'Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler' #1 Preview: The original Thunderbird may finally return to the limelight
Death has always been a bit of a revolving door for Marvel's merry mutants but one character who's never been brought back with any sense of permanence is John Proudstar aka Thunderbird.
He was recently revealed to be alive again but hasn't gotten much of a chance to shine. Until the upcoming 'Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler', that is.
Introduced in 1975's 'Giant-Size X-Men' #1, this Native American mutant had a very brief stint as a member of the X-Men, before dying during just his second mission with the team.
This was partly because his powers were far too similar to Wolverine and as we know, Logan's powers (and editorial policy) won't let the Canadian mutant die easily or stay dead for long.
He's been brought back for brief periods since then and his brother James Proudstar later became a valued member of the X-Men and their black-ops wing X-Force but for the most part, the original Thunderbird has remained firmly stuck on the other side of the veil. However, since the founding of Krakoa, a number of mutants have been brought back to life as part of the newly-introduced Resurrection Protocols and Thunderbird was recently revealed to be among the resurrected.
Now the cover for Jonathan Hickman and Alan Davis's 'Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler' #1 teases the hero's return to the spotlight by featuring a shadowy figure bearing his symbol.
Preview pages for the upcoming issue reveal that the story will see Nightcrawler leading a team to the abandoned grounds of the Xavier School to investigate a possible mutant whom the Krakoan gate hasn't been allowing to pass through.
We don't know how or why he would have left Krakoa but if this mutant really is Thunderbird, then there is a possible explanation for this mystery and it has everything to do with the former X-Villain Mister Sinister.
Hickman's 'Powers of X' revealed that Mister Sinister spliced Thunderbird's X-gene into his own genome to become a mutant so as far as Krakoa is concerned, there's two John Proudstars around and that could be what has confused the gates.
Of course, this is still speculation so maybe it's about a different mutant altogether (Sinister's "daughter" Madelyne Pryor perhaps?) but either way, it's nice to know that Thunderbird may finally be getting his time in the sun once again.
Here's the official solicitation for the upcoming issue: "HICKMAN AND DAVIS HAUNT THE XAVIER SCHOOL! Superstar writer Jonathan Hickman teams with legendary artist Alan Davis (X-MEN, EXCALIBUR, AVENGERS) for an eerie tale of adventure! When the X-Men lose contact with the Greymalkin Habitat, it falls to Nightcrawler to lead a mission into the unknown!"
'Giant-Size X-Men' #1 will arrive in stores on March 25.