He is probably the smartest member of the crew but that’s not saying much. Introduced in Defenders #17 (1974) by Len Wein and Sal Buscema, this former physicist used to commit crimes to fund his research and ended up sharing a cell with the Wrecker. When Wrecker escaped with his cellmates, he used his mystic crowbar to endow his friend with powers as well. Dr. Franklin took the name Thunderball and used a wrecking ball as his motif. Together they became the Wrecking Crew and would battle the Defenders first before moving onto many other hero teams, particularly the Avengers. They would also join the Masters and were involved with the siege on Avengers Mansion, helping beat Hercules nearly to death.

They would also be part of the Secret Wars. They would also succeed in conquering Polemachus, home to Arkon. Later they were arrested but would be freed when Electro broke them, along with many criminals, out of the Raft. After spending a breif time in Canada during the Civil War where they would battle Omega Flight, they were one or many criminals to join Hood’s Gang. Thunderball would eventually turn against the Crew when they began looting Asgard during Siege. After working for Mr. Sinister to recover Wolverine’s body following the mutant’s death, he left the Crew and joined with the Hood again, this time as part of the new Illuminati. He would eventually leave that and returned home to his girlfriend, where he would try and start a new easier life.

Thunderball, and the rest of the Wrecking Crew, have been fan favourite characters for year. They is also a believe that almost every Avenger’s team has at least encounter the Crew. As such, he would receive figure as part of the Arnim Zola wave, with his teammate Piledriver being a variant.