Chaotic Evil: Plodex

No sooner did Marrina join Alpha Flight than the implications of her alien ancestry surfaced. Though raised by the good-natured Smallwood family in Canada, Marrina was born Plodex, an extraterrestrial species genetically programmed to conquer life on other worlds. Because of their adaptability, the Plodex varied wildly from planet to planet while retaining an instinctive tendency toward Chaotic Evil. Marrina, at her best, was the exception that proved the rule.

Lawful Good	Neutral Good	Chaotic Good
Lawful Neutral	True Neutral	Chaotic Neutral
Lawful Evil	Neutral Evil	Chaotic Evil

Marrina's latent instincts shocked her teammates in Alpha Flight #2 (Sept. 1983).

Classic John Byrne

My favorite scene from Deadpool & Wolverine occurs relatively early in the film. In that scene, Deadpool encounters a version of Wolverine sporting a brown costume (rather than the yellow suit he wears throughout most of the picture). Deadpool describes the brown costume as "classic John Byrne" … just before Hulk moves into frame and pummels the wisecracking Deadpool.

In comic book history, Wolverine first wore that brown costume in X-Men #139 (although the cover still depicted him in yellow). In that issue, Wolverine returned to Canada to reconnect with members of Alpha Flight who were on the trail of the monstrous Wendigo. That story contained flashbacks to Wolverine's first encounter with Wendigo from Incredible Hulk #181. Because Wolverine wore his original yellow uniform in the flashback panels, the new brown costume helped to delineate the past from the present.

Illustrated by John Byrne, this panel from X-Men #139 shows an unmasked Wolverine in his new brown costume. Beside him are Vindicator and Snowbird of Alpha Flight.

Uncollected

The New Defenders almost encountered the Collector in Marvel Team-Up Annual #7 (1984). In that issue, the supervillain wanted to expand his collection of extraterrestrials—and he found several prospects residing on Earth. Under consideration were Warlock of the New Mutants and Cloud of the New Defenders. The Collector passed them both up, however, turning his attention instead to Spider-Man (sporting a symbiotic alien costume from Secret Wars) and Marrina of Alpha Flight (and from the Plodex homeworld). Though easy to overlook, the panel featuring Cloud provided an important piece of foreshadowing for the New Defenders, as Cloud's extraterrestrial origin story had yet to be revealed.

Lawful vs. Chaotic

Having previously posted about the alignment system from Dungeons & Dragons, I wanted to explore how some editions of the game understood the terms Lawful and Chaotic as descriptors for civilization and unbridled nature. Following a reconnaissance mission in the Northwest Territories of Canada, the members of Alpha Flight illustrate these competing positions in a panel from Contest of Champions #1 (June 1982).

Here, Northstar mentions how he looks forward to returning to the city of Ottawa. Along these lines, Aurora remarks that she'd like to get back to teaching school in Quebec. In contrast, Sasquatch says he prefers the wilds. Snowbird says that is her element too.

Team leader Vindicator is unsurprised when Shaman interjects that there is much to recommend about both worlds. Within D&D, Shaman's sentiment reflects a Neutral alignment between the extremes of Law and Chaos.

Bet on Diablo

The prominent role that Diablo plays in the Tarot mini-series brought back memories of Alpha Flight #21 (April 1985). The cover of that issue featured Canadian heroes Sasquatch and Aurora battling the villainous alchemist. Text on the cover announced this ominous warning:

Bet on Diablo--
--He's been doing this for centuries!

The story itself did not include any fight scenes between Diablo and Alpha Flight, however. Rather, the inside flashed back back to the Transylvanian Alps in 1875, when Esteban Diablo was already 1,000 years old. Superstitious villagers destroyed his alchemy lab and trapped him in a tomb until freed in Fantastic Four #30 (Sept. 1964)

Magicks

When traveling across dimensions in Defenders #4 (Feb. 1973), Dr. Strange faced the evil conjurer Fragon. In the midst of combat, Fragon used the term magicks (spelled with k) to describe the sorcery of Dr. Strange. The British version for the story from Rampage #5 retained this alternate spelling. In both versions, the word magicks appeared in bold, as comics often do when introducing a name or term.

The word magicks would stay in comic book lexicon—without the bold lettering for emphasis. Although Dr. Strange typically used the conventional spelling of magic, he referred to his own magicks (with k) in a showdown against rival sorcerer Cyrus Black in Dr. Strange #34 (April 1979).

Pronounced the same with or without the k, the alternate spelling would suggest a distinct meaning. While no hard and fast rules would apply, generally speaking, characters from the past or from another dimension seemed more likely to favor the alternate spelling.

When the X-Men traveled to Limbo in Uncanny X-Men #160 (Aug. 1982), the demon Belasco spoke of his own magicks. The hero Nightcrawler, in turn, described that dimension as magickal (also spelled with k). Events from that story led to Illyana Rasputin becoming the hero Magik (adopting a personalized spelling without c). In most other contexts, Illyana's teammates in the New Mutants spelled magic the usual way.

In other instances, the alternate spelling (with k) accentuated the difference between the past from the present. The Canadian hero Shaman contrasted the healing power of his traditional magicks to the effectiveness of modern medicine in Alpha Flight #2 (Sept. 1983). Exposition in Gargoyle #2 (July 1985) delineated the modern era from a time of ancient magick (singular).

These distinctions, however, remain subjective, as the criteria for including the letter k might vary from issue to issue within a comic book series.

Bearing a Resemblance

While looking through back issues in my collection, I noticed that the covers of Avengers #169 (March 1977) and Uncanny X-Men #139 (November 1980) bear a resemblance to one another. Each cover shows members of the respective teams facing three threats—with a polar bear in the upper right of both covers. In all transparency, the polar bear on the X-Men cover is actually the shapeshifting hero Snowbird of Alpha Flight.

In addition to defeating an actual polar bear in the Arctic Circle, Black Panther impresses his fellow Avengers by providing the final answer on a challenging crossword puzzle. A twelve-letter word that means "producing sweat"? Sudoriferous!

Comparative Mythology

The ongoing threat of supernatural forces was a defining theme not only for the Defenders but also in the early days of Alpha Flight. Some indirect similarities unfolded in the original series for both super-teams.

Beginning with Alpha Flight #1, the premiere heroes of Canada had incremental battles against the Great Beasts, seven evil beings who were escaping to Earth, one by one, as the bonds between dimensions grew weak. The subplot had a personal connection to Snowbird, the half-goddess member of Alpha Flight who was a born enemy of the Great Beasts.

By this time the Defenders had defeated a string of demonic entities known collectively as the Six-Fingered Hand. The danger had a familial connection to Daimon Hellstrom, the half-devil member of the Defenders whose father was leading a charge to break through extra-dimensional barriers and conquer Earth (Defenders #99).

On top of that, both teams had a mystical orange monster among their ranks. Though introduced as an opponent of the Defenders, the hero Gargoyle was a repentant man trapped within the body of a demon. With Alpha Flight, the unsuspecting heroes eventually discovered that teammate Sasquatch actually transformed into the physical form of Tanaraq, one of the Great Beasts.

The above image from Alpha Flight #6 (January 1984) shows Snowbird facing the Great Beast called Kolomaq. It's worth noting that the Alpha Flight series took creative liberty in suggesting that the seven Great Beasts and various story points had roots in Inuit mythology.

Alpha Flight and the Defenders

Sure, they might have been introduced in a battle with the X-Men, but the members of Alpha Flight soon had more in common with the Defenders. After losing their ties to the Canadian government in X-Men #140, Alpha Flight worked largely as a non-team throughout most of their original series, with a different combination of heroes taking part in each adventure.

As a physician turned medicine man, Michael Twoyoungmen had a career path that paralleled that of Stephen Strange. Though Shaman's magic concentrated largely around nature, his medicine pouch also gave him the ability to transport the team to other dimensions—a hallmark power of Dr. Strange.

A back story in Alpha Flight #11 told how Bruce Banner's transformation into the Hulk inspired Walter Langkowski to experiment with gamma rays, leading to his own transformation into Sasquatch. At a point when Sasquatch began to succumb to Hulk-like rage, Shaman bound him with vegetation (Alpha Flight #12), reminiscent of the Crimson Bands that Dr. Strange used at times to immobilize the Hulk.

Of all the heroes in Alpha Flight, Northstar was arguably the least content, yet Dr. Strange once enlisted his help on a mission with the Secret Defenders. The Canadian mutant accompanied Hulk and Nova in Secret Defenders #11.

The above illustrations by John Byrne come from X-Men #120 and Alpha Flight #12.

The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name

Moondragon had shown a maternal protectiveness toward Cloud ever since the younger hero joined the team. When an encounter with the villain Manslaughter left Moondragon shaken, Cloud offered comforting words, and said, "I love you." And she didn't mean platonically.

That was the closing scene in Defenders #134. The following issue showed Cloud's misgivings about her feelings, echoing the thoughts many people face when coming to understand their sexuality. This was groundbreaking material for mainstream comics at the time (before Northstar became the first major comic book hero to officially come out of the closet in Alpha Flight #106).

A surprise for readers came in Defenders #136 when the female hero transformed into cloud form, then resolidified as a young man—describing the metamorphosis as a way to be close to Moondragon without raising eyebrows about homosexuality.

Cloud: (As a male) I can love you, Moondragon--everything that was wrong is now right! I can love you--and I do.

It didn't matter whether Cloud was male or female. The feelings were unrequited either way. Moondragon put her cards on the table in #140, explaining how she had inadvertently manipulated Cloud's feelings (following telepathic commands she began using as early as #126) in an attempt to persuade someone to help remove the mystical headband that limited her power.

Moondragon: I was sending out subliminal sexual impulses in hope that someone, Angel or Iceman say, would fall in love and so help to remove the band. You got caught in that net. Please shake off your mad impulse--as I have shaken off mine.

Cloud: It's not a mad impulse! But--all right--before I go--just tell me one thing--does it mean you don't love me at all?

Moondragon: If you can tell me what love is--then I can answer you. Otherwise--

Cloud: I see. Goodbye, Moondragon.

For all her arrogance, Moondragon was remorse that she may have unintentionally altered the emotions of someone else—particularly someone to whom she felt kindness. But maybe Moondragon wasn't at fault. Attraction isn't always rational. Perhaps Cloud's feelings toward the standoffish telepath were indeed real.

Peter B. Gillis wrote the Defenders issues that disclosed the feelings between Cloud and Moondragon.