New Mutants

Origin

Growing up in Kentucky, Sam was the oldest child in his house with ten siblings. When Sam was sixteen, his father died and he felt it was up to him to support the family. He did what his father did and started working as a coal miner.

The stress of being trapped in a collapsed mine caused his mutant powers to finally emerge. A former member of the evil Hellfire Club, Donald Pierce, tricked Sam into fighting against Professor X and his New Mutants. Seeing that Pierce was evil, Sam fought on the side of the New Mutants instead. Sam was then asked to join the team and return to New York to attend Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, a school for mutants.

Sam eventually became co-leader of the New Mutants. After the team had an encounter with the Beyonder, Magneto, the headmaster at the time at Xavier's Institute, was tricked into allowing them to enroll at Emma Frost's Massachusetts Academy. Emma at the time was the Hellfire Club's White Queen. The New Mutants became recruited into her team of Hellions. Magneto was able to bring them back to Xavier's Institute but after learning that he was the Hellfire Club's White King, they refused to follow him. The New Mutants soon came under the guidance of Cable, who took a sterner approach toward teaching the youngsters. Where Xavier was a preacher of the open hand, Cable preached of the closed fist.

Cable had journeyed back to the 20th century after he learned that Sam was potentially an exceptionally rare immortal mutant not unlike Apocalypse known as a High Lord External, and that he lived well into and possibly beyond the 23rd century. Cable reorganized the New Mutants into X-Force, an aggressive strike team combating threats to Xavier's dream. Not soon after that, in a battle against the Brotherhood Of Evil Mutants, Sam discovered he was an Externals, after being gutted by the lizard-man Sauron. He will never die, however, he can be killed as other Externals have in the past. After Cable left X-Force, Cannonball assumed the leadership role in the group, despite being the member with the least control and confidence in his powers.

Sam soon "graduated" into the ranks of the X-Men after X-Force moved back into the Xavier Institute. There he became very close friends with Marrow, even rivaling veteran X-Man Storm in defense of the often misguided mutant. Despite being the youngest member of the team, he often held his own with his fellow teammates and became close friends with future frequent partners Rogue and Iceman.

He also became part of Xavier's X-Corporation, an international search and rescue team for oppressed mutants. Then he joined the government approved X-Treme Sanctions Executive, the XSE. Sam then went back with the X-Men before shortly rejoining X-Force as he recovered from injuries sustained in a battle with the Fury.

Back with the X-Men

Cannonball was then drafted into Rogue's team of X-Men with Iceman. While Lady Mastermind was in the care of the X-Men, her nervous system was hacked by Serafina, who used Lady Mastermind's powers to make it appear as if she was married to him. She was caught by Wolverine and Sam recovered not without any lingering mental scars fro the experience. Later, Sam took her out when the X-Men battled the Children of the Vault. Iceman was severely injured by an attack by the Children and Cannonball often stayed by his bedside as he recovered offering words of encouragement.

Throughout the following story arcs, (Primary Infection and Critical Condition/Red Data), Sam helped Cable repair the Conquistador and watched over the X-Men's ward Sabretooth with teammate Karima Shapandar (Omega Sentinel).

Cannonball

During the "Blinded by the Light" arc, Cannonball was forced to flee with Iceman by Emma Frost. While flying in the Blackbird, the two were attacked by Sunfire, but he was quickly dispatched by Cannonball. The two were then given directions to the secret whereabouts of the copies of the Destiny's Diaries owned by the X-Men. They retrieved the diaries but were attacked by the Marauders. Mr. Sinister was about to have his mind erased by Sinister, but Sinister was distracted by Iceman, so Cannonball was able to fly away. He attempted to fly through a wall of the building, but because his blast field wasn't working properly, he was severely injured. When taken back to the Institute, he was examined by Beast, who said his mind was a bit off, but later when talking to Iceman he was fine. Iceman watched over Cannonball as he recovered in the X-Men's medical wing just as Cannonball had for Iceman following the attack from the Children of the Vault.

He took part in several battles during Messiah CompleX, including the final battle on Muir Island.

Divided We Stand

After the X-Men "disbanded", Cannonball went back home to Kentucky, where he was picked up from the airport by Husk. As they drive through town, Husk updates him on everything that's been going on. They stop at a pub and go in. There a Cabot appears and starts ranting and raving, and after he punches Cannonball once, Cannonball beats him and his goonies up. Outside, Cannonball says he needed a Danger Room of sorts, and then just flies away while putting on his glasses.

Powers

Sam's mutant power allow him to become a human rocket. His body also emits a type of force field that shields himself or those he's carrying during flight. He has learned to adapt this blast field so that he can be protected even while standing still. Sam can also absorb kinetic energy to either strengthen his shield or be used as a force blast. Sam is possibly immortal. He has suffered and recovered from mortal injuries.

Alternate Realities

Cannonball is a member of Emma Frost's Academy of Tomorrow. When Lorna Dane (Polaris) was framed for murder and sent into prison, Alex Summers Havok, Lorna's boyfriend, begin to recruit a team that will free Lorna. With Sam, Sunspot, Cypher and Northstar. They fought the X-Men but lost.

Cannonball was a member of Mr. Sinister's Elite Mutant Force.

AoA Cannonball

Sam is one of the infected by the zombie plague and is now a zombie.

Sam's appearance in this reality is he is morbidly obese while her sister, Paige has an ugly appearance of her own. The siblings would always insult each other because of what they look like. Because of his immense weight, Sam cannot stay in Cannonball mode for a long time.

In this reality, Sam is still a member of the New Mutants, and is also a good friend of Morph.

What if?

In what if the X-Men had remained in Asgard? Sam married the daughter of Eitri, Kindra. When she died, Sam became the king of the dwarves.