Or – “You Thought TYROC Was Obscure?”
In the 1950’s when the Legion was formed, the future was all about rocketships, frapguns and aliens with big heads.  Throughout the 60’s, there were occasional flirtations with mystical things, and the 70’s brought Mordru the Merciless, giant floating wizard with one of the silliest hats I’ve ever seen. Even when the White Witch joined in the 80’s, her magic was much more quantified and limited, itself more resembling science than the sorcerous like of Doctors Strange or Fate.  But during the 90’s Reboot period (known pejoritively as the “Archie Legion”) there was an ongoing attempt to streamline the continuity of the Legion, as well as tying them more directly into the world of the 20th Century DCU.  Thus was born my pal Bruce’s favorite Legionnaire, from the far-flung future of the 90th century, a time when the Earth is destroyed and only the Rock of Eternity remains.  Steeping in magic, drawing upon the powers of Earth’s Mightiest Mortal, her courage is easily a match for her strength.  Though her Legion tenure was short, she was one of the highlights of the reboot era.  This, then, is your Major Spoilers Hero History of Cecebeck of Binderaan…  Thunder!
�Thunder’s first appearance actually takes place in ‘Power of Shazam’ Annual #1, a book which I, amazingly do not seem to own.� I seem to vaguely recall that I was tired of DC’s theme annuals, and�refused to buy�all the�”Dead Earth” stories because of it.� Still, I read Bruce’s copy, and through my memory and the power of the Wiki, I can tell you that Cecebeck grew up in an apocalyptic future where she was accidentally shot with a magical weapon and teleported to the Rock of Eternity.� Once there, she met Billy Batson, now an elderly wizard himself, much like Shazam, who grants her the powers he was given after following a pedophile into a subway:� the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the… um….� hairplugs of Axl Rose, the speed of… Zimmy Zam, the armhair of Alan Thicke, and the hips of Marilyn Monroe.� By speaking the wizard’s name (“Captain Marvel”) she channels all these powers, and is eventually adopted by the local police chief.� Soon after, Mister Tawky Tawny is lost in time, and meets up with her while trying to save the Rock of Eternity.� Though he escapes the time-stream, Cecebeck is tossed through the ages by the buffeting forced of Eternity (by Calvin Klein) only to blip back into existence centuries in her past…
Luckily for her, she nearly collides with the most powerful man of the 30th Century, Mon-El (now spelled M’onel, but it’s my history and I’ll spell how I want to) who quickly saves her life.� Confused and disoriented, she breaks his grip (surprising the heck out of him) Beck flashes away with the speed of Mercury, heading home to Fawcett City.� Of course, since she’s from over 6000 years in the future, there’s really nothing much to see…
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How can you hate a girl who wears Captain Marvel’s costume with Iron Fist’s little yellow booties?� It’s just so adorable that you want to hug her and buy her a slushie.� In this post-reboot continuity, Mon-El is the stand-in for Tom Welling,�and it seems that ‘Beck was meant to be a stand-in for Supergirl (as the more direct analogue, Andromeda, is fake-dead at this point in time, a long story which I’ll get to later) right down to her cute little headband thingy.� Beck finds out that she needs to gather the shards of the Rock of Eternity, rebuilding the monolith before she can return home to the future of the future.� She is offered, and accepts Legion membership, quickly bonding with Sensor, the reboot version of Sensor Girl/Princess Projectra…
Giant snake and future girl set out together, to find and rebuild the Rock of Eternity.� The first is easier than the second, as contact with the pieces of “Eternium” weaken Cecebeck’s connection to the power of Shazam, much as Kryptonite would affect Tom Welling and his cousin pre-Crisis.� As they set off, Sensor commits the one unforgivable sin of the modern storytelling era…
…saying the equivalent of “Well, at least it can’t get worse!”� Watching from a distance, Captain Pernesius of Rimbor follows the two heroes at a distance, planning to capture all the Eternium for himself.� Apparently, while it weakens a fully-powered Marvel, the Eternium gives regular mortals powers of their own.� Once Sensor and Thunder have accessed enough Eternium, the pirate swoops in, capturing both women, and drugging them to find out their secrets.� ‘Beck manages to regain her senses for a moment, and tries to call to her wizard for help.� “Captain Marvel!”� Meanwhile, back on Binderaan…
Apparently, fashions in the 90th century are going through a “Ziggy Stardust” disco bondage schoolgirl phase…� Thunder discovers, quite by accident, that even though her super-powered self is lost in time, her regular body is still chronally tied to Binderaan 6,000 years in the future.� Having returned home to her mommy and daddy, Cecebeck tries to explain that she has to go back to the Legion to help, but her worried parents don’t want her to go.� She pleads with them, explaining that she left a good friend in the lurch, AND that the fate of time, space and dimension rests on her ability to find the rest of the Rock.� In that vein, she reminds them that she knows her role, and advises that they shut their mouths…�
A tearful Cecebeck arrives just in time to find that Sensor has been dragged away by the evil Rimborian, apparently to be dissected and studied (her Orandan people are a secretive lot.)� Beck immediately sets into motion, using her elder-given speed and stamina to search far and wide.� Sadly, Pernisius ends up juicing himself with Eternium, and her power becomes needed somewhere else.� But so strong is her sense of responsibility that Thunder at first refuses to give up on finding her friend…
Pernisius, it turns out, is being manipulated by a mysterious old man, who convinces him to increase his power exponentially by shouting “Shazam!”� But no matter how powerful one individual may get, the Legion of Super-Heroes will rise up en masse to slap him down (isn’t that right, Time Trapper, Mordru, Glorith, Darkseid, [twice!] Praetor Lemnos and Rish Limbaugh?) as the renegade Rimborian is about to find out…
Why do they wear their flight-rings on their ring finger?� I seem to recall that the Pre-Crisis team always wore theirs on their middle finger…� Maybe this is why the Legionnaires aren’t allowed to marry?� In any case, Pernisius finds out that his mysterious mentor isn’t a man at all, but an automaton who has moved him about the board like a particularly stupid pawn…
Doctor Savant apparently has some sort of grudge against magical obelisks that float through space in defiance of the laws of physics and temporal mechanics (though, really, who wouldn’t?)� Thunder finds herself faced with a hard decision: give up her powers and go home, leaving the Power of Shazam without a guardian, or fight Pernisius and risk destroying the Rock and her powers.� Worst of all, Pernisius is trying to gather more Eternium himself, which would allow him to become even more powerful than before.
Thunder’s decision is the gutsy one: fight Pernisius directly, and try to beat sense into his head while also reassembling the Rock of Eternity.� Legion leader Invisible Kid tries to stop her from being a part of the mission, but ‘Beck isn’t about to let someone else do her fighting for her…
The Legion goes into action, and Cece ends up going into action anyway (after all, the wisdom of Solomon combined with the power of Zeus has a tendency to make you aware of your limits) as Pernisius reassembles the Rock of Eternity and begins channeling millions of joules of strange energy into himself.� But he didn’t count on the cleverness of Thunder…� Using her connection to the Power of Shazam, Thunder rechannels a vast portion of the Rock’s energy back to herself, then shares it with her Legion comrades…
�Suffice to say that Pernisius gets his block knocked off but good, and the real threat of Doctor Savant is taken out of play.� The old man gets 20 to life, and Thunder gets to return to her double-life with the Legion.� Unfortunately for her, the team is immediately overwhelmed by the forces of The Blight, a not-at-all Borg-like race that assimilates the most powerful Legionnaires and takes control of the galaxy.� Thunder and her Legion eventually break free (thanks to Cosmic Boy, Brainiac 5, Apparition and Monstress) and have one of those awesome group shots that usually heralds the end of an era in the Legion…
With the world in turmoil, dealing with the trauma of having her mindscontrolled by brutal techno-thugs, seeing her friends in conflict,�with the Stargate system that unites the various planets near collapse, Thunder finds herself overwhelmed, and chooses to go home…
Though she promised to return, Thunder has not been seen since…� Since the Rock of Eternity was restored, I presume that she was finally able to stay with her family, protecting her planet and the people she loves.� Her Legion was rebooted out of reality a few years later, leaving little hope that Cecebeck will return to continuity, but there’s always hope.� After all, the original Thom Kallor revealed that a version of XS existed in his timeline, so a version of Thunder is not impossible.� Though considerably younger than many of her teammates, Cecebeck shows the same tenacity, the same courage, the same willingness to protect the innocents.� Though thrown into a world she never made, Thunder made the best of things, finding friends, fighting for justice, and showing that no matter how far away from home you may be, you can still do the right thing…
**If you’ve enjoyed this Hero History, you might want to ‘Read All About It’ at your Local Major Spoilers! Our previous Major Spoilers Hero Histories include:
Blok
Bouncing Boy
Brainiac 5
Chameleon Boy
Colossal Boy
Dawnstar
Dream Girl
Element Lad
Ferro Lad
Karate Kid
Kent Shakespeare
Lightning Lass
Matter-Eater Lad
Sensor Girl
Star Boy
Timber Wolf
Tyroc
Wildfire
XS
Or you can just click “Hero History” in the “What We Are Writing About” section on the main page…� Collect ’em all!� Next time around, we’ll look into why�you shouldn’t let yourself get eaten by space whales (like most of us needed that object lesson) when we delve into the life and times of… Ultra�Boy!�
12 Comments
Nice hero history! But wait… originally, Thunder says “Captain Marvel” to become Cecebeck, and in the last panel, she says “Shazam”?! Something’s not right there.
…
By the way, can’t you make a hero history of Mon-El? Or Shadow Lass? I’m a quite big fan of those hero histories (although this is the first time I post a comment) and Mon-El or Shady would be pretty nice to see.
Still waiting on the Tom Welling hero history= now thats a legion legend :P
I loved Thunder, mostly because I’ve always felt the Legion could have benefited from having a few legacy heroes.
BTW, Starman didn’t say there was an XS in HIS timeline. He only mentioned her when he acknowledged the existance of three Legions on three worlds.
Nice hero history! But wait… originally, Thunder says “Captain Marvel” to become Cecebeck, and in the last panel, she says “Shazam”?! Something’s not right there.
Yeah… That, I chalk up to the new writers wanting to get her out of the book without worrying too much about continuity…
By the way, can’t you make a hero history of Mon-El? Or Shadow Lass? I’m a quite big fan of those hero histories (although this is the first time I post a comment) and Mon-El or Shady would be pretty nice to see.
Still waiting on the Tom Welling hero history= now thats a legion legend :P
Once again, the plan is to get to EVERY SINGLE LEGIONNAIRE (with the notable exceptions of Nemesis Kid and Atmos who not even I love) eventually. After next week’s Ultra Boy, I’m planning Gates and then Mon-El… Chances are that Tom Wlling will be near the end, though I haven’t decided whether that will come before or after the 3 week tour de force of Cosmic Boy, Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl.
How can you not like Atmos? What about Legionaires that only made like one panel?
How can you not like Atmos? What about Legionaires that only made like one panel?
Atmos used his powers to force Dream Girl to love him… He’s completely full of himself, AND he was only a Legionnaire during the 5 Year Gap, so I can safely ignore him. Guys like Command Kid, Dynamo Boy, and others who joined under false pretenses will NOT get a write-up. The Legion of Substitute Heroes will. The missing members during the 5 Year Gap who AREN’T Atmos WILL, as will characters like Tellus, Dragonmage, Catspaw, and Kid Psycho…
Who are you thinking of that only appeared in one panel?
Oh the classics like BIRON THE BOWMAN, Size Lad, Blackout Boy, and if memory serves me in LSH V. 4 a few Black Dawn Legionaires made cameo in the Sunboy lifestory issue. Sorry at work so I can’t look at my collection.
By the way you give my Monday’s something to look forward to.
In Cosmic Boy’s write up, are you going to do the Time Trapper, or will that be a special on Lori Morning?
Speaking of which and tying into Thunder…….
How the hell did she break the Iron Curtain of Time?!?
I know it was different Legion, but was it really a different Time Trapper?
Oh the classics like BIRON THE BOWMAN, Size Lad, Blackout Boy, and if memory serves me in LSH V. 4 a few Black Dawn Legionaires made cameo in the Sunboy lifestory issue. Sorry at work so ?I can’t look at my collection.
Well, the Subs will probably get a massive group writeup (fun!) and those Black Dawn Legionnaires who have a history (Echo, Reflecto, Visi-Lad, etc) will probably get the same…
By the way you give my Monday’s something to look forward to.
Always good to hear…
In Cosmic Boy’s write up, are you going to do the Time Trapper, or will that be a special on Lori Morning?
Since the Post-Crisis, Pre-Reboot Cosmic Boy was revealed to somehow BE the Time Trapper (or is it A Time Traper?) I’ll definitely touch on it there… Lori, on the other hand, I hadn’t really considered a Legionnaire per se. Now that you mention it, though, I should give her a bit of attention, and touch on Glorith while I’m up…
Speaking of which and tying into Thunder… How the hell did she break the Iron Curtain of Time?!?
Gotta be magic…
I know it was different Legion, but was it really a different Time Trapper?
Now, that IS a good question. If the 30th Century was reset, wouldn’t all that came after be adjusted as well? If the Iron Curtain of Time was at the end of the known universe, by remapping eternity, you’ve changed the ending, right?
Short answer: I dunno. But probably…
Good spelling of Mon-El (lets not even mention the V word)!
So, I shouldn’t hold my breath awaiting the Hero History on Arm-Fall Off Boy? :)
Give me a Hero History on False Pretenses Lad!