ALTERNATE VERSIONS
In the alternate timeline shown in What if (2nd series) #23, the original X-Men managed to defeat Krakoa all by themselves, and Xavier had no need to recruit Thunderbird and the other international X-Men. Instead, the angry Apache was found by someone else – Shi’Ar agent Davan Shakari, in the guise of Eric the Red. Calling himself simply “Proudstar”, John fought the X-Men alongside the alien, but they had no chance against the well-trained team and were easily subdued.
John Proudstar’s life in the dark Age of Apocalypse was totally different. Apocalypse having taken over the American continent and re-shaped it in his darwinist “survival of the fittest” view, Proudstar was no longer part of an oppressed minority but the ruling class. However, John could not stand idly by as numerous humans were slaughtered and he founded the Ghost Dance movement, a new religion based on the old Apache’s believes. Proudstar’s church was also the first link to the “infernal gallop”, a way for refugees to escape from America to find shelter in the peaceful community called Avalon. When Apocalypse’s forces learned of Proudstar’s activities they shut down the Ghost Dance, and John himself was killed by the Madri.
There was another version of Thunderbird that had aroused the interest of Apocalypse. In a reality where he did not die on his second mission with the X-Men, John was later kidnapped by 
Apocalypse, who transformed him into one of his four Horsemen, War. His powers boosted to the max, John was as deadly as his namesake. However, Apocalypse could only make use of Thunderbird for a brief time, as John soon rebelled against his master and returned to the X-Men. At some point he became unhinged from time, and was recruited for the reality-hopping Exiles, whose purpose was to fix other timelines where some crucial event had gone wrong. On one occasion, John sacrificed his own life in order to save Earth from being consumed by Galactus. The team moved on, leaving a brain-dead and comatose Thunderbird behind. He had been in love with his teammate Nocturne and even impregnated her, but shortly afterwards she lost the baby. John was eventually returned to the Exile’s base where he remained in stasis for a considerable length of time. Eventually he woke up and reunited with Nocturne, who had since joined Excalibur. The two lovers decided to take some time off from superheroics and they retired to the homeworld of one of their Exile teammates. Read the Profile for Thunderbird (Exiles).
Another Apocalypse-augmented version was seen as part of the Grandmaster’s Exiles. Alternate versions of the original team of Exiles were gathered together under the impression that they were also fixing realities. In actuality, though, the Grandmaster was just using them to exact revenge on the original Exiles for inadvertently interfering in a game between himself and the Collector. The two teams of Exiles fought until they realized they were being duped, at which point they turned on the Grandmaster. Once he was dealt with, Thunderbird and the rest of the alternate Exiles stayed on Earth 33629 to watch over it as the planet’s premier superhero team.
Several missions before the one that cost Thunderbird his life, the Exiles had visited a reality where John Proudstar’s life had taken a quite different turn. [Exiles (1st series) #5-6] This version of Thunderbird had led a very similar life, though he was never kidnapped and transformed by Apocalypse. Instead he remained an X-Man until the group first worked together with Alpha Flight to capture Wendigo. As Alpha Flight’s Shaman sensed the inner turmoil of Thunderbird, he offered him training and tutoring. John Proudstar left the X-Men and under Shaman’s tutelage he not only found his inner peace, but also could unlock his own latent mystic potential. Eventually Michael Twoyoungmen fully retired, and John Proudstar joined Alpha Flight as their new Shaman.
The John Proudstar in the Ultimate universe also took on the mantle of Shaman and joined Alpha Flight. He crossed paths with the X-Men when he was sent to retrieve Northstar who had been staying with the American mutants. A brutal fight broke out which Alpha Flight won, but the X-Men eventually caught up to them and defeated them the second time.
As did the rest of his team, John used a drug known as Banshee to augment his powers and amplify them. This could be why his power set was similar to the mystical Shaman of the main universe, even though he claimed to simply be a mutant.
When the Scarlet Witch warped reality and created the House of M, Thunderbird was alive and well and working for the FBI. John relished the world run by Magneto as he was no longer the second class citizen he had been told he was his entire life. His work with the FBI led him into conflict with Luke Cage and his small team of super-powered humans. John had his own Brotherhood as well as an informant in Cage’s group. However, when John tried to kill Cage in a bid to disperse the team, it had the opposite effect. All the small human groups banded together to fight the Brotherhood and the Avengers were born. In a bid to rid New York of the Avengers, John made a deal with the Kingpin. Years went by and many of the smaller human teams were taken out but the Avengers were still going strong. After Cage took out Kingpin’s group, Thunderbird 
ordered the purge of all sapiens in Sapien Town. A brutal battle ensued that was televised across the country. John was beaten and disgraced once the rest of the country realized the human rights abuses that were going on under his orders.