MAJOR CHASEN

Real Name: Chasen (first name unrevealed)

Identity/Class: Human (Canadian)

Occupation: Military official

Group Membership: Department H, Royal Canadian Air Force

Affiliations: Cary Albertson, Colonel Bernardo, General Jeremy Clarke, Gary Cody, Dr. Walter Langkowski, Kerry Patrick, Roxxon Oil Corporation, Wild Child (Kyle Gibney)
(formerly) Weapon Alpha (James MacDonald Hudson), Wolverine (Logan);
    possibly Romulus (see comments)

Enemies: Professor X (Charles Xavier), Vindicator (James MacDonald Hudson), Wolverine (Logan/James Howlett)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "Chasin" (misspelling of last name - see comments)

Base of Operations: Department H base, Quebec, Canada

First Appearance: Giant-Size X-Men I#1 (May, 1975)

Powers/Abilities: Major Chasen is clearly an experienced military officer, although the extent to which he has combat experience is unrevealed. He does appear to have a background in tactics and intelligence gathering.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'9")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 146 lbs.)
Eyes: Light brown
Hair: Dark brown

History:
(X-Men Origins: Wolverine I#1) - After being found in the wild by James MacDonald Hudson, the man called Logan was brought to Department H as one of their premiere superhuman agents (later codenamed Weapon X) in the "Flight" program which would eventually yield Alpha Flight. While Hudson worked with Logan to develop his super hero identity of Wolverine and groomed him for leadership of Alpha Flight, Major Chasen recruited Logan for secret assignments which Hudson was unaware of. Chasen used Wolverine both to fight dangerous superhumans and to assassinate perceived threats.

(Alpha Flight I#118 (fb) - BTS) - After the superhuman Wild Child was found in the ruins of a Secret Empire base by the Canadian government, they sent him to Department H to be assessed. Dr. Walter Langkowski determined Wild Child was too dangerous to be used in the Flight program but he was overruled by Major Chasen, who forced Wild Child upon the program.

(Wolverine II#144 (fb)) - After Logan was presented with a Wolverine costume by James Hudson and his wife Heather, Chasen came to Wolverine with an assignment for him to make a proactive strike against a terrorist group in Toronto, Ontario.

(Wolverine II#144 (fb)) - Department H convened to enlist Weapon X/Wolverine against the Hulk but Hudson told them Wolverine had disappeared while fighting the terrorists in Toronto. Chasen blamed Hudson for losing track of Wolverine but just as Department H discussed conducting a search for him, Wolverine returned to the base, having been off battling the Leader (Samuel Sterns) during the interim.

(Wolverine: Origins I#28 (fb)) - Chasen arranged a meeting between Professor Charles Xavier and Wolverine but although he knew Xavier was a figure of some importance, Chasen did not know why Xavier was there. Xavier seized control of Chasen's mind to ensure he wouldn't object.

(Giant-Size X-Men I#1) - Xavier simply told Wolverine he needed help from mutants and that, by leaving with him, he could become a free agent. Wolverine liked the sound of that and so agreed without further deliberation. Outraged, Chasen observed that the Canadian government had spent a lot of money making Wolverine what he was and that if Wolverine tried to walk out he have him locked up.

(X-Men Origins: Wolverine I#1) - As Chasen ordered in guards to arrest Xavier and Wolverine, Xavier used his psychic powers to freeze them in place so that he could continue his conversation with Wolverine uninterrupted.

(Giant-Size X-Men I#1) - In response to Chasen's threats, Wolverine ejected one of his claws and slashed Chasen's necktie into two pieces, declaring he was resigning his commission. Wolverine then asked if Chasen had any further objections. Chasen remained silent but as Wolverine left with Xavier, he vowed that Wolverine hadn't heard the last of them. Wolverine replied that they'd know where to find him.

(X-Men Origins: Wolverine I#1) - The moment Xavier and Wolverine left his office, Chasen authorized his men to attempt to kidnap them as they left for the United States but Wolverine killed Chasen's soldiers.

(Alpha Flight I#17 (fb)) - Still furious at Wolverine, Chasen quickly held a video conference call with Hudson and told him Wolverine had quit Department H and sliced his necktie.

(X-Men I#109 - BTS) - As Weapon Alpha, James Hudson was sent to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters to retrieve Wolverine and return him to Canada but Weapon Alpha's efforts were thwarted by Wolverine's new teammates, the X-Men.

(Alpha Flight I#92 (fb)) - Weeks later, James Hudson made a presentation about the technology Roxxon's Cary Albertson was designing for Department H. When Chasen suggested they use the communications devices Albertson was building to track the heroes who would ultimately serve in Alpha Flight, Hudson disagreed and Chasen angrily argued with him. Chasen suspected that Hudson would investigate the biochip further and monitored him via security cameras. Chasen and General Jeremy Clarke both wanted Alpha Flight to adopt the communications device and manipulated Hudson to achieve that end. When Hudson saw in the biochip specifications that it could control people's sensory information, he informed General Clarke and resolved to destroy the Roxxon facility where it was being manufactured. Chasen shared the specifications of Hudson's Vindicator costume with Cary Albertson so that Albertson could seize remote control of the suit and stop Hudson but instead, Hudson's energy blasts created debris that struck Albertson down. In the aftermath of Vindicator's attack on Roxxon, General Clarke identified Chasen as having shared Vindicator's specifications with Roxxon. Clarke relieved Chasen of his post as Alpha Flight's government liaison. Clarke asked Hudson to design the biochip himself to ensure that Alpha Flight would accept the technology. Clarke then held a secret meeting with Chasen in a parking lot, where the two congratulated each other on their successful "good cop/bad cop" routine. Chasen felt certain Department H would collapse under its own weight in just a few years so he was glad to be rid of the assignment.

Comments: Created by Len Wein, Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum; definitive name by John Byrne (see comments).

    Strangely, despite his outburst aimed at Wolverine in his first appearance, Chasen has never appeared in a present-day sequence since - only in flashbacks. James Hudson basically inherited the job of bringing Wolverine back to Canada from Chasen and Hudson was never 100% on board with it.

    His name was first given in X-Men I#109 as "Chasin" (strangely, Wolverine claims there that Hudson was present when Wolverine slashed Chasin's necktie - he wasn't, though later flashbacks indicated Hudson was on the base at the time) then Alpha Flight I#17 dubbed him "Major Chasen." When Alpha Flight I#17 reprinted the dialogue from X-Men I#109, it eliminated the part about Hudson being present (likewise changing the reference from "Chasin" to "Chasen"). That version of his name held through Alpha Flight I#92. In Alpha Flight I#118 and Wolverine II#144, he's "General Chasen" and then X-Men Origins: Wolverine I#1 dubbed him "Major Chasin." The rank at least could be explained as the ups and downs of military life - if his appearances weren't supposed to be within such a short timeframe! "Major" is the most common rank and "Chasen" the most common spelling. This fits with Byrne's version and Byrne apparently viewed "Chasin" from the earlier appearance he drew as a typo.

    Wolverine: First Class I#5 retells the scene of Wolverine slashing Chasen's tie but refers to him as "Colonel Kinney." Wolverine: First Class was notoriously poor at fitting into existing continuity. "Kinney" is identified as belonging to Canadian Military Intelligence.
    I believe the First Class series and mini-series were determined to not be in Earth-616 continuity and even some of the adventures that were referenced in 616 stories were determined to have been 616 events that mirrored what we saw in the First Class reality. So in this case, it looks like he slashed Kinney's tie in the First Class reality but Chasen's on Earth-616. --Proto-Man

    Chasen's uniform is inconsistent as well but based on Giant-Size X-Men I#1, it's supposed to be an RCAF uniform. Otherwise, his branch of service hasn't been identified.

    Per Wolverine: Origins, Chasen would have been a pawn (willing or otherwise) of Romulus during the period where he was sending Wolverine on missions but that assumes you care about Romulus which is pretty unlikely.

    Throughout Len Wein's Wolverine stories, the Canadian government's primary concern about Wolverine is that they invested a lot of money into him-- which actually fits real world Canadian defense politics pretty accurately!

Profile by Prime Eternal.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Major Chasen should not be confused with:

images: (without ads)
Giant-Size X-Men I#1, page 6, panel 6 (body)
Giant-Size X-Men I#1, page 6, panel 3 (face)

Appearances:
Giant-Size X-Men I#1 (May, 1975) - Len Wein (writer, editor), Chris Claremont (co-plot), Dave Cockrum (artist)
X-Men I#109 (February, 1978) - Chris Claremont (writer), John Byrne (pencils), Terry Austin (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Alpha Flight I#17 (December, 1984) - John Byrne (writer, pencils), Terry Austin (inks), Denny O'Neil (editor)
Alpha Flight I#92 (January, 1991) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Dan Reed (pencils), Richard Bennett (inks), Danny Fingeroth (editor)
Alpha Flight I#118 (March, 1993) - Simon Furman (writer), Pat Broderick (pencils), Bruce Patterson (inks), Rob Tokar (editor)
Wolverine II#144 (November, 1999) - Erik Larsen (writer), Eric Stephenson (writer), Mike S. Miller (pencils), Vince Russell (inks), Mark Powers (editor)
Wolverine: Origins I#28 (November, 2008) - Daniel Way (writer), Mike Deodato (artist), John Barber (editor)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine I#1 (June, 2009) - Chris Yost (writer), Mark Texeira (artist), Nick Lowe (editor)

First posted: 01/04/2023
Last updated: 01/04/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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