For alternate meanings of Thunderbird, see Thunderbird.

Thunderbird is a name used by several Marvel Comics superheroes, all of whom have been related to the X-Men.

Contents

1 John Proudstar 2 James Proudstar 3 Neal Shaara 4 John Proudstar (Exiles)

John Proudstar

The first Thunderbird, John Proudstar, was created by Dave Cockrum and Len Wein and first appeared in Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975).

Proudstar was born into an Apache Tribe in Camp Verde, Arizona. As a teenager, Proudstar discovered he possessed the mutant abilities of superhuman strength, speed and resistance to damage.

Proudstar was drafted into the United States Marine Corps during the Vietnam War and earned the rank of corporal. He returned to his tribe afterwards but felt unhappy and listless.

He was recruited by Professor Charles Xavier to join his second group of X-Men. Although Proudstar was reluctant to join another white man’s crusade, he agreed and took the superhero title Thunderbird.

Thunderbird’s tenure with the team was short. During the new team’s second mission, he foolishly leapt onto an airplane he thought was carrying the supervillain Count Nefaria. Unfortunately, the plane was a decoy. It exploded, killing Proudstar (in X-Men #95 (1975).

James Proudstar

The second Thunderbird, Proudstar’s younger brother James Proudstar possessed powers similar to those of his brother. He first appeared in The New Mutants #16 (1984) and was created by Chris Claremont and Sal Buscema.

James Proudstar angrily blamed the X-Men on his brother’s death and once attempted to kill Professor X in revenge. He was originally a member of the supervillain team The Hellions.

Proudstar later reformed and no longer sought revenge for John's death. He joined the militant X-Men offshoot X-Force, where he changed his name to Warpath. See Warpath (comics) for more information.

Neal Shaara

In X-Men #100 (2000), Chris Claremont and Leinil Francis Yu introduced the third Thunderbird Neal Shaara, who did not have any connection to the Proudstars.

Shaara was an Indian pyrokinetic, who could create great plasma blasts. He left the X-Men in 2002 and has been seen sporadically since.

John Proudstar (Exiles)

An alternate world version of John Proudstar has been featured in The Exiles, a series featuring a team of parallel world-hopping mutants. In the reality of his origin, Thunderbird was captured and modified by the evil super-mutant Apocalypse. He is a half-machine creature with immense strength and damage resistance, capable of taking on The Incredible Hulk. He is also a centaur-like creature with the bottom body of a horse.

Thunderbird broke free of Apocalypse and became a founding member of the Exiles. However, he was injured in a battle with Galactus and was left in a coma in that dimension. He thought his pregnant girlfriend Nocturne and the child she was carrying would survive, but later she lost their baby. Thunderbird's ultimate fate is unknown.