Portrait of a Badass: Thunder

Character: Thunder
Actor: Carter Wong
Film: Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
Badass Moment: Exhalation scene, pictured here.

The other day I put my Big Trouble DVD in the player for the first time in a couple years. If you're not familiar, Big Trouble in Little China is the result of thriller director John Carpenter's "me too!" reaction to the Hong Kong action genre. It's clumsy on plot, has way too much wry dialogue, and stars Kurt Russell as Jack Burton, the obnoxious and inept anti-hero.

Sounds like I don't like this movie much, right? Wrong, stupid! Because this movie has Thunder. Played to perfection by non-English speaker Carter Wong, Thunder is a kung-fu magician whose special-est of special moves involves getting really upset and puffing himself up like a blowfish on steroids. Furthermore, he emits one of the coolest movie sound effects I've ever heard (imagine an exhaling sound that would make Darth Vader pee his pants).

Thunder, you are a badass, and an inspiration to us all.