Volume 10

The Twelve is a twelve-issue limited series launched by Marvel Comics in 2008, written by J. Michael Straczynski with art by Chris Weston. The story returns to Berlin at the end of World War II: twelve masked heroes from the Golden Age are ambushed by Nazis in the basement of an SS building, gassed unconscious, and placed in cryogenic suspension, originally to be dissected later so their abilities could be studied. The building is then destroyed in an air raid, everyone who knew of the plan dies, and the twelve sleep frozen for more than sixty years. In the present day, a Berlin construction site accidentally uncovers the underground bunker, and the twelve heroes see daylight again. They are handed over to the U.S. military, housed together in a mansion for counseling and adaptation training, gradually understand that decades have passed, and are invited to play heroic roles in the twenty-first century. Yet each chooses very differently: some become media darlings, some return to writing, some actively cooperate with law enforcement, and some can never get over the loss of their old world. Meanwhile, one member dies mysteriously, pushing the whole work toward a mystery about identity, prejudice, and human nature. This is Volume 10 of the series, part of the climax, involving the advance toward the truth of the murder and a showdown between key figures.