Thunderbolts #56
Thunderbolts #56
Title: "Beyond Redemption”
Writer: Fabian Nicieza
Penciller: Patrick Zircher
Inker: Al Vey
Colors: Jennifer Schellinger
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Graviton places Scream inside a bubble. He says that a being made of sound cannot exist in a vacuum. Scream blinks out of existence. Graviton then starts to smash apart Charcoal. Charcoal says that he can reform himself. Graviton says that he knows and wishes to challenge him. Graviton turns Charcoal into dust. Jolt shouts. Graviton negates the gravity around Jolt. Without bandwidth cohesion Jolt’s bioelectric energy cannot exist on the electromagnetic spectrum. Jolt’s corporeal form dissipates. Even though Charcoal and Jolt were responsible for his last defeat Graviton takes little comfort because it seems too easy. Graviton says that he bears the Redeemers no ill will so he will kill them quickly. Fixer says that he has the Thunderbolt’s database and that Graviton’s energy readings are off the charts compared to the last two times the Thunderbolts fought them. Meteorite asks Citizen V what they’re supposed to do. Citizen V says that they don’t have any choice. Meteorite interprets this to mean they have to fight and flies at Graviton. Citizen V says that he meant they should run. Leila, Smuggler, and Fixer watch Citizen V as he runs away. Leila uses Fixer’s tech pac to send for the Beetle armor. Smuggler enters the shadows to go help Meteorite. Meteorite tells Graviton to let her go. Graviton does and Meteorite shoots straight up into the sky and into space. Fixer takes a cue from Citizen V and starts flying away on a construct from his tech pac. Graviton watches him run away. He waits a little to let Fixer get his hopes up, but before he can kill Fixer Smuggler attacks Graviton. Smuggler starts to come out of the shadows within Graviton’s body. Graviton is surprised and didn’t think he could be hurt.
Fixer watches behind him as Smuggler is
actually hurting Graviton. Fixer actually debates going to help
the boy, but decides to be smart and run for it. Suddenly
Fixer’s construct is halted in the air. Norbert is thrown
from it. When he looks back he sees Moonstone holding the
construct over her head. Fixer says that he thought that dressing
in her Moonstone costume violated the terms of her parole.
Moonstone starts to say that it won’t matter, and Fixer
realizes that Moonstone need not worry about parole if Graviton
takes over the world with her at his side. 
Moonstone says
that Fixer is quick and that she always liked that about him.
Moonstone says that Graviton asked for her help. Fixer says that
Graviton is crazier than ever. Moonstone says that actually his
mania is so focused that it would be impossible to run from him.
Fixer asks, “So?” Moonstone says that Graviton will
need an engineer expertise soon and that Fixer should join them.
In pain Graviton focuses and separates himself from the Earth’s gravity, which shunts him to the greatest gravitational force in the solar system… the sun. The light eliminates any shadows and Smuggler is cut off in mid teleport. As Smuggler dies he thinks that he tried to be a hero and live up to his brother’s standard. Graviton burps and Smuggler is gone. Graviton then uses the sun’s gravity to slingshot himself back towards Earth at near light speed.
Leila summons SHIELD as she waits for her armor to arrive. She thinks about her late husband and the irony that she became the Beetle. The armor finally arrives and Leila orders it to open for her.
As Graviton flies back to Earth he feels disappointed, not with himself, but with the empty feeling his conquest has. He thinks how these Redeemers are just cheap replacements of the Thunderbolts. Graviton flies by Meteorite as she is suffocating in space.
Leila climbs into the Beetle armor. She thinks about how her husband was gunned down by Scourge. She thinks about how she focused her anger on Abner Jenkins who humiliated and abused her husband. She donned her own suit and attacked the Beetle. Then the day that she found out that her husband had been saved and turned into a cyborg by AIM. Her husband, Anthony, however no longer wanted revenge on those who had hurt him. Leila let her anger go as well. Eventually Anthony died as his cybernetics broke down. Leila then decided to join the CSA’s team to atone for her crimes. Leila now stands before Graviton in her Beetle armor. Graviton says that it is very impressive. Leila screams as Graviton then kills her crushing the Beetle armor into a small cube.
Graviton greets M’Reel and Moonstone. Graviton notices that Moonstone has recruited Fixer into their ranks and suggests that Moonstone might convince others to do the same. M’Reel says, “It would save us all undue strife.” Graviton says, “Us? M’Reel, my good sycophant, I’m the one doing all the work.”
Suddenly Manhattan rises up out of the ground. Nova saves a young girl that was too close to the division line.
At Avengers mansion, SHIELD contacts Scarlet
Witch and Wonder Man who are still talking with Dallas Riordan.
GW Bridge says that they received a distress call from the Beetle
armor, but that it was cut off. He says that it is Graviton.
Simon says that it isn’t enough to have to deal with Kang.
Wanda says that they will send out a field unit. Suddenly Dallas
says that she doesn’t feel so good. 
A huge ionic
energy in the form of Atlas starts to pour out of her eyes and
body. Simon and Wanda recognize that Atlas is trying to return to
life through his love for Dallas.
Somewhere in West Virginia, a specially designed transport van containing Hawkeye, Plant-Man, Headlok, and Cottonmouth is flipped over by an earthquake.
In Mount Charteris, the apartment of Melissa Gold and Abner Jenkins also shakes. Melissa says that this town can’t catch a break. Abe tells Melissa to listen as the television says that the tremors are worldwide, but that the epicenter is in Colorado. The television suddenly cuts to a shot of New York floating high above the Earth. The reporter starts to read the reports of other cities floating: Washington DC, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Dallas, Miami, Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia, Montreal, Toronto, Ottowa, Mexico City, London, Moscow, Paris, Stockholm, Rome, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Beijing, Melbourne, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Cairo, New Delhi, Havana, Brasilia, Buenos Aires, and others are all levitating off the ground. Abe and Melissa figure that it is probably Graviton. Melissa says that they have to do something, but Abe says that they are powerless without their equipment and that doing anything would risk their pardons. Melissa says that she figured that Abe would help is something bad happened. Abe says that his life is finally normal. Melissa asks if they don’t stop Graviton who will.
Citizen V stands alone on the base of the mountain that Graviton is levitating above.
Traitor’s rating: 10 out of 10
This is a defining issue for the series. We’ve been made to care about the Redeemers for the last six months, and it seems that their purpose has now been fulfilled to serve the greater glory of Graviton and his new intense power level. Despite that fact that this book is primarily about the slaughter of the Redeemers it still has a very Thunderbolts feel to it. Atlas is on his way back. Moonstone and Fixer’s true colors are revealed, as are Citizen V’s (although his biggest secret is kept intact). The entire time Moonstone has been with Graviton it seemed that she was always looking for a way to do the heroic thing, but in this issue it seems that she is finally enjoying her villainy- which really makes it feel like the Moonstone that I enjoy. Melissa and Abe’s thoughts are brought in as well. Songbird wants to help, but MACH-2 wants to keep his normal life. I can’t wait for the next issue! Zircher continues to excel. He gets a very rare 5 out of 5 for pencilling in this issue. I’ve come to realize that it is Zircher’s facial expressions that really amplify his work. The smirks, half smiles, frowns, and looks of distress really work. Just phenomenal work. I never thought once about Bagely’s art while looking at this issue.