Johnny Thunder
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Johnny Thunder is the name of three fictional characters in comics published by DC Comics.
Contents |
Versions
Original version
The original and best-known Johnny Thunder appeared in the first issue of Flash Comics in January 1940. Born at 7 AM on the seventh day of the seventh month in 1917, Johnny had a unique destiny; kidnapped by a group of men from the fictional country of Badhnesia as an infant, Johnny was given possession of the genie-like "Thunderbolt" during a mystic ritual on his seventh birthday, which was intended to allow the Badhnesians to use Johnny to rule the world. However, the plan was soon aborted after an attack from a neighboring country. Johnny eventually returned to the United States and lived an unextraordinary life until one day, while washing windows, he inadvertently summoned the Thunderbolt with the magic words cei-u (pronounced "say you"). Eventually, Johnny figured out how to summon the Thunderbolt on cue, and used this ability to eventually join the Justice Society of America.
Johnny's appearances with the Justice Society and in his own solo adventures tended to be quite comedic, as Johnny's main personality trait was being fairly dim-witted, which prompted his much-smarter Thunderbolt to possess a sarcastic (if patient) attitude toward his "boss."
The Thunderbolt's abilities, thanks to his magical powers, were quite vast; however, he was limited by only being able to execute Johnny's exactly worded orders—which, thanks to Johnny's lack of intelligence, sometimes created a fair amount of chaos.
Johnny's adventures ceased in the late 1940s when he was replaced in the Justice Society stories by a heroine he had begun teaming up with, the Black Canary. The reason for his leaving the Justice Society was eventually explained (in the 1970s comic Superman Family #204) to be that his control over his Thunderbolt was weakening, thanks to a spell cast by renegade Badhnesian priests. In the early 1950s, Johnny had been kidnapped again by agents from Badhnesia, with the intention of executing their original world conquest plan. Johnny managed to summon Superman, and the would-be conquerors' plans were defeated. Johnny spent some time in Badhnesia afterwards, teaching the native citizens about democracy. He returned home after the country had elected its first president.
Johnny rejoined the Justice Society upon its reformation in the 1960s, and joined them on various adventures through the following decades. By the 1990s, Johnny was suffering from symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and had lost track of a pen in which the Thunderbolt was being stored. The pen eventually wound up in the ownership of a young African-American boy named Jakeem Thunder. Recently, in an attempt to save Johnny's life, Johnny was merged with the Thunderbolt, taking the name "Johnny Thunderbolt" (although a recent issue of JSA, dealing with a Jakeem "gone mad", has shown a Johnny separate from the genie and a denizen of the fifth dimension, part of the "Thunderbolt family").
Old West version
The second Johnny Thunder, completely unrelated to the original, first appeared in All-American Comics in 1948. His name was John Tane and he lived in the Mormon settlement of Mesa City, Arizona, which was portrayed as a mostly congenial Old West town. The son of a sheriff and a schoolteacher, Johnny's mother made him promise never to use guns and to instead follow in her footsteps. Johnny, however, soon found himself in a situation where violence was required. In order to keep his vow, Johnny created the identity of Johnny Thunder, by changing clothes and using coal dust to change his hair black. The stories of his adventures were surprisingly ahead of their time, in that they dealt with the position of African-Americans and Native Americans in the Old West. Johnny Thunder's "old-fashioned" heroic values were admirable, but also fairly typical of pop culture protagonists created during the 1940s and '50s. As was typical of leading characters in popular fiction at the time, Johnny evinced vaguely Judeo-Christian values and beliefs; his precise denominational affiliation (as a Latter-day Saint) was only vaguely hinted at.
Pre-Crisis Earth-One version
Prior to the Crisis on Infinite Earths, the hero Johnny Thunder hailed from Earth-Two. A counterpart existed on Earth-One, but this version was a simple petty criminal with no Thunderbolt. When the Earth-One Johnny somehow got hold of the 'bolt, he used it to temporarily reshape Earth-One such that several heroes, such as Superman, Batman, and Green Lantern, retroactively ceased to exist, their powers being transferred to some of Johnny's fellow criminals. (The Thunderbolt was unable to tell the difference between the Johnny Thunders, and so obeyed the orders of the criminal Johnny without question.) This alternate version of Earth-One is sometimes referred to as Earth-A ('A' for 'alternate'). It was wiped from existence when the Thunderbolt's abilities were employed to return Earth-One to normal. This version ceased to exist after Crisis on Infinite Universes with his Earth-Two counterpart becoming the main template in the merged universe.
Trivia
- There is a song entitled Johnny Thunder in the original character's honour, which appears on the classic album "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society".
- "Johnny Thunder" is also the name of a LEGO Indiana Jones parody.
- There is also a band by the name of "Johnny Thunder" that is based out of Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania