James Proudstar was born on the Apache reservation in Camp Verde, Arizona. As a young boy, James idolized his older brother, John Proudstar, and when John returned from a stint in the Marines, James was overjoyed to see him again. Unfortunately, their mother revealed to the family that she had cancer, prompting a visit to an amusement park, where James had his fortune told to him by none other than Destiny, though James thought she was a fraud. Then, James secretly accompanied John, when he infiltrated Arroyo labs, the clinic that was running tests on their reservation's people and treating them for cancer. James was discovered by Dr. Edwin Martynec, who revealed himself to be a mutated werewolf. The brothers learned that Dr. Martynec was faking the cancer diagnoses, so he could irradiate his patients and observe the results. John, the original Thunderbird, was soon recruited to the X-Men and was killed on one of the team's first missions. James blamed the X-Men for his brother's death and promised to murder its founder, Professor Charles Xavier.
