Synopsis
Thunderbolts: Doomstrike (2025 series) #5 synopsis by
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Revolution (Bucky Barnes) was captured by Citizen V (Val de Fontaine) and Dr Doom's Fulgur Victoris (made up of ex-Thunderbolts). Bucky's current Thunderbolts have come to rescue him.
Ayo, Black Widow, Destroyer (Sharon Carter), the WWII Ghost Rider (Sal Romero) and Songbird along with Captain America (Steve Rogers) drop from the sky over Doomstadt. And we learn that the LMD Val de F wasn't completely destroyed in #1 because her AI is currently in the controls of the shield over the city making a hole they can drop through. Which brings us to the end of last issue where they reached Bucky's cell, KO'd Citizen V and Cap gave him his original cybernetic arm to replace the liquid metal version he lost in #3.
Bucky is glad to see his old partner Steve but Steve jokingly says he's only here because Natasha invited him. BW adds that they also brought a spare costume to replace his prison rags so they're all ready to get him out. But Bucky suggests they stay to bring Doom down like they did to Red Skull (in the previous TBolts series). Nat points out that didn't exactly turn out too well. Bucky compromises by suggesting they cause a lot of damage on the way out. GR's all for that and heads off on his Hellfire motorbike. Flyer Ayo offers Bucky and Nat a lift while Songbird takes Cap and Sharon. Nobody seems to notice fellow prisoner US Agent, but at least his prison bars seem broken.
But on the way out they run into the Fulgur Victoris (Atlas, Fixer, Mach-Doom and Moonstone) and a horde of flying Doombots. Ayo and BW are hit by a blast from MS. Bucky asks Nat if she's OK and tells her he loves her, which shocks her more than the blast did. He leaps to the attack accompanied by Cap. Moonstone fires at Bucky but Steve tosses him his shield to absorb the blast with. A battle royale ensues with Bucky vs MS, Cap vs Atlas, BW vs Fixer, Songbird vs Mach-Doom and Destroyer holding off the Doombots. Cap KOs Atlas with an uppercut. Bucky uses the shield to reflect Moonstone's blasts back at her. Then he tosses the shield and Widow leaps up to catch it and then drops down on Fixer to use it to crack his force-shield. Melissa Gold is now convinced that there isn't a real Abner Jenkins inside M-D so she unleashes the full force of her sonic scream on him.
But then recovered Citizen V joins the fray and tosses Bucky aside. But she refuses to help Fixer with BW. Cap calls for help from Bucky with the Doombots he's joined Destroyer in fighting. Val expects him to once again (as in #6) surrender to save his friends. She seems to be winning the fight but Revolution uses his cyber hand to grip each of her sword blades in turn, disarming her. Then he uses the hilt of 1 to smash open her face mask. Widow tries to get through to the good man Fixer became in the original TBolts. (But last issue made it seem he was her undercover agent anyway.) Whatever the reason Norbert Ebersol chooses to speak a command sequence that causes all the Doombots to fall inert. Citizen V realises she's now alone and Revolution knocks her out. And Fixer uploads a recording of the events plus what really happened to Shelbyville (in #1), and he joins the Thunderbolts in escaping to their hovering aircraft. US Agent watches them leave.
On the plane Steve airs his worries about Bucky taking on Dr Doom. He must know he can't win against a man who rules the world, and who most people see as a good leader. His actions are seen as terrorism, but Bucky calls it justice. He invokes the example of the Allies standing against Hitler, and more aptly the resistance movements in the Nazi-occupied countries.
2 weeks later Bucky and Nat meet in a diner outside Shelbyville. He's doing volunteer work in town while the TBolts' new base gets up and running. (The old base on Thunderbolts Mountain was destroyed in #1.) Doom is still in power but on the news they see a report of a so-called Lightning Revolution - strikes against Doom's installations all over the world, all leaving the same sprayed symbol of a lightning bolt over a 5-pointed star. Speculation links it to Barnes after the release of the Shelbyville tape (but *we* know he's not coordinating it).
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Ayo, Destroyer (
Sharon Carter), Fixer, Ghost Rider (
Sal Romero), Revolution (
Bucky Barnes).