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

Origin

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. Originally, known as The Flight, their first mission went terribly, so Hudson reconceived the team's structure. He split it into three tiers categorizing candidates at different expertise levels to make sure no one is sent into the field unprepared. 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 (later Vindicator), 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 and return with the team he had been training.

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.

Team Evolution

The first version of the team was simply known as The Flight. Membership included: Wolverine, Snowbird, St. Elmo, Stitch, Smart Alec, and Groundhog (a detective using a clunky prototype of Hudson's power suit).

Later, Alpha Flight was reenvisioned as the top level of a three-tiered program codenamed Department H within the Canadian Ministry of Defense. The first formation of Alpha Flight consisted of team leader Vindicator, Sasquatch, Shaman, Snowbird, Aurora and Northstar. Those who could control their abilities but required further training formed the basis of Beta Flight. New recruits or those whose powers proved unstable would be assigned to Gamma Flight in order to learn to properly use their powers.

Very early into their development, the Canadian government cancelled the project. However, Vindicator (who changed his name yet again to Guardian) convinced the others to stick together as Canada's superteam. This included two members of Beta Flight who were about to graduate: Puck and Marrina. Other members of Beta Flight and Gamma Flight who felt abandoned were assembled by Jerome Jaxon, a rival of Mac's, as Omega Flight. Box was the only recruit to refuse to turn on Mac and later rejoined Alpha Flight. He also eventually brought along his friend, Madison Jeffries.

When Mac died in action, Heather was convinced to takeover leadership as Vindicator, wearing a duplicate battle suit. Eventually, the administration of Canada changed and reinstituted Department H with full funding. They reinstituted Beta Flight thanks to superhumans they came across. These members included: Purple Girl, Manikin, Goblyn, and Pathway. When the government briefly tried to replace them with a new Gamma Flight, that team ultimately folded into Alpha Flight as well. These members included: Nemesis, Diamond Lil, Auric, Silver, Witchfire, and Wild Child (under the alias Weapon Omega and later Wildheart). Windshear, Wyre, and Feedback would join soon after.

Eventually, the government would demand their resignation yet again only to reactivate them when Canada needed them. New Dept H recruits included Flex, Radius, Manbot, Murmur, Ghost Girl, and a version of Sasquatch that turned out to be a real Sasquatch that they mistook for Langkowski. When the team, except Sasquatch, went missing after confronting aliens, Sasquatch helped put together a new temporary roster including Centennial, Major Mapleleaf, Yukon Jack, a new Nemesis, and Puck (daughter of Puck). These members would stick with them until they were killed by The Collective, again except for Sasquatch.

Alpha Flight was rebranded as an interplanetary space defense program with participation of original members. The crew commits to two years on a space station in geostationary orbit above a space station. Captain Marvel accepted the Commander position, while Abigail Brand, formerly of SWORD, was appointed as the Lt. Commander. During Hydra's attempted takeover of the United States, the space station was damaged, and Alpha Flight was moved back to Earth. Once returned, they would get pulled into Krakoa drama, half the team would pretend to go along with Canada's new anti-mutant agenda while secretly helping the other side of the team, now including Akihiro, sneak mutants out of the country. When they were caught, the non-mutant members were arrested and forced to work with the government under their new Vindicator, Agent Arsenault.

Major Story Arcs

Nearly Disbanded

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 phenomenon 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. This included two members of Beta Flight who were about to graduate to Alpha Flight just before they were disbanded, Puck and Marrina. 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.

Omega Flight

Jerome Jaxon was a businessman who funded Mac’s early super suits. When Mac walked out on Jaxon for trying to sell his work to the American military, Jaxon was fired, causing his life to fall apart until he was hired by Roxxon. With Roxxon’s help, Jaxon recruited former members of Beta and Gamma Flight to create a rival group to destroy Alpha Flight and kill Mac. These members were: Diamond Lil, Flashback, Smart Alec, Flashback, Wild Child, and Jaxon controlling the Box robot, since Roger Bochs refused to turn on Mac. They lured Mac to Jaxon’s new office in the World Trade Center in New York City by kidnapping his wife, Heather, from the airport, but Mac managed to get a distress signal out to his team.

They immediately came to his side thanks to Shaman’s magic teleporting them. Alpha Flight managed to subdue Omega Flight, but before the Box armor was taken out, Jaxon managed to damage Mac’s supersuit enough to cause it to explode, presumably killing Mac but leaving no body. This puts the future of Alpha Flight into question without a body to declare their leader dead, but members were ready and willing to help each other with their personal enemies including personality shifts by Aurora, Marinna, and Sasquatch (which eventually put Walt’s consciousness in a Box robot).

Just as they settled on Heather taking over as leader, Mac returned, explaining he rewired his suit to teleport him away, ending up on a moon of Jupiter where an alien intelligence saved him with cybernetic enhancements. Unfortunately, this was a ruse by Delphine, Jaxon’s robot assistant, who turned herself into a mock Guardian to lead Alpha Flight into a trap set by a regrouped Omega Flight. Canadian mutant and former Gamma Flight member, Madison Jeffries, came to their rescue.

Invasion of Atlantis

When Namor was dethroned and replaced by Attuma, Marinna was made a prisoner. Namor sent a loyalist to Alpha Flight’s mansion to ask for their help, but Vindicator was apprehensive since Atlantis was a sovereign nation that chose Attuma. Any attempt to rescue Marinna would be seen as an act of war, but her teammates were willing to risk it for Marinna’s sake. Outfitted with submarine suits designed by Jeffires and Bochs, the team began their assault, only to be met with Namor and his backup, The Avengers, carrying out their own assault.

The combined might of both teams managed to break Attuma’s forces and give Namor a chance to take on Attuma by himself. Meanwhile, Northstar frees Marinna, but her alien physiology has mutated her into a more feral form. She was pregnant after a forced encounter with another member of her race, The Plodex. Ashamed, she fled both her team and Namor. When they caught up with her, they debated how to handle Marinna's pregnancy and whether or not she could raise hatchlings with Earth morality.

Before they could come to a decision, Marinna's Plodex mate attacked. Heather took it upon herself to slay both Plodex aliens, but Namor refused to give up Marinna without a fight. This inspired Marinna to fight back against her mate's thrall. Backed up by her team and her lover, the Plodex mate was killed. Without the mate's call, Marinna returned to her usual appearance. Atlantis ultimately welcomed her as Namor's true love and the two of them were married.

Body Swaps

Tanaraq, the spirit of the Sasquatch, would occasionally take over Langkowski’s body, causing him to lash out in Sasquatch form. One instance, Sasquatch became uncontrollable, forcing Snowbird to take her own Sasquatch form and rip out his heart, the only way to quell Tanaraq’s control over Langkowski. For the time being, Walter’s body would inhabit the Box robot, but he longed for an organic body. With Bochs help, they tried to summon another organic body but accidentally called forth the Hulk. While possessing the Hulk, he learned that his old acquaintance Bruce Banner was also merged with the Hulk. To not let Banner die, Walt chose to go to the spirit realm.

Later, Snowbird would lose her husband, child, and own life to the villainous Pestilence. After the funeral, Pestilence managed to possess Snowbird’s body and transform into a Sasquatch to fight Alpha Flight. Luckily at the same time, Walt’s spirit managed to possess the catatonic body of Smart Alec, which was under the care of Shaman. When the Sasquatch attacked, Walt was able to jump from Smart Alec to the Box armor again. Using an energy pulse from the robot, Pestilence was driven out of Snowbird’s body and into Shaman’s pouch where he was imprisoned. This allowed Walt to take over Snowbird’s body and be Sasquatch once again. Except, when he shapeshifted back to human, he was in Snowbird’s feminine form, now using the name Wanda.

In addition to her powers, Wanda was able to tap into Snowbird’s knowledge of mythology lore. When the team moved to the Arctic Circle and she suffered an identity crisis, Wanda started molding the Great Beasts, this gave the Great Beasts a conduit to the living world. They said Wanda was still connected to Tanaraq through her Sasquatch form, but Snowbird knew better. It gave Wanda the ability to refuse any connections to them and force them back into their spirit realm.

Bedlam and Beta Flight

Due to the multiple roster shakeups, Gary Cody, the government’s liaison to Alpha Flight, felt like he was losing control of the team. Under the guise of war games with the military, Cody snuck into the Alpha Flight HQ to steal data from their computer system. Within the system he found records on Bedlam, a convicted felon with latent superpowers found by Mac and Logan in the earliest days of the Flight. Mac believed he could make more superhumans from Bedlam, which inspired Cody to investigate homegrown, controllable superhumans. Unfortunately, messing with the comatose Bedlam causes him to wake up and kill Cody.

Wanting revenge on Mac, he hunted down Alpha Flight and kidnapped them during a training session with their newest recruits. Jeffries managed to evade him by burying his mind in the Box armor. He was only reactivated when Wolverine arrived thanks to an automated distress signal Mac set up before he died. Bedlam held Alpha Flight and other Canadian superhumans captive in an Arctic Circle complex. He decides to pit the Alpha Flight members against four other superhumans for the right to become the basis of his new master race. Wolverine and Jeffries arrived to even the odds, but Bedlam started to kill his other superhumans. Feeling her hand was forced, Vindicator blasted Bedlam ending the fight.

Since their HQ was destroyed by Bedlam, they decided to take over his Arctic Circle Complex. They also decided to commit to a new Beta Flight with new recruits:

• Purple Girl - The daughter of Purple Man who had been with the team for awhile
• Manikin - An associate of Scramble with a latent ability
• Laura Dean - A girl who saved her mutant twin from her bigot parents by sending her to another dimension
• Goblyn - Pathway’s feral twin who switches places with her sister

The Wraith of the Dreamqueen

Alpha Flight came to the attention of the Dreamqueen thanks to their new recruits Goblyn and Pathway. Pathway could open portals to other dimensions, and she used that power to hide Goblyn from their bigoted parents in Dreamqueen’s world. She saw them as a means of escape. When Alpha Flight ended up in her realm, she attacked them and tried to follow back through their gateway, but Puck sacrificed himself to hold her back. Unfortunately, she planted a seed in each of the Alpha Flight members' minds that would give them nightmares. Every time they dreamt fear, their connection to her grew. This eventually drew her to former Flight member, Talisman, who could channel the power of the elder gods and just found a dream totem working as an archeologist. Stealing and combining all those powers, Dreamqueen manifested on Earth.

The only thing that could stop Dreamqueen was the talisman crown, which Talisman had given to Shaman. Talisman led Alpha Flight to his location, but Dreamqueen had possessed Sasquatch in order to steal the weapon. Because Sasquatch was possessing Snowbird, she had access to the crown’s power. The spirit of Snowbird used magic to transform her old body into Walter, cutting him off from the crown and by extension the Dreamqueen. Walter returned the crown to Talisman, who returned to her old superhero alias, but the Dreamqueen had taken over the city of Edmonton with her fear.

The closer to Edmonton they got the more they were challenged by the Dreamqueen’s forces. She had manipulated a China Force into attacking Alpha Flight. Then, all of Edmonton was found asleep and their individual nightmare illusions started manifesting as distractions. Talisman recognized their vulnerability and led them to the wrong location while she went off to fight Dreamqueen herself. The team eventually figured out her ruse and came to her rescue. She had Dreamqueen on the ropes, giving Pathway the opportunity to open a portal back to her dream realm, which Talisman knocked her through.

Earth War

Alpha Flight was targeted by Llan the Sorcerer, a longtime nemesis of anyone who wears the Talisman crown. He and his demons posed as members of the Canadian government and framed the team for treason. Luckily, Talisman ran off ahead of the team to confront Llan. She found he had opened the Gateway to Night, a portal to a demon world and sent a psychic message back to whoever was in the Alpha Fight HQ. This included the government’s new superteam Gamma Flight, which was independent of Alpha and hunting them down. The psychic message convinced them to stop and join Alpha Flight in the fight against Llan.

Pathway opens a portal for both teams to join beside Talisman and fight the demon army. They were also rejoined by Northstar and Aurora, who used their blinding light power to drive the demons insane. Unfortunately, Llan managed to stop Talisman from opening the Gateway of Day to release the rivals of Llan, while the second wave of his demon thrall was even stronger and more ferocious than the last.

Northstar and Aurora used their superspeed to get to New York and recruit Doctor Strange. Strange used the Eye of Agamotto to teleport the twins and himself into the dimension connected by the Gateway of Day so that they could open the gateway from the other side. The added light army gave them the edge they needed to push back the demons and scare Llan into retreating.

Building Blocks

In the face of continued government criticism, the concept of Alpha Flight was brought before committee yet again. They had to decide to keep Alpha Flight, Gamma Flight, or a combination of the two. While they deliberated, Alpha Flight’s membership continued to change without their input.

Diamond Lil and Jeffries were sent to help an independent contractor, Windshear. Windshear was a mutant with the ability to manipulate air. He was dealing with machinery that seemingly had a mind of its own. Jeffries alone couldn’t interface with it, so with some help from Forge they found the source of the problem, the cybernetic body of Mac Hudson who timeslipped when his Guardian suit exploded back at the beginning of the team. They were able to unlock him from the machinery so he and Windshear could join the team.

At the same time, Wild Child reacted badly to the news that he could be let go from either team. He acted out, tried attacking some of the Canadian government officials, and ran off. Heather attempted to lead a co-op team. Nemesis, who led Gamma Flight, grew jealous of Heather trying to upstage her. She ended up helping Wild Child escape, however, the rest of her team signed on. Around the same time, a few Alphans found Puck being experimented on by the Master of the World. After rescuing him, he also rejoined the team.

The committee ultimately agreed to build a new Department H headquarters in Toronto. Alpha would be the main field team. Gamma would be a research and development department of superhuman studies, while Beta will be for recruitment and training of new members.

The Crossing Line

The People’s Corpse, a Russian terrorist group, hijacked a British nuclear sub to threaten the world and sailed the vessel to Newfoundland, Canada for repairs after a run-in with Atlanteans. The Avengers were sent after it by the United Nations and teamed up with the People’s Protectorate, a Russian superhuman group that felt responsible for the terrorist group. The standoff got the attention of Alpha Flight, who swooped in to protect their home soil. Captain America convinced both teams to follow Heather’s leadership. She negotiated with the terrorists, granting them the ability to repair their ship under peaceful conditions. This allowed the Russian android, Vostok, to scan the sub.

Using his data, the teams planned a small infiltration team. They were able to take out almost the entire terrorist cell, but the last two members were rigged to the weapons computer. Just as they found them, the Atlanteans that previously attacked the sub caught up with them. The remaining members of all three teams defend the sub from the Atlanteans, while Vision tries to safely disconnect the two terrorists. Unfortunately, he missed the failsafe. When the sub exploded, they were all saved by Shaman, who pulled anyone in the blast radius into his bag.

The people still absorbed fatal levels of radiation, which they were immune to as long as they were in the bag. That mix of radiation and mysticism turned the two remaining terrorists into a single being calling itself Combine. They fought back against Shaman to release the radiation. The three teams did their best to protect the civilians, eventually joined by the Atlanteans and other terrorists looking to save their own lives. The terrorists volunteered to merge with Combine and try to sway his mind, which worked, while the Atlanteans volunteered to exit the nexus plane to test that the radiation safely dissipated, which it had.

No Future

Public opinion on superhumans was starting to decline, thanks in part to a chemical exposure that hurt Manikin but leaked to the press as a superhuman disease. This gave member of parliament, Robert Hagon, the opportunity to push his superhuman registration bill. Hagon was working with Master of the World (under the alias Joshua Lord) to continue making supers look bad thanks to his armored militia, The Hardliners. The Hardliners also kidnapped their newest member, Feedback, who joined Alpha Flight to escape them in the first place.

Heather had a nightmare of a Canadian coup led by Joshua Lord and his Hardliners, so she was determined to stop them. Leveraging Feedback’s safety, the Hardliners challenged Alpha Flight to a training op. Alpha Flight thought they were getting a chance to show they were better, but the Hardliners lined it with traps and even openly attacked the team. Luckily, the team made it through and freed Feedback, but when they did they were confronted by Lord, revealing himself as The Master, joined by a new Omega Flight and an enslaved Guardian, who had previously sacrificed himself against Galactus.

Omega Flight managed to get a jump on Alpha Flight, nearly beating them, but the Dreamqueen, who had been manipulating their dreams to prepare them to take on the Master of the World, manipulated Puck’s dreams one more time. With new inspiration, Puck sneaked into the Hardliner’s HQ, took control of their defense systems, and called in Beta Flight for backup. However, it was still not enough firepower. It wasn’t until Heather finally reached Mac and turned him to their side that they were able to turn the tide of the fight.

Despite this, the Canadian government demanded they disband once again. And just like the first time, they each decided if they wanted to continue despite the government's urging.

Reunion

After many years apart, the team was called back together, led by Mac, to deal with a new Zodiac. The new team included Sasquatch, Vindicator, Puck, Jeffries, and new recruits: Radius, Flex, Manbot, Ghost Girl, and Murmur. The team was off though. To purge Mac of his alien cybernetics, Department H used an old program that reduced him in age to 19. Sasquatch was also more feral than he used to be, because he was secretly a real Sasquatch and not Walter Langkowski. After Jeffries was captured by Zodiac, Department H wiped the memories of the other teammates.

While the team were on a mission in Japan, Northstar arrived at Department H looking for Aurora. He was intercepted by Shaman and the real Sasquatch. They had Aurora and the real Mac and were planning to assault the new team and the shifty new Department H. They knew about Dept H’s experiments with a new bacteria, which Aurora was currently infected with. They needed help from a new Weapon X who is somehow living with the disease. The new Alpha Flight was also assigned to apprehend.

Luckily, the two Guardians seem to be sharing vague thoughts and feelings. It allowed the two of them to trust each other, despite their teammates fighting. The two Macs combined their electro-magnetic fields to enclose a nuclear device that this new Weapon X tried to set off. Afterward, the two teams were brought back into the Dept H fold. The new recruits were transferred to Beta Flight including the young Mac, who was revealed to be a synthoid double.

The New 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

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.

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.

Alpha Strike

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

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

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 the strain put her in a coma. The non-mutant members of Alpha Flight that stayed behind were arrested and imprisoned for treason.

Work Release

After the fall of Orchis, most of the arrested members of Alpha Flight returned to active duty as prison release. Shaman was the only holdout. They were under the supervision of Department H member, Agent Arsenault, who would lead them as the new Vindicator. They sprang into action when alien pirates chased the Alaskan X-Men into Canadian airspace. Working together, they were able to defeat the pirates. Cyclops offered to jailbreak Alpha Flight, but Mac turned him down. He believed they shamed the system that imprisoned him with every life they save.

Arsenault later led the Alpha Flight into a few confrontations with Wolverine. Frist when he allied with a group of mutants calling themselves the New Morlocks, and then when a man infected with the T-O Virus threatened Mount St. Helens. Guardian decided to join Shaman and refuse participation, but Puck and the others were forced to fight Wolverine, who took it personally.

Other Realities

Earth 1610 (Ultimate)

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.

Heroes Reborn

When the world is remade with the Squadron Supreme as he Earth's Mightiest Heroes instead of the Avengers, Alpha Flight is still Canada's protector, but they were failing. The Squadron kept annexing parts of Canada and bombing other parts for daring to fight back. Alpha Flight was forced to go underground when Wolverine, a member in this reality gutted Hyperion with an enchanted upgrade. Other members included Shaman, Sasquatch, Aurora, and Guardian (the daughter of Mac and Heather).

Other Media

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

• 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.