| “ | Shocked to see me?! |
” |
— Electress, Who's Your Mommy
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| “ | Yes! Baby's goin' to fancy school! |
” |
— Barb, Paging Dr. Thunderman
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Barbara "Barb" Margaret Thunderman (née McBooger) is a main character in the original series, The Thundermans, and a recurring character in its spin-off series, The Thundermans: Undercover.
She was a retired superhero from Metroburg, known by her superhero name, "Electress." She and Hank moved their family to Hiddenville in order to raise the kids and live a normal life. She officially unretired to join the T-Force to fight crime with his family in The Thunder Games.
Barb is the mother of the Thunder Twins (Phoebe and Max Thunderman) along with their younger siblings Billy, Nora and the youngest child Chloe Thunderman. She is married to Hank Thunderman.
Barb is portrayed by Rosa Blasi.
Biography
Barb was born c 1970 in Metroburg with superpowers but didn't know that she had her superpowers until the day she met Hank Thunderman. After Barb and Hank's first kiss, her Electrokinesis powers activated resulting in sparks fly and huge power surge as revealed in Parents Just Don't Thunderstand. Barb and Hank dated and were married in Metroburg.
Barb went on to become the famous superhero, "Electress" and saved a lot of people. In order to bring up their kids like a normal family, Barb retired and moved to Hiddenville with her family. She quickly left behind her superhero life, unlike Hank. She doesn't talk much about the superhero stories as explored in the episode, Who's Your Mommy.
The Thundermans
After moving to Hiddenville, Barb and Hank implemented a "no non-supes in the house" rule which prevented any of them from inviting their friends over. However, the rule was removed in Dinner Party when the kids proved that they could manage to go without using superpowers when there are guests around.
Barb Pregnant with Chloe
In A Hero Is Born, Barb gets pregnant and gives birth to a baby girl, Chloe Thunderman.
In Aunt Misbehavin', Barb had to finally deal with her sister, Mandy, with whom they had not talked for years. Max and Phoebe tracked down Aunt Mandy as a surprise birthday present for her mom, only to realize that they were enemies. She apologized to Mandy for bailing on their break dance duo gig "Electric McBooger Babes" back in high school.
In Thundermans: Secret Revealed, Barb loses her powers when Max took them away. Upon restoration, she gets Billy's Super-Speed and uses it to fight the villains.
During the 75th Annual Supe Awards in Come What Mayhem, Barb and Hank receive a Platinum Cape Lifetime Achievement Award for their work as superheroes.
In The Thunder Games, Barb officially unretires and moves back to Metroburg when he is recruited to be on the T-Force, along with by the rest of her family, by Phoebe and Max.
The Thundermans Return
Barb with Hank and Blobbin
3 years after being on the T-Force, Barb is sent back to Hiddenville with his family after a save goes wrong. Hank and Barb are worried that their kids may not need them to protect them anymore so they borrow a helicopter from Blobbin to spy on Chloe without her noticing.
After the V-Team put a dome-like structure over Hiddenville, Barb uses her powers on the dome with other people in a park to break through it. After breaking out of the dome, Chloe teleports with her family to the Mayhem Cafe and Hank punches the keypad and stops the sequence. The Thundermans are teleported to Mt. Metroburg where the V-Team and Dark Mayhem, King Crab and Strongdor were. Barb fights with King Crab's daughter, She-Crab again and defeats her. Barb and Hank apologize to Chloe for treating her like a little girl. Hank and the rest of the Thundermans get their jobs back as the T-Force after President Kickbutt realized that the V-Team were not actually supes with their new headquarters being their home in Hiddenville to have more time hanging out as a family by having family nights.
The Thundermans: Undercover
In Thundercover, Barb and Hank go to the Hiddenville city limits to fix an electrical tower after the Thunder Twins' family meeting. Barb and Hank are alone in the house when their kids are all on missions. When Chloe teleports back home with her friends, Barb and Hank go to the kitchen.
In The Parent Zap, Barb and Hank are called by Phoebe and Max to help them at the Hi-Tech Beach Home, but they are on the Hero League space base with Billy and Nora. When they arrive, Chloe reveals that Phoebe and Max disguised themselves as Barb and Hank to talk to Booch's dad, Randy, and Jinx's mom, Adele. Barb and Hank use the disguise-aliser to become Phoebe and Max, they hold hands which accidentally activates Phoebe and Max's EMP Generation, causing a mini explosion. Randy and Adele leave the house and avoid Chloe seeing their child. Chloe uses the disguise-aliser to return everyone to normal. Chloe then has the idea to disguise one of them as Principal Taylor to convince Randy and Adele that the Thundermans are trustworthy, allowing her to hang out with Booch and Jinx. Afterward, Hank flies with Barb back to the space base forgetting they left Billy and Nora.
Electress
Electress Merchandise
Barb's superhero name is "Electress" as mentioned in several episodes and explored deeply in Who's Your Mommy. This section shows all the known things about Barb's life as Electress.
Note: Electress is often misspelled as "Electriss" but as seen in Electress comics and merchandise from Who's Your Mommy, the correct spelling is "Electress."
Electress has a golden whip that can be super-charged when her electric powers are channel in it, which she used to fight criminals with as shown in Who's Your Mommy when Max accidentally sells the whip to a fan of Electress along with other Electress merchandise. When the whip is in the wrong hands, it could explode and take out half a city block.
Back in Metroburg, Electress used to run "Take It From Electress" safety commercials for using electricity as shown in Mall Time Crooks. All the commercials used to end with "Paid for by Superheroes for Safety." Examples:
- Take it from Electress - electrical charges are no laughing matter. Use your dome. Protect your home.
- Take it from Electress - if you "charge" into electrical situations, you may be "shocked" by what happens, and that's "watts" up.
- Take it from Electress - cramming too many plugs into a socket isn't cool so fight that urge and get a "surge" protector.
- Take it from Electress - before leaving home, make sure you turn off the lights because wasting electricity megahertz us all.
Electress Medical Drama
In Stealing Home, it is revealed that Barb used to star in a hit Electress medical drama in Metroburg called "Superstrong Medicine" in which she revived patients with her superpowers.
Personality
No one tries to look for ways to fit in with the other families more than Barb. All she wants is for her family to live an ordinary life as possible. While she has the ability to control both light and lightning when needed, she's perfectly okay with leaving her hectic superhero life behind her. Barb is also apparently a bit suggestible as she often adopts the methods of self-help books, usually ending in problems. She is also a bad cook, something her family is aware of. Barb is cranky and she gets extremely aggressive when she is pregnant.
She is a very committed mother. She loves and cares for each of her children deeply and is always around when needed.
Relationships
- Hank is Barb's husband. They are both very passionate towards each other and were partners in their days as superheroes. They also like to work together against their kids, as shown in many episodes. However, they have been competitive as well, for example in Up, Up, and Vacay and Kiss Me Nate.
- Phoebe is Barb's oldest daughter. They talked a lot in seasons 1 and 2, but not so much in seasons 3 and 4. They are both very passionate about each other's romances and are both quite serious about whatever they do. However, Phoebe does think that Barb is quite lame. She also believes that Barb is very overprotective of her, as shown in Chutes and Splatters.
- Max is Barb's oldest son. They do not talk that much and are actually very different in terms of personality. Barb is very serious about whatever she does, while Max is very laid-back. Max does think that Barb is quite lame. Barb has also helped Max with his romantic life.
- Nora is Barb's middle daughter. They do interact quite a lot. However, Nora thinks that Barb is quite lame, and Nora is able to manipulate her quite a lot. Barb also thinks that Nora uses her powers way too much, as mentioned in quite a few episodes.
- However, when Nora decides to stop using her powers permanently in Patch Me If You Can, Barb encourages her to be more careful with them rather than stop using them permanently.
- Billy is Barb's youngest son. They have been shown to be hanging around each other quite a lot, but they do not have many interactions with each other. Billy thinks that Barb is lame. Barb also scolds Billy and Nora a lot for their laser related games, such as "laser tag" and "rock-paper-laser".
- Chloe is Barb's youngest daughter. Chloe actually thinks very highly of her, unlike the rest of the kids.
- Barb gives anything Chloe wants like drawing equipment due to her adorableness.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
- Electrokinesis: Barb's main power is controlling electricity and lightning. She can precisely manage the strength, direction, and amount of electricity she produces, giving her a wide range of abilities. She frequently generates powerful lightning bolts from her hands and can even use her electricity to thaw people frozen by Freeze Breath. Throughout the series, she demonstrates this ability in various ways, showcasing a diverse skillset that includes things like teleporting via electricity and projecting electrical energy.
- Electrokinetic Teleportation: In "Who's Your Mommy," Barb demonstrates the ability to teleport. She appears to do this by generating a brief lightning storm at her current location, which then disappears as another lightning storm appears at her destination. While similar to Chloe's instant teleportation, Barb's version seems to require more time and energy.
- Electrotechnic/Pyrotechnic Projection: In several episodes like Have an Ice Birthday, Barb is capable of manipulating/creating and generating different sparks of electricity; that appear to look like fireworks, from her fingertips or other parts of her body like her ears as when she got mad in Pretty Little Choirs.
- Technokinesis: Barb can manipulate technology and electronics with her electrical powers. However, her control isn't always perfect, especially when it comes to the Thundervan. She's had trouble with it in the past, particularly when the vehicle is malfunctioning or undergoing repairs.
- Photokinesis: As seen in multiple episodes, Barb is capable of generating, manipulating, and shaping light. Usually, she opens her palms, and a light would appear from them. She can also change the size, intensity, etc. of the light with ease. This ability seems to stem from her Electrokinesis.
- Thundersense: Like the other Thundermans, Barb possesses a danger sense. She experiences premonitions of impending danger, but these are often vague and lack specific details. The origin of this "Thunder Sense" is unclear. Since Barb acquired it despite not being related to the Thundermans by blood, and not through marriage, it's possible her electrical abilities play a role, or that it is a power that could be developed by anyone under the right circumstances.
Abilities
- Dancing: Barb has shown to be great at dancing. Although she is commonly not good at creating her own dances out of thin air, she was capable of Break Dancing easily on Aunt Misbehavin'.
- Whipmanship: Although it never shown in the show but stated in one episode, Barb is easily capable of using her electric whip to subdue her enemies. With this, she is capable of controlling her whip with ease, allowing her to do anything she wants with it with willpower.
- Master Combatant: Barb has proven to be very skilled in hand-to-hand combat and has fought against several villains in her early superhero days.
Power Swap
- Super Speed: Barb has Super Speed after the orb switched her powers. Barb got her original powers back by Thundermans: Banished!.
Trivia
- She and Hank caught tumble fever when they went undercover to catch someone at the circus.
- They call themselves The Tumblemans.
- She along with Hank, Phoebe, Max and Billy are the only main characters to appear in every episode.
- Rosa Blasi was the first person to be cast on the show. Kira Kosarin admitted that she was originally scared of her when she first went to audition for the role of Phoebe, but when she got the role, the two started to really like each other after they got accustomed to each other.
- Orange is Barb's favorite color.
- She is respected more than Hank by the Thunder Kids.
- When she reads Phoebe's blogs and Barb comments, her username is ProudMama978.
- She was raised in a barn.
- Her Thundersense was activated at the age of 17.
- Out of the entire family, Barb uses her powers the least.
- Barb and her sister Mandy were part of a struggling breakdance duo called the "Electric McBooger Babes".
- In Better Off Wed, Barb's last name was announced.
- Since she was born on August 6, Barb's zodiac sign would be a Leo.
- She has a "fortress of barbitude", similar to Hank's "Thunder-Man Cave".
- She was born and raised on an Alpaca farm as mentioned in Nowhere to Slide.
- She gave birth to Chloe in A Hero Is Born.
- In the episode Who's Your Mommy? , It is revealed Barb had a sidekick as Electress.
- Gideon, a member of Max's band has a crush on Barb.
- Barb likes using books about parenting however it drives Hank crazy.
- Barb has encouragement sticky notes that she gives to her children when they are depressed.
Episode Appearances
The Thundermans
- appears in all episodes
The Thundermans: Undercover
Season 1
- Thundercover
- Faulty Powers (mentioned)
- The Parent Zap
- All About Steve (mentioned)
- From Dust Till Dawn (mentioned)
Gallery
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