A superhero team created by
John Byrne and published
by
Marvel Comics. Alpha Flight first appeared in
Uncanny X-Men #120.
Alpha Flight was the premiere Canadian superhero team.
Created from the dream of John MacDonald Hudson, Alpha
Flight was administered under by the Canadian government
under a group called Department H.
Hudson recruited those who had super powers and set them
up in a training program. The program had at least three
levels with the most highly-trained being dubbed Alpha
Flight, the next level being Beta Flight, and the least
trained being called Gamma Flight.
The team's first adventure was to try and retrieve their
former member Wolverine when he and his associates
the X-Men landed in Canada. The conflict was resolved
with Wolverine willingly surrendered to the group, but he
later escaped.
The original members of Alpha Flight were:
Vindicator/Guardian
Sasquatch
Shaman
Snowbird
Northstar
Aurora
When Alpha Flight premiered in their own comic, two other
members joined the group:
Puck
Marinna
Over the course of their existence, Alpha Flight had a number
of other heroes join their ranks. They include:
Box
Diamond Lil
Talisman
Wild Child
Windshear
The group went through a number of crisis during its publication with its leader dying and being resurrected no less than twice. The team also has the first openly
gay superhero in the Marvel Universe, Northstar. In
Alpha Flight #106, Northstar announces in the midst of battle his sexual preference in reaction to a villain who
has gone on a rampage because of the death of his son to AIDS. The revelation was one of the most ham-fisted handlings of a character in all comicdom, though it did make an impact in the mainstream media.