Superman Analogue: Cannonball
42Some heroes have really distinct niches, but sometimes those heroes almost, if you squint, pull off a movie worthy of the Man of Steel, such as when Cannonball showed just what he could do!
Master List: https://twitter.com/CaseAiken/status/1346189702580342785?s=20
Original Thread: https://twitter.com/CaseAiken/status/1080193244208738306?s=20
Original Text: As I said, characters change. Sometimes their role shifts depending on the team that they're on, such as when Beast joined the #Avengers and became more of joker, sometimes that's just for a fleeting moment like in the case of Cannonball of the #XMen.
#Cannonball started off with a decent enough foundation for a Superman type: his powers were flight and invulnerability while flying. That was the extent during the #NewMutant days. He added energy blasts during the #XForce time, basically letting play the part of a DBZ character
And he has kind of gone back to that role in more recent years. He's a hayseed with gusto and a very distinct visual style.
However, there was one glorious moment where he was poised to become the X-Men's latest Superman analogue. One day, he had to square off against Gladiator.
And for most of the fight, it was not going well for Sam Guthrie. Gladiator had taken down many of the X-Men's most powerful, after all.
But in the midst of the fight, Gladiator attempted to end everything with one mighty wallop. However, Cannonball's invulnerability comes from a kinetic energy field which absorbed the impact in this case and let him redirect it back at the Stronian superhero
Now, to be fair, the way you beat Gladiator is to surprise him. So anything that catches him off guard leaves him open.
And since then, Cannonball has rarely shown the same ability. This was just a brief glimmer by a writer and art team that clearly had been watching a lot of anime, but oh was it amazing to see. For now, though, Cannonball has stepped back to let other mutants shine.
Before I go, I want to call out the New Mutants for being a great example of interesting design. All of them have powers and styles that identify who they are without being tied to a specific costume. We saw this both with Sunspot and Cannonball and holds true for all the others.
Images:
1 – Avengers Vol 1 #198, Pencils by George Perez, Inks by Dan Green, and Colors by Carl Gafford & Ben Sean
2 – X-Men Animated Series
3 - U.S.AVENGERS #1, State Variant Cover Art by Rod Reis
4 - X-Treme X-Men #24, Art by Salvador Larroca
5 - Marvel Fanfare #27 Art by Bob McLeod
6 - X-Force Vol 1. #41, Pencils by Tony Daniel, Inks by Kevin Conrad, Colors by Hi-Fi, Design by Marie Javins
7 - Avengers World Vol 1 #17, Pencils and Inks by Marco Checchetto, Colors by Andres Mossa
8 - Cable #155, New Mutants Variant Edition by Tyler Kirkham
9-16 – Uncanny X-Men #341, Art by Joe Madureira
17 – Fantastic Four #249, Art by John Byrne
18 – X-Force Vol 1. #44, Pencils by Adam Pollina, Inks by Mark Farmer, Colors by Marie Javins and Electric Crayon
19 - New Mutants (Vol. 4) #2, Art by Rod Reis
20 - U.S.Avengers #5, Pencils and Inks by Paco Diaz, Colors by Jesus Aburtov
21 - New Mutants (Vol. 4) #1, Art by Rod Reis
22 – New Mutants Renewal Trade Paper Back, Cover by Bob McLeod
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