WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for King in Black: Thunderbolts #1 by Matthew Rosenberg, Juan Ferreyra and VC's Joe Sabino, on sale now.

When an ancient world-devouring space god comes calling, many of Marvel's greatest heroes answer. With Knull finally arriving on Earth, the Kingpin puts together a team of his own in an attempt to do something about the Symbiote god. It's probably doomed to fail, but at least it will be entertaining. Speaking of which, one member of the new team of Thunderbolts, Batroc, got some new electric boots thanks to the death (murder) of his teammate, Ampere. This might ensure that the most ridiculous member of the Thunderbolts survives to the end of this new series.

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Following Knull's coating of the Earth in symbiote goo, the Kingpin assembled several criminals to try to save the city and quite possibly the world. Among their numbers were Batroc, Taskmaster, Star, Mister Fear, Rhino, Snakehead and Ampere. After being convinced to join up through a classic Kingpin combination of bribery and death threats, the new Thunderbolts were formed to take on Knull. And they didn't even last a full ten minutes before things started going wrong.

Snakehead was killed by a dragon, triggering a fight to subdue the beast that resulted in Star demonstrating her full power, but passing out in the process. Not the most inspiring beginning. And Rhino seemed to echo this sentiment as he quickly walked away from the team, preferring to take his chances with Knull's servants instead of Knull himself. Ampere would have joined him, had Mister Fear not killed him for attempting to betray the team.

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But, while this may have been... an overreaction, it definitely benefited the rest of the (remaining) team. Mister Fear, in a rare moment of lucidity, realized that with Ampere dead, his electrical gadgetry is of no use to a corpse. So with an even rarer display of generosity, Mister Fear spread out the electrical coils Ampere wore to his teammates. But while Taskmaster and Mister Fear only took one, Batroc took two, placing them over his boots and giving him a unique edge against the symbiotes.

Batroc the Leaper is a master of the French form of kick-boxing, savate. His whole thing is kicking people. That's already dangerous enough for someone of his skill level, but coupling that with a weapon that adds more damage to the kicks and he becomes a much less absurd villain. And more significantly, this also gives him an advantage against the symbiote army that he's been hired to fight.

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Knull's army may be unlike anything the Marvel Universe has faced before, but it's still comprised of symbiotes. Whether they're the humanoid kind, the ones possessing the bodies of dead colleagues (poor Ampere couldn't catch a break, even in death) or just a symbiote dragon -- they all share the same weaknesses. One of the most well-documented ones is electricity. So for Batroc to have his greatest weapons amplified, makes him a much more credible threat to the forces of Knull.

And considering how quickly the Thunderbolts fell apart within the first few pages of their new comic, it goes without saying that in this series, no one is safe. Batroc already had a near-death experience once while trying to hold off the hordes for his teammates to get away. And if it hadn't been for his savate skills, he may very well have died. But the team seems to be getting its act together as they adjust to the threats they face. And now they have a new weapon to fight them with.

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