Thunderbolt Ross was a five star General of an American Army that no longer existed. When Mikhail Rasputin used the powers of the mutant Empath to sway the emotions of the human people, Thunderbolt Ross chided them as being traitors, cowards looking for any excuse to abandon their own. When it became clear that Mikhail's intentions of peace were false, the former General took to arms, determined to go down fighting against their enemy and for themselves. He survived the long fight and returned to Mikhail's mothership, escorted along with the remaining members of the Council by Victor Von Doom and the entire contingent fled the Earth before the natural timeline was restored.