Jump to content

Thunderball (character)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thunderball
Thunderball.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThe Defenders #17 (Nov. 1974)
Created byLen Wein
Sal Buscema
In-story information
Alter egoEliot Franklin
SpeciesHuman mutate
Place of originEarth
Team affiliationsWrecking Crew
Frightful Four[1]
Masters of Evil
Secret Empire
Illuminati
Lethal Legion
Abilities

Thunderball (Eliot Franklin) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a frequent enemy of Thor and a reluctant ally of the Wrecker and the Wrecking Crew.

The character made his live-action debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, played by Justin Eaton.

Publication history

[edit]

Thunderball was created by Len Wein and Sal Buscema and first appeared in The Defenders #17 (November 1974).

Phillip Lamarr Cunningham identifies how black supervillains are often forced to choose between great power and great intellect: "Thunderball, who despite his genius-level intellect relies primarily on his strength, has resorted to utilizing a ball and chain as a weapon, and commits crimes with his band of ruffians, The Wrecking Crew."[2]

Fictional character biography

[edit]

Eliot Franklin was born in Buffalo, New York. He becomes a brilliant physicist and engineer, inventing a miniature gamma bomb that he provides to Richmond Enterprises. However, Richmond executive J. C. Pennysworth steals the bomb and fires Franklin. Franklin attempts to recover the bomb, but is caught and imprisoned. In prison, he meets Dirk Garthwaite, Henry Camp, and Brian Calusky. Garthwaite's magical crowbar empowers all four men, who form the Wrecking Crew.[3]

As a member of the Wrecking Crew, Thunderball has faced many of Marvel's superheroes, including Thor, Iron Man, the Avengers, and the Hulk. They have also been part of other "supervillain" organizations, but they always stayed together as a team. Thunderball has occasionally operated on his own, working as a scientist for criminal organizations, including the Masters of Evil, the Secret Empire, and the Hood's gang.[4][5][6]

Powers and abilities

[edit]

Thunderball possesses superhuman strength and a high degree of durability thanks to the Asgardian magic imparted by the Wrecker's crowbar. His superhuman abilities are currently four times greater than when he originally shared the Wrecker's power, making him more powerful than an Asgardian god.[7]

Thunderball possesses a virtually indestructible wrecking ball attached to a 4-foot-long (1.2 m) chain, enchanted by Wrecker's crowbar. The wrecking ball, when thrown, can return to Thunderball in a similar fashion as Wrecker's crowbar and Thor's hammer Mjolnir.

In addition, Thunderball is highly intelligent. He is a scientific genius in the field of engineering and physics, specializing in gamma radiation. He is a gifted physicist with a Ph.D. in physics as well as an experienced planner and tactician.

Other versions

[edit]

House of M

[edit]

An alternate universe variant of Thunderball from Earth-58163 appears in House of M as a member of the Hood's Masters of Evil.[8]

Ultimate Marvel

[edit]

An alternate universe variant of Thunderball from Earth-1610 appears in the Ultimate Marvel imprint.[9]

In other media

[edit]

Television

[edit]

Video games

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Fantastic Four (vol. 5) #4
  2. ^ Gibson, Mel; Huxley, David; Ormrod, Joan (22 March 2016). Superheroes and Identities. Routledge. ISBN 9781317633280.
  3. ^ Defenders #17-19 (November 1974 - January 1975)
  4. ^ Avengers #273-277 (November 1986 - March 1987)
  5. ^ The Amazing Spider-Man #353-358 (November 1991 - January 1992)
  6. ^ New Avengers #35 (December 2007)
  7. ^ Damage Control (vol. 2) #1 (December 1989)
  8. ^ House of M: Masters of Evil #1 (October 2009)
  9. ^ Ultimate Captain America Annual #1 (December 2008)
  10. ^ a b c d e "Thunderball Voices (Thor)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved February 21, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
  11. ^ Mathai, Jeremy (September 1, 2022). "Who Is The New Marvel Group Introduced In She-Hulk? The Wrecking Crew Explained". /Film. Archived from the original on September 1, 2022. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thunderball_(character)&oldid=1290608385"