Box Jr.

Credit to the alphaflight.net, through their Twitter account, for drawing my attention to "a classic Alpha Flight character's legacy" appearing in Marvel Comics' "Infinity: The Hunt" book.  Even assuming (accurately) that the character's contributions would be minimal, I had to pick up the book out of curiosity.

And I have to admit I was rather surprised.

Roger Bochs Jr studies at the Braddock Academy.  He represents the Academy in what is meant to be a version of the Contest of Champions mini-series from 1982.  In this story, various schools (including Avengers Academy, the Future Foundation, the Jean Grey School, etc.) are preparing to compete against one another for "the ultimate title of...champion!"

While never a personal favourite, to the best of my knowledge the Box character was quite popular.  It was refreshing, and easy to appreciate, having a paraplegic character on a superhero team.

But like many Alpha Flight characters during Bill Mantlo's run, much of what made Roger Bochs appealing was gradually striped away.  He was killed off in issue #49 of the original series.  The Box armour lived on through Madison Jeffries and his abilities to control metal, but Bochs was a one of those rare deaths that actually stuck.

That the Box armour would resurface is not cause for surprise, but that Roger Bochs had a son is, at least to me.  I'm going to look, but I can not recall any mention of a significant relationship in his background, much less having a kid.   Hopefully the series touches on that during its remaining three issues.

It also leads me to thinking of what could have been.  In the insultingly stupid third volume of Alpha Flight, it was revealed that Puck had a daughter.

Yeah, aside from that, you couldn't tell them apart.

Now "Puck II" appeared to be among the Flight characters killed in Avengers #16 (2006) but we all know how that goes.  Hell, Guardian alone has died about five times.

Shaman's daughter Talisman has already been a member of the team (and of Omega Flight, for that matter).  If the second Puck were to be revived, that would already be three second-generation characters.  And a varied bunch at that.

According to this Hunt series, there are "super schools" in Japan, England, Wakanda and in a number of locations in the United States.  Why not Canada?  If Marvel is fairly convinced that the Alpha Flight "brand" is dead, then perhaps a team of youngsters, many of whom have ties to the original team, is the method by which they can rejuvenate it.

Surprise Omega Flight appearance (maybe)

I can't imagine anyone saw even a mention of Omega Flight coming, let alone a potential appearance.  Here is the solicitations for Avengers #10, scheduled for release at the end of April.

AVENGERS #10
(W) Jonathan Hickman (A) Mike Deodato (CA) Dustin Weaver
50th Anniversary Variant by Daniel ACUÑA
“VALIDATOR”

• We learn that the Canadian super team Omega Flight got lost in a Garden Origin Site.
• Discover what happens when the Avengers go in to rescue them.
• Learn why ADAPTATION is the scariest word in the Marvel Universe.

How about that?

Now if the book is focused on the search for Omega Flight, there's a chance that the team itself will not be seen, of if they are, that it will be a brief appearance.  Nonetheless, the possibility that the group still exists in some form is pretty interesting.

That said, I'm a little surprised to see them referred to as a Canadian group.  Of the six members, only two were Canadian (for those just joining us, they were Sasquatch and Talisman, seen at right).  It may be that Marvel means to say a Canada-based super-team.

But maybe not.

Sasquatch, of course, was in the recent Alpha Flight mini-series but Talisman does not appear to have had many significant appearances since the Omega Flight book was being published.  Assuming that this is not some alternate reality gimmick (and I suspect that it's exactly that, especially since that looks like a re-imagined version of Aurora on the cover), she seems like a good candidate for inclusion in the storyline.

It would be a pleasant (if unlikely) surprise to find out that Talisman continued the group in some capacity, perhaps as an underground team while Alpha Flight is more visible.  It's fun to speculate as to which obscure Canadian Marvel character, whether a hero or a villain-turned-good-guy, could be a candidate for membership.