Devil's Reign: Villains for Hire #1

[cyberghostface]

Comments

[cainofdreaming]

Wasn't it just last week when MU populace was braying for the blood of all extraterrestrials, but symbiotes especially, and now Fisk has one in his enforcers' lineup?

Mike the Headless Chicken had better memory than these people.

[tinygaylaura]

Your talking about a population so utterly moronic that they voted for Wilson Fisk

And he's not even the worst mayor New York has ever had.

The general public in the Marvel universe are absolute morons

[agent8]

"The general public in the Marvel universe are absolute morons" - I think that's giving them too much credit

[super_fly]

I might have thought so too but I can no longer believe the intelligence of the MU public is particularly out of the ordinary since... *gestures vaguely at the real world*

[blues32]

Why is Rhino okay with this? He seemed upset about the decapitation, let alone the brain explosion and the head melting.

Is not knowing who Daredevil is THAT big a deal? Fisk is losing his damn mind. He's always been ruthless and such, but he's aware of it. If he means half of what he's saying in those thought boxes, he's lost his marbles. And why does he have AGONY on his team? It's not just a symbiote, it's one of the ones caught on camera with Carnage, slaughtering people.

It's looking to me that US Agent is a double agent. His hesitation in calling Fisk "sir" suggests he is having trouble stomaching it. Thank god. Though exposure to the Purple Man's power may change that, even if all it does now is persuade rather than mind control.

[zachbeacon]

Rhino has never been very consistently written. Any characterization beyond "big dumb guy" tends to be ignored when he changes hands.

That's my read on USAgent too. You know things are bad when your hopes hinge on Walker doing the right thing, though.

[tinygaylaura]

"Some folk won't join the Thunderbolts

And then again some folk'll

Like Walker

The slack jawed yokel!"

Not at all surprised to see him being a boot boy for Wilson Fisk here. USAgent has never had much going on upstairs and has pretty much always been a fascist jackbooted asshole. Honestly if anything I've lost a little respect for Kingpin for being willing to hire him

You can do better Wilson

You don't have to slum it with Dollar Store Steve Rogers and his kids halloween costume shield here

I also can't stop laughing at "Nobody is above my law"

Kingpin, you're literally a crime lord

You know full well that absolutely anyone is above the law any time they feel like being above it.

[jgraygaming]

Like Batman and Reed Richards, John suffers from the "reset to 0" archetype problem in comics.

He's learned his lesson about his previous world view. Multiple times. And each time he unlearns it because someone always wants to write "what if Captain America was a good ol' boy" and just keep the worst parts of the stereotype.

This is the same reason Peter Parker can never be truly successful and happy.

In an odd way, Wolverine's the character with the most growth over the years. At least he gets to keep his "I can be a decent dad" development.

[tinygaylaura]

This is certainly an issue in the comics industry as a whole but I mean even at his most progressive and least douchebag-y Walker has always been kind of a right wing asshole who is also a total scumbag. And not even the fun kind of scumbag

It just depends based on writer whether you're going to get Mitt Romney or Donald Trump

Unless I've missed out on stories where he went through some really huge character changes I can't recall him ever being written as being the kind of person I would like, root for or even just tolerate.

I do wish more writers focused on Wolverine's tendency to just adopt every teenage mutant he encounters. I think it does a lot to bring out more interesting and fun sides of his character as opposed to him just being SnkithandsMcStabbub

[jgraygaming]

It reminds me of the Punisher's appearances with Power Pack. There, the writers remembered Frank was, at one point, a loving and doting father and not just a hard man doing hard things all the time. He was absolutely adorable with Katie Power.

[tinygaylaura]

Wolverine also had very adorable energy whenever he encountered the Power Pack

I think they bring out the wholesomeness in everyone

No one can be a jerk around them unless they're truly evil

It would be like saying mean things to a golden retriever :(

[jgraygaming]

Well, Julie brought something out in Rikki Barnes... not sure it was entirely wholesome...

[tinygaylaura]

I thought it was very wholesome

And she was also going to enjoy some holes

[mazway_75]

See also how every other FF writer instantly regresses Johnny Storm to being an impulsive teenager when they take over.

[tinygaylaura]

I mean "Horny impulsive himbo" is a take on Johnny I'm fine with because its fun

[jgraygaming]

Motto. Or how Marvel HAS to be the world outside your window even though NASA has sent up interstellar ships and Tony Stark has created infinite renewable energy.

[nyadnar17]

Can we take a moment to applaud the security guards who were smart enough not to try to stop US fucking Agent from going where he damn well pleases?

[tinygaylaura]

If Wilson's private security can't even stop USAgent he needs to get better goons

[dan_ingram]

Err, what?

Walker's fought Captain America to a standstill. He's one of a few people in comics who has super strength and the actual training to use it.

[cainofdreaming]

He's also one of the few dudes whose effectiveness goes up when you start removing limbs.

His Warden era is probably the only time I liked him.

[zachbeacon]

I think that's more a testament to Jeff Parker being one of the few good Thunderbolts writers.

[tinygaylaura]

I mean

Everyone in comics has got super strength pretty much? Its the second most common superpower

And I feel like it must have been an off day for Steve Rogers

That or he just felt sorry for Walker what with his parents getting a bad case of Being Dead and he just wanted to cheer him up

"I can't kick his ass

It would be like beating the crap out of a Make A Wish child"

[cainofdreaming]

Walker's got the Power Broker strength enhancement, so he's at 10-ton class.

[dan_ingram]

Almost everyone has super strength, yes.

But not almost everyone has had army training, a career in wrestling and then personal training by Taskmaster.

Walker held his own against Cap long before his parents got capped, too.

[blues32]

It's also important to remember that Walker was specifically trained to fight like Cap by Taskmaster. That said, Taskmaster hasn't seen everything Steve can do and that's one of the advantages Steve has over Walker. Walker can fight like Captain America, but Steve can fight like Steve Rogers. He can also easily out think him. The super soldier serum improved him both physically and mentally.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

But can he do it all day?

[sabertoothlotus]

"and by my Thunderbolts the city will be saved" is some real... convoluted syntax there, Mr. Fisk.
It seems weirdly out of character when "and my Thunderbolts will save the city" means the same thing, is easier to understand, and doesn't sound like you're actively trying to spout purple prose in order to hammer home that you're a monologue-spouting villain cliche.