Ultimate Alpha Flight to appear in Ultimate X-men

[HappyCanuck]

well written, well drawn, and has basically pure untainted versions of the original Alpha team".

Um, Legerd, you DO know we're talking Alpha Flight here, right? Not only that, we're talking Ultimate Alpha Flight - that last part pretty much contradicts the whole idea of "pure untainted versions of the (insert *ANY* team name here) team"....

[Legerd]

Please note, I did go on to say:

Hell, even if they weren't untainted versions of the characters I still would probably give it a chance, as long as the creative team did a great job on the book.

I honestly don't read the Ultimate books, never have. In fact I haven't picked up anything Marvel in months, and with the possible exception of this particular Ultimate X-men issue, won't until AF returns.

[Le Messor]

Of course, this is Ultimate, they'll be a bunch of skanks and trailer trash and addicts...

I just caught this, Mik...LMAO! That is awesome and probably true, unfortunately.

Thanks. It also backs up Alan's next statement. (About contradicting the 'untainted' idea.)
Legerd, I envy your innocence (of having not read Ultimate).

- Le Messor
"Mark Millar--Raping your childhood memories since 19**."
- (Apparently on an 'inspirational poster'. At least, that's what many of us have heard.)

[Mokole]

I don't mind the Ultimate stuff too much, it's just stories. I liked Ultimate X-Men for the first 6 or so, Millar's Spider-Man is good for kids, and FF is so-so but better than the 616, mostly.

If they did do a true Ultimate AF, here's how it could be done:
James Hudson, Heather Hudson, Colleen Hume, and Roger Bochs are all working for the military, making new power suits. James is the key guy as he has the wonderful cyber-helmet that makes them all work so much better. Mac creates an e-m suit, the Guardian suit (flight, force-field, electric and pulse beams), Heather has the heat-based Vinicator suit (flight, heat blasts, heat-based force field), Hume has her Windshear suit (hard air, flight), and Bochs has his Box robot (which he's tryng to get to fly and has no weapons yet). Eugene Judd, ex-SHIELD man, runs security and training, Walter Langkowski is the biogenetists cum golden boy who improves the human element.

Langkowski is key because he knows that mutants are not the next iteration of humanity, just humans with x-genes, not homo superior as they claim. You know, like redheads or lefties or people with MBA's aren't a separate race, just separate humans but still human.

SHIELD keeps tabs on their work and SHIELD mutants keep the X-Men up to speed. Xavier decides to send in a strike team to get rid of Department H and their 'mutant-hating' agenda, as he sees it. Take out a group that can cause mutants a lot of trouble in the future.

The mutant attack is surprisingly repulsed by the Department H team (given that the mutants are trained, danger-room et al, while Department H is a bunch of engineers and scientists in untried power suits). Langkowski gets doused with biochemicals and is mutated into our Sasquatch, but can't transform; he's still the golden boy but is now big, orange, hairy. Bochs is wounded but survives.

The group calls themselves Alpha Flight, Judd joins as Puck (even though he, Box and Sasquatch can't fly, the name fits). Shaman comes along to help but is old (over 70) and refuses to get involved in fights, he'll help. He must care for his 12-year old granddaughter Elizabeth and a young mystic called Snowbird, he can't afford to abandon them.

Xavier sends in a more violent mutant team (Avalanche, Pyro, etc.) and Bochs is killed.

Meanwhile, billionaire Joshua Lord, who likes to call himself the Master (what an ego) has Alec Thorne, Delphine Courtney and others on his staff trying to do what Department H does. Lord is incensed that the government 'stole' his idea of creating power suits. Thorne is creating a brainiac 'Smart Alec' suit, Courtney a 'Nemesis' flight suit (sword and all) of her own. Lord already has the Hardliner armored suit but it is more of a crowd control or basic suit, not tough enough to meet up with Department H standards. So he keeps the Hardliners around for security and sells the suits to police states for crowd control etc.

Lord pushes his people to prove their tech after Alpha Flight's success and it is disastrous, several people are killed. Lord winds up with an unbalanced Smart Alec, a seemingly insane Nemesis, a guy who can use his suit to cause others excruciating pain (Brain Drain), and a weaponeer suit (Technoir). He adds a malevolent mutant (Miss Mass) and an alien he has kept for over a decade, called Marrina. He calls them the Derangers.

A mutant with inorganic-part control helps repair and improve Box, Madison Jeffries. Asked why he doesn't follow Xavier or Magneto or some other mutant leader, Jeffries says he's not a mutant but a human with mutant abilities. He doesn't buy into Homo Superior either.

Lord adds the Hardliners to the Derangers and calls them Omega Flight. He figures that Alpha Flight and, by extension, Department H are ripe for plundering (being an 'anti-mutant task force', as he posits). Omega Flight is a more press-friendly name. Once Alpha Flight is defeated and taken into custody, he'll take over their assets and increase his empire.

He has Alpha Flight set up. Omega Flight outnumbers them 10 to 1 but, with Guardian's power and Puck's tactics Omega Flight suffers. Smart Alec's suit is going to blow up but Guardian is able to rewire his headset and save him. While he is vulnerable, Marrina kills Guardian. Nemesis is the first to react and she surprisingly kills Marrina, then flies off.

Lord drops the Hardliners from his team and skulks home, intending to create his own suit of armour and add more allies to make Omega Flight more formidable.

Alpha Flight understand that not only did Guardian hold them together, he was the most powerful member. Heather considers taking over his suit but Nemesis shows up and claims to be the mistress of fate, Heather must remain Vindicator and a new Guardian must be found; without him, the human-mutant war is inevitable, only a Guardian-led AF can stem the tide.

Jeffries reforms the Box robot so it has weapons and can fly, remaining Box. Nemesis joins. Who will take up the mantle of Guardian (a reborn Hudson, not Pointer, I don't know what would be the best 'Ultimate' choice right now...maybe his cyber-helmet holds his engrams and an android James Hudson would work). So now we have Vindicator, Puck, Sasquatch, Nemesis, Box, and Windshear. Shaman hangs around in the background.

See, it writes itself.

[HappyCanuck]

Wow, nicely convoluted and so far from the sourse material, it reads JUST like an 'Ultimate' title!

[Flightpath07]

Wow.
You can sure fantasize with the best of 'em, Mokole!
Great story! I'd read it!

[HappyCanuck]

Great story! I'd read it!

Um. Flightpath? You just did, remember?

[Mokole]

There are other ways to start an Ultimate AF off. Lots of people could do it without getting truly nonsensical. Like:

Canada, Department H specifically, is hosting a conference on Mutant Studies, the theme being "What is a Mutant". While keynote speaker Walter Langkowski (20 years old, already a Nobel prize and Heisman winner) is giving his speech about mutants being simply humans with extraordinary abilities, not a new species of anything, mutant terrorists bring down the house, few survive.

Langkowski does and meets up with another survivor, James Hudson.

L: It's time we started defending ourselves
H: From what, or who?
L: Take your pick. Xavier, Magneto, Apocalypse, SHIELD even. This isn't the first attempt on my life for my research.
H: Oh?
L: Seventh. Most mutants don't like hearing that Homo superior is a convenient myth.
H: Get a lot of death threats?
L: You could say that. 1,203 from 107 different individuals, 105 of them mutants.
H: How can you be so sure?
L: cocks and eyebrow at him
H: How were you able to figure out 105 were mutants, I mean a lot must have been phone threats or emails...
L: I get bored.
L: It's not like you've been ignored.
H: But it's not like I've received death threats.
L: Mutants are happy you've created a neural cyberhelmet that has great weapons capability and blocks out guys like Xavier?
H: How do you know all that about my work?
L: I told you, I get bored.
H: So what do you think we should be doing?
L: I've heard rumours that you're starting up a small task force, Flight something, to so can protect ourselves and do a little super-heroing research.
H: Alpha Flight. I've got ideas about an electro-magnetic power suit, and another about a heat-based power suit... Do you have a power suit idea?
L: Yes, but I'm not thinking of going that route. Ever heard of the Hulk formula, supersoldiers, Pym Particles, Oz?
H: All three. Are you thinking of doing that to yourself?
L: I have created a formula I call Beast.
H: Beast?
L: If it works like all my tests show, I won't turn into a rampaging killer like Banner or some demon like Osborne. I'll keep my intelligent, get Hulk-level strength, become immune to most mutant powers, and look like a Sasquatch.

and so on. To 'Ultimize' AF just doesn't seem that hard to me, but it can be screwed up easily too. Laziness.

[Le Messor]

Walter Langkowski... is giving his speech about mutants being simply humans with extraordinary abilities, not a new species of anything

Given that Ultimate likes to enhance any negative traits it finds, and what Byrne's recently said about AF#17, I'd expect Ultimate Langowski to be a huge anti-mutant bigot, as well as a horrible bully.

- Le Messor
"But I didn't hate my mother! It was an accident!"
- Gomez

[cmdrkoenig67]

Walter Langkowski... is giving his speech about mutants being simply humans with extraordinary abilities, not a new species of anything

Given that Ultimate likes to enhance any negative traits it finds, and what Byrne's recently said about AF#17, I'd expect Ultimate Langowski to be a huge anti-mutant bigot, as well as a horrible bully.

- Le Messor
"But I didn't hate my mother! It was an accident!"
- Gomez

That's very possible...And Aurora might be even more of a party-girl/tramp than ever (Britney Spears, is that you?)...I dread thinking of how the others might be portrayed.