THUNDERSWORD (Stewart Cadwell)
Created By: Jim Shooter & Al Milgrom
First Appearance: Secret Wars II #1 (July 1985)
Role: Forgotten Villain
Group Affiliations: None
PL 11 (117)
STRENGTH 12 STAMINA 12 AGILITY 3
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 0 AWARENESS 0 PRESENCE -1
Skills:
Expertise (Writer) 2 (+2)
Ranged Combat (Blast) 2 (+8)
Advantages:
Power Attack, Ranged Attack 6
Powers:
"Lightning Sword" (Flaws: Easily Removable) [18]
Deflect 14 (Extras: Reflect) (28) -- (30 points)
- AE: Electrical Blast 14 (28)
- AE: Strength-Damage +4 (Feats: Improved Critical) (Extras: Penetrating 10) (15)
Protection 4 (Extras: Impervious 9) [13]
Offense:
Unarmed +6 (+12 Damage, DC 27)
Lightning Sword +6 (+16 Damage, DC 31)
Electrical Blast +6 (+14 Ranged Damage, DC 29)
Initiative +3
Defenses:
Dodge +6 (DC 16), Parry +6 (DC 16), Toughness +16 (+5 Impervious), Fortitude +12, Will +2
Complications:
Motivation (Power)- Stewart is an unsuccessful man, and was jealous of the power of The Beyonder. When left to his own devices, he just attacks people whom he feels have victimized him.
Obsession (Ranting & Raving)- Stewart hates "dreck" and excessive violence without consequences in media targeted at children. He also just likes carrying on and ranting against authority for minor infractions.
Secret (Hypocrite)- Despite his ranting, Stewart himself writes some of the same consequence-less violence he decries.
Normal Identity- Stewart's base form is 0s across the board, and he has no Advantages either.
Total: Abilities: 64 / Skills: 4--2 / Advantages: 7 / Powers: 39 / Defenses: 5 (117)
Thundersword- Created From Spite:
-Thundersword, looking hilariously like the Thunderers from DC Comics, is a goofy character from the much-hated Secret Wars II (aka the story where Jim Shooter pissed away any possible goodwill from the first Secret Wars, which was great dumb fun). He was a TV writer who was granted power by the returning Beyonder, who wanted to learn more about humanity. Thundersword blew up his workplaces, but was beaten by The X-Men, New Mutants, Iron Man & Captain America (well, he was disarmed of his Sword and was changed back to normal). He would reappear in Iron Man, realizing that his powers were internalized, not the result of a trophy given by The Beyonder. He beat Iron Man (Rhodey, not Tony), but Rhodey was given advice from Tony, went to a nuclear power plant, and absorbed some more power into his armor. Rhodey one-punched Thundersword using this uber-boost, and he was never seen again.
-Made clear here, Stewart Cadwell is a huge parody of Steve Gerber, who at the time was publicly-railing against Marvel (of which Jim Shooter was the Editor-In-Chief) for what he saw was glorification of violence without consequences. And also because they owned his beloved Howard the Duck (this was during the huge push towards Creator Rights). Despite vowing to be better than the heroes and "purveyors of dreck", he clearly acts exactly like what he hates (Gerber worked on stories like Thundarr the Barbarian and G.I. Joe, both of which were just as guilty as Marvel at what Gerber was describing. Cadwell even looks exactly like Gerber. To complete the metaphor, Cadwell ends up destroying the places he'd once worked in his quest to fix things. HOW AMAZINGLY SUBTLE, SHOOTER.
Thundersword Reappears:
-Jeez, I build this guy in 20-friggin'-16 and between then and now, this guy actually SHOWED UP a few times! After years of never appearing! It turns out that after being paroled, Cadwall lived peacefully in California until Carol "Captain Marvel" Danvers and Alpha Flight arrived to arrest him for keeping his lightning-shaped trophy- a vision from the Inhuman precognitive Ulysses Cain had foretold some energy from Cadwall's home would create a tragedy. He was arrested for keeping his trophy from authorities, but the Black Panther (who disagreed with Danvers ripping off Minority Report so thoroughly, I guess) paid his bail. Cadwall reappears when a super-villain hidden away on Alpha Flight's board of governors grabs the trophy and gains the "Thundersword" powers. Stewart manages to depower the villain by touching the sword, ending the threat. A grateful Danvers allows Cadwall to live his life normally after this.
Thundersword- Surprisingly-Powerful Idiot:
-Despite being an idiot and a loser, Thundersword is so powerful that he basically trounces Iron Man with ease (the Lightning Sword one-shots Rhodey), and requires two full teams of heroes to defeat him the first time he appears. He can Blast, Deflect, Strike, and even summon his flying horse (thematically named after a Lord of the Rings hero, like Valkyrie's steed). Still being cheap on points, he's a great example of what happens when you hand any idiot otherworldly power- he's PL 11, enough to beat up '80s James Rhodes (who was probably around PL 10-11 at the time), but if he returned today, he's probably be a lot easier to beat. His power is great, but his accuracy isn't.