A crossover told in Avengers #32-34 and Thunderbolts #43-44.
The Thunderbolts/Avengers crossover unofficially began in Avengers #31 with the Scarlet Witch noticing that Wonder-man had not returned to the Avengers Mansion when he should have. Since it would turn out that Nefaria had taken control of him. The Thunderbolts and Avengers continued their own investigations into the Maggia and Nefaria for a fair part of the crossover until finally meeting up in Thunderbolts #44. The climatic final battle between Nefaria that lead to his eventual defeat took place in the double sized Avengers #34 which was also Perez's last issue.
The Avengers and Thunderbolts have crossed over before in Avengers #12 a double sized issue where they fought among themselves and then teamed up to defeat Dominex. It was only a matter of time they would met up again considering the Thunderbolts have Hawkeye who used to be with the Avengers and the history the members of the team have as villains and the Masters of Evil.
The connections between the Avengers and Thunderbolts had been established. They worked separately trying to piece together a puzzle of what was occurring communicating with each other every once in awhile. With Hawkeye usually being the one conducting the communications between the teams the Avengers seemed at ease. When they eventually met to defeat Nefaria I was surprised to see how easy the Avengers teamed up with the Thunderbolts. Sure Hawkeye is the leader of the Thunderbolts but they got along a little too well. It would have been nice to see some tension between the teams but they still get the job done. Perhaps the Avengers have fully accepted or are close to accepting the Thunderbolts as the heroes they are trying to be. Previously in the Thunderbolts 2000 annual Moonstone met with the Scarlet Witch and they both chatted and were friendly to each other. They seemed to be getting along real well there too but was strange at the time so this seems to point to at least one of the Avengers not being uncomfortable with one of the Thunderbolts and in a social setting too. I can see that with Charcoal and Triathlon talking there wouldn't be much tension. Maybe the threat that Nefaria was put their fears in the back of their mind for the moment. Charcoal a more recent member of the team than the others and Triathlon the same getting along together was predictable. Particularly with them being of the same race and both newer members of their teams. Things came together far too easy in my opinion with the Avengers and the Thunderbolts, they do still have some secrets. There could have been more interaction between the two teams.
The threat for the Crossover was Nefaria. With appearances by the Grim Reaper and his henchmen, Madame Masque, various people that are part of the Maggia, Wonder Man and Atlas also served as Nefaria's henchmen as he controlled them. Nefaria presented a real threat to the Avengers, Thunderbolts and the whole world. While I could never get past the costume he wore which looked lame at times his show of force and power in battle made him seem unstoppable. Unlike an Iron Man annual with Nefaria, he wasn't going to run out of energy as quickly here. The Avengers and Thunderbolts would be defeated long before that happened. Nefaria's plan came to be launching an Ionic Bomb into space that would bathe the world in Ionic energy. Many would die or be mutated and Nefaria would control the survivors since they would have the Ionic energy within their bodies.
Repercussions for the crossover include the apparent death of Nefaria as he exploded. Considering he's made of Ionic energy maybe someday or someone would eventually pull himself back together if there is enough of him floating around.
Wonder Man and Atlas suffer the effects of having too much Ionic energy in their bodies that overloads their systems. Within a small amount of time they should be up and walking around again. Techno even admitted Atlas would recover more quickly if Techno didn't have to pretend to be Ogre and less than perfect. Whether Atlas will be able to fly and change into an ionic form again similar to Wonder Man's form remains to be seen.
Atlas had a nice character moment when he helped Wonder Man save the world from the Ionic bomb. After all his failures Atlas is finally doing something heroic and if he died while saving the earth it would all end with him doing something right and good. This ties in nicely with everything that's he's been through in his life and in the Thunderbolts.
This crossover also largely affected Madame Masque, going from the paranoid person in hiding to eventually helping the Avengers. Knowing that now she doesn't want to be a criminal but she can't lead a normal life since she's still wanted by the law. She also decided that she couldn't return to the Maggia as that part of her life was over.
Overall it was a well done and put together crossover with just a little that seemed to be missing. There were various little plots there was brought together to reveal Nefaria and his scheme. With only one annoying thing being one of the scenes that should have taken place in Thunderbolts being recapped as if it actually had appeared in an issue.
Two of what I consider two of the finest artists on the crossover Bagley for Thunderbolts and Perez for Avengers certainly helped the crossover artistically.
The crossover even helped to wrap up old stories from Avengers vol.1 and conclude a plot in Iron Man dealing with bunch of dead Madame Masque bodies showing up all over the place. It also helped show her history and make everything connect together nicely.
The Thunderbolts title through out the crossover slowed down only a little with its sub plots to allow for the crossover so not too much was interfered with in that area. The crossover also included some nice character moments particularly in the finale in Avengers #34. Madame Masque as a very paranoid person was also of much interest.
Although the crossover overall was good it had its problems and ultimately the Thunderbolts could have done without the crossover. It interrupted the flow of the series. Maybe it helped bring in a few new Avengers readers in though. The threat of Nefaria and the use of the Maggia really was an Avengers story, and through connections the Thunderbolts were brought in. The conclusion was on a big scale like Ultron Unlimited in Avengers but just didn't live up that. Ultron Unlimited was a much better story and had a better villain.
If this becomes an annual event maybe in another 20 issues or so there will be another crossover between these teams. Even by then I'm sure the Avengers and Thunderbolts will look somewhat different then they do now.
Thunderbolts and all associated characters are the property of MARVEL COMICS TM&©2003.