With the Avengers and Fantastic Four temporarily outsourced to Rob Liefeld and Jim Lee in 1997, Marvel touted the ostensibly brand-new heroes of the Thunderbolts as the next big thing to a somewhat skeptical comics readership. The legendary twist ending to the first issue made the book into an overnight success but sometimes overshadows the work Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley did on the rest of the series, making this comic worth a re-examination. We’ll discuss the origins of the concept, the first year of the series, and how the creators refreshed Silver and Bronze Age superhero tropes while developing a bunch of C-list villains into vibrant, interesting characters.