Marvel Teaser Heralds a New Super Team in the Wake of "Avengers: Standoff"

[XPac]

The problem with the concept of heroes masquerading as villains is that it pretty much requires them to actually perform villainous acts in order to maintain the charade, thus making them... villains.

(As opposed to the inverse, whereby villains posing as heroes undertake heroic acts... but for a more nefarious endgame.)

Shroad went that route back in the day. But yeah... it's questionable.

[Mundungus]

I mean, depending on the stakes of the story of could push certain characters on a dark path. Written well, there's no reason it couldn't be enjoyable.

But we shall see.

[Spidey616]

Been wondering when we'd hear more about the Citizen V character tease months back.

[Cthulhudrew]

Shroad went that route back in the day. But yeah... it's questionable.

The Shroud is a good example of why this concept doesn't work- or at least hasn't worked as it's been portrayed in Marvel thus far. Despite constantly being told, "Oh, he's posing as a bad guy but he's really a good guy" and "he's got underworld connections" the only time we ever see the Shroud is when he's actually doing something heroic, either on his own, or assisting heroes in a story. We never actually see him struggling with the moral dilemma of committing criminal acts in order to actually further cement his position so that he can then take down the villains from the inside (as he purports to do). Aside from his very first story, where he tries to kill Doctor Doom in order to take him out permanently like the heroes never do, the only criminal thing he does is associate with known villains during his Night Shift days. He was more villainous (anti-heroic, anyway) in that first appearance than any of his subsequent appearances.

Don't get me wrong, I think there is a lot of mileage in doing a story about something like this. But if the net result is just going to end up being more of this "Oh, yeah, we're just pretending to be bad so we can get to the real bad guys" but not exploring the depths to which the heroes have to go to put themselves in that position in the first place, then I think it's just a half-baked idea and am not personally interested.

I am intrigued by who the characters on the cover might be. It's possible these are at least some of the old TBolts- certainly the flying figure, the giant figure, and the female seem very reminiscent of Mach-X, Atlas, and Moonstone, and it's possible the bottom character could be the Fixer (although with those tubes coming out of his arms, he looks a bit more like Apocalypse).

[Reviresco]

A year ago, I'd be interested and even excited. Now, I'm just wondering how Marvel is going to screw this up and kill my enthusiasm for yet another of their teams / characters.

[Darthkostis]

My guess is that it'll probably be a new Thunderbolts title. All I want from this is Moonstone and Zemo. But most probably we'll see the ANAD Citizen V here. Question is, who IS the new Citizen V? I don't see Helmut dressing with a huge US Flag, so it's probably going to be somebody else. The original or one of his descendants maybe?

[Greywolf]

I can't help but wonder how will this tie in to the "Lost heroes returning" fallout of Avengers: Standoff... and even with the "Dead No More" teaser from a while back.

The luminous figure looks like Phobos to me...and since he's currently deceased, I wonder if this incarnation of the thunderbolts could be comprised of previously dead characters returned to life for some reason. It may even spin out of the events currently unfolding on the "Contest Of Champions" series.

Anyhow, if that were the case, I'm having a hard time trying to match currently dead characters to the silhouettes from the teaser, so who knows...

[Factor]

Yes, the Thunderbolts are finally back
I think I can see Mach 5, Moonstone, Juggernaut and maybe Fixer. Plus we already know Citizen V is returning. I have no idea who the girl is.
I just hope this has nothing to do with time travel or something. The phrase "lost heroes" got me a little worried.

[Shambles]

I'm pretty sure the child in front has escaped from an anime.

[Danny Rand's Other Fist]

Really enjoyed Jeff Parker's run on Thunderbolts a little while back, a lot of fun and plenty of good characterisation amongst it all. Hopeful it'll be the same kind of book but obviously without knowing team and/or writer, it's impossible to say.

Here ends my essentially pointless reply.