Cannonball (Sam Guthrie)

## History

Samuel Guthrie was the first born son of a small town Kentucky family. the oldest of ten siblings, it fell on Sam to work in the coal mine after his father died of black lung. A cave-in forced Sam's mutation to finally reveal itself, causing Sam to free himself and several of the trapped miners.

Sam would eventually join various teams of X-Men through the years under the codename Cannonball, always sending what money he could back to his family back home. As the mutant Cannonball, Sam has traveled all over the universe with the various teams he's worked with, but always comes back home where he feels the most comfortable.

Sam is the biological father of Josiah Guthrie.

## New Warriors

After an especially draining mission with the X-Men, Sam decided to take a break from the team for a while, just in time to get a message that his little brother Josh had come to New York and wanted to see him. Unfortunately when he went to the Baxter Building to his brother, Sam was attacked and captured by a virus-infected H.E.R.B.I.E., who took him to the Von Doom children. Vincent Von Doom realized that Sam's kinetic energy could power his latest scheme and tortured him into providing the power he needed to transform New York into his own kingdom.

The New Warriors eventually found their way to Castle Von Doom, freeing Sam and defeating the Dooms before restoring New York. Wanting to bond with his little brother, Sam agreed to become a mentor to the group in order to help Josh learn to control his newly emerged powers.

## Transition to Leader

After learning that Icarus might be bisexual, Sam immediately offered Josh his love and support, promising to help him no matter what. When Franklin's aura had been banished, it was Sam who forced Josh to stay strong and focus on being a better hero instead of pining over the comatose Franklin.

When Annihilus brought half the team to the Negative Zone to force Johnny into returning his Cosmic Control Rod, Cannonball immediately took charge of the situation, leading the trapped heroes into rebelling against Annihilus, leading his team to victory over him and Blastaar the Living Bomblast.

When the team ended up captured by the Von Doom children again, Cannonball was the first to escape and take on Vincent Von Doom hand to hand, using his experience growing up fighting in Kentucky to take the younger Doom down a few notches. Doom ended up poisoning Cannonball with a mystic sword, revealing that only the blood of the youngest Guthrie could save him, or else he'd die in seven days. It was soon revealed that the youngest Guthrie wasn't Sam's little sister, but his son, Josiah.

## The Youngest Guthrie

When pressed by Icarus, Sam told him the origin of Josiah Guthrie, which ended with the newborn Joey being sent to another dimension to cure his weak immune system. Sam was never able to find out if Joey was alive as the portal could only be opened once. Icarus vowed to find Joey and save his brother's life.

While Cannonball led the New Warriors in finding Franklin Richard's lost aura, Icarus found a way to access the dimension Josiah was in, bringing the boy home against Sam's wishes. Ultimately Sam came around and realized that he really did want Josiah home, with the two bonding after sorting out a few issues between them. Josiah agreed to save Sam on the condition that Sam send him back to the dimension he grew up in.

## Powers & Abilities

* Thermo-chemical energy field propulsion
* Blast Field
* Superman Durability
* Bio-kinetic Hand Blasts

## Appearances

Cannonball is a member of the New Warriors, where he's slowly taken over the position of leader in Franklin Richards' absence.