Ray Gardener, Jr. is the son of Captain Thunder, the former leader of the Freedom League, and his wife Nancy. He knew since childhood that his father was a superhero and Ray always idolized him because of it. When the entire world learned Captain Thunder’s secret identity after his foe Dr. Stratos unmasked him on nationwide television, the Gardeners’ lives changed forever, and Ray grew up the known son of a famous superhero—and a potential target for his enemies.

The beginning of his teen years were made more difficult by the development of a form of epilepsy due to an overabundance of neural electricity in Ray’s brain. He suffered several seizures before being placed on medication, which made it impossible to play the sports he loved, particularly baseball. Ray became friends with Chase Atom, someone his age who understood what it was like growing up in a “super” family. Ray also became a fan of comic books and roleplaying games as well as televised sports.

Ray’s epilepsy grew increasingly more difficult to treat until he suffered a seizure accompanied by a tremendous burst of electricity! It turned out Ray was a super-powered mutant with electrical powers similar to, but not quite the same as, his father. Captain Thunder enrolled his son as a student at Duncan Summers’ Claremont Academy to help him learn to control and use his powers. Not long thereafter, freshman Ray Gardener became the newest member of the Next-Gen, using the name “Bolt.”

Super-speed and the power to throw lighting did not do much for Ray’s self-discipline, however. He reveled in the newfound freedom of having super-powers, and working alongside his new friends and teammates. However, his grades were not always up to par, and Ray, Jr. felt increasing pressure from his parents to do well, not just as a fledging hero, but as a student with an eye towards the future. Like a lot of kids his age, Ray Jr. didn’t listen.

He managed to get by and to graduate, although it strained his friendship with the much more intellectual and studious Chase, and got him benched a few times with the Next-Gen for disciplinary problems. He even managed to get into Freedom College, splitting his time between schoolwork and crime-fighting once again. His college grades weren’t an improvement over his time in high school, and it became clear that some elements of Freedom College just wanted “Captain Thunder’s son” around as a kind of mascot to support the school. Ray dropped out of college to focus on his superheroics fulltime, intending to eventually apply for membership in the Freedom League, but wanting to earn it in his own right.

That desire to do things on his own led Bolt to follow a lead on his father’s old foe Dr. Stratos, right into a trap. That trap was intended to drain Captain Thunder’s powers and channel them into his son’s body, turning Ray, Jr. into a “thunderbomb” powerful enough to obliterate them both. Captain Thunder came to rescue his son and lost his powers, but the rest of the plan didn’t go as Dr. Stratos envisioned. Ray, Jr. absorbed a tremendous amount of energy but, through an even greater exertion of willpower, he was able to hold on to it. He became it, his physical form atomized, turning him into a “living thunderbolt” that blasted Stratos senseless.

Daedalus and Dr. Atom were able to save Ray’s life, transferring his uncontrolled and dissipating electrical energy into an advanced containment suit, but they had no means to restore him to his human form. His electrical powers increased and electromagnetic control over his suit gives him tremendous physical prowess, so long as he wears it. Without it, he is a barely controlled mass of ball lightning. After training and rehabilitation to control his new form, Ray got the invitation he had long wanted to join the Freedom League, taking on the name “Thunderbolt.” Since then, he has done his best to fill his father’s role on the team, keenly aware of his role in causing Captain Thunder’s absence in the first place.

PERSONALITY

The sometimes irresponsible and impulsive teen Ray Gardener, Jr. once was is long gone. Thunderbolt is a serious and sober figure, sometimes mourning a life he can no longer have.

He is determined to make the best of his “condition” and use his abilities to help others, at least in part to make up for his past mistakes. He wants his parents and mentors to be proud of him, and feels a duty to live up to his father’s legacy, after being responsible for the loss of his powers.

Thunderbolt finds Centuria something of a kindred spirit, both of them serious and focused on living up to almost impossibly great legacies. In fact, he has found himself increasingly attracted to Kate, but refuses to acknowledge those feelings, knowing he can never offer her a true relationship. He nearly admitted them to her during an adventure together in the virtual world of Tronik, which allowed them to interact as equals, but awareness of their eventual return to the material world kept him from doing it.

Thunderbolt blames Dr. Stratos for his current condition and hates his arch-nemesis even more than Stratos hated Ray’s father, although he refuses to give Stratos the satisfaction of giving in to his anger, preferring the criminal scientist serve jail time for his misdeeds.

POWERS & ABILITIES

Thunderbolt is a living, sentient mass of electrical energy. Outside of his containment suit, his powers are uncontrolled and he cannot touch physical objects apart from randomly blasting them with electricity, presenting a danger to anyone nearby. He’s also completely deprived of all senses save for his electrosense in that form. His suit gives him coherence, focus, sensory input, and physical form, powered by his own energies. With it, Thunderbolt is tremendously strong and resistant to harm, able to fly through electromagnetic propulsion.

Thunderbolt can generate and project electricity in a number of ways, particularly powerful lightning bolts and blinding flashes of light and deafening blasts of thunder, which he emits from the gauntlets, visor, or chest of his suit. He can also inhibit or overload nearby electrical equipment.

He has been working on a number of power stunts for his abilities, including fine-tuning his power to control electronics rather than just overloading them. An accidental visit to the virtual world of Tronik has given Thunderbolt the idea that he might be able to become a true “ghost in the machine,” transmitting himself into electronics like computers to control them from within.