History Characters / ThunderboltsNormanOsbornMembers

[[folder:Fenris / Swordsman]]
!!Fenris / Swordsman
[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/new_thunderbolts_vol_1_4_page_30_andreas_von_strucker_29.jpg]]

!!! '''Alter Ego:''' Andreas von Strucker
!!! '''First Appearance:''' ''The Uncanny X-Men'' Vol. 1, #194
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-> See Characters/XMenRoguesGalleryAToI
[[/folder]]

[[foldercontrol]]

!!! '''First Appearance:''' ''The Amazing Spiderman'' Vol. 1, #14

-> See ComicBook/NormanOsborn

-> See ComicBook/{{Scorpion}}

[[folder:Andrea von Strucker]]
!!Andrea von Strucker
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/5844059_img_3710.jpg]]

!!! '''Alter Ego:''' Fenris

* ClonesArePeopleToo: The version who serves on the team is a clone created by Armin Zola. Andreas treats her as he would the original, which would ''almost'' be a redeeming trait, if not for...
* IncestSubtext: They are ''way'' too close to one another, even if their powers didn't require them to be in physical contact.
* WeHardlyKnewYe: She lasts a few issues. Then Bullseye does what Bullseye does.

Starting with issue #110, the book saw a massive Retool and were taken in a bold new direction. Coming off of the heels of Marvel's Comicbook/CivilWar, the Thunderbolts were sanctioned by the government as a super-human task force, with it's members hunting down super heroes who fail to comply with the SuperRegistrationAct. Written by Creator/WarrenEllis, the book was given a DarkerAndEdgier overhaul, with several new additions to the team.

Created by Creator/SteveDitko, Robert "Robbie" Baldwin was just your average fun-loving teenager before getting caught in a freak lab accident which granted him kinetic-based superpowers. Calling himself Speedball, he became a teen crimefighter in the view of one of Ditko's more [[Franchise/SpiderMan famous characters]]. He would go on to be one of the founding members of the Comicbook/NewWarriors.

However, the good times were not to last. During the filming of a reality shown Stanford, Connecticut, the New Warriors, in a battle with the villain Nitro, accidentally caused the deaths of over 600 innocent civilians, inadvertently kicking off the Marvel Comicbook/CivilWar. As the only survivor of the accident, Robbie was blamed by the public for what happened, and was sent to prison.

Suffering from sever PTSD, and having lost control of his powers, Robbie fell into a depression and took to cutting himself (the only way he could still tap into his powers). Having sunk to his lowest point, he was contacted by Norman Osborn, then leader of the Thunderbolts who gave him an ultimatum: join the team, or rot in jail. Taking the offer, Robbie dropped himself in a new suit and took the name Penance.

Tropes below refer to the Penance persona. Tropes regarding Speedball and the New Warriors belong on [[Characters/NewWarriors their own page]].

* BarrierWarrior: As Speedball. As Penance, he is...
* TheBerserker: In contrast to Speedball, who the BarrierWarrior.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: In his Speedball persona, he may look ridiculous with his costume, powers and his attitude but he has proven himself a badass at times. When Hummingbird reads his mind in ''New Warriors'' Vol. 5 (when he's apparently back in full FunPersonified mode), she sees the deadly serious Penance persona warning her never to do that again.
* CharacterDevelopment: After becoming Penance as a harmful way of dealing with his grief, Robbie begins his tenure on the Thunderbolts as a sniveling wreck, nearly unable to even function, let alone be an asset on missions. Over the course of the run he goes to a shrink and learns how to deal with his grief in a productive way, finally tearing down the mental blocks he had created preventing him from using his powers. By the time he has left the Thunderbolts (after Osborn is dethroned) he is back to his old self again. He manages to track down the one truly responsible for the Stanford disaster, Nitro, and forces him to wear the Penance suit as punishment for his crimes. While this does provide some karmic retribution, it does little to alleviate Robbie's grief, further reinforcing the message that the DarkerAndEdgier approach won't actually solve his problems, and only time and self healing will.
* DarkerAndEdgier: To an almost ridiculous extreme.
* DependingOnTheWriter: Warren Ellis depicted him as a quiet, almost entirely shattered wreck. When Jenkins did him for a one-shot during Ellis' run, he wrote Robbie as just being apathetic and kind of ditzy.
* HandBlast: His powers as Penance which he had to hurt himself to work.
* FunPersonified: Used to be this, until he went to prison. Some of his old personality manages to peek through in some of his therapy sessions with Doc Savage.
** MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After the Stamford incident, courtesy of Comicbook/CivilWar, Speedball became the grim & gritty hero Penance, blaming himself for the incident, and becoming a psychological trainwreck. Later though, he gets better to an extent, and this leads to...
** TheAtoner: He becomes Speedball again and joins the Avengers, as an instructor at Comicbook/AvengersAcademy, trying to give the the students the proper guidance they need so that anything like Stamford won't happen again. He still has some issues to work through though. (Such as cutting himself.)
* MeaningfulRename: Speedball to Penance.
* OneSteveLimit: ComicBook/GenerationX had a team member named Penance who came and went long before Robbie took the name.
* PsychoactivePowers: Revealed in the Creator/WarrenEllis run; after the Stamford disaster, Robbie discovered [[DiscardAndDraw his powers had changed]] and now only worked when he was in pain. Cue the iron maiden styled combat suit. Except, Doc Samson pointed out that people who cut themselves process pain abnormally; the adrenaline rush of self-mutilation triggers an endorphin reaction, in effect making them ''high''. Thus, his powers have the same trigger as always; he can't use them unless he's happy. As the FunPersonified character he had been before ComicBook/CivilWar, it makes some sense that this had previously not been noticed. Discovering this helps him start overcoming his depression.
* TheQuietOne: In stark contrast to his previous jokester attitude, Penance rarely ever speaks.
* ResetButton: By the end of ''Comicbook/DarkReign'', he is back to his Speedball persona. Considering how poorly his change to Penance was received, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools this was probably for the best]]. See CharacterDevelopment above.
* SadClown: After giving up the Penance persona, he becomes this.
* SelfHarm: Part of the fallout from the Stamford incident was him picking up this habit, with his Penance suit actually being powered by it. Even after he goes back to being Speedball he still does this to cope with his feelings of guilt.
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Averted, though not through lack of trying. Doc Samson is hired by Norman Osborn and assigned as Robbie's shrink, but only so as to fake his psych evaluation. Unfortunately for Osborn, Samson actually cared about Robbie's condition. He worked with Robbie for several months helping him come to terms with his grief, and helped him regain his Speedball powers (the latter of which he kept hidden from Osborn, hoping that Robbie would use his newfound confidence and returned abilities to undermine Osborn's schemes).
* TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening: How Robbie Baldwin got his Penance powers. Basically after he had survived the explosion but seemingly lost his Speedball powers, Robbie spent many days tormented in prison until the Penance powers came to life when he had a near-death experience from being shot on the way to court.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Speedball was about 15 when he joined the New Warriors, he looked like he was at least 18 or early 20s when he is in his superhero persona. After joining the Thunderbolts, while he is over 18, due to the trauma he experienced in the months leading up to his transformation into Penance, he looks at least 10 years older.

!![[ComicBook/NormanOsborn Green Goblin / Iron Patriot]]

!![[ComicBook/BullseyeMarvelComics Bullseye / Hawkeye]]

!![[ComicBook/{{Scorpion}} Venom III / Scorpion I]]

!![[ComicBook/MacGargan Venom III / Scorpion I]]

* NamesTheSame: ComicBook/GenerationX had a team member named Penance who came and went long before Robbie took the name.