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Omega Flight

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Omega Flight
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceJerome Jaxon's Team
Alpha Flight #11
Masters of the World's Team
Alpha Flight #110
The Initiative Team
Omega Flight #1
Created byJaxon's team
John Byrne
The Initiative team
Michael Avon Oeming
Scott Kolins
Department H's Team
Jonathan Hickman
Mike Deodato

Omega Flight is the name used by four teams of fictional characters with superpowers in the Marvel Universe, one of the few Canadian teams published by an American comic book company. Omega Flight first appeared in the pages of Alpha Flight as a supervillain team. The latest incarnations have been comprised of heroes.

Publication history

The Omega Flight assembled for Jerome Jaxon first appeared in Alpha Flight #11-#13 (June - August 1984). Their further appearances include: Alpha Flight #26-#28 (September - November 1985), in a flashback in Alpha Flight # 51 (October 1987) and Alpha Flight vol. 3, #9 (January 2005).

The Omega Flight team assembled by the Master first appeared in Alpha Flight #110-#112 (July - September 1992). They appeared again in Alpha Flight #128-#130 (January - March 1994).

The next team to bear the Omega Flight name was a group of heroes. The team made their first appearance in the one-shot Civil War: The Initiative (April 2007). They further appeared in Omega Flight #1-#5 (June - October 2007), created by Michael Avon Oeming and Scott Kolins. Further appearances include: Marvel Presents vol. 2, #3 (January 2008); Marvel Presents vol. 2, #9 (July 2008); Marvel Presents vol.2, #12 (October 2008); Mighty Avengers #21 (March 2009); and Mighty Avengers #23 (May 2009).

The most recent team was a group of heroes assembled by Department H. Their only appearances were in Avengers vol. 5, #9-#10 (June 2013).

Fictional team biography

Jerome Jaxon's Team

The name of Omega Flight is originally used by a group of super-villains assembled with the specific purpose of killing the original Alpha Flight - particularly its founder, the original Guardian.

Delphine Courtney, the robotic assistant to Jerome Jaxon, recruited superhuman operatives to join Omega Flight as part of Jaxon's revenge scheme against James McDonald Hudson. Jaxon had been Hudson's boss and blamed Hudson for his dismissal. All of Courtney's recruits had been members of the then disbanded Beta and Gamma Flights.[1] It included:

  • Delphine Courtney (MX39147) - Courtney is a robot with superhuman strength and durability, along with enhanced sight and hearing. She is destroyed by Madison Jeffries.[2]
  • Diamond Lil (Lillian Crawley) - Diamond Lil is a mutant with a bio-aura force field, giving her superhuman durability. She is killed in Selene's attack on Utopia.[3]
  • Flashback (Gardner Monroe) - Flashback is a mutant with the ability to bring future versions of himself into the present.
  • Jerome Jaxon - Jaxon is a human who controls the Box robot as a member of the team. He is killed by feedback when Vindicator overloads the robot.[4]
  • Smart Alec (Alexander Thorne) - Smart Alec is a mutant super-genius. He is killed when he looks into Shaman's pouch, destroying his mind.[4]
  • Wild Child (Kyle Gibney) - Wild Child is a mutant with superhuman speed, agility, reflexes and senses. He also has a healing factor, retractable claws and limited ability to communicate with animals. He is killed when Omega Red throws him into molten steel.[5]

The Master's Team

The second incarnation is organized by the Master. Once again, the purpose of the team's creation is to destroy Alpha Flight. The membership includes:

  • Bile (Tom Preston) - Bile has the ability to secrete viruses, giving him a deadly touch. He is killed by the Master when the team fails to defeat Alpha Flight.[6]
  • Brain Drain (Werner Schmidt) - Brain Drain is a human that uses alien technology to control the minds of others.
  • Miss Mass (Gillian Pritikin) - Miss Mass possesses superhuman strength and density. She is killed by the Master when the team fails to defeat Alpha Flight.[6]
  • Sinew (William Knox) - Sinew has an appearance that resembles an animal, including a tail. He has enhanced physical abilities. He is killed by the Master when the team fails to defeat Alpha Flight.[6]
  • Strongarm (Steve Caidin) - Strongarm is a human with cybernetically-enhanced right arm, granting him superhuman strength. He is killed by the Master when the team fails to defeat Alpha Flight.[6]
  • Tech-Noir (Gale Cameron) - Tech-Noir is a cyborg with the power of flight and rocket launchers in her wrists. She is killed by the Master when the team fails to defeat Alpha Flight.[6]

Initiative Team

Omega Flight
Art by Scott Kolins

This team emerges from the aftermath of Marvel's Civil War crossover storyline. The lineup includes elements of the original Canadian super-team Alpha Flight as well as other superheroes, mostly American superheroes on loan from S.H.I.E.L.D. thanks to Iron Man and the Initiative. The team roster was meant to include Arachne, Michael Pointer as the new Guardian, Sasquatch, U.S. Agent, Beta Ray Bill and Talisman, but changes to the story after Omega Flight was reduced to a limited series meant that the final two never actually joined the team.[7]

Former Alpha Flight member Sasquatch acts as recruiter for the team. After his attempts at recruiting Talisman are initially rebuffed, Sasquatch is forced to battle the rampaging Wrecking Crew alone, and he is defeated. Upon learning of her friend's capture, Talisman accepts the offer to join Omega Flight, even for a temporary basis. As the Wrecking Crew carve a path of destruction towards Toronto, Talisman, driven by a series of mysterious visions, joins up with U.S. Agent and Arachne in Ottawa, but not before lambasting Iron Man and blaming him for the supervillain crisis that has engulfed Canada. Somewhat concerned about the presence of Americans on a Canadian superhero team, Talisman reacts violently when she learns that Michael Pointer, the man who killed Alpha Flight as the Collective, has become the new Guardian.

Meanwhile, the Wrecking Crew (along with the captured Sasquatch) storm into the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto, drawn there by visions. Also present in the museum is Simon Walters, the human avatar of Beta Ray Bill, who has also been receiving the visions leading him to the ROM's exhibit on the Great Beasts. Opening a portal to the Realm of the Great Beasts, the Wrecking Crew is further empowered by Tanaraq, who also summons a horde of Surtur demons to aid the Crew in destroying the world. Spurred into action, Walters unveils himself as Beta Ray Bill and engages the villains, who ultimately prove too strong for the Korbinite warrior to handle. As the Wrecking Crew and the Surtur demons spill out onto the streets of Toronto, Talisman, Arachne and U.S. Agent arrive to confront them. While Omega Flight is capable of holding off the villains and their demonic allies with the assistance of Beta Ray Bill, the situation takes a turn for the worse when Tanaraq possesses and empowers Sasquatch. The team is saved by the eleventh-hour intervention of Pointer, who devastates the ranks of demons and even throws away the Wrecking Crew, but refuses to kill the possessed Sasquatch even as his life is threatened by him.

With no other viable options left, Talisman uses the power of Shaman's medicine bag to exorcise Tanaraq's hold over Sasquatch and the Wrecking Crew, draining them of their newfound powers. Seizing the bag, Beta Ray Bill lures the demons back into the Realm of the Great Beasts claiming he has been in worse situations before. Forcing Guardian to seal the portal behind him, he effectively sacrifices himself to save the planet. With Tanaraq's plot foiled and the Surtur demons locked away, Omega Flight is able to defeat the Wrecking Crew and finally bring them into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody.

After the battle, the team finally begins to establish itself as a functioning unit. Guardian is able to move past his guilt over his role in the Collective incident. U.S. Agent finally retrieves his genuine shield from the Purple Man, defeating the villain in the process, Sasquatch helps out with the reconstruction efforts in Toronto but afterwards is still guilt-ridden over what he did while possessed and disappears. Talisman retires from active duty to serve as her tribe's shaman. Arachne decides to remain with the team. The series ends with Beta Ray Bill locked in eternal combat with the Surtur demons in the Realm of the Great Beasts, truly trapped in the nightmare plane, but uncaring for his seemingly hopeless situation. However, Bill escapes from his imprisonment and aids Thor against the Skrull invasion of Asgard.

Marvel Comics Presents follows up on the limited series with a story regarding Pointer's powers, and his adjustment to the Guardian suit.

U.S. Agent officially leaves the team in order to join the new team of Mighty Avengers, while Pointer adopts the alias Weapon Omega and joins Norman Osborn and Emma Frost's Dark X-Men team. Beta Ray Bill is currently in space. Arachne reappeared in Manhattan during the "Grim Hunt" storyline. Thus, this incarnation of Omega Flight appears to have been disbanded.

Department H's Team

As part of the Marvel NOW! event, a new incarnation of Omega Flight appears under the control of Department H. It consists of Validator, Boxx, Kingdom, and a Wendigo. Omega Flight is sent in by Department H to investigate one of the Origin Bomb sites left by Ex Nihilo in Regina, Canada. Validator is changed by the Origin Bomb site while the rest of the Omega Flight members are killed in action.[8]

Collected editions

Their appearances have been collected into a number of trade paperbacks:

  • Omega Flight Volume 1: Alpha to Omega (collects Omega Flight #1–5, 128 pages, November 2007, ISBN 0-7851-2441-1)
  • Weapon Omega Volume 1 (collects material from Marvel Comics Presents vol. 2, #1–12, 128 pages, November 2008, ISBN 0-7851-3415-8)

In other media

Video games

See also

References

  1. ^ Sanderson, Peter (2007). The Marvel Comics Guide to New York City. New York City: Pocket Books. p. 7. ISBN 1-4165-3141-6. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ Alpha Flight #28 (November 1985)
  3. ^ X-Force vol. 3, #23 (March 2010)
  4. ^ a b Alpha Flight #12 (July 1984)
  5. ^ Wolverine: Origins #39 (October 2009)
  6. ^ a b c d e Alpha Flight #130 (March 1994)
  7. ^ Brian Michael Bendis (w), Marc Silvestri (p), Joe Weems (i). "War" Civil War: The Initiative, no. 1 (March 2007). Marvel Comics.
  8. ^ Avengers Vol. 5, #10 (June 2013)

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