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Alpha Flight is a fictional group, a Marvel Comics superhero team noteworthy for being one of the few Canadian superhero teams. Created by John Byrne, the team first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #120 (April 1979).
Throughout most of its history, the team has worked for Department H, a fictitious branch of Canada’s Department of National Defence that deals with super-powered persons. Most team members have distinctly Canadian attributes, such as Inuit or First Nations heritage.
The team was originally merely a part of the back story of the X-Men’s Wolverine but, in 1983, Byrne launched an eponymous series featuring the group, which continued until 1994. Three short-lived revivals have been attempted since, the most recent titled Omega Flight, in April 2007.
Though reluctant to take the job, John Byrne wrote and drew the series for 28 issues before handing it off to another creative team. During that time, the series attracted fans with storylines that dealt with one or two characters at a time, seldom bringing all the members together. This unusual approach contrasted with other Marvel team series like the X-Men, the Avengers, or the Fantastic Four.
The initial makeup of Alpha Flight was pan-Canadian, including:
* Guardian: Originally Weapon Alpha, then Vindicator, James MacDonald Hudson is a scientist from Ottawa who wears a suit of battle-armor allowing him to fly and manipulate Earth's magnetic field. Guardian is sometimes the team leader, and wears a stylized maple leaf flag on his costume.
Cover to Alpha Flight (vol. 1) #1. Art by John Byrne.
* Vindicator: Heather MacNeil is the wife of James Hudson. After Guardian's apparent death in Alpha Flight (vol. 1) #12, she takes his costume and becomes field leader of the team.
* Marrina: An amphibious woman from Newfoundland, she was a former member of Beta Flight before joining Alpha Flight. She is actually part of an extraterrestrial invading force known as the Plodex.
* Northstar: Jean-Paul Beaubier, from Montreal, is a mutant with powers of super-speed and light generation. He was the first openly homosexual superhero in the Marvel Universe. He eventually becomes a member of the X-Men.
* Aurora: Jeanne-Marie Beaubier is Northstar's twin sister who suffers from disassociative identity disorder (multiple personalities). Like her brother, she is also a mutant with powers of super-speed, flight, light generation, and molecular acceleration.
* Puck: Eugene Judd is a dwarf bouncer from Saskatoon with enhanced strength and extraordinary acrobatic abilities.
* Sasquatch: Walter Langowski is a scientist from British Columbia who can transform into a giant fur-covered beast resembling a Sasquatch. This character originally developed his powers from a Hulk-inspired gamma radiation experiment that was affected by a solar-flare. Eventually, it is explained that Sasquatch is actually a mystical monster.
* Shaman: Michael Twoyoungmen is a First Nations medicine man from Calgary. He is both a skilled doctor and sorcerer.
* Snowbird: Also known as Narya, she is an Inuit demi-goddess from Yellowknife who can transform into animals of the north.
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