Thunderbolt (Marvel Comics)

Thunderbolt I
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Daredevil #69 (Oct 1970) (as Thunderbolt): Power Man #41
Created by	Roy Thomas Gene Colan Syd Shores
In-story information
Alter ego	William Carver
Species	Human
Abilities	Superhuman speed and reflexes

Thunderbolt II
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Incredible Hulk Annual #17 (1991)
Created by	Gary Barnum John Stanisci Tim Dzon
In-story information
Alter ego	Luis Barrett
Species	Human
Team affiliations	Pantheon
Abilities	Superhuman speed

Thunderbolt is the name of two fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

The William Carver version of Thunderbolt first appeared in Daredevil #69 and was created by Roy Thomas, Gene Colan, and Syd Shores.

The Luis Barrett version of Thunderbolt first appeared in Incredible Hulk Annual #17 and was created by Gary Barnum, John Stanisci, and Tim Dzon.

William Carver was born in Harlem, New York. Returning to Harlem after military service, William was approached by several members of a local violent street gang named the Thunderbolts which Turk Barrett was a part of. The Thunderbolts are eager to have William in their group for his military training. Carver refused and the next day went to work as an assistant district attorney under then-District Attorney Franklin Nelson. When Nelson learned of Carver's encounter with the Thunderbolts gang, he instructed Carver to infiltrate them to gather enough information about their illegal activities to shut them down. Carver helped gather enough evidence to send several members to prison.

Months later, William's younger brother Lonnie Carver was gunned down in front of him. At the funeral, William spotted Lonnie's murderer and chased him through the cemetery. As the two men struggled, a bolt of lightning hit them, killing the sniper instantly. Carver was saved by an experimental cobalt radiation treatment during which he was unintentionally exposed to an unusual amount of radiation. The radiation mutated his body to give him the ability to move at superhuman speeds and enhanced his reflexes. Carver began a career as a costumed crime-fighter calling himself Thunderbolt after his first criminal enemies and tried to discover who had ordered Lonnie's assassination.

Carver soon discovered that the radiation he was exposed to sped up not only his reflexes, but his aging as he was now aging at a rate of several years per week. Carver tracked down his old ally Power Man and Power Man's ally Iron Fist to help him find Lonnie's killer. They discovered that it had been attorney Big Ben Donovan whose younger brother Paul had been one of the Thunderbolts gang members that William Carver sent to prison. Paul Donovan was killed in prison by some Maggia operatives and Big Ben Donovan blamed Carver for his death sending an assassin to kill William's brother Lonnie in revenge. After his confession, Big Ben Donovan pulled a gun on Thunderbolt during the fight with Caesar Cicero's men. As the two men struggled, the gun went off and accidentally shot Donovan. Thunderbolt's mission completed, he succumbed to his body's rapid aging and died, content that his brother's murder had been avenged.

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