BIOGRAPHY — PAGE 2
John’s brother soon developed mutant powers of his own, similar to those of James’. Blaming the X-Men for his brother’s death, James joined the Hellions, a group antagonistic to the X-Men’s New Mutants, and took the name Thunderbird, in his brother’s memory. Eventually, James realized his error in blaming the X-Men and went back home to Camp Verde. However, when he found his entire tribe slain, he joined the first generation of X-Force as Warpath and eventually even became an X-Man. Years later, a man named Eli Bard, a disciple of the sorceress Selene, came to the mass graveyard at Camp Verde in search of one of Warpath’s fallen teammates, Caliban. Using a modified version of the techno-organic virus, he brought Caliban, Thunderbird and the entire Apache tribe back from the dead. Though Selene needed to absorb the life forces of mutants for her plan, she also was amassing an army of undead mutants to assist her and through the T-O virus the undead Thunderbird became one of her thralls.
Selene went on to resurrect the millions of dead mutants on Genosha and used the ruins as a base for her final ascension. She also needed a ritual dagger to complete her spell and by chance Warpath had it in his possession. Warpath was kidnapped and brought back to Genosha, where he came face-to-face with his older brother. John was forced to fight his brother and use his blood to write sigils for the ritual. However, even though he was under Selene’s thrall, he still managed 
to give James a hint as to how to take Selene down. James escaped, and then managed to kill Selene with help from his X-Force team. With Selene dead, the power keeping John alive started to fade. As he passed back into the afterlife, he managed to speak to his brother and get him to put an end to the journey of vengeance he was on. [X-Force (3rd series) #10-11, Necrosha crossover]
John’s peace wasn’t to last, though, as he was soon brought back to the land of the living once again. An ancient entity known as the Chaos King had threatened all of existence and the world’s superheroes had all been incapacitated. The various realms of the underworld were all under threat and the dead started to rise. John was brought back, alongside a number of other dead X-Men including Banshee and Moira MacTaggert. It soon became apparent that they needed to find and protect one of Destiny’s diaries from falling into the hands of the Chaos King. The diary contained information on how to defeat him and so he sent the Carrion Crow, a corrupted Apache god, to retrieve it. Ever since the moment he had been brought back, John had seen the Thunderbird symbol lighting up the sky. When the Carrion Crow appeared and attacked them, John prayed to his god and he was rewarded when the team was teleported to Muir Island.
Arriving on the island, Moira was taken over by the mind of Destiny, and the pre-cognitive mutant told John that he must unleash the spirits of the Earth to help defeat the Chaos King. The Carrion Crow soon found them and continued his onslaught. As his team members started to fall, John prayed to the Thunderbird god once more. This time, he confessed that his pride and anger had 
killed him before but he knew now that to be a true warrior he needed to work as part of a team. The god spoke to him again and gave him the power to join with the elements of the Earth. However, the Carrion Crow revealed that he had tricked them all and John had now allowed him to corrupt the elements of creation. The Carrion Crow underestimated the Apache warrior though and it was destroyed by the raw power of the Earth itself. John and the team had done their part and unleashed the ancient elements to aid the other heroes in the war. With the Chaos King defeated, the realms of the dead were once again at peace and John returned to the afterlife once more. [Chaos War: X-Men #1-2]
Whilst John Proudstar had a short career as an X-Man, he has proved that even death cannot stop you from being a hero.