Who's Who: Thunder

Thunder
by Siskoid

Real Name: CeCe Beck

Super-Power(s): Strength, invulnerability, enhanced courage and wisdom, flight, calling the lightning.
Planet of Origin: Binderaan.

Legion Seniority: Thunder was the eighth completely new Legion recruit after the Reboot.

Legion Log
CeCe Beck was an ordinary girl who grew up in the 90th century on the planet Binderaan. Her happy childhood was destroyed when a terrorist blasted her with magic dust he thought disintegrated people. Instead, it transported CeCe outside time and space to a mystical place called the Rock of Eternity. There she met an ancient wizard, the former 20th-Century Earth hero known as Captain Marvel. Marvel endowed her with the same powers he had once possessed: extraordinary wisdom, strength, stamina, speed and invulnerability. She used these powers to return to Binderaan and capture the terrorist who had, in the meantime, killed her parents. Calling herself Thunder, CeCe became a hero on Binderaan, and was adopted by loving foster parents.

Responding to Uncle Dudley's summons, Thunder went back to the 20th Century to share in one of her ancestors' adventures. Returning home through the Rock of Eternity, her voyage was cut short in the late 30th Century by its destruction at the hands the anti-magic zealots of the Objective Order! The Legion soon arrived to Fawcett World, where the Rock could be accessed, a planet where all things were magically-powered, and run by the S.H.A.Z.A.M. computer, to lend help and allied with her to put the Order's leader, Dr. Savant, behind bars. They pledged to help her repair the Rock of Eternity and offered her membership, which she accepted.

Thunder wasted no time taking up her quest to collect all the Eternium fragments required to recreate the Rock, but soon discovered these could give others powers (as it did the Rimborian landlord Lord Pernisius), but were like kryptonite to her. At Pernisius' mercy, she uttered the name that gave her her powers, "Captain Marvel", and found herself transported home to the 90th Century, without her powers. But having left team mate Sensor in a lurch, she decided to return to the 30th Century. By the time she did, Sensor had freed herself, but Pernisius had absorbed so much magical energy, he could draw all Eternium fragments to himself and drain the Rock of Eternity's power. Thunder found a way to defeat him and the Rock reformed around him, crushing him. The Rock still toxic to her, she chose to remain with the Legion until a solution could be found, though she could still return home powerless with a magic word.

Following the Blight's attack on Earth, Thunder became overwhelmed with homesickness and said her magic word, returning to the 90th Century. She has since been seen during the Final Crisis, when Legions of different timelines came together to fight Superboy-Prime's Legion of Super-Villains.

NOTES: Her name, CeCe Beck is an obvious tribute to the Marvel Family's creator, C.C. Beck, while her world, Binderaan, is a tribute to original Fawcett Comics writer, Otto Binder, who was also the Legion's creator.

Important Thunder Stories:

Power of Shazam Annual #1

Thunder makes her debut as a 90th-Century heroine

 

Power of Shazam #44

Thunder visits the 20th-Century Marvel Family

Legionnaires #50

This poster foreshadows Thunder's membership in the Legion
(see also Legionnaires #1,000,000 for a similar hint)

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #110

Thunder is accidentally stranded in the 30th Century and joins the Legion

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #111

The Legion fights a possessed Thunder

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #113

Thunder and Sensor undertake the quest to find Eternium

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #116

Thunder fights Pernisius for the first time

Legion of Super-Heroes (v4) #117-118

Thunder gives the entire Legion magical power so it can fight Pernisius,
the Rock of Eternity reforms, and Thunder gains limited access to her home

Titans/Legion of Super-Heroes: Universe Ablaze #1-4

Thunder is part of the Legion when the team shares an adventure with the Titans

Legionnaires #81

Thunder elects to leave the 30th Century forever

Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds #5

Thunder is among the Legionnaires facing off against Superboy-Prime's Legion of Super-Villains