"The End" Week: Thunderbolts #32!

This is another one I thought we had seen already; but I could probably get two or three more out of this series! From 2014, Thunderbolts #32, "Punisher vs. Thunderbolts, part six" Written by Ben Acker and Ben Blacker, art by Kim Jacinto.

Previously, the Punisher had gotten fed up with the Thunderbolts (for not killing Cap villain Dr. Faustus) and quit; only to find a bomb led in lieu of severence from the Red Hulk. Frank then took down his former team one by one, even though the bomb had actually been planted by the Red Leader! Red Hulk had thought he had him under control, and I believe Red Leader had acted like a scared doofus most of the series as a cover. Six months after the Thunderbolts fell, Red Leader rules the island of Kata Jaya, with an army of gamma-irradiated guards and Crimson Dynamo suits. (I was thinking Titanium Man, but he has to lean into the color scheme!) It seems like he should be having more fun with his endangered species banquet, mutated knockoff bloodsports, and portal to hell; but he's putting a lot of mental effort into winning over the heart of his assistant Caitlin. Tough to run the numbers on making someone love you, but giving a panda fur coat to a vegan isn't a winning strategy.

The Thunderbolts get the band back together (with a lot of Avengers behind them) to clean up Red Hulk's mess. Hawkeye--himself a longtime former Thunderbolt, remember!--comes across as only mildly disappointed in RH: his Thunderbolts weren't about redemption, were they? Frank, while still furious, carries himself like a professional; Elektra still holds a grudge, and does give him an incidental stabbing. Using Faustus's gas, Red Leader turns the locals there into violent psychopaths; some innocent, others not. Deadpool nearly gets the Red Leader, but gets jumped by a pair of hallucinating pandas. In the end, before he can escape, Red Leader is brought down by Caitlin, Agent Cross of...something! S.H.I.E.L.D. maybe?

Red Leader is imprisoned, with the decapitated skull of the Ghost Rider: Frank explains, the Penance Stare still works. That's cruel and unusual, but he probably wasn't going to trial anytime soon; and at any rate Mephisto shows up to renegotiate their deal, so being dragged to hell was the best he could hope for. (The Leader would be back, with his usual green hue!) Amusingly, that also resets Johnny Blaze, who had peaceably been enjoying a book when his head catches fire...While Hawkeye is letting the Thunderbolts go, they've had more than enough togetherness: Red Hulk doesn't hold a grudge with Frank, but Frank still walks away from him. Pool, as you'd expect, goes on about what a terrible idea this had all been; while Elektra merely disappears; leaving Red Hulk wondering where he went wrong.