Avengers / Thunderbolts #4

The fourth chapter of this 2004 Avengers/Thunderbolts crossover carries the weight of its title — "Betrayal" — right there on Barry Kitson's striking cover, where Iron Man and a tech-suited figure (bearing the Thunderbolts' own brand of uneasy heroism) flank a looming, ethereal blue presence that dominates the background with an unsettling, ghostly intensity. The pairing of Earth's Mightiest Heroes and the reformed rogues of the Thunderbolts has rarely felt more tense, with writers Kurt Busiek and Fabian Nicieza alongside artist Tom Grummett promising plenty of moral complexity beneath the surface. If the cover's atmosphere of wary alliance is any indication, issue four is where the collaboration between these two teams gets genuinely complicated.