Favorite Fictional Characters, #397: Cannonball

Looks like he's blasting off again!

In the early 1980s The X-Men was a giant-sized hit in the comic book world, and the Marvel house of ideas began for the first time to noodle how to expand the X-universe with new characters. This came to fruition in 1982 with The New Mutants, a concept harkening back to the earliest days of the original team, right down to the iconic black and yellow uniforms and professorial paternalism of Charles Xavier. Young and untested, this group of teenagers included such interesting souls as Brazilian braggart Sunspot, sheltered Scottish lycanthrope Wolfsbane, and others (later, Colossus' little sister Magik, the out-of-time Roman beauty Magma, and many others would spend time with the team, even Kitty Pryde for a spell). Of all these, I always liked Sam Guthrie's aw-shucks Cannonball.

Blessed or cursed with the ability to launch himself through the air (and various denser materials) like a rocket, Cannonball struggled to control his power. Flight navigation wasn't a strong suit, so it was likely fortunate that he was, in one of writer Chris Claremont's beloved overused phrases, "well-nigh invulnerable" when blasting. Sam was as much wrecking ball as Cannonball, especially early on. Much of this stemmed from his deep personal anxieties, coming as he did from a large, poor family in Kentucky coal-mining country. His insecurity about his rustic origins led him initially to a shy, almost naive innocence. In some ways he was the true successor to Cyclops, a reluctant hero and social neophyte who grew in confidence and leadership.

As the New Mutants suffered the usual trials and tribulations of super villains, Danger Room training sessions, and teen angst, Cannonball emerges as the team's moral center and conscience. Eventually he grows up to graduate to the X-Men and even the Avengers, but I like him best as the clumsy kid finding his way, usually leaving unintentional wreckage in his wake.