Alec Thorne was a highly intelligent inventor who soon came to the attention of James Hudson. Hudson recruited Thorne to serve as a member of The Flight, Canada's super-human response team. Thorne accepted the position, though often lamented that this level of activity was "beneath" him. Thorne demonstrated a careless nature in training exercises, endangering his teammates. During the Flight's first mission he was unable to deal with the pressure of a combat situation.

After the re-organization of the Flight into various training groups, Thorne was demoted to the most junior ranking of them (Gamma Flight). After the Canadian government closed Department H, Thorne found himself without direction or ambition. He made money by demonstrating his superior intelligence at exhibition chess matches.

Thorne was later approached by Delphine Courtney and offered a position within Omega Flight. Thorne accepted the offer and travelled to New York City. There, he used the resources of Roxxon Oil to build weapons and tools that would enable him to battle Alpha Flight.

James Hudson was lured to New York and Omega Flight proceeded to attack him. Once Alpha Flight arrived to assist him, Thorne grabbed Shaman's Medicine Pouch and looked inside, robbing him of his sanity. This act essentially killed him (though his physical body lived on). When the battle was completed, Shaman shrunk Thorne's body to the size of a toy and stored him in the pouch, hoping to one day find a way to restore his mind.

Thorne's body was later used by Walter Langkowski to escape from transdimensional space. Langkowski's soul took over the body and escaped from the pouch. After escaping the pouch, the miniature body was crushed when the Box robot fell on it.