John Proudstar

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 tribe's 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 mutant heroes, 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 when the originals chose to depart. Prof. Xavier gave Proudstar the code name "Thunderbird". This third group of X-Men was mostly adults and required no tutoring from Professor X, but were trained in the use of their powers in the Danger Room, overseen by team leader Cyclops.