Thunderbolts #45

Name: Thunderbolts #45
Brand: Marvel
Availability: InStock

Dec 2000 · Marvel · 2.25 USD; 3.50 CAD

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“Heroic Tendencies, Part 1: The Inside Job”

★ 1st appearance — John Watkins III

About this Issue

Thunderbolts #45 marks the debut appearance of John Watkins III — the physical body that secretly houses the transferred consciousness of Baron Helmut Zemo, a long-running plot device that would generate significant story momentum across the book's next two years. As part eleven of the Marvel-wide 'Maximum Security' crossover event, the issue also demonstrates how Fabian Nicieza's era of the series consistently wove the Thunderbolts into broader Marvel Universe politics without letting the team's internal drama lose focus — here juggling the Scourge assassination arc, Moonstone's lunar odyssey, and the first stirrings of the Zemo-in-Watkins subplot simultaneously. The issue opens Part One of the 'Heroic Tendencies' three-parter, a story engine that, by its conclusion, would force Atlas off the team and reshape Hawkeye's precarious authority over a squad of reformed criminals.

writer Fabian Nicieza · artist Patrick Zircher · inker Walden Wong · colorist Joe Rosas · letterer Richard Starkings · letterer Comicraft · cover Mark Bagley, Greg Adams

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VF $2.5 NM $2.65 VERY FINE $3.99 NM- $6.56 VF $6.98 Marvel Comics Thunderbolts #45 (December 2000) $1 THUNDERBOLTS #45 FIRST PRINT MARVEL COMICS (2000) MAXIMUM SECURITY $2.99 Thunderbolts #45 • KEY 1st Cameo Appearance John Watkins III (later Citizen V) $2.99

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History

Fabian Nicieza had taken over as writer with issue #34, following Kurt Busiek's foundational run, and by #45 was deep into the interlocking conspiracy surrounding Henry Peter Gyrich's nanite-controlled Scourge program. Penciller Patrick Zircher — who would become the book's regular artist starting with #51 — handled interiors here, with Tom Brevoort editing and Bob Harras serving as Editor-in-Chief; the cover was produced by Mark Bagley and Greg Adams, keeping franchise co-creator Bagley visually associated with the title even after his interior departure. The issue's placement as tie-in #11 in the 'Maximum Security' reading order meant Nicieza had to honor the event's premise — alien civilizations designating Earth a penal colony, orchestrated behind the scenes by the Kree Supreme Intelligence — while simultaneously advancing three separate long-form Thunderbolts storylines, a balancing act typical of the series' densely plotted Nicieza period.

Trivia · 8 facts

Published October 18, 2000 (cover date December 2000); written by Fabian Nicieza, pencilled by Patrick Zircher, inked by Walden Wong, colored by Joe Rosas, lettered by Richard Starkings/Comicraft, edited by Tom Brevoort.
Story title: 'Heroic Tendencies, Part 1: The Inside Job' — the opening chapter of a three-issue arc running through issues #45–47.
Official tie-in to the 'Maximum Security' Marvel crossover event (part 11 in the event's reading order), in which an intergalactic council designates Earth as a prison planet, with the Kree Supreme Intelligence as the hidden mastermind.
First appearance of John Watkins III (unnamed in this issue; name revealed in #46) — Watkins is comatose and his body secretly hosts the transferred consciousness of Baron Zemo, kept alive via a failsafe devised by Techno after Scourge decapitated Zemo.
Atlas (Erik Josten) departs the team this issue, a consequence of the ongoing Scourge/Gyrich assassination plot; Scourge (Jack Monroe, brainwashed via Gyrich's nanite technology) continues his mission to eliminate the Thunderbolts one by one.
Moonstone (Karla Sofen) is located on the Moon — specifically at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Moonbase — where the cosmic Maximum Security storyline intersects with her personal subplot about the origins of her moonstone.
The issue features Hawkeye (Clint Barton) leading the team alongside Songbird, MACH-2, Charcoal, and Atlas, with Genis-Vell (Captain Marvel), Hank Pym (Goliath), and Citizen V (John Watkins III/Zemo) in supporting roles.
The issue has been reprinted three times: in Marvel Heroes (Panini France) #12 (December 2001), in Hawkeye & the Thunderbolts Vol. 2 (2016), and in the Thunderbolts Omnibus Vol. 2 (2021).