Next to saving the world (or universe, as the case may be), one of the main goals of heroes is to capture and potentially reform villains. In the Marvel universe, the place where the most powerful and dangerous villains go to serve their sentences is called The Raft. And a program has been established, shutdown and reestablished from that location a number of times to create a team of villains willing to put their lives on the line to deal with the most difficult of situations. That team is known as The Thunderbolts. 

Thunderbolts: Cage collects five issues of the series from the 90s, with Luke Cage heading the Thunderbolts program. The team is comprised of Juggernaut, Crossbones, Ghost and Moonstone, with an assist from Man-Thing. Of course, as with any such team, the members don’t exactly get along too well and you can’t be sure if they’re actually going to do as they’re told or decide to make a break for it. But there are contingency plans in place, including nanites that allow Luke and others to block or completely shut down individual powers if it looks like things are getting out of hand.

This is a good read if you’re looking for a lot of action. The team comes together fast and faces challenges almost immediately in the form of trolls (not the internet kind) and Terrigen-mutated humans. There are some interesting aspects to the team itself, especially involving Man-Thing, who is their source of transportation (it makes sense when you read it!). But the cool thing is that if you’re not a fan of this particular team, Thunderbolts has had a lot of incarnations over the years involving a lot of Marvel heroes and villains.