Alpha Flight
PURPOSE: To oppose threats to Canada and the Earth
AFFILIATIONS: Canadian Government, Wolverine, X-Men, Gamma Flight,
ENEMIES: Bedlam, Llan the Sorceror, Brass Bishop, X-Men
CURRENT MEMBERS: None
FORMER MEMBERS : Aurora, Box, Centennial, Diamond Lil, Earthmover, Flex, Guardian (James Hudson),
Guardian (clone), Groundhog, Madison Jeffries, Major Mapleleaf, Manbot, Mar, Marrina,
Murmur, Nemesis, Northstar, Puck (Eugene Judd), Puck (Zuzha Yu), Radius, Saint Elmo,
Sasquatch (Walter Langkowski), Sasquatch (creature), Shaman, Smart Alec, Snowbird,
Stitch, Talisman, Vindicator, Wild Child, Windshear, Wolverine, Wyre, Yukon Jack
UNIVERSE : Earth-616
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Department H, Ontario, Canada; formerly Tamarind Island, British Columbia, Canada; Mansion Alpha, Winnipeg, Canada
FIRST APPEARENCE : X-Men #120 (1979)
HISTORY :
Alpha Flight is a team of superhuman Canadian operatives that originated in the private sector with an
engineer named James MacDonald Hudson who had developed an exoskeleton to assist in geological exploration.
When Hudson learned that the U.S. military had appropriated his invention, he destroyed the plans and made
off with the helmet necessary to control the apparatus. Heather McNeil, then executive secretary to Hudson's
immediate superior Jerome Jaxon, was shocked by the sudden turn of events and arranged a meeting between
Hudson and the Canadian government. Hudson was able to plead his case and the government stepped in to
resolve the situation. The Canadian prime minister subsequently invited Hudson to participate in the
creation of Department H, a top-secret research and development agency within the country's Ministry of
Defense. Hudson married Heather soon after.
Inspired by the debut of the superhuman adventurers the Fantastic Four, Hudson’s first recruit for the
team’s first incarnation, code-named the Flight, was the feral mutant, Wolverine who had joined Department
H some years earlier as an espionage agent. Wolverine participated in the initial phases of the team’s
creation, and after an initial mission against the forces of the criminal mastermind Egghead, it was
decided that Wolverine would lead the team. However, for his own reasons, Wolverine left Department H and
joined the X-Men, the mutant team formed by Professor Charles Xavier. In Wolverine's stead, Hudson donned
a modified version of the exoskeleton he had created and first took the name Weapon Alpha, then Vindicator,
then later settled on Guardian. Recruiting five more super-powered champions, the newly formed Alpha Flight
initially clashed with the X-Men in an attempt to capture Wolverine, but the two teams later cooperated
against the monstrous Wendigo. Alpha Flight subsequently lost government funding, but its members decided
to remain operational as freelance adventurers.
Following Hudson’s apparent death, leadership of Alpha Flight was assumed by his wife Heather when she donned
his battlesuit and succeeded him as Vindicator. The Canadian government resumed sponsorship of Alpha Flight,
and the team established a headquarters on Tamarind Island off the coast of British Columbia. However,
relations between the team and the government grew strained over time. Alpha Flight’s government liaison, a
former intelligence agent named Gary Cody, sought to keep the team under control by resurrecting one of
Hudson’s earliest attempts to create a superhuman being. This creature, known as Bedlam, killed Cody before
violently confronting the team. After a pitched battle, Vindicator managed to destroy Bedlam.
During one of the team’s adventures in another dimension, Department H created a new team dubbed Gamma Flight
to act as their official agents during Alpha Flight’s absence. When Alpha Flight eventually returned to Earth,
the two teams initially clashed but soon put aside their differences to oppose the threat of the extradimensional
menace of Llan the Sorcerer. After Hudson returned alive and well, Alpha Flight and Gamma Flight were combined
into the one team that were reinstated as Canada's official government operatives. The restructured team
continued to face various threats, at one point teaming up with Wolverine against the forces of the Brass
Bishop, but ultimately Department H was dissolved and the team disbanded.
Department H was eventually reinstated under the administration of General Clarke, who was charged with creating
a new Alpha Flight. The new team, which included a mixture of veterans and neophytes led by a seemingly youthful
Hudson, found itself manipulated by subversive tactics and clandestine missions, including one against the X-Men.
Department H’s deception was not laid bare until an encounter with the remaining members of the original Alpha
Flight team, including the true Hudson. The younger Guardian was revealed to be a synthetic being created to
supplant the original, who had refused to rejoin the Department and was subsequently targeted for assassination.
The two teams joined forces and regained control of Department H.
Wolverine subsequently helped the reformed team against the weapon-making terrorists of Advanced Idea Mechanics,
during which the team regained a former member in Snowbird but lost the younger Guardian who sacrificed his life
to ensure the team’s freedom. Alpha Flight returned the favor by helping Wolverine defeat the cannibalistic sorcerer
Mauvais. Wolverine also briefly served as mentor to a new member, Earthmover, who was being groomed to replace
Shaman on the team.
Alpha Flight’s next challenge was of a very personal nature when Hudson was attacked and seemingly killed by
an insane scientist who sought Heather’s affections for his own. Hudson survived thanks to the mutant healing
abilities of the X-Men’s Angel and Heather gave birth to a baby girl.
The team was later charged with retrieving all the young mutants from the X-Men’s home at the Xavier Institute,
as the Attorney General's office, the Governor of Connecticut, and the Canadian government had deemed the school
unsafe for children to inhabit. This led to a clash with the X-Men, which was quickly halted after the young
mutant named Sammy agreed to accompany the Canadian heros home.
After the race of alien beings known as the Plodex targeted Alpha Flight and captured most of the team, Sasquatch
set out to gather a new team of novice Canadian heroes to rescue them. Sasquatch offered membership to Yukon Jack
(king of a hidden civilization) and then Zuzha Yu (daughter of Puck), but they both turned him down. Despite
reviving Nemesis from suspended animation and awakening Centennial's long-dormant powers, neither of them wanted
to join either. Eventually tricking them all into becoming a part of the team, and joined by the new Major
Mapleleaf, son of the WW2 hero of the same name, Sasquatch prepared them for a battle with the Plodex, who
were responsible for the disappearance of the prior members. Discovering that the Plodex ship was full of
unhatched eggs, the group hit a moral snag; although the Plodex were a warlike race, many members felt they
still deserved a chance to change. The infighting stopped when the prior Alpha Flight decided to take the
Plodex back to their home planet and raise them themselves. Sasquatch's group, along with a young Plodex named
Mar who stayed behind, were left to defend Canada. While out on a date Mapleleaf and Puck were attacked by wax
duplicates of dozens of heroes, controlled by the Manimator, whom Puck easily defeated with a left hook.
Following a struggle with a mind-controlled Big Hero 6, events spiraled out of control when the team tried to
use time travel to save former enemy Flashback, whose future self had been killed in a previous battle. A series
of efforts resulted in history being rewritten for the worse with each change they made. Sasquatch was
ultimately able to enlist the past Shaman's help in stabilizing the timeline and saving Flashback. Soon after,
Centennial and Nemesis apparently perished, Mar and Yukon Jack left, and Puck and Major Mapleleaf went to reserve
status.
Recently, Alpha Flight sought to impede the progress of the supremely empowered Michael Pointer but were
decimated by his multitude of powers. Apparently Sasquatch was the only one to survive and has since then
helped create a new Omega Flight.
For more Info see Beta Flight
and Omega Flight
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES :
First battled X-Men (X-Men #120-121, 1979);
team reformed independent of Department H (Alpha Flight #1, 1983);
vs Llan (Alpha Flight #71-86, 1989-1990);
with Avengers, vs Atlanteans (Avengers #320-324, 1990);
team reformed with government funding (Alpha Flight #87-90, 1990);
with Fantastic Four, vs Headlok (Alpha Flight #93-94, 1991);
team suspended by Department H (Alpha Flight #130, 1994);
team restructured by Department H (Alpha Flight #1, 1997);
new team vs X-Men (Alpha Flight #9/Uncanny X-Men #355, 1998);
old & new teams combined (Alpha Flight #20, 1999);
with Wolverine, vs A.I.M., recovered Snowbird (Wolverine #142-143, 1999);
with Wolverine, vs Mauvais ((Wolverine #171-172, 2002);
Heather gave birth (X-Men Unlimited #45, 2003);
vs X-Men (Uncanny X-Men #421-422, 2003);
new team recruited by Sasquatch (Alpha Flight #1-2, 2004);
time-travel chaos (Alpha Flight #9-12, 2004-2005);
team decimated by Michael Pointer (New Avengers #16, 2006)
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