EMILY STANG

Real Name: Emily Stang

Identity/Class: Human (Canadian)

Occupation: Cook

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Shaman (Michael Twoyoungmen), Lucas Stang, Elizabeth Twoyoungmen

Enemies: Ranaq the Devourer

Known Relatives: Lucas Stang (great-grandfather), unidentified father and mother (deceased); unidentified great-grandmother (presumed deceased), unidentified great-great-grandparents (deceased)

Aliases: "My Dear" (called by Lucas Stang)

Base of Operations: Lucas Stang's home in Calgary, Alberta, Canada

First Appearance: Alpha Flight I#18 (January, 1985)

Powers/Abilities: Emily Stang had no superhuman powers but was a reasonably skilled cook.

While possessed by Ranaq, Emily Stang's body mutated into a monstrous form and she was capable of projecting mystic energy beams from her eyes and hands.

Height: 5'6" (by approximation)
Weight: 130 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde

History: (Alpha Flight I#18 (fb) - BTS) - After her father and mother died, Emily Stang sought out her only living relative, her great-grandfather Lucas, despite her father having hated Lucas for destroying anyone who had ever loved him. In an attempt to learn if Lucas was really as bad as her parents said, Emily secretly took a job as Lucas' cook and when she ultimately revealed her true identity as family, Lucas called her all sorts of names and ordered her to leave. Despite that, Emily Stang hired an in-home nurse to assist her Lucas in taking his daily medication, feeling like Lucas might need someone who loved him exactly how he was and eventually began to soften Lucas' anger.

(Alpha Flight I#18) -  One year later, Emily arrived at Lucas' home and overheard Lucas berating his nurse for keeping him alive and not allowing him to die in peace and asked why Lucas would say such things, insisting that Lucas had a few years left in him yet. Reminding Emily that he was 117-years old, Lucas explained that he was tired and had already seen much more of life than Emily but Emily insisted he was special to her as her only living relative and that she loved him despite his faults. Rescinding his frustrations, Lucas promised to cling to life a bit longer for Emily's sake and the two hugged, with Emily insisting that Lucas wouldn't regret it and that they would be a real family. Emily then went into the kitchen to cook some breakfast and think about how Lucas couldn't possibly be as a bad as he claimed and how she suspected he had pushed everyone away out of some need to protect them. While trying to further think about why Lucas pushed everyone was, Emily didn't notice that her eggs had seemed to take on a life of their own and when she finally noticed, the eggs seemed to attack her and she phoned the Calgary police. Informed of the situation by the police, Alpha Flight's Shaman ordered the police to find out everything he could about the Stang family before teleporting to Lucas Stang's home to investigate. Emily Stang met Shaman and his young daughter Elizabeth when they arrived and confirmed that the scrambled egg manifestation was still occurring. Shaman concluded that the only way to stop the manifestation was to confront it directly and when he did so, a large monster composed of scrambled eggs attacked, further shocking Emily as Elizabeth remarked that the monster was no longer her eggs. After Shaman made the energy the monster was absorbing incompatible, causing the monster to explode, Emily questioned what the explosion was and Shaman explained that it was colorful but harmless. Happy to see the kitchen unharmed, Emily was informed by Shaman that the egg monster was merely a diversion for a further manifestation and when Emily expressed her worries about Lucas, Shaman demanded that Emily take her to Lucas, having been previously unaware Lucas was even in the house. Immediately rushing to Lucas' second-floor room, Emily found Lucas in an entranced state and watched in horror as Lucas announced that he had pushed everyone away for over a hundred years because he knew dark forces would eventually strike at him through his family. When Lucas claimed that Emily must go before him in death, Shaman announced that he could counter whatever dark forces Lucas was uncontrollably channeling and Elizabeth soon noticed that Emily also appeared entranced. Emily soon revealed a monstrous transformation and announced that she was not Emily before attacking Elizabeth with mystic energy beams. Fortunately for Elizabeth, she was able to utilize the mystic energy washing over her and return it, knocking the possessed Emily away.

(Alpha Flight I#19 (fb)) - After being knocked to the ground by Elizabeth, the possessed Emily Stang fought back with another mystic blast, this time from her hands.


(Alpha Flight I#18) - Watching Elizabeth's fight with the possessed Emily from across the room, Shaman deduced that Emily was possessed by the Great Beast Ranaq and that, while Elizabeth's latent mystic talent would be enough to drive Ranaq from Emily's body, the resulting effort would kill Emily as well. Knowing that he had to intervene at a specific time to save both Emily and his own daughter, Shaman waited for the right time before hurling a series of baubles at the possessed Emily, driving Ranaq from Emily's body as well as freeing Lucas from possession, at the cost of almost completely destroying Lucas' home. After checking on Elizabeth, Shaman checked the unconscious Emily's vitals and determined her to be alive and free of Ranaq's influence.

(Alpha Flight I#19 - BTS) - When Shaman learned that Ranaq was not destroyed and could potentially strike again, his teammate Puck asked if Ranaq could strike again because Lucas Stang was still alive since both Lucas and Emily Stang were the proposed cause of the events involving Ranaq. Shaman agreed, stating that Ranaq manifested itself on Earth through Emily and that Lucas had demonstrated arcane powers himself, further suggesting that the entire situation had stemmed from something Lucas had done as a youth one hundred years earlier.

Comments: Created by John Byrne and Bob Wiacek.

In Alpha Flight I#18, it appeared that Lucas Stang was possessed by Ranaq but Emily then proved to be possessed and in Alpha Flight I#19, Shaman mentions that Lucas Stang used arcane knowledge against him during the battle that took place in #18. The way I see it, Ranaq briefly possessed the elderly Lucas before jumping into the body of Emily when the possessed Lucas blasted Emily with mystic energy. Following the battle against the possessed Emily, we see the unconscious Lucas lying in a chair and it was announced that Ranaq's influence was gone. It seems strange to me that, after stopping Ranaq in 1884, Lucas would not wear the magical necklace preventing him from being harmed by Ranaq's magic the rest of his life. I guess in his old age, he had a moment of weakness though despite APPEARING possessed, he was able to explain why he had pushed everyone away all his life, so I guess one could argue that he retained some of his mental faculties. Perhaps that was what Shaman meant by Lucas using arcane knowledge...Lucas was able to explain his actions despite being unable to control them.

I doubt it was made official back in the 1880s but Zebediah Chase could be considered the adopted great-great-grandfather of Emily Stang since he had taken Lucas Stang in as a child.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Emily and Lucas Stang have No KNOWN connections to:

Lucas Stang

Lucas Stang was Emily's 117-year old great-grandfather who hated the fact that Emily had hired an in-home nurse to help him.

In his younger years, Lucas Stang was taken in by robber Zebediah Chase after his parents died and circa 1884, Lucas accompanied Zebediah in robbing an elderly Native American and his granddaughter. When they acquired mystic necklaces from the granddaughter, Zebediah and Lucas learned that the necklaces could summon the Great Beast Ranaq and ordered the mystic grandfather to summon Ranaq despite warnings from the old man that Chase and Stang knew not what they were doing. As Zebediah argued, the old man began channeling Ranaq, who manifested as a large face made from the old Native American's flesh. Terrified, Lucas fired his gun at Ranaq, who prepared to kill Lucas, only to find his powers unable to affect neither Lucas nor Zebediah, who were wearing the mystic necklaces they had stolen. Forced to serve those with the necklaces, Ranaq was ordered to bring Zebediah women, money and power but when the beautiful woman and treasure summoned by Ranaq proved unable to touch the protected Zebediah, Lucas watched as Ranaq tricked Zebediah into removing his necklace in order to touch the beautiful woman he had summoned. Despite Lucas' warnings, Zebediah embraced the woman, who transformed into a monstrous form and kissed Zebediah, transforming him into a vessel for Ranaq's Earthly rebirth. When a time-traveling Alpha Flight appeared to stop Ranaq, Lucas ran for it, thinking that Zebediah's plan had failed. Before he could make it far, however, Alpha Flight's Puck knocked Lucas down with a kick and pinned him to the ground, remarking that Lucas would not be set free until he completed something that he was destined to regret for a hundred years. The recovering Native American grandfather admitted that Puck was right and that only Lucas could stop the Ranaq-possessed Zebediah Chase using the magic necklaces they had stolen. Realizing that he had to use his knack for gunfighting, Lucas broke sections of the necklace off into bullet-shaped pieces and loaded them into his gun. Asking for Zebediah's help in stopping Ranaq, Lucas was met by announcements that Ranaq was the only identity present within Chase's body, prompting Lucas to take his shot, killing Zebediah's human body with a fragment of the magic necklace. Lucas then buried Zebediah's corpse in the exact location given to him by the elderly Native American grandfather and was commended by the grandfather, who warned of a future in which Lucas would become suspicious of getting close to anyone out of fear that they might bring about the return of Ranaq. True to prophecy, Lucas lived a life fearful of getting too close to anyone and strove to drive any family away from himself, including Emily Stang's parents.

Sometime after Emily's parents died, Emily attempted to reunite with Lucas by taking a job as Lucas' cook. When Lucas discovered Emily's true identity, he angrily ordered her to leave but Emily remained, hoping to prove her love as Lucas' only living relative. Despite being annoyed when Emily hired an in-home nurse to take care of him, Lucas reluctantly began to show affection for Emily and even promised to cling to life a bit longer for her sake. One year after Emily had reunited with Lucas, the dark forces did indeed strike at Lucas, possessing him while keeping Emily busy with a monster composed of scrambled eggs. After Alpha Flight's Shaman and his daughter Elizabeth arrived to investigate, Lucas revealed his possession by explaining his past reasons for pushing his loved ones away and announcing that Emily would precede him in death. Shaman attempted to intervene but the possessed Lucas blasted him with mystic energy, buying time for Emily to also become possessed and attack Elizabeth. After determining Emily to be possessed by the Great Beast Ranaq, Shaman freed both Emily and Lucas from their possession by hitting the possessed Emily with mystic baubles. In the resulting mystic backlash, Ranaq was driven from the area, Lucas collapsed into an easy chair and Lucas' home was destroyed. Quickly checking the vitals on Lucas, Shaman determined Lucas to be alive but in a state of catatonia and informed his daughter Elizabeth that there was still much to be learned, such as how Ranaq was released and why he sought out Lucas Stang in the first place. A short time later, Alpha Flight's Puck and Heather Hudson met Shaman and Elizabeth Twoyoungmen at the old site of Fort Calgary, where Shaman mystically learned that Ranaq had not been destroyed, prompting Puck to remark that perhaps Ranaq could strike again because Lucas Stang was still alive.

Lucas Stang lived a life confined to sitting in his old age but as a youngster, he was a quite skilled gunslinger in the late 1800s.

While possessed, Lucas Stang was capable of full movement despite normally being confined to sitting and he could project mystic energy blasts from his hands.





--Alpha Flight I#18 (#19 (fb), #18 (fb) - BTS, #18, #19 - BTS, 

images: (without ads)
Alpha Flight I#18, p16, pan2 (Emily Stang, main image)
Alpha Flight I#18, p7, pan1 (Emily Stang, headshot)
Alpha Flight I#18, p8, pan1 (Emily Stang cooking)
Alpha Flight I#18, p19, pan2 (Emily Stang, possessed)
Alpha Flight I#18, p6, pan4 (Lucas Stang, elderly, sitting)
Alpha Flight I#18, p18, pan5 (Lucas Stang, possessed)
Alpha Flight I#19, p11, pan3 (Lucas Stang as a young man circa 1884)

Appearances:
Alpha Flight I#18 (January, 1985) - John Byrne (writer, pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Denny O'Neil (editor)
Alpha Flight I#19 (February, 1985) - John Byrne (writer, art), Denny O'Neil (editor)

First Posted: 01/05/2018
Last updated: 01/05/2018

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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