Thundersword

Thundersword is the name of a character in Marvel Comics.

Publication history

Thundersword first appeared in Secret Wars II #1 and was created by Jim Shooter, Al Milgrom, and Steve Leialoha.

Fictional character biography

At the time of the Secret Wars II storyline, Stewart Cadwall is a struggling Hollywood screenwriter who was arguing with his agent about the merits that involved more violence in his scripts. His angry phone call attracted the attention of the Beyonder who was on Earth wanting to know more about humanity. When he hears Stewart mentioning his desire to have superpowers, Beyonder granted his wish by empowering the Shazam Award trophy that Stewart was holding at the time. This transforms Stewart into a character he once created called Thundersword. Upon creating his winged steed Boromir, Thundersword took off on his campaign to deal with the mediocrity in the world. His first stop was NBC where they were the ones who forced him to rewrite his scripts. X-Men members Colossus, Magneto, Rachel Summers, Rogue, Shadowcat and Wolverine and New Mutants members Cannonball and Magik arrived where they mistook him for the Beyonder. Before they can attack Thundersword, he turned his attention towards the McDonalds that they crashed through. Captain America and James Rhodes (who was operating as Iron Man at the time) arrived to engage Thundersword in battle. Using his shield, Captain America knocked Thundersword's sword out of his hand causing him to revert to Stewart Cadwall while the sword regressed back to the Shazam Award trophy. Stewart was then overcome with the fact that he attacked the place that he worked at.^[1]

As Iron Man was delivering him to the police, Stewart Cadwall realized that the Thundersword powers that the Beyonder bestowed upon him came from himself and not the Shazam Award trophy. After breaking out of prison, Thundersword forged a new sword and recreated Boromir. When Iron Man arrived upon learning that Thundersword is back, Iron Man was then defeated by Thundersword who left. Realizing that he is no match for Thundersword, James Rhodes contacted Tony Stark where they came up with a plan to power up the Iron Man armor. Now sporting the extra strength, Iron Man resisted Thundersword's blows and was able to use one punch to knock him into the ocean. Thundersword's body was never found.^[2]

During the Civil War II storyline, Stewart Cadwall resurfaced where he has been paroled from prison. He settled in Van Nuys and had a family. Due to Ulysses Cain's vision of an energy anomaly originating from Stewart's home that was going to cause a tragedy, Captain Marvel and the Alpha Flight Space Program arrived to arrest Stewart Cadwall when it was discovered that he still has the Shazam Award trophy. Captain Marvel discovered that it hasn't reached dangerous levels yet.^[3] When Master of the World disguised as Phillipe Beaulieu of Alpha Flight Space Program's Board of Governors took the Shazam Award from the evidence lock-up, he used it to empower himself where he ended up fighting Captain Marvel, Aurora, Puck, and Sasquatch where their fight ended up in a bar. Stewart Cadwall showed up at the bar where he got his hands on the sword enough for Master of the World to lose his power upgrade and be defeated by Captain Marvel. Afterwards, Captain Marvel allowed Stewart Cadwall to keep the Shazam Award and Cadwall resumed his family life.^[4]

Powers and abilities

When using the thunderbolt-shaped sword as a conduit, Thundersword has super-human strength. His sword is strong enough to cut through brick and metal.

Thundersword also has the ability to manifest his winged horse Boromir.

References

External links

• Thundersword at Marvel Wiki
• Thundersword at Comic Vine
• Thundersword at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe