ALPHA FLIGHT! Glad to see you finally made it, people. Pick a "partner" and let's finish this fight. 
- —Guardian[src]
History
James Hudson worked for the Am-Can Oil Corporation and developed his suit to help search for oil deposits underground. However, after hearing it was intended to be used as a weapon by Am-Can Oil and specifically his boss Jerome Jaxon, he resigned. Secretly he left with the suit's helmet, making the suit unusable. A young secretary named Heather followed him, explaining that she agreed with his decisions and that they could seek help from the Canadian government. They admitted they both had developed a strong attraction to each other and soon married.
In order to avoid prosecution for the theft of the super-suit, James made arrangements with the Canadian Parliament. The Minister of Defense assigned James to head up the Ministry's research and development program known as Department H.
Some time later, James and his wife Heather encountered a 'wild man' in the woods while on vacation. James had to leave to find supplies. Heather was able to keep the man calm, believing he was not truly malicious. The man is better known as Wolverine, and has remained close with the Hudsons. Hearing about the Fantastic Four, James was inspired to form a team of superhumans to work for Canada, coming up with the name of Alpha Flight. He and Heather began recruiting members. Logan turned down Alpha Flight membership as he felt his presence and feelings for Heather would conflict with his friendship with James.
When Am-Can went bankrupt, the Canadian government took possession of the suit James had designed. Calling himself Weapon Alpha, James was ordered to capture his old friend Wolverine and bring him back to Department H. He was unsuccessful and accidentally wounded Moira MacTaggert. After this incident, he took the name Vindicator to redeem himself. On a few other occasions Hudson's Alpha Flight teams have opposed the X-Men.
His old enemy Jaxon formed Omega Flight to battle the team. Jaxon was killed while using the Box robot, but also had Guardian's suit overloaded to explode and kill him. James instead was sucked through a spatial rift.
James returned as a cyborg. Members of the Quwrlln race found him and seemed to think that the suit was a part of his body. Thus they bonded him to it while making repairs and healing his body. They altered him, thinking he would make a useful backup if Galactus arrived since they knew the world devourer had been stopped by Earthlings in the past.
_002.jpg){kind=link}
Guardian becoming a cyborg
They sent him back in a ship, but it was found by the Roxxon Oil Corporation. Roxxon attempted to use his computer systems. Madison Jeffries was also asked to help deal with "a computer problem." James's cyborg mind was too strong, so they attempted to cut him off life support. He responded by destroying the facility, but Jeffries was able to keep him alive. He was distant with the computer side often overriding his human side, which greatly troubled his teammates and wife.
Galactus soon approached the alien planet. Most of Alpha Flight and the Avengers were transported there. They were all sucked into another dimension under which conditions Galactus was able to be stopped. But this also meant he lacked enough energy to power a device that could transport them all back to the proper dimension. James and Heather's suits could manage enough energy to assist Galactus, but the process was likely fatal. James impulsively knocked Heather out, handed her to his teammates and seemed to sacrifice himself to send the others home.
He was found by the Master of the World somehow in another area of space. James was brainwashed into leading a new version of Omega Flight as the Antiguard in the Master's attempt to take over Canada. Apparently the new programming and repairs counteracted the aliens', and James returned to normal.
Later James learned of Department H's true plans after reinstating Alpha Flight. They attempted to kill him by rigging his armor to warp him into space. A younger clone of Hudson was created and sent by Department H to lead the team.
However, James fell back to Earth and was found in Antarctica by Sasquatch and Shaman. With Northstar and Aurora they confronted their other teammates. The Hudson clone was killed in battle, helping the others escape from AIM.
Although there has been some difficulty, and at one point a divorce was mentioned, it seems James and Heather have rekindled their relationship. Heather gave birth to a daughter. However, James was attacked by a rogue Department H operative obsessed with Heather, nearly destroying the new family's happiness.
James traveled into space with the rest of Alpha Flight overseeing the return of the Plodex eggs.
Alpha Flight fell in battle against the Collective. Michael Pointer the mutant who had become the Collective has been in the custody of the Canadian government. While in prison he was approached by Sasquatch. Sasquatch proposes to Michael Pointer that he will make up for his deeds as the collective by becoming the new Guardian in Canada's new premier super team Omega Flight.
He, along with the rest of Alpha Flight tried to block the Collective from entering Canada. The Collective didn't even stop and left behind the deceased bodies of Guardian and Alpha Flight. However it is possible that most of this Alpha Flight was a time displaced version of the Team, because the real Alpha Flight was supposed to be in space rebuilding the Plodex Empire. Unfortunately it wasn't and both Pucks, Major Mapleleaf, Shaman, both Mac and Heather Hudson, were killed. Fortunately, on the other hand, when the Chaos King recently waged war on all of reality, the gates to the Underworld were left open and Heather, Michael, Mac, and Marrina, escaped from there and joined the land of the living once more.
Soon after his return to life, James reformed Alpha Flight with many of its old members. They have reported back to the Canadian government to resume the duty of protecting their homeland.Attributes
 |
Powers
- Many of Hudson's powers originally stemmed from his Guardian's Battle-suit; however, he was later converted to a cyborg and those powers became a part of him.
Abilities
Hudson is an accomplished inventor and engineer, as well as a good hand to hand combatant. The suit has a very sophisticated navigation system.
Hudson seems able to hide his metallic features if he wishes so.Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Supersonic flight
- The ability to let gravity propel the suit westward at a high speed. The visual effect is confusable with teleportation and/or cloaking. It is most effective when used close to Earth's magnetic poles.
- Body armor
- Protective force field which automatically triggers if the gravity ability is used
- Flares
- Ultrasound
- Concussive electromagnetic beams. These were originally designed to bore through rock.
- Electromagnetism for 'dispersal beams', electrostatic charges and other effects
- Lift objects via a 'graviton beam'
- Limited ability to generate and control plasma, often in the form of a funnel or vortex
- Able to interface with computers
- Hudson's mind is computer like and can access or block neural frequencies
Notes
- James' identity is known to the Canadian Government
- In his first encounter with the X-Men, the mutant known as Banshee refers to Hudson as Major Mapleleaf. Major Mapleleaf is also the name of a character who will one day join the ranks of Hudson's former super-hero team, Alpha Flight.
- James is the great-nephew of Wolverine's mother Elizabeth, making him a first cousin once removed. Nick Fury revealed that James is one of several maternal relatives of Logan that were there at almost every turning point in Wolverine's life.[3]
Trivia
- As a Canadian government agent, Guardian's code name would be known in both official languages (English & French): Le Gardien.
- According to Alpha Flight Vol 2 1 (August, 1997), James Hudson's astrological symbol is Sagittarius. [4] This indicates Hudson was born under this sign of the zodiac, sometime between November 21 and December 21.
See Also
- 168 appearance(s) of James Hudson (Earth-616)
- 17 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of James Hudson (Earth-616)
- 26 minor appearance(s) of James Hudson (Earth-616)
- 29 mention(s) of James Hudson (Earth-616)
- 7 mention(s) in handbook(s) of James Hudson (Earth-616)
- 147 image(s) of James Hudson (Earth-616)
- 13 quotation(s) by or about James Hudson (Earth-616)
- 1 victim(s) killed by James Hudson (Earth-616)
- 2 item(s) used/owned by James Hudson (Earth-616)