THUNDERBOLT IV (Peter Cannon)	BIOGRAPHY
Created by Pat Masulli and Pete Morisi

PERSONAL DATA

Real Name: Peter Cannon
Occupation: Historian
Citizenship: American
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Richard Cannon (father, deceased), Mary Cannon (mother, deceased)
Base of Operation: Mobile
Gender: Male
Height: 6' 1"
Weight: 185 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond
First Appearance: Thunderbolt #1 (January 1966) [Charlton]
Creators: Pat Masulli and Pete Morisi

OVERVIEW

Raised in a Tibetan monastery, Peter Cannon was believed to be the reincarnation of Vajra, despite being of Caucasian origin. He was trained to make the very best of his physical and mental attributes and went out into the world to do good as the hero Thunderbolt. During a recent sojourn in England, Cannon discovered that the previous incarnation of Vajra was still alive, which meant he could not possibly be what he thought he was. And yet, somehow, he had begun to unlock the incredible mental powers of the Vajra, a mystery which remains unsolved.

HISTORY

Peter Cannon was born in a Tibetan monastery, son of two Western aid workers who had done much for the people of that land, but had to flee the Chinese invaders; shortly after his birth, his parents succumbed to a plague they had been helping to fight.

It so happened that Cannon was born just as the High Abbot learned that the monastery's protector, the Vajra, had died. Knowing that he would be reincarnated, the monks tested all newborns in the area to find potential Vajras, one of whom was Peter. He grew up with a small group of boys, being trained in mind and body until it was determined that Peter was the reincarnation of the Vajra, and having passed various tests, was allowed access to the secret scrolls of the order, which would allow him to tap into the full power of his mind, and learn all that his previous incarnations knew. However, one of his childhood friends, Havoc, was disgusted at losing out on what he believed to have been his destiny and stole some of the scrolls before Peter could ever read them.

In time, Peter would move to the land of his parents, America, along with his friend from the monastery, Tabu Jaswinder Singh, who swore to aid the vajra in everything. Peter became what the Americans call a super-hero, using what he had learnt from the few scrolls he had seen, and battled various menaces, including ape men, gangsters, dinosaurs and an Egyptian mummy – Evila – most of them unleashed by Havoc. Shortly after the world-shattering Crisis, Thunderbolt was attacked by a man named Trydan, who seriously injured him. The psychological effect of this attack, despite encouragement from Green Lantern, caused him to give up being a hero, a role he had never really relished, and turn his attention to history, particularly that of Tibet.

Five years later, Peter and Tabu were invited to London by business-woman Cairo DeFrey as part of an exhibition on ancient cultures – including Tibetan, Egyptian and Celtic – in one of the city's museums. Within a few weeks, Peter was involved in a hostage situation when some alleged eco-terrorists hijacked the airship on which Cairo was holding a reception. He had to leap into action, and disguising his face with his cummerbumd, he defeated the hijackers and made a name for himself. With Tabu's encouragement he took up the role of Thunderbolt once more when Evila was resurrected among the museum's exhibits; before long he had become invaluable to the London police, battling such gaudy menaces as Shard and Krater, both leftovers from the Dominators' gene-bomb.

While romance blossomed with Cairo, Peter and the police became aware of war developing within London's underworld, starting with the death of Larry Wheeler, son of Johnny Wheeler – a childhood friend of Detective Inspector James Flint and a powerful gang lord. His actions also brought him to the attention of Justice League Europe, led by Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), who was delighted to find that he had resumed his role as a hero. As the threats he faced became greater, Thunderbolt began to unlock further powers of his mind, including some form of telekinesis and post-cognition, but he had no idea how to control them.

In time, he discovered that his old foe Andreas Havoc was still around, and had been working with Victor Cypher, enemy of the Checkmate organisation. Together with Power Girl and Crusader, a British hero who had been led along by Cypher, Thunderbolt was able to cripple this alliance and then move off to save the monastery where he had grown up, having learnt that it was in dire danger. Here he was faced with the previous incarnation of the Vajra, not dead at all, who died in the battle with Evila and Andreas Havoc, the latter of whom was devastated to learn that his rage at missing out on the title of vajra was misplaced. The High Abbot of the monastery allowed Peter to take the scrolls, recovered from Havoc, in order to learn how to control his powers, until such a time as the true new incarnation of the vajra came of age. On his return to England, he learned that Cairo DeFrey was actually the head of a criminal organisation called Scorpio.

Building on his friendship with Power Girl and Green Lantern of the Justice League, Thunderbolt became more of a prominent member of the heroic community for some time, including working with the Justice League Task Force to defeat a fascist group who planned to wipe out all non-white Americans. However, shortly after this, he dropped out of sight again and his current activities are unknown.

POWERS AND WEAPONS

Thunderbolt has been trained in contact fighting, and is a skilled martial artist, though his prowess in the use of weapons is limited. In addition to this, through the scrolls he read in the monastery, he has learned to unlock the power of his mind. This includes, but is presumably not limited to such things as a mastery over animals, a limited form of telekinesis, the ability to continue beyond the pain barrier and some sort of psychic flashes which can reveal what has happened in a place. It can be assumed that the longer he continues as a hero, the more powerful he will become as he masters these abilities and develops more.

CHRONOLOGY

For a definitive list of appearances of Thunderbolt in chronological order click here