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    Alpha Flight

    Team » Alpha Flight appears in 985 issues.

    Alpha Flight is Canada's premiere superhero team. Amongst its members are Guardian, Sasquatch, Puck, Vindicator, and Northstar. Even Wolverine has been counted among their ranks.

    Short summary describing this team.

    Alpha Flight last edited by SlamAdams on 12/08/23 07:27PM View full history

    For related team, see: Beta Flight, Gamma Flight, and Omega Flight

    Origin

    Alpha Flight vs X-Men
    Alpha Flight vs X-Men

    Alpha Flight was the top level of a three-tiered program codenamed Department H within the Canadian Ministry of Defense. New recruits or those whose powers proved unstable would be assigned to Gamma Flight in order to learn to properly use their powers. Those who could control their abilities but required further training formed the basis of Beta Flight. The active members in the field who where tasked with dealing with any superhuman threats to the nation were in Alpha Flight.

    James MacDonald Hudson had the idea to form Alpha Flight after the public emergence of the Fantastic Four and was given oversight of Department H, which was named after him. Hudson had intended that Wolverine be the leader of Alpha Flight. However, this task fell to Hudson himself when Wolverine was recruited by Professor X to become a member of the X-Men.

    Originally using the codename Weapon Alpha, Hudson tried to bring Wolverine back to Canada and Alpha Flight by force. This led to a battle between Weapon Alpha and the X-Men. Outnumbered, Weapon Alpha was forced to retreat.

    Hudson changed his codename to Vindicator after feeling responsible for injuring Moira MacTaggert in the battle. Several months later, the X-Men were forced to make an emergency landing in Canada due to the magic of Alpha Flight's Shaman. Realizing something strange was happening, they were soon confronted by the full Alpha Flight team who again wished to bring Wolverine into their custody.

    This first formation of Alpha Flight consisted of team leader Vindicator, Sasquatch, Shaman, Snowbird, Aurora and Northstar. Vindicator soon learned that the government was shutting down funding of Alpha Flight.

    Creation

    Alpha Flight was created by John Byrne and Chris Claremont. Alpha Flight burst onto the pages of Marvel in 1979 with their first appearance in the Uncanny X-Men #120 as the Canadian government's soon-to-be-disbanded superhero team. Claremont was the writer, John Byrne was the penciller and Terry Austin was the inker for this issue. Byrne and Claremont co-plotted the storyline together.

    Major Story Arcs

    Gone Before They Started?

    Canada's very own superhero team
    Canada's very own superhero team

    The first issue of Alpha Flight opened with us learning that the Canadian superteam Alpha Flight was being disbanded. Only weeks prior, three members of Alpha Flight (Vindicator, Snowbird, and Shaman) along with two X-Men (Wolverine and Nightcrawler) defeated the mystical creature known as the Wendigo in the Canadian wilderness. A week after they returned, however, the Canadian Prime Minister delivered the bad news to Hudson. Department H, the secret superhuman arm of the Canadian Ministry of Defense, was being shut down. Allowed to keep his security clearance and the electromagnetic battle suit he designed, Hudson intended to continue protecting Canada as needed without the government's help.

    Shortly after arriving home, Mac received a call from Gary Cody, his former government liaison, to alert him to a mysterious phenomena in the northern wilderness. An ancient giant creature known as Tundra was being conjured back into existence and was threatening to harm Canada, so Vindicator left to investigate. Mac's wife Heather, fearing for her husband's safety out there alone went to his office and sent out a call to action to the rest of Alpha Flight through a government computer. Two members of Beta Flight had been about to graduate to Alpha Flight just before they were disbanded but were not official members yet were also summoned by Heather to assist Mac. Those two team members, Puck and Marrina, became key figures within the early days of Alpha Flight. Through implanted transponders, each member heard the call and the scattered team made their way to the battle with Tundra. All but Puck that is, who couldn't arrange transportation to northern Canada. He arrived at Mac's and Heather's apartment after they had defeated Tundra. They decided to remain together as a team even without government funding. The name "Alpha Flight" didn't seem to make sense without Beta or Gamma Flight, but Puck insisted that he worked hard to join Alpha Flight and that's what they were going to be called. After some prompting from Shaman, Hudson also changed his codename from Vindicator to Guardian to punctuate the point that they are Canada's guardians.

    Some of the former members of Beta Flight and Gamma Flight felt abandoned after Department H's disbanding and were assembled by an enemy of Mac as Omega Flight, Alpha Flight's opposite number. Mac was killed in an explosion during a subsequent battle while attempting to repair his damaged Guardian suit after being interrupted by Heather. Heather took Mac's death very hard, but eventually Logan and Puck convinced her that she was the right person to lead Alpha Flight. After Mac returned as part cyborg (which turned out to be a ruse), she began to wear a duplicate electromagnetic battle suit and call herself Vindicator. Eventually, the programs in Department H were taken over and perverted for evil purposes. Through deaths and resurrections, strange transformations, and sudden reversals, Alpha Flight fought on, loyal to the mission of protecting their homeland.

    The New Team

    All-New, All-Different Team
    All-New, All-Different Team

    When Alpha Flight was investigating a Plodex spaceship that had crashed in the Arctic, they were all taken prisoner, except Sasquatch. Believing this to be a Canadian problem, he put together a new Alpha Flight team with the best heroes at his disposal:

    • Centennial - a nearly 100 year old superhuman
    • Nemesis - A killer so deadly she requires an inhibitor
    • Puck - daughter of Puck
    • Major Mapleleaf - A amusingly patriotic hero who is too nice for his own good
    • Yukon Jack - a mysterious indigenous hero

    After a second attempt on the Plodex ship and its illusionary security measures, this new Alpha Flight was forced to fight Plodex doppelgangers of the original members. After a brutal fight, Sasquatch and his new team find countless unhatched Plodex eggs being looked after by a young Plodex boy named Mar. The team divided over what to do about the eggs, some wanting to destroy them and some wanting the eggs to have a chance to turn out better than their war-like ancestors. The original Alpha Flight, who had been freed during the skirmish, were the deciding vote. While imprisoned, they were exposed to memories of the Plodex homeworld. They were willing to escort the eggs back there to give them a chance, especially now that they knew a team would be left behind to protect Canada until they returned.

    Death of the Team

    In the New Avengers arc "The Collective", Alpha Flight pursued the Collective-empowered Michael Pointer, who had destroyed his home town in Alaska. When the team confronted him, he brutally attacked them, killing almost all of them. Sasquatch was the only one who survived, and he helped form Canada's newest defense squad, Omega Flight.

    Chaos War

    Chaos War
    Chaos War

    In Quidlivun, the Northern Gods battle the Chaos King and his forces. Nelvanna sends Snowbird back to Earth moments before Nelvanna is slain by the Chaos King. In the Shattered Lands, Somon and the other Great Beasts discuss the situation with Sasquatch, who has in his possession a mystical power that will enable the Great Beasts to return to Earth, for they claim that they are the only ones with the might to kill the Chaos King. Sasquatch strikes up a deal with them: the Great Beasts will return Sasquatch’s deceased friends to Earth, provided he protects the Great Beasts while they regain their strength. The Great Beasts promise not to attempt to claim Earth for themselves for one hundred years. Sasquatch accepts their deal. In Alberta, Snowbird reunites with Northstar and Aurora when they sense a strange summons to this location. Sasquatch arrives via a portal, followed by Guardian, Vindicator, Shaman and Marrina. The reunion is a joyous one, though the rest of their friends are still caught up in the chaos in the Underworlds. Snowbird explains who the Chaos King is before the slave god hordes of the Chaos King arrive. Thinking they are here for her, Snowbird battles them alongside Guardian and the twins. Sasquatch then explains to his friends the deal he made with the Great Beasts, who are now battling the slave gods. Snowbird is understandably distraught that her deadliest enemies are once more walking the Earth. Sasquatch and Snowbird debate the situation until several civilians nearby wake from their slumber having been transformed into Wendigo and join the battle against the slave gods.

    The deceased members return
    The deceased members return

    Eventually, the heroes agree that the Chaos King is the more pressing concern, so they launch into battle against the slave gods. Aurora tells Northstar that this is where they belong: with their friends, and not with the X-Men. Snowbird witnesses one of the Great Beasts fall to the slave gods and does not help him, but when the civilians who were transformed into Wendigo begin to eat the slave gods, Snowbird, Vindicator, Shaman and Northstar reconsider the situation, deciding that they do not need anything from the Great Beasts, though it would mean the deceased Alphans will return to what is left of the Underworld. Guardian, Aurora, Sasquatch and Marrina don’t agree though, so the team briefly battles each other. Snowbird and her followers gain the upper hand, and Snowbird uses a god-like power to freeze the Great Beasts. The Chaos King then arrives and seemingly destroys them. The Wendigo return to their true civilian forms, while Vindicator asks about her daughter, to which Sasquatch reveals she is safe with family. Shaman casts a spell to return the four deceased Alphans to a state just beyond life, but it doesn’t work and he, Vindicator, Guardian and Marrina remain on Earth. Shaman realizes that Death itself is inaccessible, and Snowbird realizes that the Great Beasts lied to Sasquatch: they had no access to their friends, there was simply nowhere else for them to go without Death. Shaman supposes that Death will be restored when the Chaos King is defeated. Sasquatch tells everyone that they have to risk defeating the Chaos King, so the eight heroes of Canada depart to join the battle against the Chaos King and save all of reality.

    The Master of the World

    No Caption Provided

    When Sin released The Serpent, it released a number of celestial hammers that fell to Earth and caused chaos after luring worthy handlers. One such hammer was picked up by Attuma, who turned into the Ocean Breaker and flooded British Columbia with water and his Atlantean loyalists. In the midst of this crisis, newly elected prime minister, Gary Cody of the Unity Party, activated the Emergency Act that gives government unprecedented oversight and suspends the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. One of Cody’s actions was to have Alpha Flight neutralized by a team of Box Units and Alpha Flight member, Vindicator. Northstar (who never rejoined the team) and Puck (who just escaped Hell, where he had learned about the Unity Party’s deception) mounted a rescue of their imprisoned friends.

    The Unity Party, which was being run by The Master of the World, replaced Alpha Flight with a new team, Alpha Strike, made up of supervillains and Vindicator, who had been so brainwashed she had killed the foster family who had been taking care of her daughter, Claire, since her and Mac’s death. After being forced underground as fugitives, Alpha Flight was forced to rob a bank for money they can use to take care of the citizens they saved from the internment camp. This included paying Taskmaster to train them to defend themselves and building a machine that could undo the unity brainwashing. Unfortunately, one of Aurora’s personalities wanted to side with Unity, hoping they’d be able to wipe her dissociative identities.

    Alpha Strike caught up with them in their Yukon hideout. Luckily, Purple Woman, Strike member, was the missing piece of their device. It was made to increase her psychic ability. Upon witnessing this, Master of the World joined the fight in his flying fortress with Claire as leverage. Together, Mac and Heather were able to take out the Master of the World, but Heather took off with Claire the first chance she got.

    Mayan Rule

    When a Mayan temple teleported to the Canadian Rockies by recently freed Mayan gods, Alpha Flight’s help was requested from Red Hulk and his team, who were already tracking the gods. Unfortunately, they were attacked on their first surveillance with Aurora, Sasquatch, and Snowbird kidnapped by the gods. Their life-forces were drained to resurrect three more of the gods. Their other teammates were hospitalized, leaving their rescue up to Red Hulk’s team. Using a pendant Red Hulk’s team found in the pyramid, recently recovered Shaman was able to manipulate its magic to reverse the lifeforce drain. Once recovered, Alpha Flight was able to rejoin Red Hulk in the field and fight the now weakened Mayan gods.

    Space Program

    No Caption Provided

    Alpha Flight was rebranded as an interplanetary space defense program. The crew commits to two years on a space station in geostationary orbit above the Triskelion defending the Earth from threats across the galaxy. Captain Marvel accepted the Commander position, while Abigail Brand, formerly of SWORD, was appointed as the Lt. Commander. Traditional members: Puck, Sasquatch, and Aurora would serve as her field agents.

    Due to Danvers’ involvement, this version of Alpha Flight became a centerpiece of the second Civil War among superheroes. She was the highest profile Avenger who believed they should be using the prophetic visions of Inhuman, Ulysses, to stop crises before they happen. In doing so, she had resources and the full support of the Alpha Flight Board of Directors. Her Alpha Flight field team, less so, especially after visions led them to a schizophrenic man and a trio of mutants, both of which hit close to home for Aurora, neither of which had done anything wrong yet.

    This strength also made them a target. When Captain America was brainwashed into believing he was a member of Hydra, he led an attempt to take over America. Cap conspired to lure Alpha Flight, The Guardians of the Galaxy, and The Ultimates into space to fight off a Chitauri swarm under the pretense that the galactic shield that Alpha Flight had helped them build was nonoperational. Once the super teams were clear of the shield's range, Cap turned it back on, stranding them in space. They valiantly fought off multiple waves of Chitauri while their resources ran low. By the time resistance fighters on the planet had taken down Hydra, the Alpha Flight Space Station was so damaged that it needed to be grounded.

    Alpha Flight would then be transferred to a temporary office at Columbia University, until a new space station could be built. Once back in space, they were dragged into conflict with the Hulk thanks to Sasquatch's connection to gamma energy. They would create a separate task force to investigate gamma related incidents as a new Gamma Flight. (learn more on the Gamma Flight page)

    True North

    Many months later, Guardian tracked down Heather and Claire while seemingly helping them avert capture by the Canadian government. He brought them to a safehouse. There, Heather told James that, although she loved him, the two of them would never work. James told her he was not doing this for them to get back together and left them in the safehouse. After leaving, it turned out that the safehouse actually was a jail for them. With mental manipulation, Heather was unaware of this and felt safe. Guardian stated to his government superiors that the only reason he helped them capture Heather was on the condition that they remained unharmed. He needed Heather to trust him once again.

    Fall of X

    Alpha Flight turns on the Box Sentinels
    Alpha Flight turns on the Box Sentinels

    When Department H fell for a long and effective propaganda campaign against mutants started by Orchis, they recalled an Alpha Flight field team from the space program. Guardian, Shaman, Snowbird, and Puck would be introduced as an anti-mutant task force. They would work in tandem with a new Box program that would use sentinel technology on loan from Orchis. However, this team was secretly conspiring with former mutant teammates Northstar, Aurora, and Heather Hudson posing as Nemesis (joined by Fang) to smuggle mutant refugees to friendly Shi'ar space.

    Their attempt to juggle their ruse was made difficult by the enthusiasm of Department H's new leader, Erika Doiron. In one encounter, while saving former teammate, Feedback, the Box Sentinels were able to injure Heather, sabotaging their ability to teleport to their hidden Manitoba headquarters. This headquarters is left vulnerable when the two teams meet to care for Heather, and Argent, a mutant sick of being isolated, tries to sneak out, giving away their position to the Box Sentinels.

    With their secret location found out, the Alpha Flight team had to break their cover and start fighting back against Department H. They destroyed a good number of Box Sentinels, but they were being overpowered. They decided to move up their time table and get the mutants moving. Heather volunteered to teleport them to the Alpha Flight Space Station where Walt and Marianna were preparing the spaceship. Heather was not at full strength yet. She managed to get the mutants teleported but at a great cost to her health.

    The non-mutant members of Alpha Flight that stayed behind were arrested and imprisoned for treason.

    Other Realities

    Earth 1610 (Ultimate)

    Ultimate Alpha Flight
    Ultimate Alpha Flight

    The X-men: Colossus, Iceman, Nightcrawler, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Rogue, Wolverine, Angel, Dazzler and the newest X-Man, Firestar, came up against the Ultimate version of Alpha Flight. Alpha Flight consisted of: Vindicator (John Wraith), Aurora, Snowbird, Sunfire, Shaman, Sasquatch (Rahne Sinclair) and Jubilee who had come to bring Northstar back to Canada. The team were all on the mutant enhancement drug Banshee, which caused a mutation in their powers and personality. They then faced the X-Men again, but this time against a few renegade members high on Banshee, led by an enraged Colossus wanting his boyfriend back.

    Earth Zeta

    Earth Zeta is a mirror universe where characters' morality is flipped. Here, the Alpha Flight Space Program is called Zeta Flight. Led by Corporal Danvers, they are pirates and must contend with the universe's greatest peacekeeper, Thanos.

    The Wasteland

    On the dystopia world of Old Man Logan, the Alpha Flight Space Program was attacked and turned by The Brood.

    Other Media

    X-Men: The Animated Series

    Alpha Flight in X-Men: The Animated Series
    Alpha Flight in X-Men: The Animated Series

    Alpha Flight appeared in Repo Man (Episode 18) and Child of Light (The Phoenix Saga Part 5, Episode 33).

    Vindicator and the Canadian Alpha Flight capture Wolverine. Department H demanded their project back: either he rejoins their team or they repossess his indestructible adamantium skeleton. Puck and Snowbird spied on the attempted adamantium removal experiment and informed the other members. After a fierce fight between Alpha Flight and Department H's security androids, Wolverine warns the Alpha Flight members that if any of them try to seek him out, all bets are off. Later, members of Alpha Flight are shown helping citizens as Earth is ravaged by the M'Kraan Crystal.

    Merchandise

    Marvel Legends
    Marvel Legends
    • Alpha Flight received a line of action figures from ToyBiz in the late 90s. The figures were released in two-packs consisting of Northstar and Aurora, Vindicator and Sasquatch, and Snowbird and Puck. Guardian was also released as a standalone exclusive from ToyFare Magazine.
    • Various members of Alpha Flight received busts or statues from Bowen Designs.
    • Vindicator, Guardian Snowbird, Northstar and Aurora, Sasquatch and Puck were featured in The Classic Marvel Figurine Collection from Eaglemoss Publications.
    • Diamond Select released two Minimates box sets featuring Alpha Flight: one with Northstar, Puck, Guardian and Marrina, and another with Aurora, Snowbird, Sasquatch and Shaman.
    • Guardian, Northstar Aurora and Puck were featured in Hasbro's Marvel Universe line.
    • After previously releasing Guardian in the Wendigo wave and Puck and Sasquatch as Build-a-Figures, Hasbro released a Marvel Legends Alpha Flight box set containing Vindicator, Northstar, Aurora, Snowbird, Shaman and a rereleased Puck. The set was an online exclusive.
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