CANNONBALL

A young boy who grew up in Cumberland, Kentucky, Sam's father had died from working in the local coal mines. One day, while working in the mines, it appeared Sam would share his fate. The tunnell Sam was working in collapsed, but the stress of trying to save his partner and himself triggered Sam's mutant propulsive power and enabled them to escape. Donald Pierce, a renegade member of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club, located Guthrie and learned of his superhuman powers,

Pierce was successful in recruiting Guthrie to be one of his operatives, and sent him into battle against Xavier and his newly organized group, the New Mutants. However, during the battle, Sam refused to obey Pierce's order to kill the New Mutants, and Pierce attempted to kill Guthrie in retaliation. Xavier, however, saved Guthrie's life by defeating Pierce. Realizing that Guthrie was not an evil person, Xavier invited him to join the New Mutants, and Cannonball accepted.

It wasn't long after joining the team that Sam became one of the co-leaders. Sam befriended Bobby (Sunspot) and the two became best friends. After rescuing Amara (Magma) from Nova Roma, Sam developed a crush on his teammate, though nothing ever came of it.

In one of Sam's early adventures with the team, he helped the New Mutants save the life of the Rock Star, Lila Cheyney. Sam began seeing Lila romantically, and even took her home to meet his well-bred southern mother. When the New Mutants were transported to Asgard, Sam befriended the dwarves that dwelt on the Norse realm, and earned the love of a young dwarf girl, Kindra.

This wasn't the end of Sam's romatic involvements. Bobby may have been the most suave of the New Mutants, but Sam's kind and innocent nature also earned him the attentions of both Rahne (Wolfsbane) and Angelica Jones, the mutant called Firestar. After all of this, Sam's relationship with Lila strengthened, and they dated exclusively for most of the New Mutants run.

We also saw an alternate future version of Sam when half the team was transported into a future where most mutants had been slain. A battle hardened Cannonball was one of the only survivors. Afer the Mutants returned to the present and Sam helped the team defeat Warlock's father The Magus, the team went through several tragedies. First the death of Doug (Cypher), and then Illyana's (Magik) transformation back to a child.

The roster of the team continued to change, adding new members such as Rusty, Skids and Sam's future girlfriend, Boom Boom. Through it all, Sam remained a team leader, serving alone when Dani (Mirage) decided to remain in Asgard. When Cable took over the team, and turned them into X-Force, Sam was the only original New Mutant remaining, and he was named deputy leader of that team as well.

Cannonball possesses the ability to generate thermo-chemical energy and release it from his skin. This energy, released by an act of will, is accompanied by smoke, flame and condensation, much like the exhaust of a rocket engine. At his present level of experience, he can only release this energy in one direction, beneath him. The equal and opposite reaction to this thrust causes his body to be propelled through the air like a human rocket. At first, he could not stop his propulsion until his immediate store of energy was depleted or until he hit an obstruction of sufficient mass to stop him. However, he has since learned how to cut off his propulsive power at will.

As a side effect of forming the thermo-chemical energies over the surface of his body, Cannonball becomes virtually invulnerable. Accompanying the release of energy is a half-inch thick energy field which channels the explosion and protects his skin from the direct effects of the blast. It also negates momentum and related energy effects thereby cushioning his entire body from any impact up to a half-minute from the depletion of his energy. Not only is he protected from rough landings, but he is also protected from nearly all types of injury while in flight. The protective field also protects any person or object with which he is in physical contact.

Since the end of The New Mutants and the inception of X-Force, Sam has gone thruogh several changes. The first happened during an encounter with the evil mutant, Sauron. During that battle, Cannonball was apparently slain in combat. However, Sam soon returned to life and full health. Cable theorized that Cannonball was one of the Externals, a small number of immortal mutants. Whether or not Cannonball really is an External has not been determined and still remains to be seen.

During his time in X-Force, Sam developed a sort of Father/Son relationship with Cable, and also became close to Tabitha Smith (Boom Boom, later Meltdown). Howver, Sam left X-Force when he had the opportunity to join the X-Men. By doing so, Sam became the only New Mutant to actually "graduate" into the parent team. Sam's days as an X-Man were difficult for him, however, as he always felt like the most inexperienced of the team.