warpath

Warpath
Warpath. Art by Clayton Crain.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	New Mutants Vol. 1 #16 (June 1984)
Created by	Chris Claremont Sal Buscema
In-story information
Alter ego	James Jonathan Proudstar
Species	Human Mutant
Team affiliations	X-Men X-Force Hellions New Mutants X-Corporation
Notable aliases	Thunderbird, Running Sun[1]
Abilities	Superhuman strength, speed, stamina, agility, reflexes, durability, and senses Flight Trained in armed and unarmed combat

James Proudstar, previously known as the second Thunderbird but also known as Warpath is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero associated with the X-Men. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Sal Buscema, he first appeared in New Mutants #16 (June 1984).

An Apache Native American, Proudstar possesses mutant superhuman strength and speed, like his older brother, the short-lived X-Man Thunderbird, though Warpath's power-levels are much higher.

He originally blamed the X-Men for his brother’s death and joined the villain group the Hellions to get revenge. He later reconsidered his views and became a longtime member of the militant X-Men offshoot X-Force. After a long journey to the Shi'ar Empire with the Uncanny X-Men, Warpath is now a member of the new incarnation of X-Force.

Fictional character biography

Origin

James Proudstar was born on the Apache reservation at Camp Verde, Arizona. James' brother, John Proudstar, was one of the "All New, All Different" X-Men.^[2] John was killed on one of the team's earliest missions. James angrily blamed the X-Men for his brother's death and made it his life's mission to murder its founder, Professor Charles Xavier.

Taking retribution

James' hatred of the X-Men made him an ideal recruit for Emma Frost's Hellions, a team intended to be her answer to Charles Xavier's New Mutants. The Hellions were students at Frost's Massachusetts Academy; as a Hellion, James clashed with the New Mutants and Shadowcat.^[3] But his hatred led him to attack the X-Men on his own, with the unexpected, and unwanted, aid of Roulette, Empath and Firestar. James donned his brother's costume, and kidnapped the X-Men's Banshee to draw the team to Cheyenne Mountain where John was killed. However, when the opportunity arrived, James was unable to kill Professor X in cold blood. James was reconciled with the X-Men, and Professor X offered membership into the New Mutants to James, but he declined.^[4]

A quiet life interrupted

Months later, James came to realize that the Massachusetts Academy wasn't the place for him. So, he left to return home to his family's reservation. James enjoyed his stay at home so much, that he originally turned down Cable's offer to join the New Mutants. After the meeting, in New York, James returned home, to find his entire tribe murdered. James originally thought that the Hellions committed the act to punish him for leaving the team, due to a foot soldier's mask he found alongside the bodies of his fallen tribesmen. He then joined the New Mutants, hoping to track down the Hellions and gain revenge.^[5]

X-Force

Before long, the New Mutants cut ties with the X-Men and became the militant adventurers known as X-Force and James changed his codename to Warpath. Alongside X-Force, Warpath first battled the Mutant Liberation Front.^[6] Alongside X-Force and Spider-Man, he battled the Juggernaut.^[7] Alongside X-Force, he battled the Toad's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.^[8] Alongside X-Force, he battled Weapon P.R.I.M.E.^[9] Alongside X-Force, he rescued Sunspot from Gideon.^[10] Alongside X-Force, Warpath fought the X-Men and the second incarnation of X-Factor, and was taken prisoner by them.^[11] Warpath later traveled to Nova Roma to tell Magma that most of the other Hellions were dead.^[12] With Boomer and Siryn, he was taken prisoner by Gideon and the Externals; they were rescued by their X-Force teammates.^[13] Warpath was a part of X-Force for the duration of the team. As a member of X-Force, James became more calm and controlled and struck up a close friendship with his teammate Theresa Rourke Cassidy. Despite his strong attraction to her, Theresa only saw James as a friend.

Coming to terms with life

James finally had a face to face meeting with Emma Frost. The two talked about the deaths of his tribesmen, but Emma swore she wasn't involved.^{[volume & issue needed]} Warpath eventually met a woman, by the name of Risque. Risque was instrumental in helping James with his confidence and the two began a love affair.^{[volume & issue needed]} However, Risque was being blackmailed by a man named Sledge, who forced her to drug Warpath and bring him to his lair. Sledge gave him information about a member of the tribe that was still alive, but in turn James had to retrieve his partner, the Vanisher, who had disappeared in another dimension. James found the Vanisher and in turn Sledge gave information on one of his tribesman, Michael Whitecloud, whom James had presumed deceased.^{[volume & issue needed]} Whitecloud told him that Stryfe, X-Force's adversary, was behind the killing of his tribe. James went to Hell to gain revenge, but was returned back to the living world by Blackheart.^{[volume & issue needed]} When James found out Risque's involvement in the whole ordeal, he ended their relationship despite her deepest remorse. She would eventually reunite with X-Force on several occasions as an ally.^{[volume & issue needed]}

X-Corporation

After X-Force's disintegration, Warpath joined the Mumbai branch of the international mutant agency, X-Corporation, in India. His new team was a mix of old and new friends: Feral, Sunfire, and Thornn.^{[volume & issue needed]} He stayed there with the X-Corporation for a while, helping to save Professor X's life, who was surprised that he was still alive.^{[volume & issue needed]}

X-Force Reunion

A threat from Cable's past comes back to haunt him, when a group of time-traveling ninjas called the Helix attack him and Domino. The Helix worship a demon called the Skornn, which Cable had defeated before. After defeating the Helix, they go in search of the Five Fingers of Annihilation, a blade that is the only thing that can kill the Skornn. They meet up with Shatterstar, and are then attacked by more Helix ninjas^[14]. The threat proves more than he and Domino can handle, so they enlist the help of Warpath, Sunspot, and Meltdown. Warpath tells Cable that he and Sunspot have responsibilities with the X-Corporation, and doesn't really want to be involved with him. Cable explains that he needs people that he can trust on his team. They all agree to join Cable, and go onto to help Cannonball who is being approached by another time traveler^[15]. X-Force is eventually joined by Wolverine, and the Fantastic Four. They fight the Skornn, and eventually Cable kills it once again^[16]. X-Force disbands, with Warpath apparently returning to the X-Corporation.

X-Men

Warpath was one of the few mutants to retain their powers after the events of Decimation, and soon after found himself living in the Mutant camp at X-Men's mansion. Shortly afterwards, he joined the ranks of the X-Men for the first time at Professor X's request.^[17] Along with Professor X, Marvel Girl, Nightcrawler, Havok, Darwin, and Polaris, he journeys into space to track down Vulcan. He shows his superb fighting prowess while fighting cyborg drones as the X-Men attempt to commandeer a Shi'ar ship. During the final fight with Vulcan^[18], Warpath fought bravely and in the end was on the spaceship with half of the team when Lilandra sent it back to Earth.

Since she is stuck on Earth and has nowhere else to go, Hepzibah joins Professor X's team of X-Men. She and Warpath have already created a bond of sorts, with Hepzibah remarking that his presence has helped her through her mourning of Corsair. Together, they confront one of the X-Mansion's guardian Sentinels when Caliban, a long time X-Men ally, runs onto the grounds ^[19].

Warpath enters the Morlock Tunnels along with Hepzibah, Storm, and Caliban. As a group, they are attempting to discover the reason for the Morlocks' increased activity, which has included the capturing of X-Men ward Leech. Warpaths name has been written on a Morlock wall, along with the names of the other X-Men team members ^[20].

After the Morlock encounter, Hepzibah speaks with Scott, who accepts her having Warpath as her new mate and they begin a relationship ^[21].

Later when the Hulk attacks the mansion looking for Professor Xavier, Warpath is one of the X-Men who answers The Stepford Cuckoos' call for help^[22].

Messiah Complex

Warpath rejoins X-Force as they search a Cooperstown Hospital to pick up the trail of the fugitive Cable. Wolverine doesn't trust that Warpath will be willing to kill Cable should the need arise, and he asks Wolfsbane to keep an eye on him. She learns that while he won't like it, he'll do what needs to be done ^[23]. As the X-Force finishes dispatching the remaining Reavers, Caliban sacrifices himself to save Warpath by jumping into the path of a line of bullets meant for him ^[24]. In the final battle, Warpath and the rest of the X-Force team are charged with taking down Predator X. James jumps on top of Predator X, stabbing it in the back. However, he realizes that Predator X has a healing factor. He is later seen standing around Professor Xavier when he is thought dead ^[25].

Divided We Stand

Archangel goes to San Francisco, California, to meet up with Hepzibah, Warpath and Iceman. All four are caught in the effects of a city-wide illusion created by Martinique Jason, who thanks to her powers has transformed the city into a hippie paradise. Now calling himself "Running Sun", he and the others are sent by Jason to confront Cyclops and Emma Frost. After Emma manages to break through Jason's illusion, Warpath and the others are returned to normal, after which they begin to re-establish the X-Men organization in San Francisco ^[26].

Cyclops's X-Force

Warpath is one of the founding members of the new X-Force, Cyclops's covert wetworks team, charged with finding and eliminating Purifiers cells. James joins out of a desire for revenge for the death of his friend Caliban at the hands of the Purifiers ^[27]. While physically the strongest member, he has shown to be shocked at the amount of blood shed on his and his teammates hands ^[28].

Since the team was not allowed to contact anyone from the outside world, he is shown regret being with the team then being with his girlfriend, Hepzibah. James takes a break from duty, in order to make peace with the deaths he has caused and travels to visit the grave of his brother, John ^[29]. En route, his truck is destroyed and James crawls from the wreckage to confront the attacker; the Demon Bear ^[30]. After a fight with the Demon Bear, he realizes he can't hurt the Bear and is badly beaten before being rescued by Ghost Rider. When he comes to, Ghost Rider says he is going to teach him how to kill a demon ^[31].

After defeating the creature with the aid of Ghost Rider, it is revealed that this Demon Bear was created when the animal spirits of his people were disturbed. They tell James that Eli Bard has dug up Thunderbird, Caliban, and everyone else buried there.^[32]

During the Necrosha crossover, James is confronted by his ex-girlfriend, Risque, where she pleads with him get away from her before she once more under the control of the TO Virus.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Powers and abilities

Warpath is a mutant who possesses superhuman senses, strength (used as his main power in X-Force, as the team 'strong guy'; he was paired with the likes of Strong Guy in battles), speed, durability, agility, reflexes, endurance, and flight. His current strength levels have shown him capable of toppling a Sentinel by clapping, the resulting air pressure causing it to collapse.

Warpath possesses a certain level of resistance to injury, at least enough to withstand common firearms at short range.^[33] He also seems to regenerate damaged or destroyed tissue much faster than an ordinary human.

His power of flight was discovered by his one-time mentor and team leader Peter Wisdom, who analyzed his mutation after the High Evolutionary devolved and re-evolved all mutants on Earth, and forced James to incorporate this ability in his fighting style.^[34] This power has not been depicted in later comic story-lines though, as current head X-Writer Ed Brubaker has said that he chose not to depict Warpath's flight power because he didn't understand how Warpath's speed and strength would allow it. However, his fighting style in the X-Men: Messiah Complex storyline has shown him to return to using his flight powers ^[35]. In X-Force he can be seen flying even for long distances.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Warpath's senses of sight and hearing are enhanced to levels beyond the capabilities of an ordinary human. He is able to see, with perfect clarity, at much greater distances than an ordinary human. He retains this same level of clarity, even in near-total darkness. His hearing is similarly heightened, enabling him to both hear sounds that ordinary human's can't and sounds that they can detect but at much greater distances.

After nearly getting killed by Reignfire, Warpath experienced an increase in senses and speed that allowed him to perform feats he had previously not been aware he was capable of, such as run at high speeds for long distances and quickly climb building walls by rapidly digging his hands and feet into the bare concrete.^[36]

Aside from his natural physical attributes, Warpath is well versed in hand-to-hand combat. He has trained in unarmed combat by the White Queen and trained in the use of the staff at the insistence of Cable, and currently wields a pair of bowie knives composed of vibranium, given to him by Storm, with which he has proved to be highly proficient in combat. James is a skilled hunter and tracker.

Ghost Rider activated limited Apache shaman abilities within James, in order to help him fight the demon bear. He could perceive the creature's wounds and the resulting spirit energy when it was destroyed.^[37]

In other media

Television

• Warpath made a cameo in the X-Men episode "Slave Island" as one of the mutant slaves. He also appears as a member of Magneto's team in the opening credits.
• A mutant who resembles Warpath is seen in episode 9 of Wolverine and the X-Men, trying to escape the sentinel prisons of the future.

References

External links

• Warpath at Marvel.com
• UncannyXmen.net Spotlight on Warpath