Vindicator (comics)

Superherobox|

caption=Vindicator. Art by Clayton Henry
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Vindicator
real_name=Heather MacNeil Hudson
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="Uncanny X-Men" #139 (Nov 1980)
creators=Chris Claremont
John Byrne
alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0
alliances=Alpha Flight Alpha Prime
aliases=Guardian
powers=
*Flight
*Force field generation
*Ability to manipulate geothermal energies|

Vindicator (Heather MacNeil Hudson) also known as Guardian, is a fictional character, a Canadian superheroine in the Marvel Universe, and a former leader of Alpha Flight. She was created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. (The codename Vindicator is also briefly used by Heather's husband, James MacDonald Hudson, although he eventually settles on the name Guardian.)

Fictional character biography

Before Alpha Flight

Heather was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She was originally a secretary at Amcam corporation, where she fell in love with James MacDonald Hudson [revealed in "Alpha Flight" Vol. 1 #2] . After he had stolen his power suit to prevent it from being used as a military weapon, Heather discovered his secret and decided to share it with him. Soon after they were married. [revealed in "Alpha Flight" Vol. 1 #3]

Heather supported her husband in the forming of Department H and his becoming a superhero. She also assisted Wolverine in a time of trouble before his career with the X-Men, and was later reunited with him. ["Uncanny X-Men" #139]

After Department H is dissolved, Heather brought the members of the disbanded Alpha Flight together to battle Tundra. With this initiative creating a spectacular success, the team decided to continue operating Alpha Flight as an independent group. ["Alpha Flight" Vol. 1 #1] Before Alpha Flight had been back together before long, Heather had witnessed the apparent death of James Hudson. ["Alpha Flight" Vol. 1 #12] She was then injured attempting to rescue a child from an alien Plodex. ["Alpha Flight" Vol. 1 #14]

Leader of Alpha Flight

Heather is asked by the members of Alpha Flight to take over leadership of the team when her husband James, the leader of Alpha Flight, is apparently killed. She accepts, though initially she leads purely as a non-combatant. ["Alpha Flight" Vol. 1 #17] She led Alpha Flight on a mission with the X-Men, and was temporarily transformed by the mystic Fire Mountain. ["X-Men and Alpha Flight" 1 #1-2] She was briefly "reunited" with what she thought was James Hudson, but who really turned out to be an impostor - the robot Delphine Courtney. ["Alpha Flight" Vol. 1 #25] Her body was temporarily distorted by Scramble, ["Alpha Flight" Vol. 1 #30] and then she was captured by Deadly Ernest. ["Alpha Flight" Vol. 1 #31]

Eventually, these dangerous encounters led to Heather adopting a copy of her husband's battle-suit. ["Alpha Flight" Vol. 1 #32] Through extensive training by Wolverine, Heather is able to hold her own in a battle. ["Alpha Flight" Vol. 1 #33] Heather teamed with Wolverine against Lady Deathstrike, and took the name Vindicator. ["Alpha Flight" Vol. 1 #34] She became stranded in the Savage Land, and formed the mutated natives into a team called Alpha Prime. ["Alpha Flight Annual" #2] Some time later, Heather was forced to defend Alpha Flight in a Parliamentary hearing. ["Alpha Flight" Vol. 1 #61]

Eventually her husband returns and her suit is altered to manipulate geothermal forces and she takes the name Guardian. ["Alpha Flight" Vol. 1 #90] Soon after that, she battled the Fantastic Four. ["Alpha Flight" Vol. 1 #93]

Heather and James have a baby (an as-yet-unnamed girl) and travel with their child and several other members of Alpha Flight to return a clutch of Plodex eggs to their homeworld. In addition, an accident brings temporal copies of most of the original Alpha Flight - from a time before her husband's "death" - to the present. This group includes a copy of Heather. While she is not a member, this "new" group is active as Alpha Flight.

Death?

Alpha Flight (Sasquatch, Major Mapleleaf II, Puck Jr., and the time-displaced versions of Guardian, Vindicator, Shaman, and Puck) are brutally attacked by The Collective", in "New Avengers" #16. Their bodies are left in the Yukon Territory as the Collective continues on to the United States. The time-displaced Vindicator was later confirmed dead by Sasquatch, while the original Vindicator is presumedly still on the Plodex homeworld with the other members of Alpha Flight.Fact|date=August 2008

Powers and abilities

Formerly, Vindicator wore the Guardian suit that her husband currently wears. Currently Heather's suit, which she first employed in Alpha Flight vol .2, taps into a different source for its power. Instead of manipulating electromagnetic energies, this suit allows its wearer to control geothermal energy, allowing Heather to melt rock and manipulate the resulting lava, create jets of lava, create both hot and cold jets of water, including jets of steam and cooling sprays of water. The suit can absorb heat into its power cells, provides its wearer with a personal force field, and enables feats of super-strength and super-speed.

Heather is a master combat strategist, and received combat training in hand-to-hand combat from Puck and Wolverine.

Other versions

Exiles

Another universe's Heather Hudson is a member of the Exiles, a team of reality-displaced superheroes. This Heather has history with Alpha Flight and James Hudson, but she is not exactly Vindicator's counterpart.

Instead, the Exiles' Heather is a black Canadian woman whose codename and powers match those of the main Marvel Universe's Sasquatch.

In other media

Heather appears in her Vindicator persona in "" voiced by Marsha Clark. She is at the Weapon X facility.

She and James are set to make an appearance in .Fact|date=March 2008

References

External links

* [http://alphanex.alphaflight.net/index.php/Vindicator_II AlphaFlight.Net Alphanex Entry on - Vindicator]
* [http://forum.alphaflight.net Alpha Waves Discuss Vindicator]
*http://www.marvel.com/universe/Vindicator_%28Heather_Hudson%29