Cannonball | |
![]() Cannonball from the cover of X-Men #201. Art by Humberto Ramos. |
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Publication information | |
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Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | Marvel Graphic Novel #4: The New Mutants (1982) |
Created by | Chris Claremont and Bob McLeod |
In story information | |
Alter ego | Samuel “Sam” Zachary Guthrie |
Species | Human Mutant |
Team affiliations | Brotherhood of Mutants X-Men New Mutants X-Force X-Corporation X-Treme X-Men XSE Mutant Liberation Front Hellions Hellfire Club |
Notable aliases | Samson Guthry |
Abilities | Flight, Ability to release thermochemical energy While in flight: Superhuman physical resistance Impossible to stop |
Cannonball (Samuel Zachary Guthrie) is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero, associated with the X-Men. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bob McLeod, he first appeared in Marvel Graphic Novel #4: The New Mutants (1982).
Cannonball is a mutant who possesses the ability to fly at jet speeds while encased in an invulnerable force field. The eldest of a large Kentucky coal mining family, Cannonball is one of few X-Men from a southern, rural background and has maintained the values of civility, hard work, and a strong commitment to his beliefs throughout his career as a superhero. Several of his siblings are also mutants and have joined X-Men-related teams, including his sisters, Paige and Melody, and brothers Jay and Jeb. Other siblings include a brother named Lewis, and sisters Joelle and Elizabeth.
Cannonball was a founding member of the X-Men’s junior team The New Mutants. He joined The New Mutants’ later incarnation X-Force, serving as second-in-command and field leader. He joined the X-Men, becoming the first member of a secondary team to “graduate.” His tenure was complicated by clashes with superiors and he eventually rejoined X-Force. He is currently a member of Sunspot’s Brotherhood
A “salt-of-the-earth”, honest, well-mannered and responsible young man, Guthrie is a natural leader. Guthrie is a fan of science fiction, especially the works of Robert A. Heinlein.
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Sam Guthrie was born in Cumberland, Kentucky. As a young boy, he attempted to help out his family, by working in a coal mine, after the death of his coal miner father. Given the dangerous nature of this work, Sam found himself trapped in a collapsing mine shaft. While trying to rescue his fellow worker, a friend of his father’s who had introduced him to the job, Sam subconsciously activated his mutant ability and used it to escape with him. This incident led to Sam being found by Donald Pierce, who hired him as a mercenary for the Hellfire Club, and used him in a plot to attack the New Mutants. Sam eventually came to his senses and turned against Pierce. Professor Charles Xavier saw the good qualities inside Sam and asked him to join his New Mutants. Cannonball left his large farming family in Kentucky to join the team.[1]
Marvel Fanfare #27
Art by Bob McLeod
As part of the New Mutants, Sam formed close friendships with his teammates, Sunspot and Wolfsbane. Sam had an ongoing rivalry with Psyche as the two acted as the team co-leaders. He also supervised other teammates, including Magik, Karma, Cypher, Magma, and Warlock.
Professor X was under the control of the menacing alien race the Brood when he formed the New Mutants, intending the youths to be hosts for Brood embryos, but the X-Men returned and set matters straight.[2]
Early on in his career with the team, Cannonball visits Nova Roma and meets Magma.[3] With the team, he soon encounters the Hellions for the first time.[4] They later battle the Gladiators.[5] They next encounter Amahl Farouk, the Shadow King for the first time.[6] Sam also dates Firestar.[7]
Cannonball saves the life of international rock star Lila Cheney, whom he became romantically involved with. Due to the nature of Lila’s career, their relationship went slowly. Cannonball helped lead the team through many adventures, which took them across time and space, from ancient Scotland to other galaxies, even back home to Kentucky. There, he teams up with long-time X-Man Dazzler and his own brother Jay to save Lila’s life.[8]
He then encounters Spider-Man, and teams up with him against the Incandescent Man.[9]
At behest of the Norse God Loki, the Enchantress is sent to kidnap the X-Men. Based on the New Mutants being with Storm, they are taken by mistake. Magik creates a teleportation portal but interference with the Enchantress’ own spells sends the New Mutants bouncing through time and space in the Asgardian realm. Sam wanders the tunnels far below the land. He is not sure how much time has passed, days, weeks, before he encounters a group dwarves being attacked by Malekith’s warriors. He helps them, saving the life of Kindra, daughter of Eitri, ruler of the dwarves. He takes a spear in the back during this and the dwarves nurse him back to health. He develops an affection towards Kindra herself. He saves them again when Magma, ensnared and changed by other evil magics in the Asgardian realm, leads more of Malekith’s forces against the dwarves. Again thankful, the dwarves manage to give Magma her mind back but not her rightful form. The team makes it back to Earth with the help of the X-Men (and Magma regains her rightful body).[10]
Sam and the New Mutants had to take the lead against the senior X-Men team when the X-Men were regressed in age, body, and mind[11] by Mojo. Sam was forced to fight Longshot, a confrontation in which he lost badly.
The New Mutants found themselves under the guidance of Magneto at the behest of Professor Xavier. Magneto’s heavy handed leadership did not sit well with the team, and Cannonball began to display a measure of independence and rebellion against authority. These traits would grow stronger as he matured.
The ancient entity, the Beyonder, encounters the New Mutants, and in his curiosity, kills them. They are resurrected by the Beyonder soon after but this trauma leaves the team deeply shaken. For a time they go with Emma Frost, to her Massachusetts Academy to join the Hellions.[12] They eventually recover from the trauma, especially after a fight with the Avengers, in which they are forced to rescue Warlock and Magneto.[13]
Over time with the New Mutants, Sam develops a brotherly affection for Rahne. He remains oblivious for some time that Rahne harbors much deeper feelings for him.
They worked with the Power Pack when the latter group needed help dealing with a team of minor demons. Sam leads the group in chasing the Impossible Man around the world, who had gotten into a potentially deadly one-upmanship competition with Warlock. Sam even meets (and fights) his older self when an alternate future version of the team travels to his time. This adventure is erased out of his mind by the future version of his friend Karma.[14]
Sam meets with Lila again. A jealous admirer of Lila drugs Sam, intending to kill him.[15] The resulting fight leads to the accidental release of the creature Bird-Brain who would join the team for a while. Unfortunately for the team, taking Bird-Brain back to his island home ends with the shooting death of Douglas Ramsey by the Ani-Mator, Bird Brain’s creator.
The team also battles Cameron Hodge and the Right.[16]
Defying Magneto, the team sneaks out to another Lila Cheney concert. They are swept up in a kidnapping of Lila and dealings with the powerful entity known as Gosamyr. In preventing Gosamyr’s relatives from endangering innocent lives, Lila seemingly dies.[17]
Returning to Earth, the team got caught in the events of Inferno. They team up with the X-Terminators who would eventually merge into their team. They help neutralize the demonic invasion plan by rescuing kidnapped infants high above New York City. [18] One of the new members, Boom Boom, soon became a primary romantic interest. The New Mutants fight the Hellfire Club on the remains of the X-Mansion, formally rejecting Magneto’s leadership.
Danielle’s adventures in Asgard, most of which took place while Sam had been healing, involved her rescuing Brightwind, one of the horses ridden by the Valkyrie. Brightwind chose her as her new rider, granting her Valkyrie powers. This leads to the team being involved with the realm once again. The death goddess Hela managed to overwhelm all the Valkyries, including Danielle. With behind-the-scenes assistance from Doctor Strange, the team heads to Asgard yet again. Sam’s feelings for Kindra get the team in trouble. When he sees her being threatened, he rashly rushes out to save her and all the New Mutants are captured by Hela’s forces. The group is split up but Sam manages to lead his half safely through many dangers, later reuniting with his friends. They manage to save Odin, who was vulnerable, from a murder attempt.[19]
Soon after returning to Earth, the team first encounters Cable.[20] They then assist Cable in fighting the Mutant Liberation Front.[21]
Wolfsbane, Warlock, Rictor, and Tabitha are kidnapped from the grounds of the X-Mansion by Genoshan forces under the control of Cameron Hodge. Warlock soon perishes, murdered by Hodge in an attempt to get his powers. Sam joins the X-Men on a rescue mission and Genosha’s government is toppled. Rahne stays behind to help the fellow victims of Genosha’s regime.[22]
Cannonball and the other New Mutants left the X-Men’s supervision,[23] and joined forces with the mysterious Cable to become the hard-edged X-Force.[24] Cable named Cannonball Second-In-Command and field leader of the team. It was early during this time that Sam was impaled and killed by the mutant Sauron during a clash with an incarnation of the Brotherhood of Mutants. However, only a few minutes later, he had healed and returned to life. Cable revealed the he had chosen Sam to lead the New Mutants initially because he suspected Cannonball to be an External – a particularly rare type of mutant who is virtually immortal. Cable had come to train Sam to fight Apocalypse, another External who, in Cable’s future time, had conquered the world. Many other Externals, such as Saul and Gideon, also came to believe Sam was one of them. It was also around this time that Sam’s sister, Husk, was revealed to have mutant powers.
Though Cable did not stay with the team consistently, he and Sam developed a deep father-son type relationship.
Cannonball’s existence as an External was disputed by Selene, who once claimed that he was not an External. However, she is not a particularly trustworthy source and no alternate explanation has been given for his surviving the wounds Sauron had inflicted. His immortality was later brought up as the reason he survived 3 gunshot wounds to the chest[25], so his status as an External hasn’t been completely forgotten by Marvel writers.
Sam’s time in X-Force was not easy, as he was considered ‘out of line’ by the X-Men and X-Force were considered outright criminals by S.H.I.E.L.D. This even devolved into a fight between a S.H.I.E.L.D. team led by Nick Fury and supported by veteran superhero War Machine.[26]
Later, any rivalries were put aside as Sam was instrumental in helping the other X-Men, particularly Forge and Wolfsbane defeat the Phalanx.
Some time later, Sam and his friends had the unique experience of meeting their younger selves.[27]
Cover to X-Treme X-Men #24.
Art by Salvador Larroca.
In the mid 1990s, X-Force reestablished ties with the X-Men. Sam later officially accepts an invitation to join the X-Men.[28] Initially, Sam is excited, this having been his dream since first arriving at Xavier’s school. During this time, he was also a supporting character in Wolverine’s own comic. During this time, Sam becomes unsure of himself and his abilities. He privately expresses doubts about his abillities to Iceman, causing the veteran X-Man much discomfort. Sam battles the head of the Shi’ar Imperial Guard, Gladiator[29] to a standstill, despite being overpowered, thus facing his doubts about his abilities, only to be left behind as the rest of the X-Men were taken into space to save the Shi’ar empire. This led Sam to again question his place on the X-Men.
During his time with X-Men, Cannonball found his relationship with Tabitha strained. It was so strained she turned to Sam’s best friend, Sunspot, for “support”. Sam returned to the X-Men, for a brief period until he left the team to help his ailing mother. During his time with the X-Men, he also infiltrated the presidential campaign of anti-mutant candidate Graydon Creed, using the alias “Samson Guthry”. Despite the rather transparent alias, Sam was able to remain undetected until Creed was assassinated on the eve of the election.
Sam was there when the mutant entity Onslaught erupted from Xavier’s mind. The entity, before attacking, had enjoyed several minutes of tearing apart Sam psychologically.
Cannonball rejoined X-Force, now independent of Cable and operating in San Francisco. Cannonball eventually became team leader again, after the injuries sustained by Siryn. The team eventually found a new mentor, by the name of Pete Wisdom, who introduced the team to the world of espionage. During this time, Sam and Tabitha had gotten back together. After Wisdom’s alleged death, Sam led the team again and attempted to continue Wisdom’s crusade.
Sam even came to care about trademark issues, as he and his allies confronted another version of X-Force.[30]
Eventually, Sam and other members of X-Force have to fake their deaths.
After X-Force’s dissolution, Cannonball joined several of his former teammates and former members of X-Force and Generation X, in the Paris, France branch, of Professor X’s international mutant task force X-Corporation. His time with the X-Corporation wasn’t a pleasant one. En route to a mission, later found to involve the Weapon Plus program, his teammate Darkstar poked fun at him for eating a sandwich that would have rather distasteful consequences for “everybody who went out without an umbrella in downtown Beauvais.” This moment of levity at Cannonball’s expense did not last, as on that same mission, Darkstar died. At the funeral of Darkstar, Xavier gave Cannonball a note, with the whereabouts of Lila Cheney. Sam decided to take time away from the X-Corporation, as the strain of his life began to get to him. He worked for a time cleaning up damages to the France-England tunnel, AKA the Chunnel, which was partially destroyed in the very same mission which killed Darkstar.
While away, Sam rekindled his romantic relationship with Lila Cheney for a time. Sam couldn’t find peace with his life so he was asked by Storm to join her X-Treme X-Men, a group of X-Men operating outside of Professor X’s leadership. For a time, he even was partnered with his old friend Wolverine during an adventure where they pursued long time X-Man foe William Stryker. Sam also found himself having a reunion of sorts with former teammates, Sunspot and Magma. He and his teammates rejoined the central X-Men, after the events of Planet X. Sam is injured on a mission and once again decided to break for some peace. He uses the time to work on his own farm, which he had bought with his X-Corporation paychecks. While on the farm, Sam found himself teaming up again with Cable and reformed X-Force against the threat of the Skornn.
Sam and former X-Force teammate, Siryn, went in search of Cable with the mercenary Deadpool, who could track the missing man via a unique teleportation bond the two shared. Deadpool derisively refers to Sam as “Cannonballs”.[31]
Sam has once more joined the active roster of the X-Men, whose team is co-led by Nightcrawler and Bishop. For a while he literally and figuratively watches over the younger, more carefree students at the X-Mansion. He also functions as a member of the XSE. He has already participated in helping the 198 and fighting the Shi’ar Death Commandos. He soon suffers the death of his brother Jay, who is killed by William Stryker. In the first part of The First Foursaken story arc, Cannonball went with the X-Men to Central Park, where they fight the Foursaken, who then capture the X-Men and sent them elsewhere. After escaping, Cannonball accompanies the X-Men to Africa to help Storm assist mutant refugees.
Cannonball serves on Rogue’s team of X-Men.[32] After defeating the Children of the Vault, Rogue announced the departure of her team from the mansion. Sam explained his personal feelings about leaving to Cyclops, saying that he felt he needed to leave because his brother Jay’s death and said that every time he walks through the door, he felt he was stepping on Jay’s grave.
After the team fights the Hecatomb and Rogue suffers a severe mental injury, the team decide to rest in Rogue’s childhood home, but are betrayed and attacked by the Marauders who are on a mission to retrieve Destiny’s Diaries. It was revealed that Mystique is an accomplice of the Marauders. After the surprise blitz, Emma Frost (who trying to help Rogue), was disabled by a neurotoxin but was able to upload everything she picked out of what was at the edges of the Marauders’ psi-shielding into Sam’s mind and takes limited possession over his body, causing him to flee (unwillingly) from the battle with Iceman. Aboard the Blackbird, the two are engaged in midair by Sunfire, who cripples the jet. Cannonball manages to escape and battle Shiro, who reveals that he killed Cable. Cannonball shakes it off, explaining that it “wouldn’t matter who told me that, ah’d still be sayin’ ‘show me the body.'”
Sam and Iceman, telepathically prompted by Emma Frost, attempted to recover the Destiny Diaries which are hidden in a dilapidated brewery[33]. The Marauder’s master, Mister Sinister, used a reverse engineered version of Xavier’s Cerebro to track the pair of X-Men to the brewery. The Marauders attacked Sam and Iceman and overtook them. After the battle, Sinister attempted to telepathically erase Sam’s mind so that the X-Men would find him as an empty shell. This would serve as a lesson to them and to the Marauders as well. However, Sinister was distracted by Iceman, allowing Sam to activate his power to rocket his way out of the brewery and escape. Iceman was also able to escape, but it was revealed that Sam, who crashed through one of the brewery’s walls, was seriously injured. It was discovered that his blast field, which protects him from concussive impact when he uses his power, was not working properly. As a result, Sam received compound fractures of the upper and lower legs, a broken collar bone, and other injuries.
Sam lies unconscious in the X-Mansion’s infirmary[34]. Dr. Henry McCoy attends to his injuries and evaluates his condition. He notes that Sam’s brain scan indicates sluggish and non-continuous activity. However, at the end of the issue, Sam is shown conscious, alert, and speaking clearly to Iceman. He quickly recovers and is capable of taking part in the final fight against the Marauders. [35] It has yet to be seen if he has suffered any lingering mental effects from his ordeal at the hands of Mr. Sinister.
After Cyclops disbands the X-Men, Cannonball goes home. Paige picks him up at the airport, extremely happy to have him back with the family – she tells him he’s lucky they’re not all there to mob him. Sam is moody and withdrawn, and as they drive, he asks Paige to stop at a local bar. As soon as he walks in, the local men begin to glare at him, and the bartender asks him not to start anything. Paige knows that Sam came to the bar for a fight, as it’s filled with members of the Cabot family. Soon the Cabots confront Sam, and he pushes them to attack him, which they happily do. Paige refuses to participate, and Sam defeats all four men alone. She demands to know what’s wrong with him, and he angrily blasts off into the sky, saying he should have never come home.
After Messiah Complex, the X-Men were disassembled, including the New X-Men. A new comic book, Young X-Men finds the newly formed Young X-Men team faced with a new incarnation of the Brotherhood of Mutants. An ominous clue as to the identity of the new Brotherhood of Mutants suggests that the new Brotherhood may not be “new” and that they are led by the new Lord Imperial of the Hellfire Club. In the first issue of Young X-Men, the last page reveals Sunspot, Magma, Moonstar, and Cannonball as members. The hint alludes to the fact that the New Brotherhood were also once New Mutants. However this was only a ruse of Donald Pierce who had disguised himself as Cyclops and gathered the Young X-Men for his own ends.
In the ongoing Cable series, set in 2043, an older Cannonball arrives when Cable is badly hurt and unable to time travel. Solicitations of the comics refer to Cannonball as Cable’s “old war buddy.” Cannonball implies that the he, Cable, Bishop, and the baby are the last living mutants, and that he found him with Cerebra, which was rigged for non-psychics to use after the last psychic died. Cannonball allows Cable to escape with the child, opting to stay and distract Bishop. Bishop pleads with Sam not to fight, but Cannonball persists, harboring a decades-long grudge against the traitorous former X-Man, and Bishop is forced to kill him using a claw-like tentacle from his bionic arm to rip out Guthrie’s heart. As Cannonball dies he asks Bishop why, to which Bishop responds, “To save you”. [36]
Cannonball is a mutant that possesses the ability to bodily generate thermo-chemical energy and release it from his skin. This energy is used as thrust to cause his body to be propelled through the air like a rocket, at great heights and speeds with considerable maneuverability. He can control his speed and direction through sheer act of will. At first he could only release this energy from his feet and legs, but now he can fire it from almost any part of his body, to a wide variety of effects. This energy also manifests itself as an impenetrable and virtually indestructible “blast field” that protects him from bodily harm. He can use this blast-field for the following effects: to function as a personal shield or extending it to encompass others, to shape the field around another person to imprison them, or to absorb outside kinetic impact into his own energy supply, enabling him to increase the bludgeoning power of his blows or to create explosive shock waves upon impact.
His power levels have varied over the years – but at his peak, he has been able to devastate several city blocks by plummeting to the ground from high altitude, as well as withstand (and redirect) the force of one of Gladiator’s strongest punches.
He may also be a member of the immortal mutant group the Externals, due to his apparent ability to return to life after death. This however is highly disputed.
In the Age of Apocalypse, the Guthrie family was eliminated during the Cullings, with only Sam, Paige, Elisabeth, and Joshua being spared due to their mutant status. They were approached by Mister Sinister, who offered them the chance to become part of his Elite Mutant Force. Sam took on the alias Cannonball and became a member of the EMF alongside his sister, Elisabeth, a.k.a. Amazon. He and his sister were particularly violent towards the prisoners of Sinister’s breeding pens, as was their superior Havok, whom Cannonball was loyal to. When the Elite Mutant Force was taken over by Havok due to Prelate Cyclops’ betrayal, Cannonball fought the Bedlam brothers, who sided with the older Summers brother. Cannonball and Amazon survived and eventually reunited with Husk and Icarus, and together they set out to fulfill Husk’s revenge against the X-Men for Generation Nexts’ abandonment of her in the Core.
In Ultimate Fantastic Four #23, Sam, wearing his yellow and black New Mutants uniform, is one of the dozens of zombies endangering a small trio of humans, Magneto and ‘Ultimate’ Reed Richards. They had tracked down the humans through the ruins of Manhattan; most of the rest of the Earth had been consumed already.
In the Mutant X universe, Sam was drawn as a very overweight mutant while his sister had an ugly appearance. The two would constantly insult one another. Due to his increased weight, Sam couldn’t stay in Cannonball mode for long. The two worked with Wolfsbane, Sunspot, and Jubilee as the ‘Maruaders’, a band of thieves based in the sewers.
In the Ultimate universe, Cannonball is a member of Emma Frost’s Academy of Tomorrow, a somewhat more pacifistic alternative to the X-Men. He is the newest member.
When fellow student Lorna Dane is framed for murder and thus imprisoned in the Triskelion her boyfriend, Alex Summers, recruits a strike team. Sam and Alex are joined by Sunspot, Douglas Ramsey, and Northstar. During the trip to New York, the team becomes lost and is ambushed by the X-Men. Cannonball initially literally sweeps Wolverine off his feet but is soon defeated.
Currently, his powers seem to be virtually the same as his mainstream universe counterpart.
In What If the X-Men stayed in Asgard? Sam, among several members of the X-Men and the New Mutants, decided to stay in Asgard. He marries Kindra, daughter of Eitri. When Eitri dies, Sam becomes the new King of the Dwarves.
Cannonball standing in front of several members of the X-Men, from the X-Men cartoon.
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