Profile: Thunderbird

Additional Information

Neal Proudstar (father, deceased): Maria Proudstar(mother, deceased); James Proudstar (Warpath) (brother).

• Body Armor: John had Good body armor vs. all physical and energy attacks.
• Lightning Speed: John could run at Typical speed on land, while not as flashy as Quicksilver he could use it to run down a bison before tackling it to the ground.
• Tracking: John's heightened senses enabled him to follow a trail with Remarkable ability (check only when the trail crosses another track or is in danger of being lost).

Military: John was a U.S. Marine and had Good Reason when it came to rules, regulations and protocals. He had training in weapon use and could, if provoked and if he decided to do so, could use guns or artillery with Remarkable agility.

Bi-Lingual: John spoke Apache, Navajo and English fluently.

Survival: John was used to living and surviving in a desert environment, he could live off the land as well as find food, shelter and water in such an environment at Excellent ability

Thunderbird was a strong, proud man; while his heart was generous and he upheld the right values with little compromise, he still had problems. His thirst for honor and face was unquenchable; he always had to be the best hero and fighter around, and dreamt of being a mythic warrior, a legend in his own time. His temper was burning close to the surface, and it especially showed in the X-Men, as he was ultimately one of the least powerful members of the new team and knew it.

X-Men Uniform:

The Uniforms are constructed out of unstable molecule fabric of Remarkable Material. The suits come with a standard comlink that has a 250 mile range and a GPS tracking device built into it. The suits are insulated providing Good Protection vs. Heat and Cold. The suits are lined with a kevlar like material providing Good Protection vs. physical.

The X-Men (past and present at the time), Professor X, his tribe, his younger brother James and the USMC.

John Proudstar was born on the Apache reservation in Camp Verde, Arizona. During his childhood and adolescence, John proved to be an exceptionally strong and vigorous athlete. Proudstar, however, regarded himself throughout his life as a loner and an outcast. John wished to prove himself to be a warrior in the tradition of his ancestors and was dissatisfied with what he regarded as the complacent lives led by his fellow Apaches on their reservation. Although too young to join the armed forces, Proudstar lied about his age and entered the United Stated Marines, intending to lead the kind of active life he desired. Proudstar became a corporal and earned a number of medals, but still was dissatisfied with his life once his tour of duty was over and he had returned to the reservation.

Proudstar's mutant superhuman strength first manifested itself when, at the age of twenty and using only his bare hands, he wrestled and threw a charging bison to save an endangered little girl. This feat earned Proudstar fame among his tribes people on the reservation, but the true nature of his abilities remained unknown, until Professor Charles Xavier, founder of the X-Men, a team of superhuman mutant adventurers, discovered him. Through the use of his mutant-detecting computer Cerebro, Prof. Xavier located Proudstar, whom he invited to join the X-Men. The first mission that Proudstar and six other new recruits undertook was the rescue of the original X-Men from the "living island" of Krakoa in the South Pacific. With the exception of Sunfire, all of these new recruits, including Proudstar, decided to stay on and became the "new" X-Men. Prof. Xavier gave Proudstar the code name "Thunderbird". This third group of X-Men were mostly adults and required no tutoring from Professor X, but trained in the use of their powers, in the Danger Room.

On their next mission, the new X-Men went to Cheyenne Mountain in the Colorado Rockies, the location of a North American Air Defense command center, which had been taken over by Count Luchino Nefaria as part of an international extortion scheme. After the X-Men had foiled his plans, Nefaria attempted to escape in a small aircraft and Thunderbird managed to climb onto the plane as it took off. Defying Prof. Xavier's telepathic warnings to get off the plane, Thunderbird asserted that he was finally going to prove he was a true Apache warrior. Using his superhuman strength, Thunderbird ripped open part of the plane and wreaked havoc on its internal systems. Furiously, Thunderbird pummeled the aircraft until finally it exploded, killing him instantly. Nefaria, however, survived by using a teleportation device.

Thunderbird was later resurrected by Selene Gallio and Eli Bard with the Transmode virus after years of rest. However, after X-Force and his younger brother, Warpath, defeated Selene, John was returned to the land of the dead. Later, however, during the events of Chaos War, Thunderbird was one of the many returning heroes from the Underworld when the gates opened. He along with his fellow resurrected X-Men Banshee, Moira McTaggert, Esme and Sophie Cuckoo and three Multiple Men. They battle the forces of the Carrion Crow, a minion of the Chaos King. John uses the power of the god of his people the Thunderbird to defeat the Carrion Crow and repair Earths lay lines. He returned to the grave, this time contemplating that his life finally meant something and hoping that next time he was resurrected, it would be with Sophie.