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RAYMONDE BELMONDE

Real Name: Raymonde Belmonde

Identity/Class: Human

Occupation: Restaurateur

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Aurora (Jeanne-Marie Beaubier), Northstar (Jean Paul Beaubier)

Enemies: Deadly Ernest (Ernest St. Ives), Danielle Raymonde

Known Relatives: Danielle Raymonde (daughter), alleged unidentified grandchildren (see comments)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Montreal, Canada

First Appearance: Alpha Flight I#7 (February, 1984)

Powers/Abilities: Raymonde Belmonde did not possess any superhuman powers, despite that he was in good health for a man his age. He was a warm, sophisticated gentleman who showed great empathy for those in need. He was a respectable businessman running a profitable bistro in Montreal.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'11")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 190 lbs.)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown

History:

(Alpha Flight I#7 (fb) ) - Years before he met Jean-Paul Beaubier (later Northstar), Raymonde was involved with an unidentified woman who bore him a daughter, Danielle. Their relationship ended before long and Raymonde left his child with her mother.

(Alpha Flight I#7 (fb) ) - Raymonde met Jean-Paul Beaubier when he was little more than a boy, scared of his recently discovered mutant powers, their implications and the question who he really was. Belmonde took in the young man and helped him cope, understand and eventually accept himself.

(Alpha Flight I#7 (fb) ) - After an unrevealed incident, Jean-Paul and Raymonde went their seperate ways. Raymonde remained in Montreal where he opened a succesful restaurant in one of the side-streets of Canada's largest city.

(Alpha Flight I#7 (fb) ) - Local mobster Ernest St. Ives, nicknamed Deadly Ernest, wanted to acquire Raymonde's restaurant. When he refused to sell, Belmonde incured St. Ives' wrath. The criminal leader ordered his men to start bullying Belmonde's customers, making sure they stayed away.

(Alpha Flight I#7 (fb) ) - Raymonde met his now adult daughter Danielle for the first time after her mother died. He invited her to come live with him, regarding her as a treasured reminder of the very different man he once was. He told her of his connection to skiing champion Jean-Paul Beaubier, but didn't reveal anything about his super powers.

(Alpha Flight I#7) - Two months after his daughter came to live with him, and still plagued by St. Ives, Raymonde learned his old, dear friend Northstar was in Montreal. He sought him out and invited Jean-Paul and his sister Aurora to his restaurant. Jean-Paul commented on the fact that the bistro was empty, despite the fact it was the middle of the lunch rush. Belmonde was about to tell the siblings about St. Ives when Danielle came in and chided her father for involving strangers in their problems. Astonished, Northstar wondered why Raymonde never mentioned he had a daughter in all the time they spent together. Meanwhile, St. Ives and his men drove up to Belmonde's bistro and dragged him and Aurora outside. Inside, an enraged and impotent Jean-Paul was powerless to act, for fear of revealing his superpowers to Danielle. Meanwhile, Raymonde denied St. Ives' final offer to buy his restaurant, ignoring the mobster's pitch of being free to enjoy his grandchildren. When St. Ives got fed up with Belmonde's refusal, he took off one of his gloves and touched the restaurateur's face. Within moments, Belmonde dropped dead. St. Ives left Belmonde's corpse on the sidewalk as he drove off with Aurora as his hostage. When Danielle and Northstar found Raymonde, the speedster felt an incredible loss and swore revenge.

(Alpha Flight I#8 - BTS) - Jean-Paul and Danielle brought Belmonde's body to the nearest hospital where an autopsy was performed.

(Alpha Flight I#8 - BTS) - After the autopsy report came in, Jean-Paul and Danielle learned that Raymonde's death was a bit of a mystery. He was in perfect health for a man his age, and there were no internal injuries or other problems that could explain how he died. According to the doctor who performed the autopsy, it was almost as if Belmonde just stopped, like a lightswitch getting switched off. Distraught, Danielle inferred from the doctor's words that there was no way to prove her father was murdered. Northstar told her to stay calm as he went off and confronted Ernest St. Ives in his mansion.

(Alpha Flight I#8) - BTS) - Aided by the mysterious vigilante Nemesis, Northstar was able to free his sister and looked on as Nemesis used her enchanted sword to dissect the villain. In the aftermath of this confrontation, Aurora and Northstar headed back to Belmonde's bistro where Aurora, now in her civilian identity, confronted Danielle about her presumed ties to St. Ives. The girl confessed she was indeed working with Deadly Ernest against her own father. When she tried to escape, Aurora used a subtle burst of superspeed to tackle her.

(Alpha Flight I#48 (fb) ) - As Northstar was coming to terms with the fact he was dying, he reflected on his life and realized he had enjoyed many good years of fame, fortune, fun and special friends. Raymonde was among those friends seen in Northstar's memory.

(X-Men Annual II#1 (fb) ) - Hoping to rid Northstar of the Hand's brainwashing, the X-men used SHIELD's a.v. rig to let him relive his entire life. One of the memories Jean Paul revisited was an early conversation he had with Raymonde on being different. Belmonde challenged him to live his life the way he saw fit, and not hide who he was or try and live up to other people's expectations of him.

Comments: Created by John Byrne.

John Byrne always imagined Northstar as gay, but back in 1984 both Marvel editorial and the Comics Code Authority didn't allow him to (pardon the pun) come out and say it. That's why Byrne kept dropping not too subtle clues and hints. It's obvious from the many allusions that Raymonde and Jean-Paul were old lovers, or at the very least that he was gay as well.

Raymonde might have been closeted or in denial when younger and so married and fathered one or more children, he might have been bisexual, or he might have always been openly gay but have nevertheless wanted a child and so chose to disregard his own sexual preferences to go with a woman long enough to achieve that goal. Given that Raymonde mentions she is a "treasured reminder of a very different man I once was" I personally suspect the first of these options - Raymonde was married and did love Danielle's mother, but came to realise that he was gay and so the marriage came to an end.
--Loki












Thanks to Loki for providing some extra images (Raymond's head shot) and two of Danielle's images including the one on the right.

Profile by Norvo.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Raymond Belmonde has no known connections to


Danielle Belmonde

Danielle was Raymonde Belmonde's daughter born after a born after a relationship with a woman, who only showed up at Raymonde's door after her mother died. She was secretly working with local criminal Ernest St. Ives, who wanted to take over her father's restaurant. She started living with Raymonde, acting like a faithful, caring daughter who wanted what was best for her dad and claimed she was in Montreal to study "the classics" at MacGill University. All the while, she was staying in touch with St. Ives by phone or via in-betweens. Aurora was the only one to find it odd that Belmonde's long lost daughter would come out of the woodwork just as he was being pressured to sell his restaurant. After Aurora was captured by St. Ives, she managed to get him to reveal his alliance with Danielle. After her father's death at the hands of St. Ives, Danielle was all set to take over his restaurant until Aurora, backed by Northstar, confronted her with what she had discovered. Danielle confessed and tried to escape, but her reflexes were no match for the superfast twins, who made sure she was taken into custody.

--Alpha Flight I#7 (Alpha Flight I#7-8















images: (without ads)
Alpha Flight I#7, p10, pan1 (main image)
Alpha Flight I#7, p9, pan1 (head shot)
Alpha Flight I#7, p10, pan4-6 (dies)
Alpha Flight I#7, p8, panel 5 (Danielle, half-body shot)
Alpha Flight I#7, p11 pan1 (Danielle shocked)
Alpha Flight I#8, p16, pan2 (Danielle on the phone)


Appearances:
Alpha Flight I#7 (February, 1984) - John Byrne (writer, pencils, inks), Denny O'Neil, Linda Grant (editors)
Alpha Flight I#8 (March, 1984) - John Byrne (writer, pencils, inks), Denny O'Neil, Linda Grant (editors)
Alpha Flight I#48 (July, 1987) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Terry Schoemaker (pencils), Steve Leialoha, Hilary Barta (inks), Carl Potts (editor)
X-Men Annual II#1 (2007) - Mike Carey (writer), Mark Brooks (pencils), Jaime Mendoza & Victor Olazaba (inks), Andy Schmidt & Mike Marts (editors)


Last updated: 12/08/13

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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