Black History Month Celebrates – Night Thrasher II.

Note: This is Bandit, already celebrated, but he took on the name Night Thrasher after Dwayne was killed by Nitro.

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Real Name: Donyell (Last Name Unrevealed)
Aliases: Donyell Taylor, Bandit
Identity: Secret
Occupation: Criminal
Citizenship: American Citizen, with a known criminal record.
Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois
Known Relatives: Dwayne Taylor (Night Thrasher, half-brother), Daryl Taylor (father, deceased), mother (name unknown, deceased)
Group Affiliation: Formerly a member of the New Warriors, Thieves Guild
First Appearance: Night Thrasher #3
History: Donyell was the product of Daryl Taylor and a one-night stand with an unnamed woman. Growing up, Donyell developed an increasing amount of resentment towards Daryl’s legitimate son, Dwayne.

Learning that Dwayne had developed a relationship with Silhouette Chord, Donyell, adopting the name Bandit, seduced Dwayne’s estranged girlfriend before confronting Dwayne. Despite beating Dwayne severely, though evenly matched, Bandit became unstable and abducted Silhouette to lure Dwayne into the final piece of his vengeance.

Those plans were thwarted when Dwayne won the rematch, and although Dwayne was willing to reconcile their differences when he discovered Donyell’s true origin, Bandit departed, leaving the relationship between the two of them unresolved.

Bandit later reappeared when the New Warriors were scattered through time by Lady Sphinx (Meryet Karim), perhaps only because his lover, Silhouette had been one of the Warriors that had disappeared. Agreeing to lead this band of “New New Warriors”, they teleported to Egypt to begin tracking down where the Warriors had vanished to.

With the arrival of the original Warriors, they managed to defeat both Sphinxs’ when both Meryet Karim and the male Sphinx merged into a composite being and vanished somewhere into the past.

Troubled by their relationship, Night Thrasher parted ways with Silhouette and Bandit, on worse terms than before.

Years later, Bandit turned up in New Orleans. There he romanced Belladonna Boudreaux, leader of the Thieves and Assassins Guild. Although he furthered the guild’s criminal endeavors, he still felt that Belladonna’s ex-husband, Remy LeBeau (Gambit) posed a threat to them. However, when attacked, Gambit explained to Belladonna that Bandit had been manipulating her and that he still had not broken off his relationship with Silhouette Chord. However, before anything else could be done, the members of the guild turned on all three of them, but the guild was defeated and in the confusion Bandit left New Orleans. During a televised raid by the New Warriors of a building in which Cobalt Man, Speedfreak, Coldheart, and Nitro, who had recently escaped from the Raft, resided. Namorita followed after Nitro. Slamming him into a bus, Namorita taunted him, but Nitro screamed he wasn’t the kind of loser that she was used to facing, she was in fact “playing with the big boys now”, before letting off a massive explosion that killed Namorita, Night Thrasher, Microbe, all of the children at the nearby elementary school, and all residents in the surrounding neighborhood where the fight took place.

Bandit took up the guise as the new Night Thrasher and formed a new version of the New Warriors.

Early in this newly formed team of “New Warriors” the team suffers a casualty when Longstrike, Phaser’s sister is killed. Night Thrasher is hard on the New Warriors and tells them that this is a war, and there will be casualties.

Sometime later, at the Appalachian Safehouse, Night Thrasher finds that the entire area is undisturbed. He had hoped that if Dwayne were still alive he would be hiding here. He does however, managed to snag some of Dwayne’s DNA for testing. As he exits the house however, he discovers he’s not alone and is confronted by Counter Force which consists of: Justice, Rage, Debrii, Slapstick and two of the Scarlet Spiders.

Both Rage and Justice try to talk to Night Thrasher but he refuses to discuss it with them and a fight breaks out – and just when it seems like Night Thrasher’s been captured – the arrival of the New Warriors tips the balance once more.

Throughout the fight Night Thrasher is thinking about how Justice and the rest of Counter Force think he’s a Skrull – while he’s wondering if it was Skrull who perished at Stamford, not his own half-brother. As the fight processes, Night Thrasher realizes that this has to end quickly.

He decides to stop the fight and unveil who he is. He explains his actions about looking for the truth about Dwayne – and whether he would ever take part of some reality television show as a part of the “New Warriors.” Justice steps up and informs Donyell that he can help – because he knows the location of Dwayne’s body.

The New Warriors, along with Counter Force, arrive at the Helicarrier only to find it under attack by Skrulls. The New Warriors and Counter Force get out of the plane as Night Thrasher crashes it into one of the Skrull ships. After that, they follow Justice onto the Helicarrier and begin helping the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents against the Skrulls.

As the New Warriors and Counter Force battle the Skrulls, Night Thrasher grabs Justice and enables “ghost mode” – allowing them to phrase through the floor. The others continue to battle the Skrulls – and just when it seems like they might be doing all right – the arrival of a Super Skrull, looking a lot like Nova, appears and tilts the odds back in favor of the Skrulls.

Meanhile Justice leads Night Thrasher to the bodies of what appears to be Dwayne and Microbe, with Nita’s ashes in a jar. Night Thrasher takes a sample from Dwayne’s body and begins the DNA comparison. All three turn out to be positive identifications – proving that the Dwayne, Namorita and Microbe did indeed die at Stamford. Night Thrasher turns to Justice and explains, he’s taking the remains with him. Justice, after a brief pause, agrees to help. They bury the New Warriors and create a memorial plaque for Dwayne, Namorita and Zachary.

Later, the New Warriors burst in through the roof and the Dread Dealers are subjected to Pym Particles and reduced in size.

Their victory is short lived however, with the sudden appearance of Sykes, Givens and the New Warriors Task Force. The New Warriors make a break for it – but Blackwing, who is carrying Night Thrasher gets tagged and the two crash to the ground. Panicking, Tempest screams out and doesn’t see the net shot at her – Wondra tries to push her out of the way but gets snagged.

One of the New Warriors Task Force members fires a shot – but Ripcord kicks him at the last moment. The shot hits the flame tank of another New Warriors Task Force member – and Ripcord stops to try and help him. Skybolt seeing that the tank is about to explode tries to get to Ripcord – he manages to grab her and start flying away – but the tank explodes, causing a blinding flash. Night Thrasher gets the other New Warriors together, and they quickly make their escape – unsure of the fate of both Skybolt and Ripcord. They later learn that both perished in the fire.

The New Warriors are later teleported to an alternate reality, in which Dwayne Taylor has become Iron Man, and Tony Stark has become Night Thrasher. Dwayne has become an evil corporate leader, and while Donyell struggles to not betray his brother, in the end he knows he has to stop him. After a long fight, the New Warriors defeat Dwayne, and return to their own time.

Donyell tells them to keep their tech equipment regardless, because they had definitely deserved it. As everyone exits the room, Wondra approaches Night Thrasher and the two seem to be ready to say something – instead, Wondra kisses Night Thrasher on the cheek then follows the others out of the room, leaving Donyell there to sit and think about all that he had done – and what he was going to do next.

Night Thrasher appears again, this time with Counter Force, at Camp Hammond, to put an end to Ragnarok, the clone of Thor. After putting Ragnarok down for a time, it is later revealed that Donyell is Counter Force’s benefactor, and second in command.

The group changes its name to Avengers Resistance, when they make their stand against Norman Osborn, and help the Heavy Hitters secede from the Initiative, helping former New Warriors member, Debrii, escape as well.

During the battle, Night Thrasher is shot in the head by Taskmaster, but survives the attack. Norman Osborn and the Hood offer to bring back Donyell’s brother, Dwayne. However, the Avengers Resistance come and save Donyell before he can make a choice.

When visiting his brother’s grave, Donyell is conflicted if he should go with the deal Norman Osborn and the Hood gave him. Counter Force tries to take down The Hood, but are unable to gain victory. When Donyell arrives, Hood gives him a chance to prove himself by killing Tigra. However, he turns on the Hood and aids Tigra in the fight. The Hood, using the Norn Stones, powers up several villains involved in the fight and teleports away.

Height: 6’4
Weight: 300 lbs.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Black
Powers: Bandit generates electricity and channels it through other objects, such as the grappling hooks he launches from a specialized crossbow; the hooks penetrate his opponent’s skin, and then open beneath it.. He uses throwing stars and other weapons as needed.

Accessories: None

Note: Bandit is an accomplished marksman, acrobat, and hand-to-hand combatant.