 The Thunderbolts were deputized as the strong arm of the law when it came to enforcing the Super Human Registration Act. Their law enforcement endeavors led them into conflicts with a myriad of super human types and the three part Fusion mini series entitled Gods & Monsters was no exception. The events of this Marvel/Top Cow publishing crossover take place roughly a week after Mighty Avengers #1 (May 2007) in which the new Mighty Avengers team had assembled for the first time and thwarted the villain Mole Man. This mini series is a landmark event for Norman Osborn because it is his first publication outside of Marvel publishing. In Fusion #1, Ellis, an Ultra-Sapien and former member of the team Hunter-Killer, became possessed by an alien presence while at the ancestral home of Cyblade. Cyblade happened to be a member of the Cyberforce team. This alien-possession caused Ellis to appear like a suped-up version of Ripclaw, another Cyberforce team member. The new Ellis/alien-entity went on a rampage and eventually crossed the path of Tony Stark's team of Avengers. Stark and his team easily subdued the rampaging beast, but it managed to escape after distracting the Avengers. Unfortunately for the beast, it was not not able to escape from the Thunderbolts, who snared him and brought him into custody at Thunderbolts Mountain.  Meanwhile, Iron Man searched his database and found a connection between the beast they confronted and the superhuman known as Ripclaw. So the Avengers paid Cyberforce a visit at their lighthouse hideout. But when they arrived the team was greeted by a different rampaging beast, the true Ripclaw! A battle between the Avengers and Cyberforce ensued in Fusion #2, but the Avengers were able to withstand the Cyberforce attack and eventually the two groups shared a peaceful discussion. Ripclaw explained that there was another version of himself 'out there' and that this symbiotic-alien version fed off of his powers. He explained further that this alien was now bound to a meta-human (Ellis) and that that meta-human was in the possession of Norman Osborn. Over at Thunderbolts Mountain, Norman had this Ellis-alien hybrid strapped to a table with the intention of extracting anything useful from the beast. To quote Osborn, "I'm thinking glands." Soon after, the Avengers along with Riplcaw arrived at Thunderbolts Mountain in order to 'take a look' at this supposed alien-Ellis creature. Osborn initially declined Stark the privilege to do so but then reluctantly allowed him access to the creature. Norman took the opportunity to needle both Ripclaw and Stark in typical Osborn fashion. Meanwhile, Venom decided to snack on the Ellis-alien monster, but the beast turned-the-tables on Venom and siphoned the symbiotic alien from Gargan's body. The result was an immense alien-alien (that’s right!) hybrid that went on a rampage and left both hosts, Mac Gargan and Ellis, behind in the dust. At the story's conclusion, the alien cornered Osborn in the Thunderbolts laboratory as it prepared to obliterate the Thunderbolt Director. The confusion and mayhem increased exponentially in Fusion #3 as the Avengers and Thunderbolts attacked each another, both groups under the impression that the other has provoked the attack. Eventually the teams were confronted by the alien-alien hybrid so they turned their collective efforts toward taking down the larger threat. Meanwhile, Ellis found an unconscious Gargan and pleaded him to allow Ellis to link himself to the Venom symbiote. Once Ellis attained the link he was able to help both teams take down the monster from the inside-out. The monster eventually exploded, levying heavy damage upon the Thunderbolts headquarters. Despite neutralizing the monster, Osborn was irate about the expensive damage done to his facility as well as Ripclaw's escape. Moonstone soon provided Norman with a bit good news however, as the repair crews were able to salvage a piece of bio-tech from the monster after the explosion.  Soon after, Osborn was contacted his 'old friend' Morningstar, a member of the team Hunter Killer. Osborn informed him that he is now in possession of what appears to be an 'alien-technoderm technology hybrid', a new form of hybrid bio-tech. Morningstar was quite intrigued and the fate of this new bio-tech was left ambiguous.
|     Stark shares his true feelings for Osborn with Ripclaw...in all seriousness, if you can't stand Osborn why did you help him get into his position within the Thunderbolts??, as seen in Fusion #3   |
