X-Men: The Animated Series Originally Killed Off A Different Marvel Hero In The Pilot
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Superhero cartoons grew up in 1992, which debuted both the superlative "Batman: The Animated Series" and "X-Men." The latter even killed off the shapeshifting superhero Morph (Ron Rubin) in its pilot, "Night of the Sentinels," to show the X-Men's battles had life or death stakes. Compare the 1980s cartoon "The Transformers," which had to wait for a movie spin-off to kill Optimus Prime.
Morph, loosely based on the obscure X-Men character Changeling, was an unexpected choice to appear at all in animation. That's because he wasn't the first choice for the X-Men's casualty. In earlier drafts, Thunderbird/John Proudstar was who died fighting the Sentinels, as "X-Men" story editor Eric Lewald explained in his book, "Previously on X-Men: The Making of an Animated Series."
That was a choice with comic history behind it; Thunderbird died in "X-Men" #95, the second issue of writer Chris Claremont's titanic 16-year run on "X-Men." The cartoon would essentially be pulling the same trick "X-Men" #95 had back in 1975, i.e. killing one of the main cast to offer real stakes. So, why not adapt Thunderbird's death, too?
Because, as Lewald's book explained, someone on the production suggested that killing off the one Native American character would be in bad taste. So, with help from series director (and walking Marvel encyclopedia) Larry Houston, Lewald picked another long dead X-Man, Changeling (renamed "Morph" because DC's character Beast Boy had taken the name Changeling).
"I liked [Morph] far better for the part since Thunderbird was an angry tough-guy, too much like Wolverine," Lewald wrote. Whereas Wolverine called the good-humored Morph "the only one who could make [him] laugh," presumably his friendship with Thunderbird would've been birds of a feather. Funnily enough, that overlap with Wolverine is what did Thunderbird in back in the day.
Thunderbird was the X-Man first planned to die in Night of the Sentinels
The original "X-Men" comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were a bit of a flop. The characters felt like a B-grade Fantastic Four, the stories didn't pop, and the book was outright canceled from 1970 to 1975 (issues #67-93 were reprints of old issues). When writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum rebooted the X-Men, they came up with a new team which debuted in super-long issue "Giant-Size X-Men" #1.
The "Second Genesis" X-Men were an international team — the comic's first embrace of true diversity. Wein reused his co-creation, the Canadian superhero Wolverine, and two previously introduced mutants: the Irish Banshee and Japanese Sunfire. Wein and Cockrum also co-created Colossus from Soviet Russia, Storm from Africa, Nightcrawler from Germany, and Thunderbird, part of the Apache Native American tribe.
Thunderbird was a hothead with a chip on his shoulder from the discrimination his people have faced since the colonization of America. He's introduced threatening to clock Professor X, and is only goaded into joining the X-Men when Xavier calls him a coward if he doesn't. When Claremont (with Wein co-plotting) and Cockrum set about building out a team dynamic for an ongoing series, they realized Thunderbird's angry characterization was redundant. In Wizard Magazine's special "X-Men Turn Thirty" issue in 1993, Cockrum explained:
"Unfortunately, we created [Thunderbird] as an obnoxious loudmouth, and we already had an obnoxious loudmouth in Wolverine. So one of us [Wein, according to Claremont] decided to kill him off after all, just for the shock value. The one thing I regretted about killing him off was that he had such a sharp costume!"
It likely didn't help that Thunderbird's enhanced senses were also similar to Wolverine, but without Logan's unique adamantium claws.
The legacy of Thunderbird, and Morph, in X-Men
Thus, Thunderbird sacrificed his life in "X-Men" #95. The X-Men are fighting the evil Count Nefaria, who tries to flee in a jet plane. Thunderbird hops onto the plane and, when it explodes, is caught in the inferno and killed.
Remarkably, this tone-setting death endured, but Thunderbird wasn't forgotten. In 1984, Claremont and artist Sal Buscema introduced James Proudstar/Warpath, Thunderbird's brother out to avenge his brother's death on Professor X.
Thunderbird also appeared as an X-Man in the 1981 cartoon "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends." While he didn't get his doomed starring role in"X-Men," he made cameos, even showing up in the title sequence as one of Magneto's minions. (Houston included him there for "balance," per Lewald.) Still, Thunderbird stayed dead for almost 50 years of publication, only returning in 2021's "Trial of Magneto" storyline.
Morph's demise turned out to be much more temporary. He returned in season 2, resurrected by the evil Mister Sinister (Christopher Britton). However, when "Night of the Sentinels" was written, Morph's death was meant to be for real. The show's creative team had killed Morph to set the stakes and were proud of the decision, Lewald explained in his book. Then, when writing season 2, the "X-Men" team got a call from Fox Kids VP Sidney Iwanter. It turned out most kids had named Morph as their favorite X-Man, so the network wanted him back on the show. "We had made him too likable! Or maybe as the jester among a team of intense fighters-for-good he stood out," Lewald speculated.
In the revival series "X-Men '97," Morph is back full-time and even gets their own action shot in the title sequence. Perhaps Thunderbird can get a long overdue starring role, too.