(Alpha Flight I#24 (fb) - BTS) - Discovering Earth was the nearest realm in the mystic continuum, the Great Beasts staged three unsuccessful invasion attempts. During the final confrontation, they were opposed by the Ancient Gods of the North who beat them back and sealed the beasts behind a mystical barrier.

(Alpha Flight I#1 & 24 (fb) - BTS) - Tundra and his fellow Great Beast Kolomaq had planned for this eventuality. They created a magical vortex that spun the energies of the barrier back on its creators. As a result, Nelvana, Hodiak and the other gods of the north were imprisoned in a realm beyond human ken as well.

(Alpha Flight I#7/2 (fb) - BTS) - Desperate to regain a foothold on Earth, the Great Beasts created a mystical headband that would turn the wearer into a host for Tundra. They sent it to the realm of Earth in the hopes of raising Tundra. Over the centuries, the headband got lost until it was unearthed during a dig by archeologist Richard Easton. Captivated by the headband, Easton put it on and was made an unwitting pawn of the Great Beasts.

(Alpha Flight I#1 - BTS) - Roughly nine years after encountering the headband, Easton had become a mad hermit living in a tent in Canada's Northwest Territories. Emaciated and near death, he was determined to prove everyone wrong. Dragging his foot across the snow covered tundra, Easton slowly drew a massive, man shaped pattern on the ground. When he was done, he returned to his tent where he put the headband on and began his summoning ritual. Less than 45 minutes later, Easton's chanting had caused freak weather patterns over Resolute Bay, alarming news media and Alpha Flight.

(Alpha Flight I#1) - Using Easton's dwindling life force as an igniting spark, Tundra transferred his essence to the earthy plains and fused with the ground itself. Quickly filling out Easton's sketch, Tundra rose to massive height, announcing he was the death of all that lives, the final doom of all his ancient enemies. The first opponent he faced was Snowbird, the first of Alpha Flight to arrive. Realizing she only had 20 minutes to stop Tundra before he was fully formed and unbeatable, she tried to goad the Great Beast who sensed she was of the blood of his ancient enemies. Fittingly, he used his control over animals to summon a giant swarm of mosquitoes that assaulted the heroine. She was saved by Guardian who dispelled the insects with electromagnetic energy and then zapped the beast, causing Tundra to cry out. As a result, the land itself was torn. Snowbird told Guardian to stop, before Canada itself was destroyed in the process. By then, most of the other members of Alpha Flight had arrived. Sasquatch dropped in from a helicopter and succeeded in tearing off sizeable chunks of the ever growing beast before he was swatted off. Aurora and Northstar swirled around the earth-beast at supersonic speeds, dwindling him further. Shaman then used his control over the weather to increase the erosion and call down a flashflood. The coup de grace was delivered by Marrina, who came to the scene traveling by water spout. Shaman took control of the torrent, amplifying and directing the full brunt of it to impact Tundra who was completely washed away.

(Alpha Flight I#1 - BTS) - Even as Tundra's spirit returned to the realm of the Great Beasts, the skull of Richard Easton drifted to the bottom of the newly created salt lake, still wearing the summoning band.

(X-Men & Alpha Flight II#1 (fb) - BTS) - Vindicator responded to Gary Cody's summons and visited the team's government liaison in his office. Before Cody could make his offer, MacDonald told him the team was doing just fine without Department H's support, citing their recent victories over Tundra and the Master of the World.

(Alpha Flight I#24) - After discovering their teammate Sasquatch was actually the Great Beast known as Tanaraq, Alpha Flight traveled to the Shattered Lands to rescue the soul of Walter Langkowksi. There, they faced the Great Beasts's leader Somon the Artificer who greeted the heroes by sending the mind controlled Tundra, Kariooq and Tolamaq to fight them. Alpha Flight was losing until Snowbird, in her bear form, tore into Somon who lost control over his fellow Beasts. Back in his right mind, Tundra immediately focused his attention on his old enemy Kariooq, leaving the Alphans to resume their mission and ultimately leave the Shattered Lands with Langkowski's soul.

(Alpha Flight I#38) - The spirits of Tundra and the other Great Beasts were briefly summoned to Earth by Pestilence (F.R. Crozier) to battle Alpha Flight on his behalf. Tundra was seen engaging Box and Vindicator (Heather Hudson) before Michael Twoyoungman donned his daughter's mystical talisman and forced the Beasts' spirit forms back to their native realm.

(Alpha Flight I#51 - BTS) - Alpha Flight's old government liaison Gary Cody used his past connections with Heather Hudson to gain access to Maison Alpha where he covertly accessed the team's Alphanex computer database. Cody copied all the files on the team's adversaries, including Tundra and the other Great Beasts.

(Alpha Flight I#55) - Hoping to convince the new Sasquatch (Wanda Langkowski) to join their cause, Somon the Artificer subconsciously influenced Langkowski to sculpt an occult formation in the Canadian wilderness the Great Beasts could use as a nexus to return to Earth. Appearing near Alpha Flight, they began to directly influence Wanda. When she rejected them outright, Somon ordered Tundra and the others to attack and kill Wanda and Alpha Flight. In the fight, Tundra took down Heather Hudson and was the last Beast standing. Desperate, Madison Jeffries used his technopathy to increase the size of the Box armor so he rivaled Tundra in size. Joining Jeffries inside Box were Heather and Goblyn. Together, they came up with a way to defeat Tundra: absorb all the nearby metal, convert it to energy and have Box unleash it as a massive heat blast that would melt the villain away. Even though this move brought great risk for Box, Alpha Flight and Canada itself, the heroes pushed through. When the smoke cleared, only a smouldering crater remained (Tundra was seemingly destroyed while Alpha Flight survived inside the Box armor that had launched itself into space).

(Alpha Flight I#57 & 58 (fb) - BTS) - Still lost in space, Alpha Flight recounted how they wound up on board the Boxship, mentioning the strategy that led to the downfall of Tundra and their new status quo.

(Alpha Flight I#61 (fb) - BTS) - During a hearing in the Canadian parliament to discuss the fate and future of Alpha Flight, Heather Hudson recounted the numerous times the team had been instrumental in saving both the country and the world. Their repeated confrontations against Tundra and the Great Beasts were brought up as well.

(Alpha Flight I#64) - Tundra and the other Great Beasts once again used their mystical connection to Sasquatch to gain a foothold on Earth. This time, they manifested through Wanda Langkowski just as she was in an Ottawa probate court trying to get the Langkowski family fortune back from Walter's wife Ronnie. During the fight, Tundra tried to sway Sasquatch to rejoin the Great Beasts so they could conquer Earth. In the end, Langkowski firmly chose to back Snowbird, Alpha Flight and the ancient gods of the north. To prove his point, he shoved Tundra and the others back into the dimensional gate, even as the stunned judge returned to a demolished courtroom to deliver the verdict.

(Alpha Flight I#71 (fb) - BTS) - On the eve of the return of the immensely powerful sorceror Llan, Heather Hudson had a talk with Alpha Flight's resident mystic Talisman. She was concerned about the team's recent string of encounters with mystical and otherworldly menaces like the Great Beasts, Pestilence, and the Dream Queen. Talisman concluded that these events were a warning of a greater threat: the world was about to enter a phase of darkness during which evil gains the upper hand.

(X-Man I#39) - Tundra, Kolomaq and Somon were able to slip back to Earth when the immensely powerful mutant X-Man (Nate Grey) unleashed sufficient psionic energies to briefly weaken the barriers between dimensions. Tundra materialized next to X-Man and his companion Madelyne Pryor.

(X-Man I#40) - Tundra attacked X-Man, who used his telekinetic talents to fight back, briefly smashing the rocky creature. Tundra retaliated, growing to giant size, grabbing Nate and trying to swallow him. Sensing the Great Beast's intentions and origins, X-Man was horrified and determined to stop him. When lobotomizing Tundra failed, Nate allowed himself to be swallowed. He then fed Tundra more energy than even the Beast could handle, causing him to grow to giant size before bursting all over the landscape. After dealing with Tundra, Nate also took care of Kolomaq and Somon by psionically isolating the planet's gravitational pull on the Beasts and then telekinetically interrupting it. As a result, Somon and Kolomaq were rapidly yanked to outerspace.

(Wolverine I#172) - When the Arctic Gods banished the malevolent Mauvais to the Shattered Lands, Tundra joined Somon, Tolomaq and Kariooq in welcoming the stunned villain.

(Chaos War: Alpha Flight I#1) - The Great Beasts decided to capitalize on the chaos created by the rise of Amatsu-Mikaboshi to stage another invasion of Canada and fight their old enemies. They found themselves opposed by both Amatsu-Mikaboshi's demon army as well as members of the newly resurrected Alpha Flight. Ultimately they were unceremoniously dispatched by the Chaos King as part of his ongoing quest to kill all other deities.

(Amazing X-Men II#11 (fb) - BTS) - Tanaraq grew increasingly more powerful after an incident in Canada led to the creation of hordes of Wendigo (a murderer had ditched the corpse of his victim in a meat processing plant, causing thousands of consumers to commit cannibalism, triggering the Wendigo curse). Tanaraq used this power to conquer the Spirit Realm, openly warring against Tundra and the other Great Beasts.

(Amazing X-Men II#12) - Members of the X-Men and Alpha Flight traveled to the Spirit Realm in an attempt to reverse the effects of the curse. They learned of Tanaraq's conquest of the realm and tried to aid the Great Beasts after Snowbird convinced the heroes the world would be better off with all seven Beasts warring against one another. The mortal heroes were unable to hold their own against Tanaraq and his forces. They wound up chained next to the Great Beasts, but were soon freed by the arriving Iceman. The Great Beasts begged the mutants to free them as well so they could deal with Tanaraq. Storm refused, instead striking a deal that led to the Great Beasts empowering Storm, Iceman, Firestar and Rockslide. They fought off Tanaraq's Wendigo while a furious Guardian wound up killing Tanaraq. Without his power holding them back, Tundra and the remaining Great Beasts were freed.

Comments: Created by John Byrne (writer, pencils, inks)

For all his power, Tundra never really got a chance to shine. Which is odd, considering he's arguably the strongest and most durable of the Great Beasts. But he's mostly been seen either mind controlled by Somon, a prisoner or as an underpowered flunky.

Tundra was mentioned in The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#12, and appeared as part of the Great Beasts entry in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Update '89#3

It is worth noting that since the Wolverine Index came out we've had other confirmed Great Beasts, so there are definitely more than seven. Alpha Flight I#6 mentioned "there were seven Great Beasts involved in Last Battle", which could be interpreted to mean either that there were only seven Great Beasts OR that there were more, but only seven were involved in that final fight. In Alpha Flight I#23, one of the Inua says Tanaraq is "one of the Last Seven, of the Great Beasts" - if not for that comma, that would be a clear statement that there were more than seven, and that the ones we've always counted were simply the last to fall, but even with the comma the comment could be interpreted that way. Apparently Wolverine II#172 and Over the Edge#2 also contain comments or info supporting this. In Incredible Hercules#119, Snowbird took the "forbidden form of the deadliest of the Great Beasts of the North, Neooqtoq the Ravager," and in Marvel Heartbreakers we meet another two Great Beasts, Tiamaq and Herateq. And Kimara the Cloudstalker was identified as a Great Beast; there were only two reasons to argue against this claim afaik, the first being there were only seven GB (now disproved) and the second that since he appeared in a gaming module that he wasn't canon (countered by his being confirmed in 616 via handbook entries).
--Loki

Profile by Norvo.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Tundra should not be confused with

• Thundra, Amazonian warrior woman, native of Earth-715 @ Fantastic Four I#129
  Or any other "Tundra" characters
  

images: (without ads)
Alpha Flight I#1 p22, pan1 (main image)
Alpha Flight I#1, p27, pan4 (throwing rocks)
Alpha Flight I#38, p15, pan4 (summoned by Pestilence)
Alpha Flight I#55, p16, pan1 (versus Box)
X-Man I#40, p5, pan5 (versus X-Man)
Amazing X-Men II#11, p20, pan1 (chained up)

Appearances:
Alpha Flight I#1 (August, 1983) - John Byrne (writer, pencils, inks), Denny O'Neil (editor)
Alpha Flight I#24 (July, 1985) - John Byrne (writer, pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Dennis O'Neil (editor)
Alpha Flight I#38 (September, 1986) - Bill Mantlo (writer), David Ross (pencils), Gerry Talaoc (inks), Carl Potts (editor)
Alpha Flight I#51 (October, 1987) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Jim Lee (pencils), Whilce Portacio (inks), Carl Potts (editor)
Alpha Flight I#55 (February, 1988) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Jim Lee (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Carl Potts (editor)
Alpha Flight I#57 (April, 1988) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Jim Lee (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Carl Potts (editor)
Alpha Flight I#58 (May, 1988) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Jim Lee (pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Carl Potts (editor)
Alpha Flight I#61 (August, 1988) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Jim Lee (pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Carl Potts (editor)
Alpha Flight I#64 (November, 1988) - Bill Mantlo (writer), Jim Lee (pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Carl Potts (editor)
Alpha Flight I#71 (June, 1989) - James D. Hudnall (writer), John Calimee (pencils), Mike Manley (inks), Carl Potts (editor)
X-Man I#39 (June, 1998) - Terry Kavanagh (writer), Mark Pajarillo (pencils), Bud LaRosa (inks), Glenn Greenberg (editor)
X-Man I#40 (July, 1988) - Terry Kavanagh (writer), Richard Pace (pencils), Bud LaRosa (inks), Glenn Greenberg (editor)
X-Men and Alpha Flight II#1 (May, 1998) - Ben Raab (writer), John Cassaday (pencils & inks), Mark Powers (editor)
Wolverine II#172 (March, 2002) - Frank Tieri (writer), Sean Chen (pencils), Norm Rapmund (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
Chaos War: Alpha Flight I#1 (January, 2011) - Jim McCann (writer), Reilly Brown (pencils), Terry Pallot (inks), Joe Quesada (editor)
Amazing X-Men II#11 (November, 2014) - Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost (writers), Carlos Barberi & Iban Coello (pencils & inks) Mike Marts (editor)
Amazing X-Men II#12 (December, 2014) - Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost (writers), Carlos Barberi & Iban Coello (pencils & inks) Mike Marts (editor)

First Posted: 10/30/2018
Last Updated: 01/06/2019

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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