The mutant Thunderbird has scarcely appeared in John Proudstar, the first Native American mutant (and one of the first major Native Americans to have a major role in comics proper) infamously died early on in the X-Men's run (and shockingly was not immediately revived). Now, Marvel announces a Thunderbird Giant-Sized comic to debut in 2022.
Thunderbird was created in 1975 by Marvel creatives Len Wein and Dave Cockrum as part of an effort to diversify the mutant roster - but John Proudstar was never meant to the actual team. Proudstar was created to deliberately fail the X-Men entrance exam, and would only appear in one issue before being forgotten. Thankfully, writers liked the character (and his costume) enough to keep him in the X-Men lineup. Unfortunately, Thunderbird was redundant as a character; he was an arrogant loudmouth, characteristics that just so happened to be shared with the ultra-popular Wolverine. Thus, Thunderbird's tragic fate was sealed.
In Uncanny X-Men #95, the team encounters the villain Count Nefaria at a secret base in Colorado. Count Nefaria attempted to escape from the group, but the hotheaded Thunderbird leapt onto his plane (defying orders from Professor Xavier) and in a memorable sequence, used his super-strength to repeatedly punch the aircraft's cockpit. The airplane exploded, killing Thunderbird (and to add insult to injury, Count Nefaria survived the attack through a teleportation device). Now for 2022, Marvel debuts Giant-Sized Thunderbird #1, by Nyla Rose, Steve Orlando and First Nations artist David Cutler.
The issue is set to tackle John Proudstar's Trial of Magneto #5. Previously, only X-Men who were backed up via Cerebro could be brought back from the dead. According to publicity material released by Marvel, Proudstar "...seeks out someone from his past at an Apache reservation...and uncovers a horrifying threat to the Indigenous mutant community. Will Thunderbird be able to save his people? Or will his justified rage lead him astray?"
Thunderbird holds a special place in the hearts of many X-Men fans, despite his very limited history and his rather ignoble death. Proudstar has been revived several times before, but those were all temporary instances and he is mostly known for his death rather than his life. Hopefully, this issue will elaborate on Thunderbird's history, and perhaps eventually pave the way for the mutant to the X-Men in the modern age.
