Thunderbolt
Real Name: John Flatchley
Identity/Class: Normal human
Occupation: Socialite, former big game hunter, WWI air ace
Affiliations: Saggs, Agnes Larimer
Enemies: Big Six (Conner Bradford, Cyrus Grantburg, 4 others), Detective Martin Radner
Known Relatives: Unidentified uncle (deceased)
Aliases:
Base of Operations:
First Appearance: "Master and Man," Detective Story Magazine (May 4, 1920)
Powers/Abilities:
History: John Flatchley loved adventure and excitement, hunting big game, taking part in a expedition to the North Pole, and making a record for bravery in World War I as a fighter pilot. Returning home after the war he learned he had inherited his late uncle's $200,000 estate, but the sheer size of the inheritence led Flatchley to investigate how his uncle could have accumulated so much. He discovered that his financier uncle, working in conjunction with six others, the "Big Six," had made their fortune through legal but highly immoral deals, effectively stealing the money from the less fortunate. Confronting the Six, he informed them "You are thieves who have swindled widows and orphans. If your deal was legal, it was morally a swindle. To cleanse the name Flatchley, I am returning the money my uncle left me. I want you to return your shares." When the Six rejected his demand out of hand, Flatchley swore to make them pay, one way or another, and so he donned an elastic black mask with slits cut for eyes and mouth, and a yellow lightning bolt painted on the shiny black forehead, and became the Thunderbolt, intending to steal the money back and return it to those it had been taken from, "assisted" by the incompetent ex-crook Suggs. After successfully robbing all six men, despite the interference of police Detective Martin Radner, Flatchley burned his costume and hood, and retired to marry his sweetheart, Agnes Larimer.
Comments: Created by Johnston McCulley.
CLARIFICATIONS: None.
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