Now that The Avengers has made every comic book fan (including yours truly) experience big screen ecstasy, it felt like the right time to share this. If I could have Hollywood make one superhero movie they’re definitely not going to make, it would be Alpha Flight.
Alpha Flight is a team of Canadian mutants (how often do you get to say “Canadian mutants”?) and other superhumans in the X-Men universe.
The team is led by James “Mac” MacDonald Hudson, a.k.a. Guardian, and also at times known as Weapon Alpha or Vindicator. He is, essentially, the Canadian equivalent of Captain America, and as such his costume would easily be the coolest thing you could possibly wear to a hockey game. His powers, like Iron Man’s, are actually the product of his own brilliant engineering, thanks to his skin-tight powersuit.
Two team members very familiar to X-Men fans are Jean-Paul Beaubier (a.k.a. Northstar) and Jeanne-Marie Beaubier (a.k.a. Aurora). They are twin brother and sister. Aurora is a deeply intriguing character, suffering from multiple personality disorder. She and her brother are mutants who possess the powers of super-speed, flight, and intense light generation (tell me that wouldn’t be cinematically awesome.) Their powers actually come from manipulating molecules, giving them nearly unlimited potential.
And then there’s that other little thing about Northstar: that he’s one of the very few (and also the very first) openly gay superheroes. And you can’t possibly ignore the fact that his powers were basically invented for dazzling a date.
Equally intriguing characters round out the original team. There’s Walter Langkowski (a.k.a. Sasquatch), a scientist who can transform into a beast, making his powers rather reminiscent of the Hulk.
Unlike many equivalent American teams, Alpha Flight also includes a nod to Canada’s diverse heritage with two characters strongly associated with First Nations. There’s Michael Twoyoungmen (a.k.a. Shaman) who is a magic wielder (and if you don’t think that would work in the Marvel movieverse, I invite you to watch Thor), and Snowbird, a superhuman descendant of the Northern gods (again, see Thor if you think this strains credulity too much.) Her powers include transforming into white-furred versions of any native Canadian animal, and other magical powers.
There are a number of reasons why this would be an incredibly awesome film. On the level of a traditional superhero movie, there are several powers represented here that would be dazzling on a superficial/special effects level. And the added presence of magic would add an entire dimension to the Marvel filmverse that’s only been hinted at in other films.
As alluded to earlier, however, a potentially greater strength of this film would be the way Canadian heritage would be explored. Not only are two of the characters representative of First Nations people, but the characters come from all over Canada. Guardian is (unsurprisingly) from Ontario, while Northstar and Aurora are from Montreal, Sasquatch is from British Columbia, Shaman is from Alberta, and Snowbird is from the Northwest Territories.
Showing each of these characters’ backstories would give an excuse for the filmmakers to explore many locations in Canada, and show how rich Canadian culture is. This would be, frankly, superb since many American audiences think of Canada as simply vague northern neighbors who use the word “eh?” and like to watch hockey.
Of course, this film is never going to be made, but I hope you at least enjoyed my rather detailed explanation of why I would like it to be.
