| Sasquatch | |
|---|---|
 Sasquatch as depicted inCivil War: The Initiative (April 2007). Art byMarc Silvestri. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | The Uncanny X-Men #120 (April 1979) |
| Created by | John Byrne Chris Claremont |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Walter Langkowski |
| Species | Human mutate |
| Team affiliations | Omega Flight Alpha Flight Beta Flight Gamma Flight |
| Notable aliases | Wanda Langkowski Box Tanaraq Walt Samson |
| Abilities | (As Langkowski):
(As Sasquatch):
(As Walt Samson):
|
Sasquatch (Walter Langkowski) is asuperhero appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. Hefirst appeared inThe Uncanny X-Men #120 (April 1979) and was created byJohn Byrne andChris Claremont.
Langkowski is a scientist turned into aSasquatch-like being through a controlled gamma-radiation experiment which linked him to the godTanaraq. He is a long-term and founding member ofAlpha Flight.
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Sasquatchfirst appeared inThe Uncanny X-Men #120 (April 1979) and was created byJohn Byrne andChris Claremont.[1][2]
Dr. Walter 'Walt' Langkowski is a founding member ofAlpha Flight, a native ofVancouver,British Columbia,Canada, renownedphysicist, and professor atMcGill University.[3][volume & issue needed] He was also a professionalfootball player for theGreen Bay Packers.[4] In the 1993 miniseriesThe Infinity Crusade, it is revealed that Langkowski is Jewish.[5][6]
As Sasquatch, he possessed the ability to change into a massive, super-strong and orange-furred beast. In this form, Langkowski had immense physical attributes and natural weaponry.
This alternate form was due to Langkowski'sself-experimentation withgamma radiation. In an attempt to replicate the process that transformed Bruce Banner into theHulk, Langkowski bombarded himself with a gamma ray projector at an isolated laboratory near theArctic Circle.
The experiment transformed Langkowski into a raging beast. He destroyed the laboratory and ran off into the Arctic wilderness before reverting to his human form. He was recovered by a Canadian search-and-rescue team and taken to a hospital for observation. While recovering, he told his colleague James Hudson (a.k.a.Guardian) to call him "Sasquatch."
Langkowski was baffled to discover his alter ego had orange fur instead of green skin (which is common to gamma mutates). He speculated that the gamma rays collected were contaminated by passage through theAurora Borealis, which meant they might have included some cosmic rays as well.
However, unknown to Langkowski, it was not the gamma rays that turned him into Sasquatch. His lab equipment opened a doorway between their world and the "Realm of theGreat Beasts," monsters from Canada's prehistoric past. When the gap opened, a mystical beast namedTanaraq switched places with Langkowski's body, granting him the beast's physical powers. These included superhuman strength and endurance.
His metamorphosis was triggered by willpower, sometimes requiring a few moments of meditation. Further, Langkowski had no difficulty maintaining his personality and intelligence while in Sasquatch form.
As a founding member of the Canadian superhero teamAlpha Flight, Sasquatch battled theX-Men in an attempt to captureWolverine.[3] The fight between the two teams caused a huge amount of property damage at the Calgary Stampede shopping area, as well as the loss of a DC-10 that Sasquatch flung into a hangar.
Sasquatch later battled theHulk,[7] to test his own physical limits, then fought alongside the Hulk against theWendigo.[8]
Not long after, Alpha Flight was officially disbanded by its government agency,Department H. However, when Guardian called upon the scattered team members, he joined Alpha Flight to take down the Great BeastTundra.[9]
The team soon after worked withNamor, and theInvisible Woman, encountering theMaster of the World.[10] On his own, he faced theSuper-Skrull.[11] and then rejoined the team to fightOmega Flight[12] in New York City, where the team lost Guardian.
AlongsideRom, Alpha Flight fought theDire Wraiths.[13] and then joined the X-Men on a journey toAsgard, where they clashed withLoki.[14]
While shopping with his girlfriendAurora, Sasquatch encountered and fought a new armored villain, Calibre. Shot in the chest and seriously injured, Langkowski lost control, allowing the spirit of Tanaraq to inhabit Sasquatch. Tanaraq threatened to kill Aurora and wreak havoc. Confronted by Walt's teammateSnowbird, Tanaraq was killed when Snowbird transformed into a white-furred Sasquatch and ripped out the beast's heart. Upon the body's death, Langkowski's spirit was lost.[15]
After his death, Langkowski's teammates traveled to the realm of the Great Beasts to recover his soul. However, a preservation spell cast by Alpha Flight's sorcererShaman failed to prevent Langkowski's body from crumbling to dust.
Once in the land of the Great Beasts, they were attacked by the monsters' leader Somon, who summoned his allies Tundra, Kariooq, and Tolomaq against them. Snowbird battled Somon, eventually forcing him to relinquish control of the others; leaderless, the monsters turned on each other and ignored Alpha Flight.
Forcing the now-weakened Somon to reveal to them the location of Langkowski's spirit, Alpha Flight ventured to the Pit of Ultimate Sadness, located beneath the Great Glow-Globe of Phistash-Hasrak, where Somon explained that the souls of those who once inhabited the realm existed in torment. Somon told them that, to enter the Pit's Well of Sorrows, they must sacrifice love, hate, and power. Sending Aurora (representing love), Northstar (representing hate), and Talisman (representing power), Alpha Flight realized the Well was a trap set by Somon.
Snowbird killed Somon and three trapped Alphans were reunited with the rest of the team. Shaman deduced from Somon's trap that no actual souls still remained within the Well of Sorrows but rather, the only wandering soul (Walter's) resided within the Glow-Globe of Phistash-Hasrak.[16] Containing Walter's soul within a globe of its own from his pouch, Shaman then transported Alpha Flight back to Earth, where they met with Heather Hudson and Box.
Lacking a body, in desperation, Shaman projected the soul into the robotBox, who had arrived as the Alphans returned to Earth.[16] After searching for a habitable but mindless body, Langkowski and Box's creator, Roger Bochs, eventually found a nearly-mindless humanoid in another dimension. However, when the pair projected Langkowski's soul along an interdimensional "fishing line", it turned out to be theHulk. Langkowski, unwilling to displace his colleague and friend Bruce Banner (despite Banner's pleas to the contrary), let his soul dissipate into the interdimensional void.[17]
However, Langkowski wasn't dead. He returned soon afterward by temporarily inhabiting the shrunken, mindless body ofSmart Alec, which had been kept in Shaman's pouch. He then switched over to occupy Snowbird's then-deceased body (with her permission). In Snowbird's body, Walt lacked Snowbird's shapeshifting powers and was limited to either Snowbird's (female) human form and a white-furred version of his Sasquatch form.[18] Now biologically female, she called herself "Wanda Langkowski", and fought to be recognized as legally alive.[19] Snowbird's spirit later altered her former body to be identical of his original self.[20] After this, Sasquatch regained his original orange coloration.
Among his later adventures with Alpha Flight, Walt battledLlan the Sorcerer,[21] then joined theAvengers, and thePeople's Protectorate against theAtlantean army, the Peace Corpse, and the Combine.[22] The team also helped defendHer against the Consortium.[23]
In 2005, Sasquatch assembledanother incarnation of Alpha Flight to rescue the original team from an alien race known as thePlodex.[24] Sales were poor and the series was canceled with issue #12.
Along withMajor Mapleleaf,Puck (both Eugene Judd and Zuzha Yu),Vindicator,Shaman, andGuardian, Sasquatch fightsThe Collective.[25] He is later revealed to be the only member of Alpha Flight to survive the attack. Following the events of the 2006 "Civil War" storyline, Langkowski is recruited by the Canadian government to form a new team calledOmega Flight. He goes out of control when possessed by the Great Beast, Tanaraq, but manages to recover. He also forgivesMichael Pointer for the indirect role he played in the destruction of Alpha Flight and apologized for forcing him into the role of Guardian.
Along with AmericanmutantsWolfsbane,Thornn, andFeral, Sasquatch went toWakanda to help Wolverine againstSabretooth. Feral was killed by Sabretooth while the villainRomulus made plans of his own involving the group.[volume & issue needed]
During the 2010 "Chaos War" storyline, Sasquatch made a deal with the Great Beasts, bringing them to Earth so they can kill Amatusu-Mikaboshi. Teaming up with Snowbird, Northstar, and Aurora, they reunited with a resurrected Guardian, Vindicator, Shaman, and Marrina Smallwood.[26]
During the 2011 "Fear Itself" storyline, Sasquatch was seen helping Alpha Flight fightAttuma (in the form of Nerkodd: Breaker of Oceans) while saving people from a cataclysmic flood. Once Nerkodd was defeated, Alpha Flight was almost immediately betrayed by former ally Gary Cody and his newly elected Unity Party.[27] When in the custody of the Unity Party, Sasquatch's gamma energy is drained enough for him to revert to his human form.[28]
At Parliament Hill--the heart of the Canadian government--Walt is told by Agent Jeff Brown that concussions sustained when he played football will cause him to act less human when he changes back into Sasquatch. Jeff also tells Walt that he will soon achieve Unity. Walt is later freed by Shaman who knocks out Brown.[29] The team was instrumental in exposing Unity as a front for a planned takeover of Canada.
As part of the 2015All-New, All-Different Marvel branding, Sasquatch was as part of the Alpha Flight space program and was among the heroes stranded in space when Captain America (secretly a Hydra agent at that time) closed a force field around Earth.[30]
While taking time off from the Alpha Flight space program, Walt met a reporter named Jackie McGee and agreed to aid her in her search for Bruce Banner. After Walt was stabbed breaking up a fight between two men, he wound up in the hospital where he turned into Sasquatch that night. After killing doctors that were treating him, Sasquatch encounters Hulk who realized Walt was possessed byBrian Banner's ghost. Hulk freed Sasquatch from Brian's possession by draining enough gamma energy to depower Walt.[31] It was revealed that Brian's possession of Sasquatch was caused by theOne Below All.[32]
General Reginald Fortean nearly charged Walter for the deaths he caused but changed his mind; instead, he had Captain Marvel send the Avengers after Hulk.[33] After Hulk escaped from Fortean's custody, Walt and Puck formed a new version of Gamma Flight to go after Hulk.[34]
Walt and Gamma Flight arrived at the area where the gamma bomb first turned Bruce Banner into the Hulk. As Hulk fought Gamma Flight, Absorbing Man absorbed the leftover gamma radiation that enabled the One Below All to plunge New Mexico into its Below Place.[35] After Hulk defeated the One Below All, Walter and Gamma Flight were returned to Earth, where Absorbing Man joined the group.[36]
WithTitania as its latest member, Walter and Gamma Flight ran intoDoc Samson, who revealed Hulk's plan to wipe out human civilization.[37]
Arriving in Reno, Nevada, Walt and Gamma Flight found the Subject B husk in which the U.S. Hulk Operations placedRick Jones' body. They took it to the Alpha Flight Low-Orbit Space Station for study.[38] Wearing the Redeemer armor, Fortean raided the station to reclaim the Subject B husk. While taking out Gamma Flight, Fortean shot Walter to avenge the deaths Sasquatch caused.[39]
In the Below Place, Samson discovered that gamma mutates had a way back to life by means of a green door opened by the One Below All. Anyone with gamma radiation could self-resurrect this way, so long as the door was open. However, theLeader had learned how to manipulate the doors, including figuring out how to close them.[volume & issue needed]
With his door in the Below Place obstructed, Doc Samson searched for an alternative. He discovered one and resurrected himself by inhabiting Walt Langkowski's body, taking the alias "Doc Sasquatch". Meanwhile, Walt returned the favor by occupying Samson's body and named himself Walt Samson.[40][41][42][43][44][45]
AlthoughReed Richards promised to restore them to their own bodies, Walt Samson was still with Alpha Flight when the team pretended to work alongside the anti-mutant groupOrchis. In reality, they were rounding up mutants to evacuate them from Earth. He was part of the support team helping with the evacuation and was not apprehended along with Guardian, Puck, Shaman, and Snowbird.[46]
As Sasquatch, Langkowski possessed abnormal strength and stamina, as well as resistance to injury (in an early appearance, he fought the Hulk for "fun" in order to test his limits). He is strong enough to pull a naval destroyer ashore for repairs,[7] as well as hold a DC-10 cargo plane against the thrust of its engines and then hurl it over 1,000 feet backward.[3] Thanks to his thick fur, he can survive easily in extremearctic environments. Sasquatch is able to jump vast distances, but not as well as the Hulk. His claws are sharp and durable enough to cut through stone, wood, and even some metals. Though his human body requires corrective lenses, Langkowski's vision as Sasquatch was better than human. He also heals with unnatural speed, as demonstrated when Walt's arm, broken bySuper-Skrull, healed when he changed into Sasquatch.[11]
As Walt Samson, he has all the powers of Doc Samson.[40]
Early in his career, switching between forms at will caused Langkowski considerable physical discomfort.[9] To alleviate the pain, he recited a mantra while focusing on his body. However, after many months of practice, he could effect the transformations with relative ease, without the need for meditative yoga.
Langkowski is a professionally trained scientist with knowledge of bothphysics and biophysics. He has experience dealing with many forms of experimentalradiation and their mutagenic properties on lifeforms under controlled settings. As a former football player, Langkowski has athletic strength and endurance, though he is no longer in peak condition.[47] Sasquatch also has learned some combat skills, although he relies chiefly on brute force.
A race of Sasquatches were discovered to live in the forests of British Columbia. They are first seen inAlpha Flight vol. 2 #1.[48] Once a year, the Sasquatches gather at the City of Sasquatches in secret, where they worship their forgotten gods and breed with one another.[49]
One Sasquatch named Murkfoot that lived in the 1000s was theSorcerer Supreme and a member of theAvengers of 1,000 AD.[50]
One of these Sasquatches, a barely intelligent monster, is mistaken by Langkowski's teammates to be a highly degenerated Langkowski, but it was an actualBigfoot that had been captured by Department H. He is kept in control by the touch of the superpoweredMurmur, though not always successfully.[48] This Sasquatch dies in a conflict with Department H's corrupt leadership and theZodiac.[51]
Another Sasquatch appears in the 2005–2006Nick Fury's Howling Commandos series as a member of that titular group. What, if any, connection this character has to Walter Langkowski or the Sasquatch fromAlpha Flight volume 2, is not revealed. He is first seen helping theAbominable Snowman to track downGroot.[52]
A doppelganger of Sasquatch was created byMagus inInfinity War #1 and appeared inInfinity War #1, 5,Fantastic Four #369-370 andWonder Man vol. 2 #15.
An original incarnation of Sasquatch,Heather Hudson, from Earth-3470 appears inExiles.[volume & issue needed]
In theMarvel Zombies comics set in the universe of Earth-2149, the zombifiedAlpha Flight attack theX-Men and are eventually killed byMagneto.[volume & issue needed]
An alternate universe variant of Sasquatch from an unidentified universe appears inOld Man Logan (vol. 2) #17, where he is killed during the supervillain uprising.[53]
An original incarnation of Sasquatch,Rahne Sinclair, appears in theUltimate Marvel imprint.[54]
Sasquatch appears in someWhat If stories:
Sasquatch received two figures inHasbro'sMarvel Legends line, with the first being released in wave 12 and the second as a build-a-figure as part of aDeadpool-themed wave.[citation needed]
Sasquatch appears in theWolverine versus Sabretoothmotion comic, voiced byTrevor Devall.[56]
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