Thunderstrike #12
Whyte Out
Eric Masterson has been having a bad day. First he had a client at Rave Architectural and Interior Design scrap days worth of work. He then met up with his ex-wife Marcy Steele for lunch where she dropped an unexpected bombshell on him. Needing to get some fresh air, Eric turned into Thunderstrike to fly over the city.
However, as he passed the Skyways Airline office building he is shocked to see that someone has partially whited out the building. Deducing that this is some kind of illusion, he decides to go inside to see what’s going on.
Inside, a new criminal named Whyte Out is clashing with building security. Using his stealth harness, he “white’s out” portions of the guards, disorientating them long enough for him to fire a stun gun at them. He then forces his way into the office of Skyways’ CEO Thomas Grossman. Whyte Out tells Grossman that his name is Stuart Anthony Whyte and the reason for his attack is because his wife and children died while on a family vacation when the Skyways aircraft they were travelling on crashed. Grossman tries to explain that he wasn’t the CEO at the time. That’s when Thunderstrike interrupts and tells Whyte Out to put Grossman down. He tries to empathize with him, but Stuart doesn’t believe the hero could understand what it is like to lose his children.
This makes Thunderstrike remember his earlier lunch with Marcy where she revealed that her new husband, Bobby Steele, might be traded from the New York Smashers to a team on California, meaning that she and their son Kevin will be moving with him. Eric was naturally against the idea but Marcy pointed out that he has no say since she has full custody of their son.[1]
As Thunderstrike is recalling all of this, Whyte Out further explains his personal tragedy. Saying how the FAA ruled the crash accidental due to pilot error something that he had to accept since the pilot also died in the crash. Desiring revenge, Stuart created the Whyte Out identity to get revenge against those he blamed for his family’s death. When Masterson still refuses to back down, Whyte Out uses his stealth harness to “white out” portions of Thunderstrike’s body and the entire room around him. This disorientates him enough that when he lunges at Whyte Out he misses and ends up smashing out the office window and falls to the street below.
While recovering on the ground, Thunderstrike is almost run over by a truck. Luckily, Stellaris had been following him again and lifts the truck before it can run him over.[2] Unfortunately, while she was saving Thunderstrike, Whyte Out made his escape. Stellaris then takes off just as quickly as she arrived, ignoring Thunderstrike’s call to wait. Little do either of them know that they are being observed by Bloodaxe who has been spying on the situation as well and wonders what the connection between Stellaris and Thunderstrike might be.
Thunderstrike, meanwhile, heads back to his apartment wondering why Stellaris has returned and where she has been since their last encounter. Landing on the roof, he reverts back to Eric Masterson and heads downstairs. There he tells his roommate, Samantha Joyce, about the situation with Marcy and Kevin. As a lawyer, Sam tells Eric that she’ll look into things to help him find a way to prevent being separated from his son. However, Joyce is on her way out the door to interview a new potential roommate, saying they need a third roommate to help protect Eric’s honor. Heading up to his room, Eric thinks he needs someone to watch his back rather than his honor, not only because of the various villains he fights but the ever present menace of Bloodaxe, whom he just found out is someone close to him but he doesn’t know who it might be.[3] He then realizes that he has been avoiding his friend and colleague Jackie Lukas and gives her a call to see if she’s free later in the evening. Jackie is flattered, but tells him that she already has plans and asks to meet some other time. Eric agrees, but he is disappointed at being turned down, figuring that perhaps he misread that Jackie might be romantically interested in him. Turning on the television, Eric then catches a news report about someone attacking JFK International Airport. From the description, Eric deduces that this has to be Whyte Out again. That’s when he remembers that Marcy and Bobby were going to the airport!
This deduction is correct as Whyte Out is running amok on the runway. Using his stealth harness, he completely whites out the area between the runways and the terminal, making it impossible for arriving aircraft to get to their destinations safely. Thunderstrike arrives and clashes with the villain, who keeps him disorientated with flash bombs and his white out abilities. Inside the terminal, passengers are in a panic including Marcy and Bobby. As they are fleeing to safety, Bobby looks out the concourse window and is surprised to see Thunderstrike on the scene.
Outside, Whyte Out is able to shoot the turbine off a plane that is obscured from Thunderstrike’s vision, causing it to land on top of him without notice. Pulling himself free, the hero lunges at his opponent but Whyte Out uses his harness to make Eric’s entire body except for his head disappear the white void surrounding them. Knowing that this is merely an optical illusion, Thunderstrike forces himself to remain calm and forces himself to hit the ground so he can reorientate where the rest of his body is. Surprisingly, the rest of his body reappears making Thunderstrike realize that the field has limited range. Deducing that Whyte Out has erected a dome aroudn the airport runway, he fires a lightning blast up to the top of the dome. This causes feedback of enough energy that Whyte Out’s stealth harness explodes.
With his weapons destroyed, Whyte Out surrenders and begs for Thunderstrike to end his miserable life. Eric refuses to do any such thing, telling the villain that the best he can do for his wife and children is to pay for his crimes and then start a brand new life. That’s when a bolt of lethal energy lances out and strikes Whyte Out, killing him instantly.[4] The killer is none other than Bloodaxe who believes that Whyte out got what he deserved. Thunderstrike is furious and tries to lunge at his foe. However, Bloodaxe has no interest in fighting him just yet and teleports away, warning the hero that that they will be back soon for their final battle.
Eric returns home where he mulls over how Bloodaxe could have known he was going to the airport and who his foe might really be under his mask. That’s when Samantha returns home and sees him brooding in the dark. When she tries to cheer him up, her turn of phrase sounds like something Bloodaxe once said to him, but Eric pushes the idea out of his head because Bloodaxe’s true identity is making him paranoid. Samantha has great news, she has found their new roommate and brought them over. Opening the elevator door, Samantha Joyce introduces Eric to their new roommate: Leah Princess. Eric instantly recognizes her as Stellaris in disguise and realizes that this is going to be trouble.
Recurring Characters
Thunderstrike, Bloodaxe, Stellaris, Marcy Steele, Bobby Steele, Susan Austin
Continuity Notes
After their divorce, Eric initially had custody of Kevin until Marcy remarried. She decided to try and get custody of Kevin starting in Thor #392. When Eric was merged with Thor in issue #408 the frequent threats directed at his home made it unsafe for Kevin to continue living with him full time. As a result, Eric stopped fighting for custody and Kevin has been living with Marcy since Thor #421. Although Eric had since been separated from Thor since Thor #459, the custody situation has remained unchanged.
Stellaris has been following Thunderstrike around since issue #1, pulling his butt out of danger because she likes him.
Eric discovered that Bloodaxe was someone close to him in Thunderstrike #9, but still hasn’t figured out their identity yet. This story tosses out some red herrings that Bloodaxe might be Bobby Steele, Jackie Lukas, or Samantha Joyce. All but one clue are red herrings. It’s revealed to be Jackie Lukas in issue #22.
As of this writing in November, 2022, Whyte Out remains among the deceased.
Topical References
Whyte Out’s whole motivation is to avenge the death of his family who died in a plane crash while heading on vacation to Disney World three years prior. To which Grossman says he has only been a CEO for a year and a half. The reference to Disney World would typically be considered a topical reference but now that Disney owns Marvel this type of brand synergy wouldn’t necessarily be topical anymore. Given that Whyte Out is a one off character and his activities wouldn’t heavily impact the Modern Age timeline, I don’t think it would matter if the measurement of time were considered topical or factual. I’d consider it factual, but YMMV.
Both Eric and Jackie are depicted as have CRT model televisions in their rooms. This should be considered a topical reference because this is an obsolete technology. Both TV’s are playing an episode of the Flintstones. Unless you want to believe that this is just a re-run, then you could consider this to be a topical reference.
At the end of the story, Eric Masterson is wearing a t-shirt with the logo for Dead Fly Studio printed on it. It is too stylized and prominent to be anything but a reference to a real world company to me. I tried Googling it and found conflicting results that don’t feature that logo. Anyway, I could be wrong or I could be right. If it is a real world business then I guess it went out of business before the days of the Internet or something. Either way, it should be considered a topical reference
