Superman #276

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1ST MODERN APPEARANCE OF CAPTAIN THUNDER

A young boy, Willie Fawcett, materializes in a dingy alleyway. His clothes and his hairstyle look at least "twenty years behind the times." He is surprised to learn about Superman whom he's never heard of before. During an armored car robbery, Superman is distracted by an illusion of a flying monster. Willie rubs his magic belt buckle and says the magic word, "Thunder!" Willie Fawcett is secretly the super hero Captain Thunder. But, instead of helping the police, Willie's alter ego helps the crooks. After Superman deals with the illusion, he goes after Captain Thunder and the crooks. Thunder manages to get away and later, as Willie Fawcett, goes to see Clark Kent. He tells Clark the origin of Captain Thunder, of how he was on a camping trip for orphans and followed an owl to the last medicine man of the Mohegan tribe. There he is invested with the powers of Tornado, Hare, Uncas, Nature, Diamond, Eagle, and Ram: the acronym spells THUNDER. The last thing Willie remembers is fighting the Monster League of Evil which appears to be comprised of Frankenstein's monster, the mummy, the wolf man, and Dracula. He imprisons them in another dimension, but they laugh about how they have done something to him secretively and "you'll never be the same!" Clark is not entirely convinced and decides to take Willie to the police and see if he has been reported missing. Just as they arrive, a jail break is going on and Clark slips off to change into Superman. When he tries to stop the jailbreak, Captain Thunder appears. They have a tremendous battle in the skies and the fight goes back and forth. Superman realizes that he can not defeat Thunder in a battle of strength, so he decides to use "super wits." He uses static electricity to generate a bolt of lightning directed at Captain Thunder and manipulates the conversation so that as his foe says the word "thunder," Superman forces him to rub his magic belt buckle. This causes Thunder to revert to his Willie Fawcett identity. Superman explains that he has figured out that Thunder comes from another dimension. His plan is to put a full nelson on Willie and have him change into Thunder in order to use Thunder's wisdom to overcome the Monster League of Evil's hold. When Thunder comes back, he tries to break free, but can not. Eventually, Thunder breaks free of their hold and figures out how to get home. The epilogue shows Clark and Lois walking down the street and she spots an expensive restaurant and drags Clark inside. Clark is comforted by the knowledge that he is not alone in the universe and that "...Captain Thunder...like Superman... champions the weak and the helpless...for no other reason than because it is right!"