title ends. I think it's only put here because the writers are the same, and it was released back when Soule was writing it.

The art is decent if inconsistent, with three or four artists across 6 issues being a little annoying. They've each got their own unique style and they fit the characters pretty well, but the constant changing between issues gets a bit grating by the end.

[Milo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well I enjoyed this and will miss this book. Liked the combination of characters and the writing but the artwork wasn't too great.

[Lionel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just like the whole serie, with that roster, there was so many better things to do

[Emmett Spain · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, violent book with some occasionally dodgy art and an increasingly silly tone. I can’t help but feel that Soule’s take could have gone on for years has he not left as writer, but alas, this one and done trade from Acker and Blacker ends the series like so many of the Thunderbolts’ bad guy victims—a great big bloody mess.

[Mantis (¯ ³¯)♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,8/5 ⭐️

🇵🇱
Ehh.. mam mieszane uczucia co do tego run’u..
Było kilka fajnych wątków, kilka zbyt krótkich, zakończenie okej
Annual był ciekawy w sumie
I to tyle 😭😂

🇺🇸
Ehh.. I have mixed feelings about this run..
There were a few nice threads, a few too short, ending OK
Annual was interesting overall
That's it 😭 😂

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars for the whole series. Never cool or interesting, this whole run was a wasted effort. Calling this series Thunderbolts was pointless, as it had nothing to do with the previous concept. Punisher, Elektra and Ghost Rider are all off character and, guess what, the series just ends. No building to anything, no point. Skippable and for completest only.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seria Thunderbolts zawitała do świata Marvela w 1997 za sprawą Pana Buśka, choć ówczesny zespół różnił się diametralnie od tego co dane było nam widzieć w początkach linii wydawniczej Marvel NOW! Motyw odkupienia i tego jak pojmuje się pojęcie bohaterstwa towarzyszyły drużynie od samego początku, czego echo widać tu zwłaszcza w postaci Hawkeye'a, który stanowi wyraźny kontrast pomiędzy tym co było, a jest.

Nowi, niestety nie lepsi członkowie drużyny pod dowództwem generała Thaddeusa E. Rossa, w składzie: Deadpool, Ghost Rider, Elektra, Punisher czy Czerwony Lider to postacie jednoznacznie usytuowane. To zabójcy na posyłkach człowieka, który zło chce wypalać złem. Nie ma tu miejsca na kompromisy. Jest krwawo i finalnie całkiem nieźle, zwłaszcza biorąc pod uwagę, jaką jakoś prezentowały początkowe tomy...

Jak tytuł wskazuje wskutek "małej" rozbieżności zdań Punisher postanawia opuścić dotychczasowy zespół. Kością niezgody okazuje się dr. Faustus, a raczej fakt, iż nie dano Frankowi zapodać większej ilości żelaza do ciała przestępcy. Oburzony faktem, że Czerwony Hulk postanawia "skorzystać" z usług doktora, zostawia także swoją kobietę, czyli Elektrę. Swoją drogą para ma tu kilka swoich momentów i szkoda, że całość kończy się tak a nie inaczej (początkowo sam pomysł ich relacji trochę mi przeszkadzał, zwłaszcza w pryzmacie bliskości zabójczyni z Daredevilem, ale...).

W ramach podzięki Castle znajduje w swojej kryjówce ładunek wybuchowy i tak zaczyna się tytułowe starcie. Punisher okazuje się godnym przeciwnikiem, ale całość ma w sobie jeszcze kilka warstw, przez co finalnie za całym zamieszaniem stoi jeszcze ktoś inny. Troszkę mnie to bolało, bo w zasadzie nie musiało dojść do większości starć, gdyby jedna z postaci zadała właściwe pytanie... To był zgrzyt, który poczułem gdzieś głęboko w czaszce. Ja wiem, że miało to służyć efektownym walkom i kilku ciekawym sytuacjom, ale...

Całe story kończy annual, w którym jeszcze cała drużyna rusza, aby powstrzymać Dr. Strange'a, który zaczął stosować magię, aby uszczęśliwić na siłę zwykłych ludzi, jak i złoczyńców. Widok Stephena w bokserkach... Bezcenny. Tu też finalnie całość okazuje się czymś zupełnie innym, ale Thunderbolts mają przynajmniej fajne wyposażenie. I ponownie mamy wiele naprawdę dobrych scen akcji, podsycone humorkiem Deadpoola.

Nie mam nic do zarzucenia warstwie wizualnej. Choć pracowało tu kilku rysowników to ich prace zaskakująco pasowały do siebie stylami i jest tutaj na co popatrzeć. Piąty tom kończy pozaczynane wątki w sposób dla mnie satysfakcjonujący dlatego skądinąd wysoka ocena, bowiem obiektywnie omawiana pozycja zasłużyła bardziej na 3/5, ale... Za te kilka momentów, które wreszcie dały taki zaciesz, jaki powinienem odczuwać od początku serii.

[Reece · Rating 3 out of 5]

The series ends without really demonstrating the merits of a black ops superhero team (ironically, deadpool has been on such a team in X-Force). Instead, we get to the logical endpoint of the team; what happens when Punisher decides a superhero team is his enemy? He goes to war.

General Ross loses all control of his team, Deadpool was never invested, and Elektra loses interest after losing Frank. This probably would have been more meaningful if the team was portrayed as competent in even one plotline instead of the constant SNAFU missions.

It was fun to get a few issues of The Punisher setting about colourful characters in his usual Mary-Sue setups. This does include a fundamental misunderstanding of how Ghost Rider's penance stare works. But generally, the whole series will be remembered for what it should've been instead of what it was.

The art is actually the highlight of this series in the last 5 issues. The style lands somewhere between manga and the OTT big hair styles of 90s comics.

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was stupid. Fundamentally stupid. Every character here who usually acts somewhat intelligently, except Deadpool, acts completely out of character and plain dumb. New authors, Acker & Blacker, tell a disturbing bad tale involving the team just fighting each other for 6 issues. Red Leader's good simmering subplot is fast tracked and is terrible. It was really bad. There were about five different artists all average at best. This entire series is better forgotten.

[AnaDeCintra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ha estado bien, aunque no tiene mucho que ver con el final del anterior.

Aquí aparecen Los Vengadores de por medio, que bueno, personalmente me molestan más que nada. Se ve que no hay nada en Marvel que no se resuelva sin ellos y eso no acaba de gustarme, pero en sí el cómic está muy bien.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Punisher leaves the group and decides to shut them down.

This is an interesting book, all the threads seem to come together from the series. There's some nice twists and laugh out loud moments. Also serious moral issues too. A great end to the series. A very good read.

[Madeleine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent ending for my favorite non-team sort-of superhero team.

[Rajiv Ashrafi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typical comic mumbojumbo. But that's okay because you can't be expecting more than that.

I liked the ending, made a lot of sense. The journey was fun, too.

[Amanja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review coming soon

[Brannigan · Rating 2 out of 5]

They had the chance to do something awesome instead they went the other way.

[ირაკლი სულაძე · Rating 3 out of 5]

მოსაწყენი პიუ-პიუ

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Certainly not my favorite series, but had a decent arc and conclusion. I feel like Hawkeye’s quote at the end kind of sums up the entire run.

[Ondra Král · Rating 2 out of 5]

Acker s Blackerem měli nevděčnou roli. Dostali rozjetou sérii, kterou měli v šesti číslech ukončit - což není sranda pro nikoho. A bohužel to příliš nezvládli. Scénáristi se mnohem víc blíží Wayovi a mizí tak veškerý humor ve prospěch rádobydrsné akce a vztahům, z Rulka se tak opět stává spíš zakomplexovanej parchant s velkým egem.
(viz WTF závěrečný dialog:
Elektra: Proč jsi nám neřekl věc X, která by všechno hned vyřešila?
Rulk: Vám nemusim nic vysvětlovat)


O čem to je? Punisher se rozhodne odejít z týmu (poněku násilně, ale ok, máme posledních šest čísel) a v bytě mu vybuchne bomba. Logicky si vydedukuje, že mu ji tam dal Rulk a jde tým zlikvidovat. Ano... Punisher. Ten kterej nemá superschopnosti sejme komplet Thunderbolts s Deadpoolem, Ghost Riderem, Elektrou a Rulkem - používá k tomu magickej meč, velkýho mecha a já nevim co ještě. Ve výsledku je to akorát trapný.

Pak se teda všechno vyřeší, všichni tihle masoví vrazi dostanou od Iron Mana milost (PROČ DOPRDELE? VŽDYŤ POZABÍJELI STOVKY LIDÍ!!) a jdou si vlastní cestou. Meh. Double meh!
--

Suma sumárum - pokud si chcete přečíst Thunderbolts z Marvel Now, sáhněte po třetím a čtvrtým booku. V pohodě se chytíte a je to výborná akční zábava. Zbytek za to fakt nestojí.

[Mitchell Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than it should have been. A collection of anti-heroes, any incarnation of Thunderbolts is a bit problematic. But in this one the tone was pretty good. Deadpool was turned down and was actually light comic relief rather than annoying. There was an actual villain. And the interaction with the Avengers was actually interesting. Sure the art wasn't great and the violence was over the top. But Frank Castle was himself AND well done. And there was an actual story. Truly not bad. So in one batch of marvel books I've read good bad and middle. 3.5 of 5.

[Dean liapis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing on the whole but not terrible. I am such a sucker for new Punisher stories you would think I'd like this more. I enjoyed the art all the way around, since the more cartoony style works well with the material. I was just hoping for more in terms of plot. Its hard to jam a character like Deadpool in with a man like Frank Castle, but most of the jokes still land with Frank obviously playing the straight man. Couple of pretty sweet battles but nothing too awesome otherwise

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Huh! I didn't notice that this series kept changing writers.

It all seemed to move at a pretty reasonable pace. This was a perfectly fine way to end the series. The only confusing thing is that the annual didn't make a good epilogue. They should have placed it differently.

Some of the jokes were funny, but I don't remember too much about this book.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking forward to Black and Acker taking over the book but this just didn't work at all The dialogue was so juvenile it felt almost like a parody. There were a ridiculous amount of plot holes. The art outside the first and last issues was horrendous. The only part I enjoyed was the annual at the end of the book.

[Cameron Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard not to like the combination of characters. Any time Deadpool is involved is a good time, but he does well with all these anti-heroes. Too bad it all has to end.

I should make sure to read the previous volumes in order to catch up on all the action.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some nice things in here (Deadpool and Hawkeye) but a lot of the plot feels like it could be resolved if someone had a nice chat!

[Alex Firer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Failure is more fun to watch than victory, so what a pleasure it is to see it play such a role in the finale.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, this series was pretty darn fantastic once all is said and done.

I'll likely go back and re-read this eventually.

[Steph Carr (LiteraryHypeWoman) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really 2.5 stars. Not all that interesting