Thunderiders | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance |
Captain America #269 (May 1982) (as Team America) Thing #27 (as Thunderiders) |
In-story information | |
Member(s) |
Cowboy Georgianna Honcho R. U. Reddy Wolf Wrench |
Thunderiders, originally known as Team America, is a fictional superhero/motorcycle team from Marvel Comics. They first appeared in 'Captain America' #269 (May 1982) as Team America. They were renamed the Thunderiders in Thing #27.
Captain America writer J. M. DeMatteis described Team America as "another one we kind of got forced into doing." The month following their May 1982 preview appearance in Captain America, the team's monthly self-titled series launched. It was canceled with Team America #12 (May 1983).
The mothers of James McDonald, Wolf, Winthrop Roan Jr., Leonard Hebb and Luke Merriweather were exposed to mutagenic agents by the terrorist organization HYDRA as part of an experiment known as Project: New Genesis. HYDRA hoped to create mutant children which could later be trained as super-agents. The project was apparently unsuccessful for all test subjects other than these five.
Honcho, Wolf and Reddy initially came together at the first "Unlimited Class Racing" event in Daytona Beach, Florida. Unknown to them, they had first manifested their collective self, a masked motorcyclist dressed in black and known as The Marauder, who was also known as the Dark Rider, a few days earlier. The Marauder invaded a HYDRA facility and destroyed the files on the five. Deducing the subjects of the missing files, HYDRA set out to assassinate Honcho, Wolf and Reddy in the belief that one of them was the Marauder. Each of them escaped the assassination attempt and, having each received a note from the Marauder stating their destinies were linked, decided to band together as Team America. They entered and won their first competition, and moments later foiled an attempt by HYDRA to steal an advanced guidance system from another team.
The three next fought alongside Captain America to defeat a plan by the Mad Thinker to kidnap a number of world-renowned intellectuals to provide him with stimulating companionship.