Flashback (comics)
Encyclopedia
Flashback is a fictional mutant
character in the . His first appearance was in Alpha Flight #1.
#1 (August 1983), and was created by John Byrne. He was unidentified in his first appearance, and was not named until Alpha Flight #11.
The character subsequently appears in Alpha Flight Vol. 1 #11-12 (June-July 1984), #28 (November 1985), Alpha Flight Vol. 3 #8-9 (December 2004-January 2005), #12 (April 2005), and New Thunderbolts #11 (October, 2005).
Flashback appeared as part of the "Omega Flight" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition
#9.
Province, Canada
. Possessing the mutant ability to summon duplicates of himself from future timelines, Monroe was recruited by Department H
, a branch of Canada's Department of National Defence concerned with training superhumans as government agents. Given the code-name Flashback, Monroe progressed through the initial Gamma Flight
training program and had advanced to the second-tier Beta Flight
team before Department H as a whole was shut down by the Canadian government; while the primary team, Alpha Flight
, continued to operate without government support, the members of Gamma and Beta Flights were simply dismissed.
Some time later, Flashback was recruited, along with other disenfranchised members of Gamma and Beta, by Jerry Jaxon
and his robot assistant Delphine Courtney
into Omega Flight
, a team put together to gain revenge on Department H's founder, James MacDonald Hudson, and the Alpha Flight team that he led as Guardian
. Though Omega Flight was defeated, the encounter ended with Guardian's apparent death.
During Alpha Flight's second encounter with Omega Flight, one of Flashback's duplicates was killed by a construct created by Madison Jeffries
after Courtney used it as a shield against an attack, causing all other duplicates present to vanish. Upon the realization that his duplicate's death would mean his death in the future, Flashback fell to his knees in shock while Jeffries dealt with the remaining Omegans and destroyed Courtney. Flashback and his teammates were left under guard by Jeffries' construct until the police arrived to apprehend them.
Some years later Alpha Flight was informed that Flashback had disappeared from prison. Alpha Flight took this to mean that Flashback's past had finally caught up with him. This was not to be, as years later Flashback resurfaced. Having sworn off his powers, he tried to destroy his costume, reasoning that if he didn't have his costume he couldn't be sent back to his death.
Then one morning Flashback woke up to discover his costume hanging in the bathroom. This version however had the same design as the ones worn by his duplicates. Flashback soon discovered that no matter what he did, he kept on finding himself in the duplicate suit.
In desperation, Flashback contacted Sasquatch
and his Alpha Flight team and convinced them to help him. The Alpha Flight member Nemesis
came to the conclusion that she would have to kill him with her enchanted blade in order to stop him from dying in the future. After much trial and error Alpha Flight managed to keep Flashback from being sent to the past.
, Flashback was targeted by Apocalypse
's purge of chrono-variant mutants. His fate is unknown, as Apocalypse's databases listed him as Missing in action
.
reality, Flashback assisted in breaking Baron Strucker
out of prison.
Mutant (Marvel Comics)
In comic books published by Marvel Comics, a mutant is an organism who possesses a genetic trait called an X-gene that allows the mutant to naturally develop superhuman powers and abilities...
character in the . His first appearance was in Alpha Flight #1.
Publication history
Flashback first appeared in Alpha FlightAlpha Flight
Alpha Flight is a fictional superhero team published by Marvel Comics, noteworthy for being one of the few Canadian superhero teams. Created by John Byrne, the team first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #120 ....
#1 (August 1983), and was created by John Byrne. He was unidentified in his first appearance, and was not named until Alpha Flight #11.
The character subsequently appears in Alpha Flight Vol. 1 #11-12 (June-July 1984), #28 (November 1985), Alpha Flight Vol. 3 #8-9 (December 2004-January 2005), #12 (April 2005), and New Thunderbolts #11 (October, 2005).
Flashback appeared as part of the "Omega Flight" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is an encyclopedic guide which details the fictional universe featured in Marvel Comics publications...
#9.
Fictional character biography
Gardner Monroe was born in ManitobaManitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
Province, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Possessing the mutant ability to summon duplicates of himself from future timelines, Monroe was recruited by Department H
Department H
Department H is a fictional organization in the Marvel Universe.-History:It is a branch of the Canadian Department of National Defence and is also responsible for the recruitment, provisioning, administration and deployment of Alpha Flight....
, a branch of Canada's Department of National Defence concerned with training superhumans as government agents. Given the code-name Flashback, Monroe progressed through the initial Gamma Flight
Gamma Flight
Gamma Flight is the name of two fictional Canadian teams of superheroes in the Marvel Comics Universe.-Flight tier level:They first appeared in Alpha Flight vol. 1, #1 ....
training program and had advanced to the second-tier Beta Flight
Beta Flight
Beta Flight is a fictional superhero team owned by Marvel Comics that exists in that company's Marvel Universe. Along with Gamma Flight, Beta Flight is one of the "minor leagues" of the Canadian team Alpha Flight. Originally, Beta Flight was the intermediate level team. Members are more...
team before Department H as a whole was shut down by the Canadian government; while the primary team, Alpha Flight
Alpha Flight
Alpha Flight is a fictional superhero team published by Marvel Comics, noteworthy for being one of the few Canadian superhero teams. Created by John Byrne, the team first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #120 ....
, continued to operate without government support, the members of Gamma and Beta Flights were simply dismissed.
Some time later, Flashback was recruited, along with other disenfranchised members of Gamma and Beta, by Jerry Jaxon
Jerry Jaxon
Jerome “Jerry” Jaxon is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe.-Publication history:Jerome Jaxon first appeared in Alpha Flight #2-3 , and was created by John Byrne....
and his robot assistant Delphine Courtney
Delphine Courtney
Delphine Courtney is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe, an enemy of the super-team Alpha Flight.-Publication history:Delphine Courtney first appeared in Alpha Flight #7 , and was created by John Byrne....
into Omega Flight
Omega Flight
Omega Flight is the name used by three teams of fictional characters with superpowers in the Marvel Universe, one of the few Canadian teams published by an American comic book company. Omega Flight first appeared in the pages of Alpha Flight as a supervillain team...
, a team put together to gain revenge on Department H's founder, James MacDonald Hudson, and the Alpha Flight team that he led as Guardian
Guardian (Marvel Comics)
Guardian , also known as Weapon Alpha and Vindicator, is a fictional character, a Canadian superhero in the who was the leader of Alpha Flight. He was created by John Byrne, and first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #109 which was co-plotted by Byrne and his long-time collaborator Chris Claremont...
. Though Omega Flight was defeated, the encounter ended with Guardian's apparent death.
During Alpha Flight's second encounter with Omega Flight, one of Flashback's duplicates was killed by a construct created by Madison Jeffries
Madison Jeffries
Madison Jeffries is a fictional character, a mutant superhero in the . He first appears in Alpha Flight #16 and was created by John Byrne.- Publication history :...
after Courtney used it as a shield against an attack, causing all other duplicates present to vanish. Upon the realization that his duplicate's death would mean his death in the future, Flashback fell to his knees in shock while Jeffries dealt with the remaining Omegans and destroyed Courtney. Flashback and his teammates were left under guard by Jeffries' construct until the police arrived to apprehend them.
Some years later Alpha Flight was informed that Flashback had disappeared from prison. Alpha Flight took this to mean that Flashback's past had finally caught up with him. This was not to be, as years later Flashback resurfaced. Having sworn off his powers, he tried to destroy his costume, reasoning that if he didn't have his costume he couldn't be sent back to his death.
Then one morning Flashback woke up to discover his costume hanging in the bathroom. This version however had the same design as the ones worn by his duplicates. Flashback soon discovered that no matter what he did, he kept on finding himself in the duplicate suit.
In desperation, Flashback contacted Sasquatch
Sasquatch (comics)
Sasquatch is a fictional character, a superhero in Marvel Comics' universe. He first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #120 and was created by John Byrne.-Fictional character biography:Dr...
and his Alpha Flight team and convinced them to help him. The Alpha Flight member Nemesis
Nemesis (Marvel Comics)
Nemesis is the name of three fictional superheroines in the Marvel Comics universe.All three women wore the same black and red costume, carried a mystical sword, and were capable of flight.-Isabel St. Ives:...
came to the conclusion that she would have to kill him with her enchanted blade in order to stop him from dying in the future. After much trial and error Alpha Flight managed to keep Flashback from being sent to the past.
Powers and abilities
Flashback is a mutant with the psionic ability to cause temporal counterparts of himself from alternate future timelines to appear in the present and to control them. Each duplicate appears in a reverse-color version of the original Flashback's costume. These counterparts vanish whenever Flashback is rendered unconscious; lacking any apparent skill in combat or tactics (relying solely on his advantage in numbers), this makes Flashback a comparatively easy foe to defeat, as he tends to stand back from actual combat and focus solely on the activities of his duplicates, to the exclusion of all else.Age of Apocalypse
In the Age of ApocalypseAge of Apocalypse
"Age of Apocalypse" is a 1995 - 1996 comic book crossover storyline published in the X-Men franchise of books by Marvel Comics. The Age of Apocalypse briefly replaced the universe of Earth-616, although it was later retconned as having occurred in the alternate universe of Earth-295, it had...
, Flashback was targeted by Apocalypse
Apocalypse (comics)
Apocalypse is a fictional character who is an ancient mutant that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Factor #5 , created by writer Louise Simonson and designed by artist Walter Simonson...
's purge of chrono-variant mutants. His fate is unknown, as Apocalypse's databases listed him as Missing in action
Missing in action
Missing in action is a casualty Category assigned under the Status of Missing to armed services personnel who are reported missing during active service. They may have been killed, wounded, become a prisoner of war, or deserted. If deceased, neither their remains nor grave can be positively...
.
House of M
In the House of MHouse of M
House of M is an eight-issue comic book limited series and crossover storyline published by Marvel Comics in 2005. Written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Olivier Coipel, its first issue debuted in June 2005 as a follow-up to the events of the Planet X and Avengers Disassembled...
reality, Flashback assisted in breaking Baron Strucker
Baron Strucker
Baron Wolfgang von Strucker is a fictional character created for Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, first appearing in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #5...
out of prison.