ALPHA FLIGHT SPACE PROGRAM: Page 3 of 3

FROM SPACE TO CANADA TO HELL (AND BACK)

Team Appearances: Captain America: Steve Rogers #8, Star-Lord (2nd series) #1-2, 4, 6, Mighty Captain Marvel #0, 1-4, Old Man Logan (2nd series) #16, 18, Guardians of the Galaxy (4th series) #17, 19, Monsters Unleashed (2nd series) #2-3, Captain America: Steve Rogers #14, 16, Totally Awesome Hulk #18, Mighty Captain Marvel #5, Secret Empire #0, 3, Mighty Captain Marvel #6-7, Ultimates 2 (2nd series) #7, 9, Secret Empire: Brave New World #3, Secret Empire #7, Mighty Captain Marvel #8, Secret Empire #8-9, Mighty Captain Marvel #9, Captain Marvel (10th series) #125-129, Avengers (1st series) #675, 689, Incredible Hulk (1st series) #715-717, Champions (2nd series) #20-21, Avengers (7th series) #1-5, X-Men: Gold #28-29, Old Man Logan (2nd series) #46-47, Immortal Hulk #5-8, 10 -

Before:

• Dante Cruz previously appeared in the prose novel Black Widow: Forever Red.

Chronology:

Although the Civil War that shattered the superhuman community had come to an end, danger still loomed for Captain Marvel, Alpha Flight and all of Earth, as the aliens known as the Chitauri planned their own invasion. Captain Marvel and an AFSS crew were able to defeat the first wave of aliens, but an even larger second wave was on its way. It was during this time that Captain Marvel met Avril Kincaid, who had become the new Quasar and thus the new Protector of the Universe. Although Quasar defeated the second wave with ease, this frustrated Captain America, who was concerned that Avril wasn't ready for combat yet. This put him at odds with Captain Marvel, who as ever valued results. [Captain America: Steve Rogers #8]

As the Guardians of the Galaxy had become “grounded” on Earth following the destruction of their ship, the AFSS provided an apartment for Peter Quill, Star-Lord, to adjust to life back on Earth. However, Brand decided that her role was still to protect Earth from alien menaces and made it her mission to keep a watchful eye over Star-Lord. When Star-Lord was himself arrested after a bar fight, Brand showed up at his court hearing, convincing the judge to release him into her custody. Brand’s “mission” grew ever more frustrating, as Star-Lord continued to get himself into all sorts of trouble. Eventually having enough, Brand transported Peter back to the AFSS, gave him his guns back and told him to get off her planet. [Star-Lord (2nd series) #1-2, 4, 6]

Meanwhile, Carol continued to deal with her emotional aftermath from the Civil War, in particular being wrought with internal turmoil over her battle with Iron Man. Adding to her emotional angst was that the very conflict that had caused it had also made her a national celebrity and she was more popular than ever. Wendy Kawasaki and Abigail Brand both tried in their own way to help Carol deal with her issues, but the situation became surreal when Carol learned that a television show that had been commissioned based on her adventures. Carol visited the set but remained unimpressed.

Nevertheless, Carol’s duties as Captain Marvel continued and the AFSS soon found itself dealing with an influx of alien refugees. To address the problem, Alpha Flight Displaced Alien Refugee Camps were established. However, trouble followed the refugees and one such camp was targeted by a shapeshifting mercenary seeking a child from the Kree world of Hala. As Captain Marvel, Carol tracked down the mercenary and freed the young girl. Although the mercenary escaped, the child was brought back to the AFSS, where she met Puck, Sasquatch, Brand and Wendy, and was dubbed Bean.

While Captain Marvel’s priority was supporting the alien refugees and investigating the mercenary, she found the re-established Board of Governors had other plans. As the new Captain Marvel television show was financing the refugee camps, Carol was pressured to support it. When the TV show cast and crew came to the AFSS for filming, the space station was suddenly attacked by the mercenary, attempting to recapture the Hala child Bean. The attempt was foiled, but it more than galvanized Carol’s desire for answers.

Thinking they might lie in Bean’s genetics, Carol enlisted the aid of a Stark Industries scientist named Hopper. At Carol’s old home in Boston, Hopper examined Bean’s DNA and determined that she possessed the “HLA marker,” a genetic tag which emerges just before an evolutionary change is about to take place. Oddly enough, proximity to someone with such a marker seemed to rob Captain Marvel of control of her powers. Despite these dangers, when the mercenary kidnapped Bean soon thereafter, Captain Marvel tracked the shapeshifter to a lab, where she met Dr. Eve, the mercenary’s employer. Dr. Eve intended to use the combined DNA of Bean and other Hala children she had “liberated” to create a superweapon. Dr. Eve’s machinations seemed to backfire when Bean transformed into a being of pure energy, allowing the other children to escape and causing the doctor to flee. Although Carol seemed saddened, the newly cosmic Bean assured her that she belonged among the stars. [Mighty Captain Marvel #0, 1-4]

When a horde of Brood suddenly attacked the Alpha Flight Space Station, Sasquatch and several other crewmembers quickly fell to the aliens and became hosts. Fortunately, Puck and Brand were able to get a distress call to Old Man Logan, who was quick to respond. On the station, he found himself attacked by the Brood-possessed Sasquatch and Brand. Fortunately, along with the help of the uninfected Puck and the arrival of Iceman and the time-displaced Marvel Girl, the Brood were defeated and the transformed Alphan reverted to their human selves. [Old Man Logan (2nd series) #16, 18]

Grounded on Earth following the destruction of the Guardians’ spaceship, Gamora no doubt thought that her quest to destroy her adopted father, Thanos, was on hold. However, when she learned that Thanos was being held captive in the Triskelion, Gamora vowed revenge. Learning of this, Captain Marvel intended to stop any attack by Gamora on the facility by forming a strike team comprised of Sasquatch, the Ultimates members Spectrum and America Chavez and even Aurora. Although the fight was close, the team was able to take Gamora into custody. This did not last long, however, as Gamora quickly escaped, intent on her revenge. However, she had never had her chance, as Thanos had escaped some weeks before and Gamora once again faced arrest. [Guardians of the Galaxy (4th series) #17] Gamora’s time in custody was short, as she was allowed to depart with the rest of the Guardians after they gained possession of another starship and headed back into space. Carol, Brand, Puck and Sasquatch were among those gathered to bid them farewell. [Guardians of the Galaxy (4th series) #19]

When giant monsters called Leviathons began to rain from gthe sky across the Earth, the Alpha Flight Space Station monitored the attack from orbit. When one particularly large monster approached the planet, Brand kept track of the monster from aboard the AFSS, while Carol led an Alpha Flight squadron, including Puck and Sasquatch, to battle the creature. Carol was able to absorb the energy from the monster and re-direct it back at itself, blowing the huge creature up. Carol remained in space to deal with any other creatures that passed by the AFSS. [Monsters Unleashed (2nd series) #2-3]

Ever since learning of an approaching Chitauri horde toward Earth, the AFSS had been looking for a planetary defend system. The answer came in the form of a massive force field that would surround planet. Accompanied by Captain America, Captain Marvel supervised the launch of the system, which indeed survived not only nuclear weapons, but the firepower of the most powerful of Earth’ cosmic-powered heroes, including Avril Kincaid, the current Quasar. To Carol's horror, only days later the planetary defense system was put in jeopardy when a Hydra suicide bomber detonated an explosion at the base station of the force field, crippling the shield system and leaving the Earth nearly defenseless against the arriving Chitauri. Even more bizarrely, after Steve Rogers was officially appointed by the US government to be head of Earth’s planetary defenses, he suddenly announced that he was not only allied with Hydra but was now their leader, the Hydra Supreme. [Captain America: Steve Rogers #14, 16]

The Chitauri were not the only threat to the people of Earth. Around this time, an alien invader called Prince Regent Phalkan kidnapped Amadeus Cho, the current Hulk, and several other heroes and civilians, intending to use them as a source of food for their home planet. In the end, the Hulk and his allies foiled the aliens, holding them long enough for Alpha Flight to arrive to take the aliens. [Totally Awesome Hulk #18]

Until the planetary shield was repaired by Iron Man, the Alpha Flight Space Station remained the primary defense for Earth as waves of alien Chitauri kept approaching. As such, the AFSS became a hub for all space-active heroes, including the AFSS crew, the Ultimates, Hyperion, Avril Kincaid and the Guardians of the Galaxy (who didn't get too far after previously leaving Earth). Among the AFFS’s preparations were inducting new recruits, such as Dante Cruz, Glory and A'Di and her drone Itz, three youths who joined the station’s personnel as Alpha Flight Cadets. While Carol supervised their initial training, Wendy Kawasaki and Hopper began work on the antidote to the HLA-12, which was still causing problems for Captain Marvel’s powers since her encounter with Dr. Eve.

When the Chitauri invasion force finally arrived, the AFSS and its heroes fought both valiantly and desperately against the aliens. It seemed Alpha Flight’s fortunes turned when the planetary defense shield was reactivated. However, it was at this moment the Steve Rogers struck as the Hydra Supreme, using the shield to surround the Earth with an impenetrable shield and thus not only preventing Captain Marvel and the AFSS from getting through it, but leaving them defenseless against the next wave of Chitauri. To make matters worse, Carol's most powerful ally, Quasar, was terribly wounded in battle and the Alpha Flight Space Station's power supply and life support began to deplete. [Mighty Captain Marvel #5, Secret Empire #0]

Captain Marvel, Puck, Sasquatch, Brand, the Cadets, the Guardians of the Galaxy, Spectrum, America and Hyperion barely had time to rest and recover when the next wave of Chitauri arrived. Desperate for help, Carol sent the Guardians into deep space to find assistance. In the meantime, despite their agent the young cadets proved their worth, first by defending themselves against attacking Chitauri and then using the AFSS’ defenses against the horde. Captain Marvel herself also proved instrumental, ordering the other space-based heroes into defensive strategies that crushed the latest wave. Unfortunately, more waves kept coming and even the brilliant minds of the Ultimates and the power of the Starbrand were not punch a hole in the shield long enough for the heroes to flee through. [Secret Empire #3, Mighty Captain Marvel #6-7, Ultimates 2 (2nd series) #7, 9, Secret Empire: Brave New World #3]

Despite her leadership, Carol found herself facing dissention amongst her allies, as Spectrum suggested that they should consider abandoning the struggling AFSS and relocating to another world. Nevertheless, Carol was determined that they would stay and fight. This remained fortuitous, as the Alpha cadets soon after discovered something about the Chitauri's flight plans, which led them to believe they knew where the Chitauri's queen was – on Earth. Unfortunately, this information remained unusable on the far side of the barrier. It was the Guardians of the Galaxy that offered a solution, using a nullifier bomb in their possession. However, to detonate it, they would need to destroy the AFSS. Captain Marvel determined that this was their only way and ordered the Alpha Flight Space Station abandoned. As the crew were dispatched into shuttles, the AFSS dropped against the force field but even its explosion only weakened to shield. The final push needed to collapse the shield was made by Avril Kincaid, who used the last of her power as Quasar to shatter the shield. Tragically, she died in the process. Captain Marvel quickly flew to a farmhouse on Earth where the Chitauri hatchery was located and destroyed it, ending the Chitauri invasion altogether. [Secret Empire #7, Mighty Captain Marvel #8, Secret Empire #8] Earth’s fortunes continued to improve as the heroes that had been left trapped beneath the barrier had assembled the shards of the cosmic cube which the Red Skull had used to rewrite Steve Rogers personal history. Kobik, the embodiment of the cube itself, allowed Steve Rogers to literally fight his Hydra side. With his defeat, the Hydra side of Rogers was destroyed and the true Steve Rogers emerged reborn. [Secret Empire #9]

With the space station destroyed, the new Alpha Flight Space Initiative was effectively ended and Carol had to break the news to Brand, Sasquatch, Puck and the Alpha Cadets that they would not be going back into space anytime soon. [Mighty Captain Marvel #9] Instead, Carol and her senior crew were given workspace at Columbia University but this too was not to last. On behalf of the Alpha Flight Board of Governors, Black Panther advised the team that there was no funding to rebuild the AFSS, so the team went their separate ways. Carol, however, found a new purpose after being plagued by more appearances of Bean, who now appeared to her as a teenager. After Bean warned her that she was in danger, Carol gathered her crew back together and eventually located an abandoned space shuttle they hoped to upgrade. It wasn't all smooth sailing, however, as both Dr. Eve and Mim the mercenary set into motion the next part of their plan, stealing Carol's DNA from Columbia University. When the pair fled into space, Carol gave chase with her crew in the shuttle behind her. The chase proved short-lived as Carol and Dr. Eve’s ship suddenly vanished. [Captain Marvel (10th series) #125]

Carol suddenly found herself in an alternate reality, where that universe’s Carol led the team of thieves known as Zeta Flight, consisting of a bald Sasquatch, a meek Eugene Judd and a brave Wendy Kawasaki, all malevolent versions of her universe’s colleagues. Mistaken for that universe’s Carol Danvers, known as “the Corporal,” Carol took on the role of this reality’s dark counterpart and rallied her “new” crew to investigate Dr. Eve's whereabouts. After encounters with this reality's Black Widow and Lord Starkill and his Ravagers, Carol discovered that Dr. Eve was attempting to steal the Reality Stone to transfer this dark reality's Hala back to the Prime Earth's universe. Fortunately, Carol was able to team up with Bean and instead teleported the two of them back to their own reality, leaving Dr. Even and Zeta Flight behind. Once back in Earth space, she discovered that the AFSS had been rebuilt and her former crew were returning to their previous post of protecting Earth. [Captain Marvel (10th series) #125-129]

When the Earth mysteriously vanished during a cosmic game played out by the Grandmaster and the Challenger, the Alpha Flight Space Station was left floating in empty space. Captain Marvel ordered probes and long-range scans, while also contacting other space stations to find out what had happened to the Earth and its moon. Fortunately, the Avengers of Earth were able to defeat the cosmic gods, after which the Earth and its moon were restored to their rightful place. [Avengers (1st series) #675, 689]

After Amadeus Cho defeated a group of criminal aliens from Seknarf Seven, Sasquatch and several AFSS crewmembers arrived to take the into custody after Amadeus Cho had defeated them. However, in the process, Amadeus lost control of his gamma persona and his Hulk persona took over, resulting in a fight between the Hulk and his several of his allies. Neither Sasquatch’s attempts at reason nor Captain Marvel’s strength did any good. Fortunately, Amadeus was eventually talked down by his sister and taken into custody. [Incredible Hulk (2nd series) #715-717]

Captain Marvel, Puck and Sasquatch found themselves back on Earth a short time later and were working alongside Snowbird and Talisman when the teenage heroes known as the Champions stumbled upon a mysterious facility from which the Master of the World was operating. To their surprise, the Master was using his alien technology to repair the melting glaciers in the Arctic Circle. Alpha Flight were naturally opposed to anything the Master was passing off as helpful but the Champions were prepared to listen to his plan. Disagreement soon led to blows and a fight followed. The teams were fairly evenly matched, until their battle was interrupted by the arrival of a young woman who had gained power from Sila, the soul of the north. Although the two teams initially fought the young girl, who appeared to them as a large creature, they teamed up when the girl revealed that the Master had awakened Sila in an attempt to steal her power. Alpha Flight and the Champions united to fight the Master of the World, but he nonetheless escaped, distracting them as his facility self-destructed. Alpha Flight offered to take the young woman, Amka, into their care, but she opted to align herself with the Champions as Snowguard. [Champions (2nd series) #20-21]

The AFSS received some unexpected visitors when a team of X-Men transported themselves aboard, in need of deep-space transport to pursue a rocket with a dangerous virus aboard. Puck loaned them a spacecraft – which the X-Men used to crash into a Roxxon space station. The X-Men were unable to prevent the virus from being launched, so Puck used his fighter pilot skills to shoot down as many virus pods as he was able, while Sasquatch took a spacecraft over to the Roxxon space station to rescue the stranded X-Men. With Puck's help, the X-Men were able to destroy all of the virus pods. Unfortunately for the X-Men on the Roxxon space station, Sasquatch was knocked out and the space station was on self-destruct. The X-Men had no knowledge on how to fly the AFSS shuttle, so Prestige telepathically tore the information from Sasquatch's and gave it to Gambit, who managed to pilot the X-Men to safety, just as the Roxxon space station exploded. [X-Men: Gold #28-29]

Puck returned to Earth to work with some of the Canadian-based Alpha Flight (Guardian, Snowbird and Shaman), who met up with Old Man Logan. Shaman had some tests to run on the ailing time-displaced mutant, and Alpha Flight had some investigation to make in Nova Scotia, where the residents of a small town had vanished. Old Man Logan joined the heroes and arrived at the town, which they found covered in an immense network of purple vines. The vines ultimately led to a purple sphere, which contained the corpses of the missing townsfolk. Threatened, the vine creature fought back but was eventually overcome. Fortunately, some of the townsfolk had survived and the Canadian government soon arrived to help them rebuild. Back on the space station, Puck informed Logan that the AFSS satellites had found this world's Wolverine and offered his help for Old Man Logan to meet his younger self. Logan declined, so Puck dropped him at a gas station to confront his past on his own. [Old Man Logan (2nd series) #46-47]

After noticing that he had become more aggressive in the field, Carol became concerned that in the year since the AFSS had been up and running, Sasquatch had never appeared in his human form as Walter. Although he rebuffed her concerns when she and Puck tried to talk to him about this, he soon came to believe that there was indeed a problem. Taking a leave of absence, Walter decided to seek out Bruce Banner, having come to believe that his old colleague was still alive despite having been killed during the Civil War. His best course of action, he felt, was to contact reporter Jackie McGee, who was investigating the very Hulk sightings that had caused Walter to believe that Bruce was not dead. While drinking with Jackie in a bar, Walter became embroiled in a fight and was literally stabbed in the back. Although he made it to the hospital, Walter died, only to find himself resurrected as Sasquatch. Seemingly possessed by a malevolent force, Sasquatch was confronted by the Hulk, who had been drawn to Walter due to their connection to gamma energy. It was soon learned that what had happened to Walter had happened to Bruce, he had been resurrected as the Hulk upon Banner’s death. The two behemoths battled fiercely but the fight came to an end when the Hulk was able to absorb the gamma radiation from Sasquatch, freeing him from the possession, and restoring him to Walter Langkowski, who no longer “felt” Sasquatch inside of him. [Immortal Hulk #3-5]

Walter returned to the AFSS, along with Jackie McGee. Shaman journeyed to the AFSS to run some mystical tests on Walter, and was able to confirm that Tanaraq was not responsible for Walter's recent possession. As Puck tried to piece together the events that led to Walter's death at the pub, it was Shaman who theorized that “The One Below All” may have been responsible for these mysterious events. Theories were put aside when Captain Marvel announced that the US Hulk Operations department was now threatening Walter with lethal injection – unless the Hulk could be captured. Knowing they needed help, Carol and Alpha Flight enlisted the aid of the Avengers, who indeed aided in finding and confronting the Hulk. Although an entire town was destroyed in the process, the Hulk was taken into custody by the US Hulk Operations. Carol attempted to keep some oversight of what was going on, but lost track of the Hulk's remains. In attempt to take back some control and find the Hulk’s remains, she reinstated Walter on active duty aboard the Alpha Flight Space Station, putting him in charge of a special taskforce called Gamma Flight. In turn, Walter enlisted Jackie McGee to help him on his assignment. [Immortal Hulk #6-8]

Operating from the AFSS, Sasquatch, Puck, Jackie and the rest of his Gamma Flight team soon had tracked the Hulk to the site of the original gamma bomb blast in New Mexico, where he was currently fighting the Absorbing Man. The true threat at this time, though, was a demonic entity taking the form of Banner’s father, who had possessed the Absorbing Man to absorb the area’s gamma radiation to open the mysterious, so-called “Green Door.” On the other side was a Hell dimension, into which all present were transported.

In Hell, the One Below All revealed itself and it became clear that it intended to use the gamma radiation to invade Earth through the “Green Door” and bring about the end of the world. Despite the awesome power the One Below All possessed, the Hulk was proved once again to be the strongest one there is. After the Green Door was closed, the Alphans found themselves back in New Mexico, with Banner missing. Noting this help during that crisis, Puck invited the Absorbing Man to join Gamma Flight, which he accepted. For her part, Jackie had trouble processing what she saw in Hell and needed time on her own, unsure if anyone would ever believe her story. [Immortal Hulk #10-13]

Afterwards:

• With Captain Marvel now basing herself back on Earth, the future of the AFSS is undetermined.