MAJOR MAPLELEAF II

BIOGRAPHY

Louis “Lou” Edmond Sadler, Jr. and his older brother, Michael, were raised by their father, Louis Sadler - who, as the original Major  Mapleleaf aided the Invaders against Nazi Germany during World War II. One day, the two boys disobeyed their father and went up to the attic, searching for their baseball equipment, when they stumbled across gear belonging to their father from his super hero days. The two boys played happily, Michael put the Major Mapleleaf hat on his younger brother, until their father caught them playing with his things. In an attempt to teach him about honor, Louis Sadler began to beat his youngest son. [Alpha Flight (3rd series) #4]

Whereas Michael Sadler identified as gay and unfortunately later died of complications related to the AIDS virus, [Alpha Flight (1st series) #106] Lou grew up to be a polite, respectful and eager to please young man. He was constantly living in the shadow of his father, whom he had come to believe was a great man, despite the abuse he received at his father‘s hand.

Following in his father’s footsteps, Lou joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. [Alpha Flight (3rd series) #4]
In circumstances unrevealed, Lou discovered and befriended a super-powered horse, whom he called Thunder.

Lou even began calling himself Major Mapleleaf and eventually came to the attention of Dr. Walter Langkowski - the man known as Alpha Flight’s Sasquatch - who was assembling a new Alpha Flight team to rescue his captive teammates. Langkowski was somewhat reluctant to invite Lou to join the team, deeming him a bit too wide-eyed and naive.  However, when he learned that Langkowski had been investigating him, Lou tracked Langkowski down and pled his case for membership. No longer able to ignore Major Mapleleaf’s many apparent super-powers, Langkowski quickly interrupted him and told Lou that he was on the team. [Alpha Flight (3rd series) #1-2]

A short time later, the All-New, All-Different Alpha Flight had been assembled and they learned that their first mission was to rescue the original Alpha Flight from the Plodex, a savage race of alien beings. Major Mapleleaf was paired together with his new teammate, Yukon Jack, and sent to one the entry points to the Plodex base. En route, Major Mapleleaf tried to strike up a get-to-know-each-other conversation with Yukon Jack, but Yukon Jack was not interested in sharing personal information.

Eventually, the team made their way into the base and found themselves confronted by Plodex constructs mimicking the shapes and powers of the original Alpha Flight. The Plodex constructs were taken down with ease,  but it turned out that had been guarding thousands of Plodex eggs. Sasquatch was adamant that the Plodex needed to be destroyed before the savage aliens would have hatched, but Major Mapleleaf defiantly opposed his team leader. He believed that the unborn Plodex were innocent infants, who with the proper nurturing might not be a threat.

Centennial and the new Puck agreed with Major Mapleleaf, and the trio battled Sasquatch and Yukon Jack. In the meantime, the original Alpha Flight was freed by Nemesis and they volunteered to depart for space to return the Plodex eggs to their home world. Though he stood by his earlier decision not to execute the Plodex eggs, Major Mapleleaf informed Sasquatch that he would understand if he wished to withdraw his offer for membership, but Sasquatch did not and the All-New, All-Different Alpha Flight remained together. [Alpha Flight (3rd series) #3-6]

After taking the Plodex base as their new headquarters, the various members of Alpha Flight realized they had many things in their regular lives to sort out. Major Mapleleaf and the new Puck (Zuzha Yu) returned to Montreal. There, Zuzha instantly made a pass at Major Mapleleaf, asking him to ask her to spend the night with him, which left Major Mapleleaf speechless.  He had been awkward around his female teammates, but he agreed to have a few drinks together. Later that night, Lou and Zusha were about to have their first kiss when they were suddenly attacked by animated wax statues of American super heroes. During the battle, Zusha noticed that Major Mapleleaf never used his powers. With the rest of Alpha Flight’s help, the wax statues and the mastermind controlling them were easily stopped. In a quiet moment, Zusha confronted Major Mapleleaf that she had deduced that it was his horse and not Lou himself who had the super powers. However, Major Mapleleaf was not ready to admit that. [Alpha Flight (3rd series) #7-8]

Alpha Flight’s next adventure involved time travel, their first in fact, with former associate Flashback requiring their help to avoid his own death. After a seriously convoluted series of events, which involved past versions of several  Alpha Flight members being brought temporarily to the present, the team was restructured after the original Alpha Flight returned to Earth. Through all these changes, Major Mapleleaf and Zuzha continued their romantic relationship and eventually had a child together. Apparently, Major Mapleleaf also reconciled with his father. [Alpha Flight (3rd series) #9-12]

Both Major Mapleleaf and Zuzha were part of a new Alpha Flight line-up which made its debut when Michael Pointer, possessed by the collective mutant energies of all depowered mutants, caused a wave of destruction in Alaska. Tragically, the entire team, except for Sasquatch, was slain by Pointer. Apparently, their infant son was left in the care of Major Mapleleaf’s father. [New Avengers (1st series) #16] Since then, several members of Alpha Flight managed to return from the dead when the Chaos King tore apart the very fabric of the Underworld. Unfortunately, Major Mapleleaf was not among those lucky ones.