Over the past few weeks, Marvel have inundated us with one word teasers for their "All-New Marvel NOW!" initiative which kicks off in 2014. One of those was "Sinners", and it has now been revealed that it refers to the addition of Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze) to the Thunderbolts from issue #20.NOW/#1. Below, you'll find Julian Totino Tedesco's first cover featuring the character along with comments about why he's been added to the team from writer Charles Soule.
"The way the book works these days is that each team member has been brought onto the team because they have a special mission that they weren't able to get done by themselves. The same offer has been made to everyone, which is that you can use the team to do your special missions, but when we're not doing one of yours, you have to help with a problem.
So Ghost Rider comes on the team to help out with a Thunderbolt/Ross problem. They have an existing relationship from the comics — they've had adventures before. So he knows him, Venom knows him. So they have this problem, and they're trying to solve it, and they're like, "Hey, maybe Ghost Rider could help out." So they sort of call him up, so to speak, and they have an adventure, and we'll have to see where things go from there.
But I think the problem they called him to solve is something that people will find interesting. I think the way the solution plays out is interesting, and it's one of the fun things about serialize storytelling — you can play things out over a long period of time, and then when all the pieces click together, people will hopefully be surprised and enjoy it."