History ComicBook / Northguard

* CanadaEh: Averted, as Shainblum and Morrissette went to extraordinary lengths to make the Canada in their storylines as realistic as possible.
* CaptainGeographic: Twice, with Northguard and Fleur-de-Lys.
* CaptainPatriotic: Ditto.
* ConspiracyRedemption

* HonestCorporateExecutive: Ron Cape, the head of PACT.

Northguard was a fictional superhero comic published in the mid-1980's and early 90's by the independent publishers Matrix Comics and Caliber Comics, noteworthy for being one of the few [[UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} Canadian]] superhero comics of the late 20th century. Created by comic book writer Creator/Mark Shainblum and illustrator Creator/Gabriel Morrissette, the character first appeared in [=NewTriumph=] featuring Northguard #1 (September 1984). Four more issues were published by Matrix from 1984-86, and then the series went on hiatus until 1989, when the story arc started in issue #1 was finally concluded in the mini-series Northguard: The [=ManDes=] Conclusion published by Caliber Comics.

Though not as well-known as Richard Comely's earlier Canadian superhero series ''ComicBook/CaptainCanuck'' or Marvel's contemporaneous Canadian superhero team ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight'', Northguard achieved a certain degree of pop culture notoriety when Fleur-de-Lys, a supporting character, appeared on a Canadian postage stamp in 1995.

Northguard was a fictional superhero comic published in the mid-1980's and early 90's by the independent publishers Matrix Comics and Caliber Comics, noteworthy for being one of the few [[UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} Canadian]] superhero comics of the late 20th century. Created by comic book writer Creator/Mark Shainblum and illustrator Creator/Gabriel Morrissette, the character first appeared in NewTriumph featuring Northguard #1 (September 1984). Four more issues were published by Matrix from 1984-86, and then the series went on hiatus until 1989, when the story arc started in issue #1 was finally concluded in the mini-series Northguard: The[=ManDes=] Conclusion published by Caliber Comics.

* AmbiguouslyJewish: Averted. Not only is Phillip Wise unambiguously Jewish, but he's also the adult child of Holocaust survivors. This provides a major element of the series' subtext, as Northguard identifies ManDes and their white-supremacist agenda with the Nazis who murdered his grandparents. Not entirely correctly, to be sure, since ManDes are also Christian Identity theocrats.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Reverend Tyler, the leader of ManDes and its front, the Ultra Corporation.

Published several years before ''ComicBook/DarkKnight'' and ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', Northguard was arguably the first North American superhero series to be influenced by Alan Moore's DarkerAndEdgier approach to the genre, although it also owed a lot to the spy and thriller genres.

* Northguard (Phillip Wise), a Montreal student and comic book fan in his early 20's who becomes an AscendedFanboy when he is chosen to wield a superweapon called the [=UniBand=]. Against the wishes of his patrons, who think he's crazy, he has a [[CaptainPatriotic nationalistic maple leaf costume]] designed and uses the UniBand to become a superhero in a world largely without superheroes.

->"My name is Phillip Wise. I'm a superhero, or so I like to think.
-> In reality, there's no such thing as a 'superhero.'
-> There are only suicidal idiots in costume playing 'let's pretend.'"
-->-- '''Northguard: The [=ManDes=] Conclusion #1, 1989'''

Northguard was a fictional superhero comic published in the mid-1980's and early 90's by the independent publishers Matrix Comics and Caliber Comics, noteworthy for being one of the few [[UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} Canadian]] superhero comics of the late 20th century. Created by comic book writer Creator/Mark Shainblum and illustrator Creator/Gabriel Morrissette, the character first appeared in ''ComicBook/NewTriumphFeaturingNorthguard'' #1 (September 1984). Four more issues were published by Matrix from 1984-86, and then the series went on hiatus until 1989, when the story arc started in issue #1 was finally concluded in the mini-series ''ComicBook/NorthguardTheManDesConclusion'' published by Caliber Comics.

* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Reverend Tyler, the leader of ManDes.

Northguard was a fictional superhero comic published in the mid-1980's and early 90's by the independent publishers Matrix Comics and Caliber Comics, noteworthy for being one of the few [[UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} Canadian]] superhero comics of the late 20th century. Created by comic book writer Creator/Mark Shainblum and illustrator Creator/Gabriel Morrissette, the character first appeared in ''ComicBook/NewTriumphFeaturingNorthguard'' #1 (September 1984). Four more issues were published by Matrix from 1984-86, and then the series went on hiatus until 1989, when the story arc started in issue #1 was finally concluded in the mini-series ''ComicBook/NorthguardTheManDes Conclusion'' published by Caliber Comics.

* Fleur-e-Lys (Manon Deschamps), a Tae Kwon Do champion who befriends Phillip and eventually takes on a Quebec flag-based superhero persona on her own, initially just as a gag to counterpoint the silliness of Phillip's Northguard identity. But eventually she is armed with a fleur-de-lys shaped taser weapon, and the gag takes on a life of its own.

* TheAce: Steel Chameleon.

->''"My name is Phillip Wise. I'm a superhero, or so I like to think.

-> There are only suicidal idiots in costume playing 'let's pretend.'"''

In reality, there's no such thing as a 'superhero.'
There are only suicidal idiots in costume playing 'let's pretend.'"''

->''"My name is Phillip Wise. I'm a superhero, or so I like to think. In reality, there's no such thing as a 'superhero.' There are only suicidal idiots in costume playing 'let's pretend.'"''

[[caption-width-right:140:Northguard the [=ManDes=]Conclusion #1]]

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[[caption-width-right:140:Northguard the [=ManDes=]Conclusion #3 - Cover art by Ken Steacy]]

[[caption-width-right:140:Northguard the [=ManDes=]Conclusion #3]]
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[[caption-width-right:140:Northguard the [=ManDes=]Conclusion #3]]

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[[caption-width-left:140:Northguard the [=ManDes=]Conclusion #3]]

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/pub/images/]]

* The PACT Corporation, an idealistic Canadian research firm which has taken on the role of combatting ManDes when the authorities refuse to believe it exists.

* Northguard (Phillip Wise), a Montreal student and comic book fan in his early 20's who becomes an AscendedFanboy when he is chosen to wield a superweapon called the UniBand. Against the wishes of his patrons, who think he's crazy, he has a [[CaptainPatriotic nationalistic maple leaf costume]] designed and uses the UniBand to become a superhero in a world largely without superheroes.

Published several years before ''ComicBook/DarkKnight'' and ''ComicBook/{Watchmen}'', Northguard was arguably the first North American superhero series to be influenced by Alan Moore's DarkerAndEdgier approach to the genre, although it also owed a lot to the spy and thriller genres.

-->-- '''Northguard: The {{Man Des}} Conclusion #1, 1989'''

Northguard was a fictional superhero comic published in the mid-1980's and early 90's by the independent publishers Matrix Comics and Caliber Comics, noteworthy for being one of the few [[UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} Canadian]] superhero comics of the late 20th century. Created by comic book writer Creator/Mark Shainblum and illustrator Creator/Gabriel Morrissette, the character first appeared in ''ComicBook/NewTriumphFeaturingNorthguard'' #1 (September 1984). Four more issues were published by Matrix from 1984-86, and then the series went on hiatus until 1989, when the story arc started in issue #1 was finally concluded in the mini-series ''ComicBook/NorthguardTheManDesConclusion'' published by Caliber Comics.

Though not as well-known as Richard Comely's earlier Canadian superhero series ''ComicBook/CaptainCanuck'' or Marvel's contemporaneous Canadian superhero team
''ComicBook/AlphaFlight'', Northguard achieved a certain degree of pop culture notoriety when
Fleur-de-Lys, a supporting character, appeared on a Canadian postage stamp in 1995.

* Fleur-e-Lys (Manon Deschamps), a Tae Kwon Do champion who befriends Phillip and eventually
takes on a Quebec flag-based superhero persona on her own, initially just as a gag to counterpoint the silliness of Phillip's Northguard identity. But eventually she is armed with a fleur-de-lys shaped taser weapon, and the gag takes on a life of its own.

* The PACT Corporation, an idealistic Canadian research firm which has taken on the role of
combatting ManDes when the authorities refuse to believe it exists.
* ManDes, or Manifest Destiny, an extreme right-wing terrorist conspiracy which wants to overthrow democracy in North America and replace it with a racist, totalitarian theocracy. They have targetted Canada first because it's the weaker target, and because they believe it that it was created by the devil to deprive the USA of a portion of the American continent.

[[quoteright:305:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/]]

-->-- '''Northguard: The {{ManDes}} Conclusion #1, 1989'''

Northguard is a fictional superhero comic by Matrix Comics and Caliber Comics, noteworthy for being one of the few [[UsefulNotes/{{Canada}} Canadian]] superhero comics of the late 20th century. Created by comic book writer Creator/Mark Shainblum and illustrator Creator/Gabriel Morrissette, the character first appeared in ''ComicBook/NewTriumphFeaturingNorthguard'' #1 (September 1984). Four more issues were published by Matrix from 1984-86, and then the series went on hiatus until 1989, when the story arc started in issue #1 was finally concluded in the mini-series ''ComicBook/NorthguardTheManDesConclusion'' published by Caliber Comics.



Notable members of the team include:
* Guardian/Vindicator (James [=MacDonald=] Hudson), a scientist and later, his wife Heather, wearing a suit of PoweredArmor with [[CaptainPatriotic Canadian nationalistic motifs]].
* Sasquatch (Walter Langkowski), another scientist with the ability to turn into a superstrong monster form (named after another word for 'bigfoot').
* Shaman (Michael Twoyoungmen), a [[MagicalNativeAmerican Magical First Nations]] with a pouch that could provide a lot of magical objects.
* Snowbird, an Inuit demi-goddess who can transform into an albino female version of any animal.
* Aurora (Jeanne-Marie Beaubier) and Northstar (Jean-Paul Beaubier), HalfIdenticalTwins with flight, SuperSpeed and the ability to generate intense light [[WonderTwinPowers when they touch]].
* Box (Roger Bochs), a [[HumongousMecha robot suit of armor that could carry its pilot inside]] (and thus a 'box'; his friend and eventual successor, Madison Jeffries, is a technopath who can turn into the robot himself)
* Puck (Eugene Judd), a PintSizedPowerhouse and BadassNormal, though it was later retconned that he had superhuman strength and skin like compressed rubber, as well as inhuman agility and reflexes (named after a hockey puck--he's small, fast, and hard).

The original team's dead members were resurrected during 2010-11's ''ComicBook/ChaosWar'', and the reunited team has an eight-part maxiseries in 2011-12, tying into Marvel's ''ComicBook/FearItself'' event. It was boosted to be an ongoing, but Marvel pushed it back to an eight-parter after sales dropped off.

* TheAce: Heather Hudson. She not only possesses an above average intelligence, but is also a decent leader (despite having virtually no previous experience when she first started) as well as quite a bit of power thanks to her Guardian and Vindicator suits.
** BrokenAce: Puck and Madison Jeffires
* {{Angst}}: And lots of it after Guardian was killed in issue 12 of the original series. Heather's guilt because she felt she killed Mac eventually led to her putting on his suit and training herself to use it. She then called herself "Vindicator" for a short time, as Mac did for a while before Puck persuaded him to change to "Guardian."
** Northstar resented Heather trying to take Guardian's place. Especially at first, when she assumed the helm under Puck's recommendation despite the fact that she wasn't even a BadassNormal. This put her in danger too much, which led to more angst and eventually the decision to put on the suit.
* AnimalThemedSuperbeing: Sasquatch fits the ''Mythical Monster Motif'' type while Snowbird fits the ''All Animal Abilities'' type.
* {{Animorphism}}: Snowbird's best-known ability is to turn into an albino female version of any animal. Her favorite is a human-sized owl.
** Note that's it's actually any animal native to Canada. ''This includes Sasquatch.''
* BackFromTheDead: Mac was killed in the first year of ''Alpha Flight'' and not resurrected until seven years later.
** After [[TheIncredibleHercules Chaos War]], all dead members of Alpha Flight are back.
** LikeABadassOutOfHell: Puck, who apparently died somewhere between the return of his dead teammates and the start of the new series. He went to Hell, and teamed up with Wolverine to escape, but only Logan managed to get out, while Puck slayed demons who imprisoned him and took his place. And upon learning his teammates may be in trouble, he immediately gave it up to return and save them.
* BigfootSasquatchAndYeti: Sasquatch
* BodyBackupDrive: The handicapped Roger Bochs has a robot body called Box which he can transfer into and out of at will. During one story arc when Walter Langkowski (Sasquatch) dies his consciousness is transferred to Box until they can find him a new body. They think they found one out in the interdimensional crossroads, but it turns out that it's ComicBook/IncredibleHulk. Langkowski decides to let his soul dissipate in the crossroads.
* BodyHorror: Scramble the Mixed-Up Man used his powers to create these, the last of which was Omega, a fusion of himself and Roger Bochs. It was just... messy.
* BodySurf: Related to the BodyBackupDrive above, how Sasquatch came back; his consciousness found a way to access Shaman's medicine pouch {{Hammerspace}} from the crossroads, where he entered the mindless, shrunken body of Smart Alec. After escaping the pouch, he transferred to Box again to help Alpha Flight fight off Pestilence (who'd reanimated the recently-deceased Snowbird's body, which was [[ShapeshifterModeLock stuck in Sasquatch form]]). Electrocuting Pestilence out of Snowbird's body drained Box, but allowed Walter to make one more jump into Snowbird's body (see FreakyFridayFlip below).
* BoisterousBruiser: Puck.
* BraidsBeadsAndBuckskins: Shaman and Yukon Jack.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: The premise of the fourth series is that [[spoiler:''the entire nation of Canada'' has been brainwashed to serve the Master of the World and his Unity political party. By the end of the series, everyone is de-brainwashed... except, unfortunately, Heather, who flew off to parts unknown, and it'll probably be years before anyone gets back to what she's up to]].
* BrotherSisterTeam: Northstar and Aurora in their first appearances. They had identical powers and generated a blinding light upon physical contact. This was subverted when they fell out early in the book's run, causing Aurora to redesign her costume and even had her geneticist boyfriend Sasquatch alter her powers to further distinguish her from her brother. As a result, she isn't as fast (the difference between Mach 5 and Mach 2, but still), but can generate light on her own in addition to other abilities that seem to come and go with her multiple personalities.
** Sasquatch and Aurora's personality were also kind of an item at the time. So as a TakeThat to Northstar, whom Sasquatch considered an impediment to a full-blown relationship with Aurora, he changed the "touch-to-make-bright-light" power into "touching-cancels-both-your-powers-out." Which, of course, neither Northstar nor Aurora knew about until they touched during a battle.
* CanadaEh: Given a LampshadeHanging during the crapload of [[AlternateUniverse "unrealities"]] shown in the [[CrackFic 34th issue]] of ''ComicBook/WhatIf''.
* CaptainGeographic: Guardian and Vindicator always had this going on, though the entire original team plays up some aspect of Canadian culture: Mac, Heather, and Puck are from Ontario; Marrina's from the Atlantic Coast; Northstar and Aurora are from Quebec (with Northstar being a former separatist); Snowbird's from the Northern Territories; Shaman represents the First Nations; and Sasquatch is from [[TheOtherRainforest British Columbia]].
* ClothesMakeTheSuperman: Mac Hudson's original Guardian suit (which Heather used during the first series) was electromagnetic. After he came back, Heather was given her own suit that had geothermal powers (at which point she took the name Vindicator).
* ComingOutStory[=/=]VerySpecialEpisode: Northstar's coming out surrounded a baby girl with AIDS, from which the original Major Mapleleaf's son died, but because he was gay he didn't become a media darling like Northstar's adopted daughter. In all honesty, the story suffers from bad dialogue and worse art, but it still made history when Northstar became Marvel's first openly gay hero.

* CoolOldGuy: Centennial, from the second revival.
* CoolShades: Heather's near-sighted, and normally wears glasses, so when she takes leadership of Alpha Flight, she dons prescription shades in the field. She adds them to the rebuilt Guardian suit when she first becomes Vindicator. Between the first and second series, Heather gets laser eye surgery, but after a few missions in the geothermal suit, she brings back the CoolShades to protect her eyes from the wind.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Jerome Jaxon, who sought to sell his subordinate Mac's original armor (designed to burrow underground in search of mineral resources) as a weapon to the U.S. military; when Mac steals the armor and takes his control helmet (which he designed in college) to the Canadian government, Jaxon is ruined, and after being DrivenToSuicide only to fail, manages to join up with evil MegaCorp Roxxon and seeks revenge against Mac by forming the original Omega Flight.
* DarkerAndEdgier: The second and fourth series attempt to make Alpha Flight EXTREME. The second series in particular was a case of "FollowTheLeader" by turning the book into an X-Files clone, if
* DiabolusExMachina: The first Guardian's death was unwittingly caused by his own wife. After a particularly nasty fight with a supervillain, his suit goes into meltdown and he has to disassemble it, like, fast. At the last second, Heather barges in the room, distracting Mac. Kaboom.
* DisappearedDad: Shaman lost his wife. His response? ''Abandon his six-year old daughter for ten years.''
* DroppedABridgeOnHim: The entire classic team had just been resurrected plus the two most beloved members of the third series before The Collective killed them in one panel.
* ElectionDayEpisode: #1 of the 2011 ''Comicbook/AlphaFlight'' series is set during the Canadian Federal Election. The winning party is the [[FictionalPoliticalParty fictional]] Unity Party, whose leader quickly turns out to be [[PresidentEvil Prime Minister Evil]].
* EscapeBattleTechnique: The original Guardian armor could cancel out the effects of the Earth's rotation, causing it to instantly move westward at the Earth's rotational speed (about 1,000 miles per hour). This allowed the armor's user to essentially vanish from combat in the blink of an eye.
* ExcusePlot: The whole idea of Walter Langkowski going "fishing" for a new body for himself in the interdimensional crossroads (so he wouldn't have to stay in the Box robot, denying the paraplegic Roger Bochs his mobility and himself the physical pleasures of his girlfriend Aurora) was an excuse to bring the [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]], who'd been tripping through the crossroads in his own book, back to Earth. It also just happened to coincide with John Byrne leaving ''Alpha Flight'' to write ''The Incredible Hulk'', as Bill Mantlo came over from ''Hulk'' to write ''Alpha Flight''.
* FaceHeelTurn: Heather Hudson and Purple Girl
* FantasyKitchenSink: Alpha Flight's members and enemies were always a blend of {{Badass Normal}}s, {{mutants}}, aliens, robots, magical beings, and so on. There ''were'' times when the team's membership was mostly mutants and its enemies mostly magical, but it was always an interesting blend.
* FishPeople: Marrina the poor little fish girl.
* {{Flanderization}}: Ever since joining the X-Men, Northstar has been portrayed as arrogant and snobbish, completely ignoring years of character development over the course of Alpha Flight where he actually became a likable team player.
* {{Flight}}: This is one of Northstar and Aurora's main abilities. Snowbird is also able to fly in her base form and in a few of her animal ones too. Guardian and Vindicator are also able to fly using their respective supersuits.
* FlyingBrick: Vindicator and Guardian are this while wearing their supersuits. Madison Jefferies and Roger Bochs also became this while fused with the Box robot.
* FragileSpeedster: Notably averted with Northstar and Aurora. It was explicitly stated that the faster they moved, the tougher they became in turn. The two were able to dish out rapid fire punches that caused even the Incredible Hulk pain.
* FreakyFridayFlip: Walter Langowski is the king of getting stuck in other people's bodies. He starts out turning into a big orange Sasquatch. When it turns out that this form is actually an evil spirit, his soul gets shoved into the Box robot. After a search for a new flesh-and-blood body brings the [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]] back to Earth instead, Walt consigns himself to the interdimensional crossroads. He eventually finds his way to the pocket dimension of Shaman's medicine bag, only to eventually emerge in Smart Alec's shrunken body. From there he surfs into Snowbird's white Sasquatch body (sort of), which incidentally gender-bends him into a Wanda. Eventually, he gets his own gender and coloration back with help from Snowbird's spirit.
* FusionDance: The Switcher version. Sasquatch originally thought he was turning into a furry beast after replicating [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk The Hulk]]'s gamma-ray incident, but it turned out he was switching bodies with the dark god Tanaraq, whose mind was slowly taking over. Of course Snowbird had a bad feeling about the whole thing from the start, but nobody listened to her until she had to kill him in what was one of the coolest fights in the book. It wasn't until after he got better that he was able to finally shapeshift on his own. How? [[http://www.uncannyxmen.net/db/spotlight/showquestion.asp?faq=10&fldAuto=115 It's a long story.]]
* GenderBender: Sasquatch's stint as "Wanda" Langkowski.
* GeniusBruiser: Sasquatch, both a radiation expert and a high-level powerhouse. Puck had elements of this too, especially once he got a power-upgrade to lift upwards of ten tons.
* HandBlast: The Guardian suit grants this power to its wearer, allowing them to fire bursts of plasma at their opponents.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Northstar
* LegacyCharacter: The second Puck from the mid-2000s revival, a sprightly Asian-Canadian girl with super-strength, who was the daughter of the original.
* LighterAndSofter: The third series is laugh out loud comedy.
* MagicalNativeAmerican: Shaman and his daughter Talisman.
* ManInTheMachine: Originally, Box was a remote-controlled robot, but it was altered to allow its paraplegic creator, Roger Bochs, to physically join with it. It later played host to the spirit of Sasquatch, and then became a variable-form mech with Madison Jeffries.
* {{Meganekko}}: Heather Hudson.
* MisplacedWildlife: Snowbird's animal shapeshifting was initially limited to animals native to Canada. During a fight where she is rendered unable to see, she mentions that she could use a bat's sonar, but was unable to since bats do not live in Canada. Except that they do.
* MonsterModesty: Marrina is a rare female example since she's a non-human wearing a skimpy one piece swimsuit. Sasquatch fits this trope in a way. Despite being an educated gentleman, he "wears" a [[FurBikini fur loincloth]] and nothing else.
* MorphicResonance: Snowbird's animal forms are always albino.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Scrambler. Also Deadly Ernest.
* NiceGuy: Major Mapleleaf, often to the point of naivete.
* NotBloodSiblings: Marrina was raised alongside a (normal human) adoptive brother, Dan Smallwood. In his few appearances it was established that Dan was in love with his sister. Unfortunately for him, his love was unrequited.
* [[OneManArmy One Robot Army]]: Madison Jeffries as Box; his ability to morph inorganic materials allowed him to reconfigure the Box robot into virtually any configuration he could think of, basically making him an unlimited-form TransformingMecha.
* RemoteBody: In early issues Handicapped GadgeteerGenius Roger Bochs had a robot called Box that he control with a neural interface helmet.
* ScarfOfAsskicking: Notably averted. Aurora would wear a scarf with one of her more revealing costumes during winter/arctic missions. However, the blue scarf visually clashed with the white-and-yellow costume and, more than once, a villain attempted to use the scarf to strangle her.
* SharpenedToASingleAtom: Nemesis carries a sabre whose blade is only a single molecule thick.
* SplitPersonality: Aurora. Whooo boy. At her ''least complicated'', she is split between a free-spirited FemmeFatale who loves her mutant powers and being a superhero ("Aurora"), and a stuffy schoolmarm who would rather lead a quiet life teaching and is religious to the point of bigotry against her own brother Northstar ("Jeanne-Marie"). However, villains who treat this as a weakness learn not to make that mistake twice. Once Jeanne-Marie conceded to helping Alpha Flight, her unique perspective came in handy a few times, and she had energy powers that even Aurora was unaware of.
** Originally, Jeanne-Marie couldn't access Aurora's powers at all, not that she wanted to. However, by the time the "Unity" storyline comes around, Jeanne-Marie is able to access Aurora's powers and use them quite easily. It's also revealed that the split personality came from abuse while she was a student in a parochial school.
* StraightGay: Northstar, despite looking like a beautiful elf most of the time. Helps that he wasn't actually able to come out on panel until the 90s.
* SuperStrength: Sasquatch originally possessed this in spades, to the point where he once fought the Hulk for fun! Snowbird has this in both her base and Sasquatch forms, while Puck gained superhuman strength after his powers were retconned. Vindicator and Guardian also gained enhanced strength while wearing their suits. Madison Jefferies and Roger Bochs also possessed superhuman strength while fused with the Box robot.
* TakeOurWordForIt: Very deliberately invoked by John Byrne when, early in the first series, Puck mentions his adventures fighting the "Brass Bishop", with an editors note pointing out that this adventure has yet to be chronicled. Whether Byrne ever intended on writing said adventure is anyone's guess. It would take almost a decade for other writers to avert the trope and actually pen a "Brass Bishop" story.
* TeamMom: After Mac's apparent death, Heather was chosen as the new leader for this very reason, even though she was still a civilian (she didn't become Vindicator till later).
* ThirdLineSomeWaiting: [[FishPeople Fish girl]] and Newfoundlander Marrina spent more time in her own subplot than on the team. Most readers know her better as an honorary Avenger and [[{{Sub-Mariner}} Namor's wife]] whom he had to kill when her alien powers spiraled out of control.
* TookALevelInBadass: Heather, when she became Vindicator (and later taking the name Guardian). Even when her husband, the original Guardian came back, he acknowledged that she had built up more experience using the suit than he did.
* {{UST}}: Wolverine with both Snowbird and Heather. However, both ladies figured legitimately into his backstory before [[ExpansionPackPast Wolverine]] [[WolverinePublicity Mania]] started getting out of hand. Heather helped calm him down after the adamantium procedure, while he and Snowbird shared a mutual attraction during his time on the team.
* [[WearingAFlagOnYourHead Wearing The Maple Leaf As Your Costume]]: While Guardian (and later Vindicator) wore a unique battle-armor based on the Canadian flag, the entire team would later adorn similar Maple Leaf-themed costumes in the early-to-mid 90s.
* WinterRoyalLady: Snowbird.
* WonderTwinPowers: Northstar and Aurora both possessed the power to fly and run at superhuman speeds that they could use independently. However, the two could also generate a powerful burst of light whenever they touched. This ability was lost for a long while, but the twins eventually regained a more refined version of it later on.

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-->-- '''Northguard: The ManDes Conclusion #1, 1989'''