When the Thunderbolts first appeared in the 90s, they were led by a masked patriotic swashbuckler who went by the name of Citizen V, though his mask hid more than just the scarred features underneath, and it was eventually revealed that Citizen V and the Thunderbolts were secretly supervillains in disguise!

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Different versions of Citizen V have appeared quite a few times over the years, both in classic Golden Age stories and post-Thunderbolts tales, which have created a storied history for the character that tapped into the roots of the Marvel Universe for inspiration.

10 V FOR VICTORY

John Watkins was a lieutenant with the British Navy when he was killed in action in Dunkirk during World War II, though he secretly became the undercover operative known as Citizen V, as first shown in the pages of 1942's Daring Mystery Comics #8.

Citizen V was quick to point out to his enemies that his name meant "V for Victory" and not the roman numeral, as he hoped that the letter would become an easy symbol for the oppressed to rally around, which they did.

9 WORKED WITH CAP AND BUCKY IN WWII

After the modern-day Captain America discovered a heroic version of Citizen V that appeared after the Thunderbolts revealed their villainous secret, he recounted a story of an earlier meeting with the original Citizen V in WWII.

The U.S. forces had been alerted of a possible super-weapon being created by Baron Zemo, so Captain America and Bucky met up with Citizen V, who managed to destroy Zemo's weapon, though the villain escaped to fight many more battles during the war and beyond.

8 KILLED BY HEINRICH ZEMO

Heinrich Zemo killing Citizen V in front of the V-Battalion during the war

The fate of the first Citizen V wasn't revealed to readers until years later when Marvel released a series of flashback issues, with Thunderbolts#-1 exploring the history of the team's members, which included a story told from father to son, Heinrich to Helmut Zemo.

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The story was used as an example to the young Zemo from his father about how to handle rebellions, such as one led by Citizen V in 1943 that was meant to inspire hope among the oppressed. Heinrich strangled Citizen V to death in front of his own troops to show them that there was no hope left alive.

7 IDENTITY STOLEN BY HELMUT ZEMO

When Zemo reworked his Masters of Evil into the heroic Thunderbolts with the intention of gaining the world's trust before inevitably using it to take control of them, he used the identity of Citizen V, who had been killed years earlier by his father.

He didn't only take the war hero's costumed identity, but he also claimed to be the grandson of John Watkins to the public, causing some lasting issues with the real descendants of the original Citizen V.

6 MORE THAN ONE CITIZEN V

After the death of Citizen V, there were a few other characters who wore the costume before Baron Zemo usurped the role to use as the leader of the Thunderbolts, and even a few more who wore it after Helmut returned to his Baron Zemo identity.

Paulette Brazee was a French Spy formerly known as She-Wolf and lover of John Watkins who took over as Citizen V after his death in WWII. Her and John's son John Jr./JJ and John Watkins III would each carry on the role as well. The Thunderbolts' former ally Dallas Riordan also briefly served as Citizen V as well after she was selected by the group known as the V-Battalion.

5 WORKS WITH THE V-BATTALION

One of the original Citizen V's greatest legacies was his creation of the V-Battalion, which began as a group of like-minded freedom fighters and spies that he assembled during the Second World War, though it lasted well past his own life.

After Zemo killed Citizen V and most of the original V-Battalion, former WWII heroes like The Destroyer, Silver Scorpion, Union Jack, and Iron Cross all joined together as a new V-Battalion, who continued to operate behind the scenes alongside their descendants well into the modern era of the Marvel Universe.

4 LEADER OF THE REDEEMERS

After the Thunderbolts rebelled against Baron Zemo's plans and decided to follow Hawkeye instead on a path of redemption, the Commission on Superhuman Activities teamed with the V-Battalion to create their own team called the Redeemers.

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They were led by John Watkins III as a new Citizen V, though unbeknownst to them, Baron Helmut Zemo's mind was actually possessing the body of Watkins, once again usurping the role of Citizen V for his own goals., Zemo would eventually be restored in an alternate version of his original body while most of the Redeemers were killed.

3 MANIPULATED NATIONAL POLITICS

John Watkins III would regain control of his body from Zemo and return to action in Citizen V and the V-Battalion: The Everlasting and continue his namesake's lasting legacy of fighting for the oppressed, though he wasn't always on the right side.

He would first allow Flag-Smasher to take over the country of Rumekistan, and then Citizen V would later go undercover as a Rumeki rebel in order to rectify his prior mistake of backing Flag-Smasher, with the militaristic mutant known as Cable taking power of the war-torn country instead.

2 ENDED THE EVERLASTING

While the V-Battalion was attempting to manipulate national matters with Flag-Smasher's takeover of Rumekistan, they were also dealing with a mysterious and seemingly eternal group known as the Everlasting.

They were led by a demigod known as Marduk, who worked alongside the reincarnating Aqhat, and a powerful sorceress named Papahanau-Moku used a device called the Genesis Well to drain souls/life energy from others in order to empower themselves and retain their eternal life, though the Well was destroyed by Citizen V and the Everlasting were defeated.

1 LEADER OF THE U.S.AVENGERS

Roberto da Costa was the former New Mutant turned Avenger known as Sunspot, who bought and reorganized the scientific terrorist organization known as A.I.M. into a government-sanctioned high-tech squad known as the U.S.Avengers.

As the leader of the team, da Costa used the codename of Citizen V (even though he personally preferred his old codename) though he never quite adopted the patriotic costume, choosing instead to wear a business suit. He would leave behind the Citizen V codename and the Avengers to return to his original team, the New Mutants.

NEXT: 10 Heroes That Have Served As A Member Of The Thunderbolts