A super-hero created by John Wentworth and Stan Asch for DC Comics. Johnny Thunder first appeared as a backup story in The Flash #1 in January 1940 under the name "Johnny Thunderbolt"

Johnny Thunder was born at 7AM on the 7th day of the 7th month in 1917. For this reason, he was believed to be destined to gain great power on his 7th birthday by the people of Badhnisia. They kidnapped Johnny and gave him a gold belt with the words cei-u (pronounced "Say You") on it. The people of Badhnisia sought to use Johnny for their own ends, but he ended up escaping the country during its war with a neighboring country and returning to the United States.

Years later, while working as a window washer, Johnny's co-worker fell from the platform to almost certain doom. Johnny yelled out "Say You..." and inadvertantly summoned the Thunderbolt, a mystical entity who was at Johnny's command for one hour. The Thunderbolt saved Johnny's partner without either Johnny or the co-worker realizing what was going on.

So went Johnny's life for quite a while. He seemed to live an almost charmed life, getting out of tight scrapes and having seemingly impossible circumstances occur around him. Finally, Johnny figured out that he was somehow effecting his environment and deduced the existance of the Thunderbolt. The two then came to an understanding and battled crime with the powers of the Thunderbolt.

Johnny became a member of the Justice Society of America replacing the Flash who had retired from active duty. His activities continued until 1948 when he was replaced by the Black Canary.