Thunderpunch

Thunderpunch is a human from the Marvel Comics portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Sorry, Lee, but comic book readers want to see your physique.

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 Generation 1 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, but he had to shave a truly inspirational beard to join. He managed to irritate Rapture with his sexist and crude remarks, and was very interested in whether Circuit Breaker liked to parrrr-tay. The Human Factor!

He 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

Thunderpunch did not appear in the story itself, just his arm in this illustration in the "Games of Deception" Diamond Edition prologue.

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.