Whirlwind's History
Early Life
David Cannon was born a mutant with the ability to move his body at great speeds. As a child in Kansas City, Missouri, he learned that he never became dizzy, and could make himself nearly untouchable by spinning in a tight circle like a top. He used his natural abilities first as a bully, and during his teens, as a petty criminal. He later found legitimate employment as a circus performer, a professional wrestler, and finally an ice-skating competitor. His talents were noticed by small-time criminals that operated a betting syndicate, and soon he was fixing races for them. When the criminals warned him of possible police investigation, Cannon scoffed and decided to use his talent for crime flamboyantly.
Human Top
Designing himself a costume, Cannon dubbed himself the Human Top and embarked upon a series of heists of jewelry and department stores. Dr. Henry Pym, then known as Giant-Man read of the Human Top's exploits and decided to bring him to justice. Pym believed that stopping the Top was beneath his abilities. However when his ants reported that the Human Top intended to rob the Danly's Department store, the Wasp convinced him to do something about it. When the Top attempted to rob the department store, Giant-Man went into action to try and stop him. However the gigantic hero proved no match for the Top's speed and his larger size proved to be more of a detriment and the Human Top managed to escape.
Giant-Man then began training to try and stop the Human Top when he next resurfaced trying to increase his speed through improvements in his growth serum as well as physical training. Ultimately, Giant-Man realized that intelligence was the only way to defeat the Human Top when he managed to steal top secret plans. With the help of the FBI, they intercepted some spies who were seeking to buy the plans from the Top. When the Human Top attempted to make the delivery, Giant-Man was waiting in the spy's place. When the Top attempted to escape, he found that the authorities had fenced off the entire neighborhood and Giant-Man soon captured him and turned him over to the authorities.
Spider-Man met and defeated the Human Top with a blow to the head. With his last conscious thought, the speedster states that he needs to add a helmet.
Not long after this the Human Top escaped from prison again and sought to get revenge against his foes. He followed Giant-Man and the Wasp back to their headquarters where he managed to succeed in obtaining some of Giant-Man's growing pills. Despite his increased size, the Human Top was defeated by Giant-Man and the Wasp, restored to his normal size, and incarcerated once again. At one point attempting to manipulate the Hulk into attacking Pym. Then, he redesigned his costume to enable him to fly for short distances and kidnapped the Wasp in order to lure Pym into a trap. Pym still managed to thwart him and turned him over to the authorities.
He was among the many costumed menaces assembled by Doctor Doom to disrupt the wedding of Reed Richards and Susan Storm.
Whirlwind
After serving a prison term, Cannon settled in lower Manhattan and refrained from criminal activity for a time, practicing new fighting techniques using his spinning ability. Hoping to make a fresh start in his criminal career, he devised himself a new costume and renamed himself Whirlwind. He sought revenge upon Pym and the Wasp for the humiliating defeats he suffered at their hands but decided to proceed patiently. Creating the false identity of Charles Matthews, he acquired a portfolio of false credentials and was hired by Janet van Dyne, the Wasp, as her chauffeur. Thus gaining access to the Avengers Mansion garage, he broke into the mansion and trapped Pym and the Wasp inside an ant colony Pym was studying, then planted a time bomb nearby. Pym managed to escape however and warn the Avengers about the bomb. Whirlwind fled the mansion, managing to elude the grasp of Quicksilver, also a superhumanly fast mutant.
Masters of Evil II
Whirlwind accepted the invitation of the Crimson Cowl (revealed to be Ultron-5) to join Klaw, the Radioactive Man, and the Melter in the second Masters of Evil. The Masters ambushed and took the Avengers hostage, but the Avengers escaped. All the Masters were apprehended except Ultron and Whirlwind. Whirlwind briefly reunited with Klaw, Melter, and Radioactive Man as the Masters in Rutland, Vermont.
Batroc's Brigade
Whirlwind teamed with Batroc and Porcupine on a mission for "The Hood" (actually an LMD of Baron Strucker), and then rejoined with some of the Masters of Evil for a minor skirmish with the Avengers in Vermont. He finally got another chance at revenge upon Pym when Pym was trapped at ant size, but he did not succeed in killing his old enemy.
Charles Matthews
Whirlwind remained undercover as Janet van Dyne's chauffeur "Charles Matthews" for several years, trying to devise a foolproof scheme to steal the van Dyne fortune. He also tried, though unsuccessful, to initiate a relationship with the already married Janet. Her multiple rejections made him attack the team more, also causing him to begin a strange fixation with her. Whirlwind's chauffeur identity was finally exposed during a battle with Yellowjacket when Whirlwind showed knowledge of Pym's new disruptor gun that only the Avengers and Charles had seen before.
Vision
Whirlwind used his know-how to turn a pack of cigarettes into a bomb that blew open a hole in his cell allowing for him to escape and plot revenge against the Avengers once more. The ruckus caused by Whirlwind's escape alerted the Vision to the situation. When Whirlwind attempted to attack the Vision, the android easily defeats him by utilizing his density powers and his solar energy weapons.
Lethal Legion I
After that, Whirlwind restricted himself to group efforts once more. He joined with the Living Laser and the original Power Man to work as Count Nefaria's henchmen, and was sent to jail after a clash with the Avengers. Count Nefaria used the Legion to give himself their powers.
Defenders
Whirlwind was recruited into a criminal version of the Defenders.
Masters of Evil III
He was freed from jail by Egghead, who wanted Whirlwind to join his Masters of Evil. Somewhat stir crazy from the confinement, Whirlwind disobeyed Egghead and prematurely attacked the Avengers to get revenge on the Wasp, leading the Masters to an early defeat.
Iron Fist
He managed to escape, however, and months later, at his high school reunion, encountered Iron Fist and managed to leave the scene unscathed.
Masters of Evil IV
When Baron Helmut Zemo was organizing his Masters of Evil, Whirlwind petitioned to join. But Zemo, perhaps hearing of how he was a deficit to the previous Masters, assigned Whirlwind the task of detaining Captain America, rather than joining in the main force that was going to take over Avengers Mansion. Whirlwind realized the slight, however, and was determined to prove his worth to the group. He contacted the Tinkerer, one of the underworld's major armorers, and had him create some weaponry for Whirlwind to use; whirling wrist-mounted saw blades. Whirlwind then joined forces with the Trapster, who also hoped to better his reputation, and the two set a road trap for Captain America. Unfortunately, Captain America outsmarted them, and they were both taken into custody.
Whirlwind escaped shortly thereafter and traveled to San Francisco to rendezvous with Tiger Shark, who had learned of a valuable piece of technology located there, while he was with the Masters of Evil at Avengers Mansion. Both Tiger Shark and Whirlwind were apprehended by Tigra, Hellcat, and Henry Pym while trying to procure it.
Bambi Arbogast
Iron Man and Whirlwind fought in the skies outside Stark Industries. Their fight caused them to crash through the window of Tony Stark's personnel office. A secretarial applicant named Bambi Arbogast rushed in and began organizing all of the papers that were strewn around during the fight. She distracted Whirlwind by telling him that there was an important telephone call for him. While Whirlwind's head was turned, Iron Man had the opportunity to knock him out. Arbogast's brave assistance landed her the job as Tony Stark's personal secretary.
Daughters of the Dragon
Whirlwind, 8-Ball, Humbug, and Freezer Burn skipped bail and teamed up to rob the penthouse apartment of a wealthy publisher, but got more than they bargained for. Daughters of the Dragon, Misty Knight and Colleen Wing, were on the case.
Long Way Down
Returning to his life of crime, David was upgraded and employed by Mandarin along other villains of Iron Man in Mandarin's vengeance against the hero. He fought Iron Man in the Wilmington Oil Field and later took part in the battle against War Machine, in which the hero faked his own death to help Tony Stark in a plan to defeat the Mandarin.
Due to the Mandarin implanting a bomb in him as well as in the rest of the villains, Whirlwind decided to help Mandarin's prisoners, Iron Man and Ezekiel Stane when they rebelled against the villain. He, a new Blizzard, and the Living Laser attacked the Mandarin's armories. During the assault, Whirlwind's enhancements were damaged, and he couldn't partake in the final showdown against the Mandarin and his Titanomechs.
Infinity
Following the death of the Mandarin, Whirlwind returned to the usual business of robbing banks along with Blizzard. When the Avengers left Earth in order to battle the Builders, he and Whirlwind were approached by Spymaster, who offered them to join a group of villains of Iron Man who planned to assault the almost-defenseless Stark Tower.
After Blizzard was revealed to be an Inhuman when Black Bolt set off a Terrigen Bomb, Whirlwind supported him in his decision to leave Spymaster, but they were forced into taking part of the assault on Stark Tower. Once there, Spymaster used teleporter discs to teleport some Iron Man Armors to his buyers, but he escaped and left Whirlwind and the rest of his accomplices to be discovered by the heroes which were using the tower as a base. They managed to defeat the heroes, and they were offered to be taken to Spymaster by Titanium Man. When they arrived to a spaceship where Spymaster was, they were ambushed by him and Titanium Man, who revealed himself as Captain Atlas of the Kree, the buyer.
They managed to escape custody and started fighting Spymaster, Titanium Man and the army of Iron Men, controlled by the first. The actual Iron Man arrived to the spaceship, after having tracked down the armors, and helped Whirlwind and his allies defeat the enemies. During the fight, Blizzard used the powers he discovered of being like a human battery to overcharge the armors and deactivate them, but he fainted and fell of the spaceship's cargo door. A suit Iron Man was controlling rescued him, but in order to let his friends escape, Blizzard froze himself and the suit.
Pleasant Hill
At some point, Cannon was caught by S.H.I.E.L.D. and sent to their new secret prison known as Pleasant Hill, were they used Cosmic Cube fragments to transform criminals into model American citizens. Whirlwind was transformed into a teenager known as Scotty, and was good friends with an ice cream vendor named Harold. One day, Scotty came to Harold to tease him about his dance with Sheriff Eva, whom Harold had a crush on. But in that moment, Baron Zemo started an uprising against S.H.I.E.L.D. and the prisoners changed back to their real selves. Whirlwind and the Absorbing Man--"Harold's" real self--went on a rampage in the town. But Elektra arrived to stop them from killing everyone, revealing herself to have been Sheriff Eva. Cannon saved Creel before Elektra could stab him, but he was so shaken by having his life twisted by S.H.I.E.L.D. that he was ready to surrender. But they were both rescued by Absorbing Man's wife Titania and the Hood, who had come to rescue Creel and took Whirlwind with them. The Hood latter offered both of them to join his Illuminati, which Whirlwind accepted.
Ant-Man Security Solutions
Whirlwind, along with Miss Thing, Beetle, Magician, The Voice, and Hijacker, recently joined Ant-Man Security Solutions. However, after Cannon helped Ant-Man infiltrate Cross offices, he chose to depart with ill-gotten gains rather than help Ant-Man.
Aiding A.I.M.
With news of Ultron Pym returning to infect the world after his plaguing alien worlds, Monica Rappaccini convinced Cannon that Janet Van Dyne's continued affection for her dead husband was a machination by the long time villain. Once hired by A.I.M. after learning this, Cannon sought out Janet and locked her in an enclosed room sealed off while Rappaccini 'drafted' the young scientists at the G.I.R.L. Expo. His attempts at swaying her fail and Janet beats him into unconsciousness, then hurting him more, Janet warns Cannon not to threaten the girls under her care or else his life would be made into a living hell.
Sins Rising
Whirlwind rejoined the Lethal Legion when Count Nefaria reassembled the team to help him find a new source of power in the Catalyst, a device created by Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. After raiding the Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. Facility to kill the scientist who discovered it and prevent his knowledge from being shared to anybody else, the Lethal Legion attacked a public demonstration for the Catalyst taking place at the Empire State University. The attack was interrupted by Spider-Man, but he was overpowered by the villains.
The Lethal Legion was ultimately stopped by the vicious vigilante Sin-Eater, who shot each member of the Legion and Nefaria. However, due to his new supernatural nature, when the Sin-Eater killed the Letha; Legion, he also stole their powers. This process also returned Cannon and the rest of the villains back to life, filled with a new-found sense of repentance for their crimes. They were all transferred to the Ravencroft Institute, where they became model patients. After the "sins" accumulated by the Sin-Eater were transferred into the Order of the Web and then they were expunged from this corruption, they went back to their original hosts, causing Whirlwind to regain his powers and return to his normal self.
When the Sin-Eater's master, the demonic Kindred twins, enacted their final attack against Spider-Man, they used their powers to pull into their service an army of super villains, including the Whirlwind, due to his involvement in the Sin-Eater's rampage. They participated in a battle royale for Spider-Man's head until Doctor Octopus freed himself and the other contestants from the Kindreds' control.
