Thunderpunch
- Thunderpunch is a human from the Marvel portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
Thunderpunch is Lee Gruber, a member of the superhuman Neo-Knights. He has the mutant ability to energize his enormous hands and feet, making them powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with a Transformer. So to speak.
Thunderpunch may be a loudmouth jerk, what with coming on to Circuit Breaker and telling Rapture that she's too ugly to be a superhero, but when the stakes are high and retreat looks mighty good, he's the one who believes in perseverance. He may be a sexist pig, but at least he's a loyal one.
Thunderpunch just hopes nobody back at the bar sees him in his ridiculous tights.
Fiction
Marvel The Transformers comics
Lee Gruber was a freakshow star, also having had repeated run-ins with law enforcement. He was one of the first superhumans approached by G.B. Blackrock after the wealthy industrialist was given the authority to form a task force against the Decepticons. He accepted Blackrock's offer, and took on the codename "Thunderpunch." Along with Rapture, he was then informed of their next recruit: Hector Dialonzo. En-route to Dialonzo's location, Gruber spied Blackrock reviewing footage of Circuit Breaker, and asked him whether she was the type of "babe" who liked to parrrr-tay. His crude remarks managed to irritate both Rapture and Blackrock.
Arriving at Dialonzo's coordinates, the group found Srtarscream and Circuit Breaker already fighting over their target. Rapture was the first to intervene, using her own superpowers to entrance Starscream in a dream-like state. With the Decepticon lost in his own fantasy, Thunderpunch pounced out of Blackrock's helicopter and begun pummeling Starscream with his bare hands. His efforts were interrupted by Circuit Breaker, who wanted to off the Decepticon herself. Disgruntled, Thunderpunch got back to his feet, only to be knocked back down by Dialonzo, who objected to being fought over like some sort of prize. All of the parties involved were then asked to voice their recruitment pitch, allowing Dialonzo to choose for himself who he would join. When Dialonzo made a move to join Blackrock and his allies, Starscream attacked the humans, prompting Thunderpunch and Circuit Breaker to renew their offensive against him. With Starscream knocked down, all others involved decided to leave together as allies. The Human Factor!
Thunderpunch and his fellow Neo-Knights would later engage Scorponok in a battle where the large-footed superhuman proved... less than effective. Out of Time!
Proving his learning curve is not the best, he also battled against Unicron, and inspired the rest of the team to join in; Blackrock said he was proud of Lee and the others, and ashamed of his own cowardice. Poor Lee got pretty battered in the process though and achieved bog all. On the Edge of Extinction!
Classics
Before leaving Cybertron, Thunderpunch looked on as the Last Autobot created Modus Prime, part of a new race of Transformer called the Mini-Cons whose task it was to restore Cybertron. The New World
Notes
- Thunderpunch was going to become part of the Furman/Wildman Techno-X series, a reworked Neo-Knights in the early 90s; the Transformers would have been just a simulation to train them against real robots. He'd have a new 90s-style costume, including a huge semi-sentient gun called Symbiosis. Hasbro Transformers Collectors' Club issue 41 The series fell through, however.
