SMART ALEC

Real Name: Alexander "Alec" Thorne

Identity/Class: Human mutant

Occupation: Professional criminal;
formerly scientist, simultan chess player

Group Membership: Omega Flight (Box/Jerome Jaxon, Diamond Lil/Lilian Crawley, Delphine Courtney, Flashback/Gardner Monroe, Wild Child/Kyle Gibney);
formerly Gamma Flight (Diamond Lil/Lilian Crawley, Madison Jeffries, Wild Child/Kyle Gibney), the Flight (Groundhog, James MacDonald Hudson, Walter Langkowski, Saint Elmo, Stitch, Snowbird/Narya, Wolverine/James "Logan" Howlett)

Affiliations: Meg (hot dog stand hostess)

Enemies: Alpha Flight (Aurora/Jeanne-Marie Beaubier, Guardian/James MacDonald Hudson, Northstar/Jean-Paul Beaubier, Puck/Eugene Judd, Sasquatch/Walter Langkowski, Shaman/Michael Twoyoungmen, Snowbird/Narya, Puck/Zuzha Yu, Yukon Jack/Yukotujakzurjimozoata), Emissaries of Evil (Eel/Leopold Stryke, Egghead/Elihas Starr, Porcupine/Alex Gentry, Power Man/Erik Josten, Rhino/Aleksei Sytsevich, Solarr, Swordsman/Jacques DuQuesne), S.H.I.E.L.D.

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: Mr. T (nickname used by Meg), Walter Langkowski (occupied his mindless form)

Base of Operations: Maison Alpha (place of death);
formerly the void inside Shaman's pouch;
formerly New York City:
formerly the Southbrook Mall in Winnipeg, Manitoba;
formerly Department H, Canada

First Appearance: (Seen) Alpha Flight I#1 (August, 1983); (named) Alpha Flight I#7 (February, 1984); (as Smart Alec) Alpha Flight I#11 (June, 1984)

Powers/Abilities: Alec Thorne's mutant powers greatly increased his intellectual abilities, granting him a computer like brain that was capable of impressive cognitive feats. Possessing total recall and a creative, inventive genius, Thorne created an entire arsenal of gadgets and weaponry he could use in combat. His greatest invention was possibly his Encephalo-Helmet which helped increase his intelligence even further. Despite (or because of) his immense intellect, he was smug, arrogant and easily annoyed with everyone around him. His antisocial behavior, combined with bouts of performance anxiety, kept him from advancing beyond Gamma Flight level.

Height: 5'10"; (miniaturized) 6"
Weight: 125 lbs.; (miniaturized) 14 oz.
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown (slightly balding)

History:

(Alpha Flight Special Edition II#1 - BTS) - Smart Alec was one of the first Canadian superhumans James MacDonald Hudson recruited for the Flight, what would eventually turn into the Alpha Flight program. Even during his initial training, Thorne's overly confident behavior grated his fellow teammates.

(Alpha Flight Special Edition II#1) - When American criminals Egghead and his Emissaries of Evil crossed the border into Canada to set up a nuclear missile aimed at New York, the Flight was ordered to take them out. Despite all his bravado, Smart Alec performed abysmally against hardened supervillains such as the Eel and Solarr. Overcome by a severe case of performance anxiety, he was pretty much useless in disabling the missile. The battle only ended after Alec's fellow Flight member Saint Elmo sacrificed himself in order to destroy the nuclear device.

(Alpha Flight I#1 - (fb) - BTS) - Following the Flight's less than stellar first mission, James MacDonald Hudson decided it would be for the best to create different level training groups, so less experienced superhuman operatives wouldn't be exposed to too much mortal danger before they were ready. Given his performance against Egghead's Emissaries, Smart Alec was placed in Gamma Flight, the most junior of the Flight training teams. He remained a part of Gamma Flight until the entire program was disbanded.

(Alpha Flight I#12 (fb) ) - Smart Alec trained with Shaman (Michael Twoyoungmen) when he started out in Gamma Flight. Shaman quickly advanced to Beta and later Alpha Flight, while Alec was left behind, still curious about the inner workings of his teammate's mystic pouch.

(Alpha Flight I#7 - BTS) - After being turned away by Department H when they discontinued the Flight program, Alec Thorne wandered aimlessly, without any real sort of goal or challenge. Eventually, he ended up exploiting his intelligence to make money, for instance by playing in exhibition chess matches where he effortlessly beat several players simultaneously.

(Alpha Flight I#7) - On a lunch break from one of his simultan chess matches at the Southbrook Mall in Winnipeg, Alec was having a hot dog when he was approached by the android Delphine Courtney who scouted him for Jerome Jaxon's Omega Flight. Tempted by Courtney's lucrative offer, Thorne agreed to travel to New York City where he met his fellow recruits for the first time in an office in one of the World Trade Center towers.

(Alpha Flight I#11) - Unaware of the presence of a hidden influence that heightened their jealousies and phobias, it only took minutes for Thorne and the other members of Omega Flight to be at each others throats. Thorne in particular proved insufferable, loudly complaining about everything, a fact his former Gamma Flight teammate Diamond Lil reminded him of. Thorne gave her a verbal slapdown that partly went over her head, but before he could insult her some more, Delphine Courtney (who planted the device) arrived with her boss Jerome Jaxon who revealed his purpose for assembling them: revenge on James MacDonald Hudson and the destruction of Alpha Flight.

(Alpha Flight I#11 - BTS) - Delphine Courtney picked up Heather Hudson from the airport, pretending she was doing so on behalf of her husband James, and took her to Jaxon's offices inside the World Trade Center. When a frantic Guardian started looking for her, he was contacted by Jaxon via his headgear and directed towards the WTC.

(Alpha Flight I#11) - Preparing to face his former boss, Alec Thorne had used the resources of Jaxon's associates at Roxxon Oil to build several unrevealed weapons and gadgets he planned to use. Thorne also created a special Encephalo-Helmet that increased his intelligence, response time and allowed him to see far beyond the visual spectrum. Outfitting himself with his latest creations, Thorne joined the other members of Omega Flight as Smart Alec, ready to take out Guardian.

(Alpha Flight III#11) - In their continued attempts to prevent Omega Flight member Flashback's seemingly imminent death, Alpha Flight sent new recruits Yukon Jack and Puck into the past to take out Omega Flight before they could carry out Jaxon's revenge scheme. Upon seeing the two heroes, Smart Alec immediately figured his suspicions about Guardian secretly recruiting new members for Alpha Flight had been confirmed. Yukon Jack proceeded to easily take out Omega Flight by himself, before the original members of Alpha Flight walked in on him.

(Alpha Flight III#12 - BTS) - After repeated failed attempts at preventing Flashback's demise, Sasquatch travelled to the moment right after Yukon Jack had defeated Omega Flight. While Smart Alec lay unconscious on the floor and his past self was busy fighting Jack, Sasquatch reached out to Shaman. Telling the Sarcee sorceror all about his team's current temporal conundrum, he begged his old teammate to help out. Shaman did so by pulling seven wooden coins out of his pouch, each with a different founding member of Alpha Flight on it. When Shaman blew on the coins, the heroes on them turned to smoke and were sucked inside Shaman's medicine pouch. This act created a temporal anomaly that undid all the other botched attempts at righting temporal wrongs, allowing history to unfold as recorded, without Flashback dying.

(Alpha Flight I#12 - BTS) - Sensing Guardian was in danger, Shaman summoned the other members of Alpha Flight and teleported them from Canada to New York, materializing right next to their leader, who was in the middle of fighting Omega Flight.

(Alpha Flight I#12) - After ordering his teammate Flashback to take down Guardian using his future men, Smart Alec noticed how one of his deductions regarding Snowbird proved accurate: the Inuit half-goddess' lifeforce was indeed draining away the longer she was removed from her native lands. While Shaman was distracted tending to the ailing Narya, Alec snuck up on him and grabbed Twoyoungmen's medicine pouch. Ignoring Shaman's warnings not to open it, Smart Alec gazed deep into the bag, with the full power of his Encephalo-Helmet to back him up. What he saw proved too much for his still all too human mind. Milliseconds before his mind was lost to the void beyond the mouth of the pouch, Alec realized the truth behind Shaman's words.

(Alpha Flight I#13- BTS) - In the aftermath of the fight against Omega Flight and the subsequent death of both Jerome Jaxon and Guardian, Alpha Flight returned to Canada. Shaman, feeling somewhat responsible for Smart Alec's predicament, decided to look after him. Using a spell to shrink Thorne down to the size of a tiny doll, he carried him around in his pouch.

(Alpha Flight I#13) - Puck expressed some unease about the way Shaman had chosen to deal with Smart Alec, but Shaman assured his teammate that this was the most humane way to take care of him, until he'd found a way to restore his sanity. Clarifying his statement some more, Puck revealed he actually meant Alec should be held responsible for Guardian's murder and that he wouldn't mind Thorne sharing some of the agony Guardian's widow Heather Hudson was suffering through. Shaman countered with the revelation that Smart Alec's mind was now wandering the twisted universe inside his pouch alone and unprotected, which could be considered an agonizing punishment of its own. He then put Smart Alec's tiny form back in his pouch and retired for the night.

(Alpha Flight I#26 - BTS) - Out to avenge Jerome Jaxon's death, the android Delphine Courtney disguised herself as James MacDonald Hudson and tricked Heather and Alpha Flight into thinking he had survived the explosion of his suit's powerpack. Easily accepted back in the fold, Delphine secretly freed Omega Flight from prison but was slightly worried she couldn't find hide nor hair of Smart Alec. Irregardless, she ordered the remaining members to take over the massive West Edmonton Mall. As Guardian, Courtney led Alpha Flight members Puck, Talisman, Northstar and Vindicator to free the mall, only to show her true colors by switching sides to take them out.

(Alpha Flight I#27) - Sensing his daughter Talisman's distress, Shaman teleported himself, Aurora and Box (Roger Bochs) to the West Edmonton Mall where they too were tricked by Delphine Courtney posing as Guardian once more. This deception lasted until "Guardian" learned that Shaman had been keeping missing Smart Alec inside his medicine pouch all this time. Furious, the android grabbed the bag and flew off, turning it inside out in midair in the hope Alec would fall out. Instead, Courtney ended up unleashing the void universe inside the pouch. Watching the chaos unfold and claim Talisman, Courtney and Omega Flight beat a hasty retreat. 

(Alpha Flight I#44 - BTS) - The spirit of Walter Langkowski, adrift among the interdimensional crossroads of time, eventually ended up in the void universe of Shaman's pouch. There, he discovered and inhabited the mindless form of Smart Alec. Using his new, tiny form, he managed to reach the mouth of the pouch and climbed out of it, finding himself back in Maison Alpha.

(Alpha Flight I#45 - BTS) - Unaware of the fact Langkowski had taken over Alec's form, Heather Hudson freaked out when she spotted the tiny Omegan running around. Their proverbial game of cat and mouse was cut short by the sudden appearance of the recently deceased Alphan Snowbird, who was buried in her Sasquatch form. Reanimated by the spirit of Alpha Flight foe Pestilence (F.R. Crozier), Sasquatch was ready to kill Heather and all those who opposed him. During the scuffle, Smart Alec was thrown against the empty Box armor in the corner. Instantly shifting his spirit from Thorne's body to the metal robot, Langkowski joined the fight against Sasquatch as Box, but inadvertently trampled the lifeless form of Alec Thorne to death.

(Alpha Flight I#51 - BTS) - Alpha Flight government liaison Gary Cody wasn't sure Heather Hudson had the right stuff to keep the newly organized team together. While mulling over his position on the matter, his thoughts raced back to the days when he and Heather's husband James had set up the Alpha, Beta and Gamma Flights, only to have recruits like Smart Alec eventually turn to the dark side. 

Comments: Created by John Byrne.

The codename Smart Alec is, of course, a not so subtle reference to the colloquial term for a know-it-all.

In S.H.I.E.L.D. III#1 (February, 2015) Smart Alec was mistakenly referred to as Smart Alex. Obviously a typo by Phil Coulson. Continuity police also stomps a mudhole in the reference to Omega Flight in this issue. They were never seen and it is unlikely (or rather impossible) that an Omega Flight lineup consisting of Diamond Lil, Flashback, Wild Child and Smart Alec (as listed on omniscient Phil Coulson's computer) were laying waste to Baltimore at any point because Smart Alec was only active during one mission in NEW YORK CITY. Laying waste to Baltimore also wasn't really what they were doing at all. Their sole purpose was to take down Alpha Flight. Maybe a different version of Omega Flight was active in Baltimore.

Thanks to MarvellousLuke for the updated images in this profile.

Profile by Norvo.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Smart Alec should not be confused with:

• Smart Alec, thief with an unquenchable taste for Hostess Fruit Pies @ Black Panther I#8 (in a Hostess ad)
• Smart, a computer specialist and expert energy analyst @ Death's Head II#10
• or any other "Smart" or "Alec" characters

Smart Alec's Encephalo-Helmet

Hoping to increase his already sizeable intellect, Smart Alec invented the Encephalo-Helmet which actively augmented his IQ, essentially turning his brain into a living computer. The helmet also contained audio-visual scanners that allowed Thorne to hear on every frequency and see on every wavelength, which granted him far superior perception. The helmet effortlessly shifted its probes from the ultra-violet to deep into the infrared, using radiation not normally considered part of sight to see. The notion that the things the helmet allowed him to see might prove too much for even him to process, was something Alec never considered possible until it was too late.