Panthro is a General in the kingdom of Thundera and great friends with King Claudus. In the first episode he is said, by Grune, to have been defeated in battle. Later on Grune brings out Panthro as a bargaining chip for Claudus to surrender. King Claudus ends up cutting Panthro free of his chains and then when his back is turned Panthro stabs him in the back, killing him. Shortly after, it is revealed that it was in fact Mumm-Ra disguised as Panthro.
Panthro (the real one) first appears at the end of "Song of the Petalars" in the ThunderTank saving Lion-O and the other ThunderCats. He is the most experienced fighter in the group, able to take down a whole squad of lizards with only his nunchucks and martial arts skills.
Panthro is voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson.
Appearance[]
According to Writer/Producer Michael Jelenic, "Panthro is the oldest ThunderCat and he's the only one who's seen the larger world of Third Earth." Panthro is the oldest and considerably the most grizzled ThunderCat. His upper body is well developed and tapers down to a slender waist. A band of dark brown hair circles around the lower skull and is pulled back into a warriors tail. The hair then extends down his face into a pair of impressive mutton chops. Scars slash over his chest, right shoulder and over his right eye. A further star-shaped scar is on his left shoulder.
Panthro's costume is fairly simple; a red/brown waistcoat with spikes down the front, black trousers and a belt with the customary red jewel, red/brown shoes that leave the claws exposed, and studded red/brown wrist guards. However, in "Between Brothers", Panthro loses his upper limbs due to the hut exploding. (Luckily with Grune in it.)
Weapon(s)[]
When fighting, Panthro wields a set of nunchucks designed to look like claws, with one end red, the other blue.
However, he uses them more akin to a flail than nunchucks by using powerful crushing blows to dispatch his enemies rather than multiple quick attacks coupled with distracting twirls of his nunchucks.
After losing his arms in his battle with Grune, the Berbils built Panthro two very strong, extendable cybernetic arms.
He is also shown when he was younger being proficient in the use of swords.
Personality[]
The most obvious aspect of Panthro is that he's a strong veteran with a hardened demeanor and a no-nonsense attitude. He's known in Thundera for his great loyalty to the crown and to Claudus himself. Despite this, as he demonstrates in the episode Old Friends, he does not give his loyalty easily, instead waiting until Lion-O can prove that he deserves that loyalty.
He also seems very possessive of the Thundertank as he refuses to allow any of the others touch or drive it. Even crying for joy when the Berbils had installed a replacement engine.
One aspect that was shown is how his friendship with Grune affected his personality, with the belief that victory is worth any sacrifice. He demonstrated this aspect during the fight in the Elephants' village when he sacrificed his arms to make sure Grune was destroyed or trapped in in another dimension when the doorway to the Astral Plane exploded. Panthro's only regret was losing the scars, as "there was lot of history in them".
Though unlike Grune, these sacrifices are only in regards to himself, while Grune willfully sacrifice others for victory. He is also afraid of heights, a fact he did not know until he tried to fly the Feliner.
History[]
Not much is known about Panthro's early life, except for the fact that he was a soldier for the Thunderian army in his youth and he started off as a catapult loader. He, Grune, and Claudus met for the first time in the midst of battle during the Lizard War. Rewarded for saving the King's life in battle, Panthro and Grune would rise through the ranks of the Thunderian army, finding glory in battle and brotherhood together until they both became Generals, but only one could take control of the army.
They were also given the honor of becoming teachers to the young Princes Tygra and Lion-O.
Over time, Claudus promoted Lynx-O to head General before sending Grune and Panthro in search of the Book of Omens, much to Grune's dismay. On their Journey, Panthro and Grune would travel across Third Earth, far beyond any Thunderian had travelled before. They would encounter all manner of beast and warrior, but to no avail for they would not find the book.
While traveling Grune began to question his loyalty to Claudus, believing that Claudus only sent he and Panthro to rid his Kingdom of them and over time, he began lose his sanity, much to Panthro's shock.
Along the way Grune would hear voices luring him in, promising ultimate power. He would then lead Panthro to source of these voices, telling him that they will achieve greatness along the way, eventually leading him across the sand dessert and into a temple called the Black Pyramid.
While entering the voices would grow stronger. They then entered a room, decorated with dark possessions and in front of them a sarcophogus. As Grune begins to open it, Panthro warns him not to but was too late to stop him. Panthro than looks on in horror as an undead figure begins to approach them, and realizes that Grune unleashed the nightmare of the ThunderCats empire, Mumm-Ra.
It is than revealed that Grune has joined Mumm-Ra to take control of Thundera and retrieve the Sword of Omens. Grune offers Panthro to join them, but knowing he lost his best friend Panthro than attacks him. A battle then engages between the two former allies, As Panthro pleads for Grune to stop this madness, Grune knocks him down deep pit as Mumm-Ra laughs with utter delight.
Eventually Panthro found his way out of the pit and escaped the harsh desert after many days of starvation and suffering. Overtime he would continue his quest across Third Earth and ended up as a slave in the City of Dogs.
There he would fight in an arena called the Pit and would form a friendship with a Dog slave named Dobo. Both he and Dobo fought together as partners in the arena. However, after discovering that there would be a death match between them, Panthro ran away to protect his friend.
Overtime he ran into technology itself and began to learn its ways as he soon he came across the ThunderTank, in which he took great joy of handling. Panthro hoped along his journey that he would return to Thundera and stop Mumm-Ra and Grune from destroying it, but was too late. Along the way however he encountered and managed to save the lives of the newly formed Thundercats (Lion-O, Tygra, Cheetara, WilyKat and WilyKit).
He joined them and accompanied them to find the Book of Omens. While searching for the Book of Omens, they saw that the Thundertank would run out of Thundrillium and sought to retrieve some from Cloud Peak Mine, where Mumm-Ra's army was mining it.
Along the way Panthro heard about Claudus's death, and began to question Lion-O's position as king. Feeling that Lion-O was too young and not ready to be King, he would assume control of the group (though it was only from his perspective).
While fighting a bunch of Lizards in the mine, Panthro bumped into none other than Grune himself. He confronted about his betrayal and revealed to the ThunderCats on how he released Mumm-Ra and openly mocked him by stating "All those deaths and you're still not the King". Instead of fighting the ThunderCats, Grune and his army would flee while assigning a drilling machine, Driller, to detroy them.
Lion-O, who now wielded the Sword of Omens, defeated Driller with ease, but in doing so caused the mine to collapse. After escaping the mine and obtaining some Thundrillium, Panthro was impressed with Lion-O's bravery and skill and finally accepted him as Lord of the ThunderCats.
While continuing, to search for the book, Lion-O would actually stumble upon the Tower of Omens. While entering the Tower of Omens, the ThunderCats would avoid a series of booby traps, until they reached the Book of Omens.
But before they could obtain it, Mumm-Ra appeared with a seemingly alive Jaga, whose soul was trapped inside a lamp. Underestimating Mumm-Ra, Panthro went off to fight him while the others would obtain the book. Mumm-Ra, who then transformed into his true form, defeated Panthro and the rest of the ThunderCats with little effort. But before he could kill Lion-O, Jaga transformed himself into a strong beam of light, causing Mumm-Ra the Everliving to flee, but in doing so Jaga was killed in the process. After finally obtaining the book, they only discover it to be empty.
The next day while training in the Tower of Omens, Lion-O is found sleeping on the floor. When he wakes up, he reveals his consciousness merged with the book and allowed him to relive the moments of his ancestor Leo, who was the first Lord of the ThunderCats that overthrew Mumm-Ra in the past, and that there are four other Power Stones besides the Eye of Thundera that they must find in order to unite all the animals and overthrow Mumm-Ra.
As they began searching for the stones they help a group of robotic bears called Berbils from the slave merchant Conquedor. Panthro also forms a close friendship with them and they even help him fix his Thundertank. Along the way they pass by an Elephant village. In the village, an Elephant leader named Anet would teach them about harmony and focus as they helped rid the village of a Stone Giant and a nest of Wraith. He also assists Lion-O in sight beyond sight, but also tells him to go to the Forest of Magi Oar, where he can achieve it in harmony. When reaching the Forest, Panthro expresses his fear in the spiritual inhabitants of the forest (ghosts in his perspective).
They manage to help the Forest Guardian Viragor in defeating the Wood Forgers. When returning to the Elephant village, Lion-O discovers that the first power stone (the Spirit Stone) is in a portal within a hut in the Elephant village that leads to the Astral Plane. They manage to defeat Grune and the Lizards who were occupying the Village but Panthro promises he would vanquish Grune someday.
When Lion-O opens the gateway in the Hut, Tygra would volunteer to go in with Lion-O. But before Lion-O would enter with Tygra, Anet predicted that Tygra would betray Lion-O, igniting the Thundercat's suspicion. The next they would guard the hut fiercely against Grune and the Lizard army. Panthro also revealed to WilyKit and WilyKat on how Grune lost his tooth to Spidera, which was the same day that Grune taught Panthro that "Any scarifice is worth the defeat of your enemy". When Grune arrives he and his former friend would engage in battle, up to reaching a conclusion that they are evenly matched they decide to settle this with hand-to-hand combat. But after Tygra and Lion-O return from the Astral Plane with the Spirit Stone, the portal begins to collapse, causing Grune to get sucked in along with Panthro's arms. Grune, while holding on to Panthro, pleads for him to pull them free or they both die. Instead Panthro recalls Grune's teaching that "Any sacrifice is worth the defeat of your enemy", and sacrifices his arms to defeat Grune once and for all.
Afterwards, Panthro is taken to the Berbil's village where they attempt to make mechanical arms for him. The first set were merely Berbil arms, upsetting Panthro. The next suffered a slight malfunction, striking him in the face. After this was rectified, Panthro took the ThunderTank (which the Berbils had heavily modified) and saved Lion-O, Tygra and Cheetara from Slithe and the new generals, Kaynar and Addicus, using his new arms' ability to extend themselves to punch out all three of them.
While searching for the next powerstone, Lion-O's clouded judgement soon led the ThunderCats into an ambush set by Mumm-Ra's forces and had him fall off a cliff to his "death", while the other ThunderCats were captured by Mumm-Ra's forces. Tygra, now lord of the ThunderCats, helped the group escape and he vowed to get the Sword of Omens back. As they journeyed towards Mumm-Ra's pyramid, Tygra claimed that they should go in with a surprise attack but only to get themselves captured by Mumm-Ra himself. However Lion-O, having been brought back to life by the spirit stone, finds his way to Mumm-Ra's Pyramid by following WilyKit's markings. There, he tricked Slithe, Kaynar and Addicus, freed the other ThunderCats and led them into battle against Mumm-Ra. Thanks to the Spirit Stone, Lion-O was able to retrieve the Sword of Omens and weaken Mumm-Ra with it. The group managed to escape the Pyramid afterwards. When sunrise finally came, Jaga's spirit appears and tells them they must continue on their journey.
The ThunderCats question Lion-O as to how he survived the fall, in which he reveals that he underwent a series of Trials, due to the power of the spirit stone, that allowed him to understand the meaning of becoming a true king. While still searching for the next power stone, Tygra and Lion-O went off to search the mountains while Panthro was left with Cheetara, WilyKit, and WilyKat to search the forest lands.
Panthro decided that it was time for the twins to learn to fend for themselves and both he and Cheetara teach them to hunt for their food .
In a boys vs. girls match, WilyKit teamed up with Cheetara while WilyKat teamed up with Panthro in a hunt for a meal. Panthro attempted to teach WilyKat about tracking and the use of traps, but WilyKat couldn't bear the idea of killing another animal and helped the grazing Chib-Chib to run free and instead Panthro gets caught in his own trap. Meanwhile, Cheetara shows WilyKit about masking their scents in an attempt to kill another Chib-Chib, but WilyKit also ruined the hunt as she couldn't kill the animal as well. Both Panthro and Cheetara had it with the kittens and decided to make them hunt for themselves or they won't be able to sleep in the ThunderTank. That night the twins victoriously return with a sweet bounty of fruit, due to them sparing the Chib-Chibs, both Cheetara and Panthro now believes that the two have potential to survive on their own.
After meeting up with the rest of the ThunderCats, they journey to the City of Dogs where Panthro recalls many of his memories and discover a Cat refugee named Pumyra, who is being forced to fight as a Gladiatrix in the Pit. The group watches the "games" and witness the cat, Pumyra, defeat a robot named Gormax with impressive skill and victory.
Lion-O than asks who is in charge of the arena and is lead to find Dobo, who is now head of the arena and will not give up Pumyra, believing she is too valuable to loose while Panthro greets his old friend. Dobo says she must win one hundred battles to gain freedom.
Lion-O isn't satisfied with Dobo's choice and decides to sneak into the cells and break Pumyra out, but as he tries to release her she begins to yell at him with anger and rage as she deemed him responsible for Thundera's downfall and their people to be sold in to salvery, causing him to get caught.
As Dobo returns the Sword and Gauntlet to Panthro and the others, he tells them that if Lion-O wins this fight he will go free. Panthro, Cheetara, and Tygra cannot intervene in order to avoid causing a problem with the Dogs, but instead try to convince Dobo to release them. Dobo refuses and recalls how in the past Panthro had escaped one night and left Dobo alone with all the enemies they made during their slavery.
As the battle between Lion-O and Pumyra commenced, Lion-O refused to fight her to show his loyalty towards his people. Pumyra intimidated by this proceeds to beat him without any mercy. The group pleads for Dobo to stop the fight, but he refuses. Dobo says that this battle shows how Cats have no loyalty, until Panthro explains why he left that night as he was afraid that would have had to kill Dobo.
After learning why Panthro left and witnessing the loyalty between Pumyra and Lion-O, he lets them live and grants them both their freedom. With old wounds fully healed and new friends made, Lion-O asks Pumyra where the other Cats that were taken by the lizards are now and she replies "Mount Plun-Darr" as she points to an ominous looking Mountain.
Relationships[]
- Grune:
Grune and Panthro were old friends turned enemies. Grune first met Panthro on the battlefield during their youth. They formed a close friendship together and even regarded themselves as brothers. During battle they met Claudus for the first time and for saving the King's life, Panthro and Grune would rise through the ranks of the Thunderian army. But Grune wanted more and would even let Panthro know his ambition to become King. On their journey to look for the Book of Omens, Grune began to lose his sanity, believing that Claudus was trying to rid him of his Kingdom. Eventually this led Grune to betray Panthro to Mumm-Ra in exchange for power and domination. Their final confrontation was in the Elephant village. As the two former allies engaged in battle, Grune began falling in the Astral Plane, pulling Panthro in with him. Grune pleaded for him to pull them out or they'd both die, but Panthro recalled Grune's teaching that "Any sacrifice is worth the defeat of your enemy" and sacrifices his arms to defeat Grune once and for all.
- Dobo:
The two had been prisoners in The Pit. Often being pair up in fights, they survived by working together. One day, Panthro found out that his next fight would be to the death, and it would be against Dobo. Not wanting to kill his friend, Panthro escaped - and regretted not bringing Dobo with him.
Quotes[]
Not a Chance!...My King
Fine, but I don't trust anything that adorable.
(After the Berbils fixed and upgraded his Thundertank) You mean my hunk of junk is no longer a hunk of junk?
Appearances[]
- Song of the Petalars
- Old Friends
- Journey to the Tower of Omens
- Legacy
- The Duelist and the Drifter
- Berbils
- Sight Beyond Sight
- The Forest Of Magi Oar
- Into The Astral Plane
- Between Brothers
- New Alliances
- Trials of Lion-O, Part 1
- Trials of Lion-O, Part 2
- Survival of the Fittest
- The Pit
- Curse of Ratilla
- Birth of the Blades
- Recipe for Disaster
- The Soul Sever
- What Lies Above, Part 1
- What Lies Above, Part 2
Trivia[]
- When Panthro loses his arms in Between Brothers, the wound is glowing blue, not red. It is highly likely that his arms, like Grune, are stuck in the Astral Plane forever instead of being severed, which would have caused his wounds to bleed.
- It was revealed in Journey to the Tower of Omens that Panthro is very aquaphobic as he cannot swim.
- His younger self had a tail, but later on he noticeably lacks it. Whether Panthro's tail was lost in a battle or removed intentionally is currently unknown.
- There is a chance that Panthera might be his ancestor.
- As of New Alliances, Panthro suffers from phantom pain, due to the loss of both his arms.
- It's revealed in The Pit that Panthro was once a fighter of the Pit, along with Dobo.
- It is revealed in What Lies Above, Part 1, Panthro is afraid of heights - which he himself didn't know.
- Panthro's 2011 character design closely resembles Jet Black from Cowboy Bebop. In addition to having very similar personalities, both characters are also balding, have similar facial hair, a similar distinctive scar across their right eyes, and both characters acquired prosthetic arms in their lifetimes.