ALPHA STRIKE

Membership: Aurora (Jeanne-Marie Beaubier), Citadel, Purple Woman (Kara Killgrave), Ranark the Ravager, Vindicator (Heather Hudson), Wendigo

Purpose: To "defend" Canada (while actually bowing to the whims of the Master of the World)

Aliases: None

Affiliations: Blake, Director Jeff Brown, Claire Hudson, Kyle Jinadu (although they were all brainwashed), Master of the World (Eshu)

Enemies: Alpha Flight (Aurora/Jeanne-Marie Beaubier, Guardian/James Hudson, Marrina, Puck/Eugene Judd, Shaman/Michael Twoyoungmen, Snowbird/Narya), Alice Hu and other former prisoners, Northstar (Jean-Paul Beaubier), Wolverine (James Howlett)

Base of Operations: Department H, Ottawa, Canada

First Appearance: Alpha Flight IV#3 (October, 2011)

History: (Alpha Flight IV#3) - Brainwashed Department H Director Jeff Brown visited the prison cells for the villains Citadel and Purple Woman and explained that Alpha Flight had been dissolved, further revealing that both Citadel and Purple Woman had been forcibly recruited onto brainwashed Prime Minister Gary Cody's replacement, Alpha Strike. When Citadel refused to serve his own oppressors, he was electrocuted as Brown admitted Prime Minister Cody was quite insistent on their recruitment. Purple Woman's cell then produced several torture devices and Director Brown remarked that while relaxation was key to the Unity Program, he wouldn't tell if they didn't. Also brainwashed, Alpha Flight's Vindicator later visited the cave dwelling of Ranark the Ravager and recruited him into Alpha Strike.

(Alpha Flight IV#4 (fb) - BTS) - Citadel and Purple Woman were forcibly subjected to the Unity Program, brainwashing them into the service of Alpha Strike.

(Alpha Flight IV#4) - After the brainwashed Vindicator of Alpha Flight returned to Department H with her daughter, she prepared to show Alpha Strike but Director Brown warned that the new recruits were still adjusted to the Unity Program. Vindicator nonetheless overrid Brown and showed Alpha Strike her daughter, suggesting that they fight for her and Canada's other children. When Northstar's lover Kyle Jinadu awoke from his own Unity Program brainwashed, he thanked his benefactor, revealed as the Master of the World, and asked what he could do to repay him for his "kindness," to which the Master replied that Kyle and Alpha Strike would apprehend Northstar.

(Alpha Flight IV#5) - During the first day of the Unity Party's "Victory Over Fear" celebrations, television news broadcasted the cheering public as Alpha Strike's Citadel and Department H's elite warriors paraded through downtown Toronto. When Alpha Flight attempted to rob the Toronto treasury, Citadel and Alpha Strike held back, hoping to get as much footage as possible of Alpha Flight behaving like criminals that they could use to further discredit the team. Eventually, Puck provoked Citadel, who disregarded Gary Cody's orders and ran into the bank to attack Puck. Once inside, Citadel's Adamantium armor was magnetized by Guardian, causing the vault itself to attract to Citadel, smashing into him. After Alpha Flight filmed Citadel's defeat, Director Brown informed Gary Cody and the Master of the World of the public opinion polls supporting Cody and when Alpha Flight's Aurora appeared, offering to reveal Alpha Flight's location in exchange for having her split personality eradicated by the Master's Unity Program, the Master had Purple Woman influence Aurora to make sure she would go through with her end of the bargain.

(Alpha Flight IV#6 (fb) - BTS) - Alpha Strike was assigned to protect the brainwashed Kyle Jinadu, who had become the public face of the Unity Party, unaware that Aurora's split personality was actually still working for Alpha Flight, creating a spy

(Alpha Flight IV#6) - While protecting Kyle during a public appearance on the "Wake Up, Edmonton" television show, Purple Woman overheard the show's host, Blake, refer to her as a "freaky-looking chic" and used her powers to force him to get her coffee at the risk of his own live. Alpha Flight's Snowbird rescued Blake, drawing Ranark the Ravager to Snowbird and Shaman's location. Ranark immediately began battling Shaman and Alpha Strike's Wendigo soon joined the fray, attacking Snowbird. Upon learning of the fight, Purple Woman interrupted the "Wake Up, Edmonton" broadcast and used her powers to mentally enslave the studio audience to help her against the Alpha Flight members. Before Purple Woman, Kyle and Purple Woman's enslaved audience could join the fight, however, Marrina appeared from the sewers and knocked Purple Woman out, bringing forth a giant octopus to deal with the enslaved crowd. Marrina then captured Kyle but Ranark downed Shaman and Snowbird, allowing Kyle to escape Marrina's grasp in the scuffle. Kyle then tried to run for it, only to be halted by Citadel. A recovering Purple Woman reminded Citadel that Alpha Strike was supposed to protect Kyle but Citadel claimed that a new directive made Kyle expendable. Citadel then prepared to smash Kyle with a car but Northstar rescued Kyle at superhuman speed while Aurora rescued Marrina. Back at Department H, the Master of the World was pleased to see that Aurora had done her work well as Alpha Strike's mole and Vindicator suggested the Master should have let her join the rest of Alpha Strike to crush Alpha Flight for good.

(Alpha Flight IV#7) - After attacking Wolverine when he ventured to Canada to check on her, Vindicator regrouped with Alpha Strike and attacked Alpha Flight's base camp immediately after Shaman dropped his mystic shields, appearing from the ground like smoke thanks to Ranark's magic. Sasquatch immediately jumped into battle against Wendigo while Wolverine, who had visited Alpha Flight to check on them, fought Citadel, noting that he thought Citadel had died following their previous encounter. Northstar attempted to help Aurora, only to find her mentally unhinged and hoping that he might settle down with a nice girl. Repulsed by Aurora's claims and remarks that the Master of the World would fix her split personality, Northstar demanded she keep away from him while Purple Woman attempted to mentally enslave Shaman, who revealed that she could not enslave his astral form and directed his physical form to grapple Purple Woman. Guardian battled his brainwashed wife, Vindicator, revealing that Aurora's split personality had been a spy into Alpha Strike for weeks, helping the other side of personality deliver Purple Woman, the final piece of their machine to restore those brainwashed by the Unity Program, right into Alpha Flight's clutches. As a wide-eyed Vindicator realized Alpha Strike had lost, Shaman placed Purple Woman into the machine Alpha Flight had built to restore those affected by the Unity Program.

(Alpha Flight IV#8) - Fighting back, Vindicator ordered Alpha Strike to free the Purple Woman and destroy Alpha Flight's machine but Guardian refused to let Vindicator attack, announcing that he needed the machine to restore his wife. Announcing that she had willingly embraced the Unity Program to get her daughter back, Vindicator blasted Guardian and rushed for the machine as Guardian told Northstar to get Kyle Jinadu to the machine before Vindicator destroyed it. Northstar was attacked by Aurora but Puck and Marrina attempted to get Kyle to the machine as Vindicator reiterated her command for Alpha Strike to destroy the machine and prevent Alpha Flight from reversing the "clarity" that the Master had given them all. Alpha Strike nearly gained the upper hand when Ranark focused his attack on Shaman's physical form and Citadel seemed to be holding his own against Wolverine, who ultimately stabbed Citadel in the eyes while Snowbird assumed the form of the Great Beast to confuse Ranark and allow Puck to knock him out. Vindicator, seeing through Snowbird's disguise, attacked Snowbird and Citadel blindly swung at Wolverine. Eventually, the Master of the World involved himself personally, attacking Alpha Flight as Alpha Flight sent the Master's former slaves, equipped with Groundhog armor, after the Master's ship. Vindicator quickly reminded Guardian that the Master's ship also housed their daughter Claire, prompting Guardian to confront the Master while Aurora worked with her own split personality to save Northstar. Uniting her own personalities, a recovered Aurora rushed to aid Marrina in subjecting Kyle Jinadu to Alpha Flight's Unity-erasing machine. When the Master threatened to kill both Guardian and Vindicator and raise their daughter as either his heir or mate, Vindicator fought against her programming and helped Guardian blast the Master as Kyle's brainwashing was reversed by Alpha Flight's machine. With the Master defeated, Guardian turned to Vindicator in hopes of having her subject herself to Alpha Flight's machine but she instead flew off.

Comments: Created by Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente, Dale Eaglesham and Andrew Hennessy.

The Citadel in this Alpha Strike profile is the Earth-616 version of a character that originally appeared in Wolverine: First Class#5. Since the "First Class" series of books are mostly considered to be in a different reality (despite similar events being shown to have existed on Earth-616, ala the original X-Men meeting Gorilla-Man), the Citadel seen in Wolverine: First Class#5 would be one from the "First Class" reality and not Earth-616 unless otherwise specified. It should be noted that Wolverine remarked on having fought Citadel before and thought him dead when they fought in Alpha Flight IV#7, supposedly referencing the events that occurred in Wolverine: First Class#5. Again, due to the consideration that all "First Class" books existed in their own reality, we can only assume that the "First Class" version of Citadel did indeed die while similar events occurred on Earth-616 but Citadel-616 did not ultimately die.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Alpha Strike has no known connections to

Blake has no known connections to
Blake

Blake was the host of the "Wake Up, Edmonton" morning talk television show. Fully supporting the Unity Party, Blake had the brainwashed Kyle Jinadu, who was acting as the Unity Party's PR guy and being protected by Alpha Strike, on his show. During the show, Blake had Kyle remind viewers of the toll free number that civilians could call to report suspicious activity, both on the part of Alpha Flight and otherwise. When Blake asked about Kyle's previous "rooming" with Alpha Flight's Northstar, Kyle claimed that he had been deceived and wound up in a body cast because of it. Kyle then expressed concern to never let something like that happen to others as Blake's show ended. After the show, Blake spoke with Kyle and admitted he was feeling underutilized at his show, asking if perhaps Kyle could get him a national job. When Kyle told him to be grateful for the quiet, Blake reminded Kyle that he could be honest now that the show was over but Kyle explained that Alpha Strike would not have been assigned to protect him if the national situation were not dire. Blake laughed off Kyle's comment, remarking that it wasn't as if Alpha Strike had sent their heavy hitters and that they had sent that "freaky-looking chic." Blake was cut off, however, when he passed Purple Woman and realized she had heard him. Attempting to apologize, Blake was mentally enslaved by Purple Woman and ordered to get her a coffee. Doing as he was told, Blake then risked his life by blindly crossing the street to a coffee shop, where he angrily berated the cashier, threatening that if the coffee was messed up, he would kill the cashier. Upon getting the coffee, a smiling and whistling Blake walked outside with the coffee, causing a car accident when he walked right in front of the car. When a diesel truck nearly hit Blake, he was rescued by Alpha Flight's Snowbird in owl form and taken to a nearby rooftop, where Shaman used the Waters of Clear Sight on Blake, restoring his mental faculties. When Blake realized he was in the company of Alpha Flight, who had been branded terrorists by brainwashed Prime Minister Gary Cody, Blake screamed for help, drawing Alpha Strike's Ranark to the scene. Blake then held his nose to keep from smelling Ranark, whose body was composed of dead crows.


--Alpha Flight IV#6

images: (without ads)
Alpha Flight IV#7, p14, splash page (Alpha Strike, main image)
Alpha Flight IV#4, p20, splash page (Alpha Strike, with Claire Hudson)

Appearances:
Alpha Flight IV#3 (October, 2011) - Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente (writers), Dale Eaglesham (pencils), Andrew Hennessy (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Alpha Flight IV#4 (November, 2011) - Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente (writers), Dale Eaglesham (pencils), Andrew Hennessy (inks), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Alpha Flight IV#5 (December, 2011) - Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente (writers), Dale Eaglesham (art), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Alpha Flight IV#6 (January, 2012) - Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente (writers), Dale Eaglesham (art), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Alpha Flight IV#7 (February, 2012) - Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente (writers), Dale Eaglesham (art), Mark Paniccia (editor)
Alpha Flight IV#8 (March, 2012) - Greg Pak, Fred Van Lente (writers), Dale Eaglesham (art), Mark Paniccia (editor)

First Posted: 01/09/2018
Last updated: 01/09/2018

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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