New Thunderbolts

In the mid-2000s, Marvel revived its Thunderbolts franchise with New Thunderbolts, a 18-issue series largely written by Fabian Nicieza, with early contributions from Kurt Busiek. Anchored by Tom Grummett’s clean storytelling art, the series reassembled a core cast of reformed villains—including Erik Josten (Atlas), Abner Jenkins, and Chen Lu—alongside new recruits like Janice Yanizeski and Joystick, as they struggled to walk the line between heroism and their criminal pasts. Though Jack Kirby and Bill Sienkiewicz are credited on select issues, the book is defined by Nicieza’s tense, character-driven exploration of redemption and mistrust within a team that can never quite escape its origins. It matters as a key transitional chapter, bridging the original Thunderbolts saga into the darker, government-sanctioned direction that would follow.