Today's Fact
Between X-Force tours, Neena Thurman quietly assembled the strangest freelance roster Marvel ever put on one cover.
In 2019 Neena Thurman stopped waiting for a team to recruit her and built one. Domino: Hotshots (2019) put Domino in charge of a covert freelance crew — the Hotshots — whose confirmed line-up reads like a dare: Black Widow, the reformed villain Diamondback, the gunslinging Outlaw, the Wakandan exile Shoon'kwa, and Atlas Bear, an enormous sentient bear with a genius intellect and a very personal grudge.
The crew formed around a piece of runaway Celestial technology and the scramble of governments and mercenaries trying to claim it. Where X-Force gave Domino orders, the Hotshots gave her a budget, a client list and total discretion — and the series deliberately played the run as a heist-team book, with Domino's luck power cast as the crew's unfair house advantage.
The Hotshots never became a permanent franchise, which is exactly why the run is worth rescuing from the back-issue bins: for five issues, the most employable mercenary in the X-books was the boss, and her performance reviews were delivered to a Black Widow and a talking bear.
Why It's Obscure
Everyone remembers Domino as Cable's right hand. For one 2019 run, she was the one giving the orders — to a wildly improbable payroll.
Gallery
The Hotshots in full — Domino front and centre, Black Widow at her shoulder and Atlas Bear looming over the whole payroll.
Sources
Every fact on this page was checked against at least two independent sources before publication.
Bullpen Bulletins
- Domino: Hotshots #1 — Marvel Database The Marvel Database entry lists the Hotshots' formation and roster, including Black Widow, Diamondback, Outlaw, Shoon'kwa and Atlas Bear.
- Domino: Hotshots (2019) — Marvel.com Marvel's series page for the five-issue Gail Simone run that put Domino in charge of the Hotshots.
- Domino: Hotshots #1–5 (2019) — Gail Simone & David Baldeón The primary text: the Celestial-tech scramble that brought the Hotshots together.