After being humiliated by his decision to disregard the Avengers' warning that the dark god Knull was invading Earth, Mayor Fisk traveled to the Bar with No Name and forcibly recruited several of the supervillains taking refuge there. While the villains were promised a choice between prison and signing up, Fisk had Incendiary summarily executed when he chose the former option.
Led by Taskmaster, the team initially consisted of Star, Batroc the Leaper, Mister Fear, Ampere, Snakehead, and Rhino; Snakehead was eaten by a symbiote-dragon, Ampere quit before being murdered by Mister Fear, and the Rhino left unopposed. Despite misgivings from the members - particularly over Fisk's no masks rule - the team's first mission was to travel to the Ravencroft Institute and solicit a strategy for defeating Knull from Norman Osborn. When the Ravencroft Institute was attacked by symbiotes, the team was joined by several inmates - including Man-Bull, Figment, Foolkiller, Grizzly, and Mister Hyde.
When Osborn's strategy turned out to be sending the Sentry to fight Knull - Osborn having been unaware that the Avengers had already tried that to disastrous results, the team recovered the Sentry's corpse and set out to use it as a nuke to destroy Knull's lair atop the Empire State Building - well aware that it was a suicide-mission. Foolkiller was taken over by a symbiote and subsequently killed, and Taskmaster seemingly betrayed the other members of the team before using Figment's illusion powers to trick Fisk into thinking they sacrificed themselves in a failed attempt to kill Knull. Once Fisk released a televised news statement proclaiming the Thunderbolts as heroes, the Thunderbolts revealed the deception and blackmailed him into not only increasing their pay but giving them further missions once the Avengers inevitably defeated Knull.
When Fisk outlawed superhero vigilantism in New York City, he made the Thunderbolts the only sanctioned heroes of the city, also creating the Thunderbolt Units to help them handle any superhero threats. Initially, Taskmaster remained the leader of the team, that also included Electro, Agony, the Rhino and Whiplash (Anton Vanko), but when U.S.Agent volunteered to join the team, he was made the new leader, with team eventually coming to include the likes of Abomination, Doctor Octopus and the Shocker, Kraven the Hunter, Crossbones, Puff Adder and Coachwhip.
With time, Fisk was removed from power, and Luke Cage was elected the new Mayor of New York, getting most of these criminals arrested.
Current Members:
USAgent
Taskmaster
Electro
Agony
The Rhino
Whiplash
Abomination
Doctor Octopus
The Shocker
Kraven the Hunter
Crossbones
Puff Adder
Coachwhip
Former Members:
Star
Batroc the Leaper
Mister Fear
Ampere
Snakehead
Man-Bull
Figment
Foolkiller
Grizzly
Mister Hyde
