Top Twelve X-men-Number 12

Samuel Gurthey is the X-man known as Cannonball.

There came a point when the X-men were getting really popular that someone thought back nostalgically to the days of the original X-men when their powers were new and exciting, and they also had problems with control and power limits. (Iceman was more of a snowman for a large portion of the early run of the series, and Cyclops would often run out of steam with his optic blasts.) So the mighty minds at Marvel decided they needed to make a junior team, called the New Mutants, to take over that role. (Yes, the name was lame even when the book first came out.)

The team was made up of interesting but very limited powers that had some potential but were included more for uniqueness and variety. They were trying to avoid having the same old powers and they did this but that didn't make the characters all worth creating. Since Sam's the only member of the New Mutants getting on the list (Sorry to ruin the surprise) I should give you some details about who Sam started out teamed up with.

Karma had the power to possess other people's minds. She could only do one mind at a time and she had to struggle with most minds in order to make them do what she wanted.

Mirage had the power to reach inside a person's mind and make a realistic image of either the thing they loved or feared the most.

Wolfsbane is pretty self explanatory-she was a werewolf, but a mutant werewolf.

Sunspot absorbed solar energy to fuel his super strength. (it often gave out when he needed it most.

Cypher was a mutant with the awesome power of understanding any language, perfect for a pitched battle. He died trying to be a hero and eventually came back as the annoying and unending Douglock.

There were others, but I'll cut off there for now. Cannonball was with the team for it's entire run and was part of the group that ran off with Cable to become X-force where Sam had a very weird storyline where he was an immortal, but he got over that. He later became a full-fledged X-man. I guess it's about time to talk about what exactly Cannonball can do. Well, I think the guys that thought him up understood that a balanced team needs to have a flier, but they didn't want to make him too much like Rogue or Superman, so they didn't give him the usual strength/invulnerability. Instead, he gets to be invulnerable thanks to a field that surrounds him when he flies, but if he isn't 'blastin' then he's just a target.

Sam is the kind of hero that is refreshing to see. He's a good ol' country boy who comes out the the big city to see what he can do. He's a hard worker who is willing to put in the effort to overcome his limitations and make the most of his abilities. I know antiheroes are great too, but that doesn't mean they all have to be jerks.