Walter LangkowskiSasquatch
Biography
Biography
Walter Langkowski replaced his religious faith early on with a belief in and a dependence on science. He attended Pennsylvania State University on a football scholarship, where he met Robert Bruce Banner and became interested in gamma ray research. After graduating, Walter pursued his research independently while accepting a position with a professional football team, the Green Bay Packers, and married Veronica, an actress who bore him a son. After earning over a million dollars, Walter retired and returned to school, soon earning his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Walter began teaching at McGill University in Montreal and furthered his gamma ray research, including studying Banner’s famous transformation into the Hulk, and Veronica soon divorced him, taking their son. At a new position with the Canadian government’s Department H, Walter worked with James Hudson, whose plans for a new super-hero team would eventually lead to Alpha Flight. Langkowski acted as technical and scientific support for Alpha’s precursor, the Flight, which included Smart Alec, a brilliant man with access to vast amounts of information, Snowbird, a goddess with the power to change to any Arctic animal, and Wolverine, a vicious mutant with a mysterious past. Eventually, Langkowski exposed himself to gamma rays, hoping to gain powers like Banner’s. Instead he opened a mystic barrier that allowed the Great Beast Tanaraq to pass through, and Walter assumed its form, wrongly believing his powers came from the gamma radiation. At first, Langkowski’s brain and personality remained in control of his monstrous Sasquatch form, and he joined Alpha Flight himself.
Alpha Flight’s roster would change frequently over the years as they went through phases of government contracts and independent action. Walter studied many incoming operatives, who were generally assigned to training teams Beta and Gamma Flight, for Department H. One operative, later known as Wild Child, had a very unstable genotype and psychosis, but the government shoe-horned him into the program anyway. Langkowski buried Wild Child’s unstable results, figuring he would handle them at another time, though he never put much thought into it. In Alpha Flight’s earliest missions, Sasquatch battled the X-Men, the Hulk, Sunset Bain, Machine Man, Tundra of the Great Beasts, Ranark the Ravager and Wendigo. Sasquatch also participated in the "Contest of Champions" organized by the Grandmaster and Death, and, as one of the Grandmaster’s operatives, battled the Chinese Collective Man to a stalemate. Langkowski was consulted by the Fantastic Four for his radiation expertise, and battled the Dire Wraiths, Omega Flight (in a battle where Hudson was believed killed) and the Collector.
Becoming fast friends with the diminutive Puck, Walter started a romantic relationship with the light-powered Aurora, a fact her twin Northstar resented immensely. Walter and Aurora’s relationship became complicated when Aurora began struggling with split personalities, one that liked Walter and one that didn’t. In the process of trying to help Aurora retain her more outgoing personality, Walter altered her mutant powers. Sasquatch discovered his ability to quickly heal from injuries after he broke his arm in a battle with the Super-Skrull. Langkowski eventually began struggling with a more bestial side of his nature during various battles, and feared he was becoming more like the Hulk. When his aunt, Lillian Von Loont, left Walter a mansion on Tamarind Island, Walter and Aurora investigated only to battle Loont, who had become the cyborg madwoman Gilded Lily. This mansion would later serve as Alpha Flight’s headquarters for a time. Sasquatch, alongside Alpha Flight and the X-Men, was temporarily cured of his rages by a Loki-possessed Madelyne Pryor.
When all of his teammates were captured by the alien Plodex, Sasquatch recruited new heroes, formed a new Alpha Flight and rescued his former teammates. The former Alpha Flight members left for space, leaving Sasquatch’s team to take their place, move into the Plodex base, and sever ties with the Canadian government once again. Alpha Flight embarked on a complicated time travel adventure before the original Alpha Flight members returned and rejoined the team. After speaking at Northstar’s funeral and battling Sabretooth and Wendigo, Sasquatch briefly participated in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Howling Commandos team. He later accompanied Alpha Flight in investigating the powerful mutant Collective, but they swiftly fell before his assault. His teammates Guardian, Major Mapleleaf, both Pucks, Vindicator, and Shaman, were all apparently killed and Alpha Flight was disbanded in the wake of the tragedy. However, a new team was quickly assembled by CSIS to replace them, this time called Omega Flight. Sasquatch was selected to serve as team leader of the new group, charged with the mission to defend Canada's border against criminals fleeing from the American Superhuman Registration Act. When the American super-villain team the Wrecking Crew invaded Canada, Sasquatch confronted them solo, only to suffer a severe beating at their hands.
HEIGHT
(as Walter) 6'4"; (as Sasquatch) 10'; (as Wanda) 5’10”
WEIGHT
(as Walter) 245 lbs.; (as Sasquatch) 2000 lbs.; (as Wanda) 108 lbs.
EYES
(as Walter and Wanda) Blue, (as Sasquatch) red
HAIR
(as Walter) Blonde; (as Sasquatch) orange; (as Wanda) white
Universe
- Marvel Universe
Other Aliases
- Box, Wanda Langkowski
Education
- Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Bachelors degree from Pennsylvania State University
Place of Origin
- Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Identity
- Secret
Known Relatives
- Veronica Langkowsi (ex-wife), unidentified son, Lillian von Loont (Gilded Lily, great-aunt, deceased)
Group Affiliation
- Howling Commandos