SMART ALEC
Real Name: Alec Thorne
Group Affiliation: Former member of Omega Flight, Former Member of Gamma
Flight
First Appearance: Alpha Flight #7
Last Appearance: Alpha Flight #45
Creator: John Byrne
At the time that he first became
involved with Department H Alec Thorne was recognized
as the smartest man in Canada. Thorne's opinion of himself was much higher; he
claimed to be the smartest man in the world. In a world with such intellects as
Reed Richards and Victor Von Doom, it seems likely that Thorne was exaggerating
his capabilities.
Thorne was a part of the team
involved in the adventure called First Flight. At
one point he was called upon to disarm a nuclear device. Although Thorne
possessed the knowledge necessary to accomplish the task, he choked under the
pressure. It was this incident that
convinced James Hudson that a tiered training program for
his operatives might
be a good idea. Thorne subsequently became a part of the second-level
training team called Gamma Flight.
After Department H was disbanded for the first time by the Federal government,
Alec Thorne returned to private life. He earned money by such unconventional means as chess
exhibitions where he took on multiple opponents. At one such exhibition
he was approached by
Delphine Courtney, a robot employed by
Jerome "Jerry" Jaxon.
Subsequently Thorne joined Jaxon's
Omega Flight.
During Omega's first altercation with
Alpha Flight, Thorne managed to grab
Shaman's medicine pouch.
Trying to figure out the secret of the
pouch's operation, Thorne looked inside, something that Shaman
had been warned to never do. In the microseconds before his consciousness was
ripped screaming from his mind, Alec Thorne learned why.
Shaman reduced Thorne's body to approximately six inches in height
and stored it in the medicine pouch, preserving it against the hope that one day he could restore Thorne's
mind. As the pouch is a dimensional nexus, Walter Langkowski's spirit (which was wandering through various dimensions)
was able to find the body and utilize it.
After crawling from the medicine pouch, Langkowski transferred his spirit
to the Box robot to battle the being known as
Pestilence.
Alec Thorne's body was crushed during the fight. It should be noted
that Thorne's mind is still wandering the myriad dimensions of the medicine pouch, alone
and quite afraid. And it will probably stay that way until the end of time.
Alec Thorne was possessed of a genius level intellect, but there is no
evidence to suggest that he had super-human abilities. During Omega Flight's
first encounter with Alpha Flight he wore a helmet that raised his
intelligence even higher. The helmet also possessed numerous scanning devices.
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