Who is Thunderbird in the Marvel universe and will he appear in ‘Thunderbolts’?

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has its hand in feasibly every corner of the comics, but there is one group that still has not had their time in the sun. After a lucrative couple of decades under the control of 20th Century Fox, X-Men effectively disbanded following the merger with Disney. 

With characters such as Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) being inducted into the current universe, it may be time for prominent X-Men characters to return in the MCU. One such character has only had brief appearances in live-action but is a significant part of the X-Men world. Born John Proudstar, Thunderbird is an Apache Native American mutant with powers of agility and tracking. The character never appeared in the large ensemble films with flagship characters Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Storm (Halle Berry), but was a main protagonist in the short-lived series The Gifted.

Airing on Fox, The Gifted takes place in a world after the X-Men have been dissolved. A law enforcement task force, cleverly titled Sentinel Services, targets mutants, law-abiding or not. The only thing that opposes them is an underground mutant rebellion, led by Thunderbird (Blair Redford). He and a ragtag group of mutants try to stay alive while fighting a fascist society. The Gifted only ran for two seasons, but that isn’t stopping Thunderbird from cropping up somewhere in the future.

Will Thunderbird appear in Thunderbolts?

Admittedly, the names Thunderbird and Thunderbolts are similar, but the mutant tracker does not fit the bill for the upcoming Marvel film. In the same vein as James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, Marvel’s Thunderbolts contains a squad comprised of villainous or anti-heroic Marvel characters. Baron Helmut Zemo originally led the team in the comics and later passed the torch to Norman Osborne during the Civil War era where he commanded foes like Bullseye, Swordsman, and Venom.

The MCU version of the team doesn’t appear to be following the comics too closely, but Thunderbird still doesn’t seem like he would fit in the lineup. Thunderbird was never counted among the ranks of the villainous and the Thunderbolts movie already has a stacked roster. Reportedly, Bucky (Sebastian Stan), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Ghost (Hannah John-Kane), and U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell) will be part of the team. An extreme oversight, Daniel Brühl does not appear to be reprising his role as Zemo as the leader of the squad, despite his charismatic reappearance in The Falcon in the Winter Soldier. Instead, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is the founder and could conceivably be the leader of the team. For Thunderbird to make his big screen debut in a movie where no one has seen him before seems unlikely.