Thunderpunch

Thunderpunch is a human from the Marvel portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Sorry, Lee, but comic book readers want to see your physique.

Thunderpunch is Lee Gruber, a member of the superhuman Neo-Knights. He has the mutant ability to energize his enormous hands and feet, making them powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with a Transformer. So to speak.

Thunderpunch may be a loudmouth jerk, what with coming on to Circuit Breaker and telling Rapture that she's too ugly to be a superhero, but when the stakes are high and retreat looks mighty good, he's the one who believes in perseverance. He may be a sexist pig, but at least he's a loyal one.

Thunderpunch just hopes nobody back at the bar sees him in his ridiculous tights.

Fiction

Marvel The Transformers comics

Lee Gruber was a freakshow star, also having had repeated run-ins with law enforcement. He was one of the first superhumans approached by G.B. Blackrock after the wealthy industrialist was given the authority to form a task force against the Decepticons. He accepted Blackrock's offer, and took on the codename "Thunderpunch." Along with Rapture, he was then informed of their next recruit: Hector Dialonzo. En route to Dialonzo's location, Gruber spied Blackrock reviewing footage of Circuit Breaker, and asked him whether she was the type of "babe" who liked to parrrr-tay. His crude remarks managed to irritate both Rapture and Blackrock.

Arriving at Dialonzo's coordinates, the group found Starscream and Circuit Breaker already fighting over their target. Rapture was the first to intervene, using her own superpowers to entrance Starscream in a dream-like state. With the Decepticon lost in his own fantasy, Thunderpunch pounced out of Blackrock's helicopter and begun pummeling Starscream with his bare hands. His efforts were interrupted by Circuit Breaker, who wanted to off the Decepticon herself. Disgruntled, Thunderpunch got back to his feet, only to be knocked back down by Dialonzo, who objected to being fought over like some sort of prize. All of the parties involved were then asked to voice their recruitment pitch, allowing Dialonzo to choose for himself who he would join. When Dialonzo made a move to join Blackrock and his allies, Starscream attacked the humans, prompting Thunderpunch and Circuit Breaker to renew their offensive against him. With Starscream knocked down, all others involved decided to leave together as allies. The Human Factor!

Thunderpunch and his fellow Neo-Knights would later be called into action by the President of the United States himself when a duel between Scorponok and Shockwave threatened the destruction of New York City. ...All This and Civil War 2 The large-footed superhuman proved... less than effective, his punches not even phasing Scorponok as the Decepticon laughed at his efforts. His teammates' powers proved much more potent against the mechanical adversary, especially Circuit-Breaker. Thunderpunch was relegated to catching the latter after she fell out of the sky, expending all of her energies in taking out Shockwave. He was returning her unconscious form to Blackrock's helicopter when all Transformers, as well as the Neo-Knights, were suddenly teleported to Cybertron. Out of Time! On this alien world, the Neo Knights were privy to the Transformers' creator-god, Primus, filling in his children on the incoming threat of his eternal nemesis, Unicron. But despite talk of looming Armageddon, the humans were more concerned over the mental state of one of their own; Circuit Breaker's pathological hatred of robots caused her mind to shut down when she found herself on a planet entirely populated with them. Blackrock demanded that he and his team be teleported back to Earth, but Primus vanished before the request could be communicated to him. Thunderpunch laughed in Optimus Prime's face over this, mocking how his "god" evidently cared little for the safety of "mortals"... apparently oblivious to the fact that he was among those ignored by the celestial being. The Void!

Unicron appeared in short order, and the Neo Knights fled from the battlefield. When Rapture pointed out there wasn't anywhere to run to against a planet-size opponent, Thunderpunch found himself agreeing with his teammate. He urged the others to take a stand, and help the Transformers against their almighty adversary. Though he inspired the rest of the team to join in, poor Lee got pretty battered in the process and achieved bog all. He was left knocked unconscious after a futile assault, but thankfully Unicron was destroyed by the efforts of Optimus Prime. On the Edge of Extinction! Despite Unicron's defeat, the damage he inflicted on Cybertron was too great, and the Transformers readied transports to leave the planet. The Neo-Knights were put inside a storage box for shipping back home. Thunderpunch did his fair share of gripping over these new "accommodations," stating that it was unfair for them to be treated so poorly after they had "almost single-handedly saved" the Transformers' planet from Unicron. Worse yet, in the room next to them was the Nebulan Hi-Q, whose personality had been fused with that of Optimus Prime and now believed himself to be the Autobot leader. The latter's ramblings made the situation even more grating. Exodus! Thunderpunch was eventually convinced that Hi-Q might be on the level, and voted towards the Neo-Knights staying on Cybertron to seek out "The Last Autobot," an enigmatic figure Hi-Q kept on mentioning. A Savage Circle He soon came to regret this decision. After busting their crate open, Thunderpunch and the Neo-Knights wound up wandering directionless on Cybertron. They had no means to track down the Last Autobot's location, and the planet's rapid deterioration meant their surroundings were becoming increasingly perilous! Thunderpunch reverted to his previous opinion that Hi-Q was a complete loon, and blamed himself for the team's current predicament. But a glimmer of hope emerged when Dynamo's powers began acting erratically; in his previous attempt to tap into Cybertron, it seemed he had forged a rapport with the planet! With him leading the group, Thunderpunch and the others soon uncovered the Last Autobot's resting place within some ancient ruins. The Last Autobot?

Upon his awakening, the Last Autobot recognized the "chosen one" in Thunderpunch's group, and Hi-Q was rebuilt into Optimus Prime. The ancient Transformer then transported all present to the planet Klo so that they could assist in the Decepticons' final defeat. The Neo-Knights struck first upon making planetfall, attacking Bludgeon as he was readying to slaughter one of the few Autobots that had survived a massacre. But the Neo-Knights' attack was only a distraction from the main event! Optimus took over the battle, barreling through enemy soldiers while the Last Autobot began reviving those who had fallen in battle. The Decepticons were soon forced to retreat into exile. Afterwards, Optimus promised to bring Thunderpunch and the other humans back to Earth. End of the Road!

Classics

Before leaving Cybertron, Thunderpunch looked on as the Last Autobot created Modus Prime, part of a new race of Transformer called the Mini-Cons whose task it was to restore Cybertron. The New World

Notes

• Legal indicia in the Marvel comics claim "THUNDERPUNCH" is owned by them instead of Hasbro, but only from #74–80.
• In an interview in issue #41 of the Transformers Collectors' Club magazine, it was revealed that Thunderpunch was going to become part of the Furman/Wildman Techno-X series, a reworked Neo-Knights in the early 90s; the Transformers would have been just a simulation to train them against real robots. He'd have a new 90s-style costume, including a huge semi-sentient gun called Symbiosis that would have made him a man-machine hybrid. The series fell through, however.