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I saw this a long time ago, and just remembered it recently. The character in question was a native American; he runs up to a speeding bison, grabs it by the horns (literally) and throws it to the ground on its back.

I know it was an X-Men comic because the same comic showed Colossus turning his skin to steel and moving to save his sister from being chewed up by a combine.

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16

Thunderbird aka John Proudstar, brother to James Proudstar aka Warpath.

The comic you're remembering is Giant-Size X-Men #1 (1975). It's Thunderbird's first appearance.

Thunderbird throws down a bison

Indeed, ealier in the issue Peter saved his sister from being run down by a tractor.

Peter saves his sister

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    FYI - it's the first appearances of Storm, Nightcrawler, and Colossus as well. And the little girl is Illyana Rasputin (a.k.a. Magik), so it's her first appearance as well. – RDFozz Oct 14 '18 at 17:59
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    @RDFozz I was surprised to find out it was Thunderbird, to be honest. You say "native American mutant" and I hear "Warpath" before I think of Thunderbird, so today I learned they didn't debut in the order I thought :) and yeah, lots of people debuted in that one. Gotta live up to the Giant-Size, ahah! – Jenayah Oct 14 '18 at 18:05
  • Yeah, James (Warpath) is John's little brother. You don't see much of John, since he dies two issues later. He may be #2 on the list of characters who've stayed dead, after Uncle Ben. – RDFozz Oct 14 '18 at 18:08
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    My goodness, that is an terrible portrayal of a Native American character. It checks all the boxes. He's a proud warrior longing for the glory days the Apache, check. He hunts buffalo, check. The implied sexism and the obligatory mention of "squaws" (an Eastern Algonquin language family word, not Apache) check. And because he's a mutant, he can have literal red skin! :( – Adamant Oct 14 '18 at 20:47
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    @Adamant he's got his fair share of "white men are the bad guys don't talk to me white cripple" in the next page, and it's as stereotypical as you can imagine :/ – Jenayah Oct 15 '18 at 18:28

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