Team America

*"Maybe I am loco... but something inside me wants there to be a team wearing red, white and blue out on that track next week! And who better to wear those colours then us? Who better to be **Team America**? We're three individuals each striving to be the best, each driven by his own separate dreams! Isn't that what America's all about?"*

―James McDonald
**Team America** are a world class motorcycling stunt riding exhibition team based in the United States. Five of Team America's six regulars are genetically altered humans who possess a special mental link with one another that enables them to share certain information and feelings as well project their combined mental and physical attributes during times of stress into a host body. This host body takes on the masked identity of the Marauder.

## History

### Origins

#### Project: New Genesis

*"Like all HYDRA operations "New Genesis" was ultimately intended to further HYDRA's quest for world domination! It was a minor program -- one among thousands -- but sinister nonetheless! Hundreds of young couples from various parts of the country who had been determined to be genetically suitable, were chosen for the project -- Among them were the parents of you five men! Undercover HYDRA agents secretly administered special mutagenic chemicals to them -- in what they ate, what they drank, and in other ways. The chemicals didn't affect them noticeably -- but altered their **chromosomes** so that the first son born to each couple would be super-human!"*
―Elsie Carson
The parents of James McDonald, Winthrop Roan, Jr., Leonard Hebb, Luke Merriweather, and "The Wolf" (real name unrevealed) were among the undisclosed number of couples who were the unwitting test subjects in an experiment conducted by the subversive organisation HYDRA.

The experiment, called "Project: New Genesis." was designed by HYDRA scientists to create a race of genetically altered humans who could be trained as superhuman agents for the group. The expectant mothers were surreptitiously administered a mutagenic compound without their knowledge, and after the children were born, HYDRA agents kept the children under surveillance as they grew to adulthood. When none of the test subjects seemed to exhibit any extraordinary superhuman power, the project was terminated.

Unknown to HYDRA, five of test subjects did develop latent superhuman powers but it would not manifest itself until the men came into closer proximity to one another upon reaching adulthood. Perhaps, not coincidentally, the five latent superhuman's each developed an aptitude and passion for motorcycles.

#### Initial Meeting

*"From the far corners of the world they have come to Daytona -- entrants and technicians anxious to participate in the first leg of the new **Unlimited Class** racing circuit..."*
―Commentator
Three of the five met in Daytona Beach, Florida, when motorcyclists from around the world congregated there for the first race of the new Unlimited Class Racing Competition, a tournament organised and sponsored by certain technology corporations and industrialised nations to test-race their high-performance vehicles. It was called "Unlimited Class" because there were no restrictions placed on engine size or power or technological innovation permitted in the races. James McDonald, Winthrop Roan Jr., and "Wolf" each met for the first time at Daytona, but manifested their collective self, the Marauder, a few days earlier.

#### The Marauder

*"Apparently, the intruder borrowed a computer terminal. Somehow, he tapped into the top secret "New Genesis" file -- and erased five complete dossiers!"*
―Mr. Johnston
The Marauder had stolen into the corporate headquarters of Universal Technologies, a front for HYDRA, in order to purge the computer files on the five individuals capable of manifesting it, located in the record of "Project: New Genesis." When HYDRA learned of the purge, it deduced the identities of the five file-subjects from cross-referenced data but now lacked the detailed histories of the five. Believing the McDonald, Roan or "Wolf" must be the Marauder, HYDRA sent an agent to Daytona to assassinate all three.

#### Forming the Team

*"Listen, maybe we should **consider** working together!"
"Hey man, I came here to join a racing team but I can dig forming our own!"
"That's what our mysterious friend seems to be suggesting!"
"Well, why not then? Let's **do** it!"*
―James McDonald and Winthrop Roan, Jr.
James McDonald, a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, went to Daytona to investigate rumoured HYDRA activity. Winthrop Roan Jr., preferring to be known by his stage name "R. U. Reddy," went to Daytona in hopes of getting hired as a racer. "Wolf" went to Daytona to look at the world's highest performance motorcycles and to see what sort of people drove them.

Each of the three narrowly evaded the HYDRA assassin and was left a note by the Marauder claiming that they had a common destiny and should join together. After much deliberation, they agreed to do so for the time being, and exhausting McDonald's funds, they purchased motorcycles and uniforms. Calling themselves Team America, they entered the first Unlimited Class Racing Competition and won.

Moments after victory, HYDRA attacked the raceway in an effort to procure a unique guidance system used in the race by one of the Japanese teams. Team America managed to foil their raid.

### Trials

#### Fear and Loathing in Montana

*"Well with **Wrench** and **Cowboy**, I guess **Team America** is now **five!**"*
―James McDonald
At the next Unlimited Class event in the Rocky Mountains, Luke Merriweather (alias Cowboy) and Leonard Hebb (alias Wrench), hearing about Team America's surprise victory, met with the three founding members and petitioned for membership. Merriweather and Hebb were the other two of the five people who were mentally linked as a result of the HYDRA "Project: New Genesis." Feeling the rapport they shared with the newcomers, and recognising the contributions they could make to the team, the three original Team Americans welcomed the two into their ranks. Unofficially, Hebb's girlfriend Georgianna Sue Castleberry also became a member of the team.

Hebb was a gifted mechanic and designer of high-performance vehicles, and his Winnebago recreational vehicle became Team America's mobile headquarters. His girlfriend Castleberry, it was later learned, was usually the host body for their collective persona, the Marauder, although she did not know it. Hebb designed and built a race car for Team America to compete in the Rocky Mountain race with, but due to the interference of a HYDRA assassin, they failed to finish first.

#### A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste

*"I have to admit I accepted this offer more out of a sense of **duty** than anything else! But this **Team America** has forced me to push myself to the limit -- to dare to be better on this bike than ever before!"*
―Steve Rogers
While waiting for the next Unlimited Class Racing competition, the members of Team America practised and took time off to pursue loose ends in their personal lives. The three original Team Americans performed at a charity exhibition at Madison Square Gardens in New York, appearing alongside the Avenger Captain America. When one of the spectators, a prominent Nobel prize winner, was kidnapped by a large android, the Team assisted Captain America and several other well known individuals whom HYDRA had abducted.

#### Triple Cross

*"**What?**"
"You **heard** me! I have some **business** to take care of! I'll see you at our **next** stop -- in **Austin,** **Texas**."
"You are in **trouble**, amigo?"
"I can take care of **myself,** Wolf! Stay **out** of it!"*
―Winthrop Roan Jr., James McDonald and Wolf
The next Unlimited Class Racing event was held on the Sahara Desert in Egypt. Taking a commercial flight there, the Team was dismayed when their team leader McDonald (alias Honcho) left the group to foil a weapons smuggling operation. The operation involved Hammer Industries, a company which was also sponsoring a car in the race. "Wolf" wrecked Team America's vehicle in the preliminary time trials, but Wrench managed to repair it in time for the main event. Team America lost to Team Hammer, and Honcho failed to show up in time to assist his teammates.

### Dust to Dust

#### Choices

*"All our money, all our efforts... Gone! For nothing!"
"Uh, excuse me. I couldn't help observing your misfortune... I represent the Stark Industries racing team. Despite your accident, I was impressed by your car."
"And?
"And I'd like your team to race for us."*
―Leonard Hebb, Mr. Mudge and James McDonald
Deeply in debt, Team America returned to the United States. When talk of disbanding arose when their last motorcycle broke down and they had no money to fix it, the Marauder left the team it's own state of the art motorcycle. With it, Team America travelled across country entering every motorcycle race they could find. With all of the prize money, they paid their debts and rented a garage in Hoboken, New Jersey to serve as their headquarters. Investing everything they had in a new high-performance automobile for their next Unlimited Class competition, the Team was disheartened when it broke down during a time trial.

Desperate, they accepted an offer from a recruiting agent of Stark Industries, who was more interested in acquiring the Marauders motorcycle then he was in having their services. Learning that they would be absorbed into a team of seventy-two other drivers, the Team began to regret their decision. However, when Stark President Anthony Stark learned of his recruitment agent's disreputable transaction, he made restitutions and released the Team from their contracts.

#### Challenges

*"**HA! HA! HA!** At last we meet -- As I knew we would! Nothing could have kept us apart after I sensed your presence this afternoon! I can feel great power within you -- but that's all! What manner of creature are you? You're certainly no mere mortal! Are you a demon like me -- or something far more?"*
―Ghost Rider to the Marauder
In Lakebed, Oklahoma, the next Unlimited Class Racing Event was held and "Wolf" of Team America came in first. However, the race was disrupted first by the demonic Ghost Rider, who wished to settle a score with the Marauder, and then by HYDRA. HYDRA was interested in killing Team America in revenge for their interference in the Daytona affair at the Team's founding. In the melee, the Ghost Rider assisted the Team in fighting of HYDRA, but the Marauder was injured. Unmasking the silent cyclist, the Team was stunned to discover its identity to be Georgianna Castlebury.

#### The End of Team America

*"**I** can't believe we're just letting her just drive away! I think we've been conned!"
"Shut up, Reddy!"
"I know HYDRA! Her story rings true!"
"Honcho, what do you reckon they're going to do to her?"
"Nothing I'd care to talk about!"
"We got to do something, Honch!"*
―Winthrop Roan Jr., Wolf, James McDonald and Luke Merriweather
Later when Elsie Carson, one of the leaders of HYDRA, failed at a second attempt to assassinate the Team, she revealed to them their connection with "Project: New Genesis" in exchange for her freedom. Believing the HYDRA director to be a victim of circumstances, the Team helped rescue you from her own agents who were directed to kill her and her family should she fail in her mission.

After this battle, Team America disbanded. Wrench and Castleberry married, Honcho wanted to devote more time to espionage work, Cowboy wanted to open up a school for stunt riders and Reddy and "Wolf" wanted time to sort out their lives.

### Heroes

#### Road Warriors

*"Rise and shine, Mr. McDonald. Looking for this? I took the liberty of removing this from beneath your pillow to avoid any... unpleasantness. I am Aida. I wish to make you an offer, my friend... one you cannot refuse."*
―Aida to James McDonald
The retirement of the Team was short-lived, however. Cowboy invited "Wolf" and Reddy to join him in a series of charity exhibitions to promote Cowboy's school and the two accepted. At one such event, in upstate New York, Aida and the Superior attacked Coulson's Team who happened to be in attendance. The three Team Americans joined the fray, but were unable to stop the two from abducting Phil Coulson who the team had caused to become the host-body for the Marauder. Aida then appeared to James McDonald and bid him to assemble Team America and raid a fortress in the Sierra Madre Mountains of Mexico or else Coulson would be killed.

Honcho assembled the rest of Team America and explained to them the situation. Before they could agree on a course of action, Nick Fury entered to coordinate efforts between Team America and Coulson's Team. While Coulson's Team went to rescue their teammate, Team America went to Mexico per Aida's demands. They infiltrated the fortress headquarters of one of the splinter groups of Advanced Idea Mechanics and managed to procure the device. However it was lost before it could be turned over to Aida. Regardless Coulson's Team managed to rescue Coulson.

In exchange for their cooperation, Fury promised to assist the Team in learning how to control their mental link so they do not accidentally cause the Marauder to manifest itself in the form of someone as vulnerable as Coulson again. After several weeks of tutoring at the New Avengers Facility, Team America could now manifest the Marauder at will and had complete control over who it manifested itself upon.

#### Thunderiders

*"Remember when we were **Team America** -- and **Honch** was still with us? We called this feeling the **link** then -- and it somehow enabled us to transform some random person into the master biker known as the **Marauder!** And I haven't felt hide nor hair of the **link** since we've been the Thunderiders without **Honch**..."*
―Winthrop Roan Jr.
Honcho was among the many individuals who perished when Thanos, who assembled the Infinity Stones, caused the Snap to wipe out half life in the universe. With Honcho's death, Team America lost the "link" that summoned the Marauder. In the five years that followed, the Team changed their name to the Thunderiders and began operating as a precision-riding stunt team as well as racers. Seeking to expand the team, the Thunderiders held open auditions, with the Hulk becoming a member for a few weeks, although he resigned before ever publicly performing with the Thunderiders.

#### Battle of Earth

*"It's the **link** isn't it? I felt it as well -- it seems there's no limit to the distance this power we all share can reach!"*
―James McDonald
However, Honcho was eventually resurrected along his fellow victims when Hulk snapped his fingers in 2023. Once those who were disintegrated five years prior were restored, Honcho, alongside the Thunderiders, participated in the battle against Thanos and the Black Order. With the Team's link now restored, they summoned the Marauder to assist the Avengers during the battle. In the battle's aftermath, the Team were present at Tony Stark's funeral to pay their respects.

## Members

### Founding Members

#### **Honcho**

* **Name:** James McDonald
* **Status:** Alive
* **Description:** Before the collapse of S.H.I.E.L.D., James McDonald was one of the organisation's top operatives. He formed Team America as a cover for his personal global counter-espionage campaign.

#### **Wolf**

* **Name:** Unrevealed
* **Status:** Alive
* **Description:** Born in Harlem, New York City, Wolf grew up as an orphan in the Barrio, giving him a very strong and aggressive personality. He had few friends, save for his fellow bikers. He was a motorcycle gang leader before joining Team America.

#### **R. U. Reddy**

* **Name:** Winthrop Roan Jr.
* **Status:** Alive
* **Description:** Winthrop "R. U. Reddy" Roan, Jr. squandered much of his wealthy father's money in high profile loose living. When his father gave him an ultimatum, he began a career in rock music, but he soon gave up on it in favour of motorcycles--a move that prompted his father to cut him off completely. The brash and outspoken Winthrop joined Team America in an effort to earn enough money to pay his father back.

### Later Members

#### **Cowboy**

* **Name:** Luke Merriweather
* **Status:** Alive
* **Description:** Luke Merriweather grew up in Austin, Texas. Before joining Team America, Cowboy was a renowned rodeo star. Once he reached the pinnacle of success in the rodeo, his love of competition spurred him to switch his focus to extreme motorcycle stunts and racing.

#### **Wrench**

* **Name:** Leonard Hebb
* **Status:** Alive
* **Description:** Leonard "Wrench" Hebb was a gifted student, completing four engineering degrees before going on to get his doctorate from M.I.T. He turned down several automakers, NASA, and foreign governments before becoming part of Team America so he can work on applying new technologies in America.

#### **Georgianna Hebb**

* **Name:** Georgianna Hebb (formerly Georgianna Castleberry)
* **Status:** Alive
* **Description:** Georgianna watched Team America’s first victory beside Wrench inside their mobile home. She initially questioned his idea of leaving to join the team but was soon swayed by the team's cooperative spirit. Georgianna supported the Team as their unofficial manager and publicist. She also served as the primary host of the Marauder.

### Former Members

#### **Hulk**

* **Name:** Robert Bruce Banner
* **Status:**Alive
* **Description:**Some time after the Snap, Banner permanently merged himself and Hulk into one being, which combined Hulk's raw strength and physique with Banner's mind and intelligence and turned him into an adored celebrity. Banner joined the team but left after only a few weeks, feeling his place was elsewhere.

## Facilities

* **Wrench's Winnebago:** A custom-built recreational vehicle owned by Wrench. Throughout their career, it has served on and off as the Team's headquarters.
* **Team America Headquarters:** A garage located in Hoboken, New Jersey, it housed the Team's vehicles and equipment.
* **New Avengers Facility:** The primary base of operations used by the Avengers after the defeat of Ultron and the establishment of the team's new roster. Team America honed their powers here under the Avengers supervision.

## Equipment and Technology

### Vehicles

* **Super Stunt Choppers:**Described as a mean machine with power to burn, the Super Stunt Chopper was designed for peak high power performance and top speed stunt cycle action.
* **Wrench's Winnebago:**A custom-built recreational vehicle owned by Wrench. Throughout their career, it has served on and off as the Team's headquarters.
* **Super Stunt Dirt Bikes:** The Super Stunt Dirt Bike was designed to climb the steepest hills thanks to its low friction gears and knobby wheels.
* **Super Stunt Dirt Buggy:**A rugged vehicle, the Super Stunt Dirt Buggy was designed to be always ready for action, with moon tires that hug rough terrain and roll bars that keep it moving.
* **Scramble Rig**: As an all terrain rescue vehicle, the Scramble Rig, with it's power winch, bike compartment and jump ramp, is always there when the Team needs help.
* **Super Stunt Dirt Buggy Mark II:**A modified version of the Super Stunt Dirt Buggy. Due to time restraints and a lack of available parts, Wrench had to completely cannibalise the original in order to construct a vehicle that was able to compete in the Unlimited Class race in the Sahara Desert. It was later damaged during a race in Western Pennsylvania and, unfortunately lacking the necessary funds, the Team were unable to repair it.
* **Marauder's Super Stunt Chopper:**The Marauder temporarily left the Team it's motorcycle when they were deeply in debt and spoke of disbanding. The Team used it to win the necessary funds to pay off their debts and also purchase their own headquarters.
* **Custom Super Stunt Chopper:**Designed for the Hulk, it is significantly larger than thestandard Super Stunt Chopper.

## Relationships

### Allies

* Avengers
	+ Steve Rogers/Captain America
	+ Anthony Stark/Iron Man † - Former Employer
	+ Thor
	+ James Rhodes/War Machine
	+ Scott Lang/Ant-Man
	+ Sam Wilson/Falcon
	+ Clint Barton/Hawkeye
	+ Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch
	+ Bruce Banner/Hulk - Former Member, Honcho's Resurrector
	+ Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel
* Nick Fury
* Maria Hill
* S.H.I.E.L.D.
	+ Phil Coulson
	+ Daisy Johnson
	+ Melinda May
	+ Leo Fitz
	+ Jemma Simmons
* Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider - Temporary Enemy
* Masters of the Mystic Arts
	+ Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange
	+ Wong
* Guardians of the Galaxy
	+ Peter Quill/Star-Lord
	+ Drax the Destroyer
	+ Mantis
	+ Nebula
	+ Groot
	+ Rocket Raccoon
* Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier
* Golden Tribe
	+ T'Challa/Black Panther
	+ Shuri
* Dora Milaje
	+ Okoye
* Jabari Tribe
	+ M'Baku
* Wakandan Royal Guard
* Border Tribe
* Brunnhilde/Valkyrie
* Aragorn
* Korg
* Miek
* Pepper Potts
* Hope van Dyne/Wasp
* Gamora (time-traveled version from 2014)
* Einherjar
* Ravagers
	+ Kraglin Obfonteri
* Howard the Duck

### Enemies

* HYDRA
	+ Supreme Hydra
* Hammer Industries
* Aida †
* Watchdogs
	+ Anton Ivanov/Superior †
* A.I.M.
* Thanos † (time-traveled version from 2014)
* Nebula † (time-traveled version from 2014)
* Black Order
	+ Ebony Maw † (time-traveled version from 2014)
	+ Proxima Midnight † (time-traveled version from 2014)
	+ Corvus Glaive † (time-traveled version from 2014)
	+ Cull Obsidian † (time-traveled version from 2014)
* Chitauri (time-traveled version from 2014)
	+ Leviathans (time-traveled version from 2014)
	+ Chitauri Gorillas (time-traveled version from 2014)
* Outriders (time-traveled version from 2014)
* Sakaarans (time-traveled version from 2014)

## Trivia

* The original *Team America* comic books were based on a toy line by Ideal Toys. The *Team America* toy line was an attempt by Ideal to replace their successful Evel Knievel toy line after Knievel served six months for battery in the late 1970's, and it used many of the same moulds and designs.

## External Links

* https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Thunderiders\_(Earth-616)