Sasquatch

Background

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Powers & Abilities

Dr. Langkowski is a large, athletic man (he was a successful professional linebacker ) and a brilliant physicist. His game is gamma  particles research, a field pioneered by Dr. Bruce Banner. It is considered to be of strategic importance, since gamma particles do not behave in the Marvel Universe as they do in the real world. Dr. Langkoswki might be among the top five authorities in this field.

He can perform super-science when the plot demands it. The main example was rearranging Aurora’s powers by turning her from a mutant into a mutate . However, he doesn’t actually does much groundbreaking or significant engineering during this era. If he needs advanced equipment, he’ll borrow it from universities, like he did for Aurora’s molecular rearrangement.

Of course, being a comic book scientist, he’s also extensively knowledgeable about other fields. Furthermore his research includes a lot of biology work, specifically the effect of gamma radiation and other energies on the human body.

He’s also a superior deductive and analytical thinker, and experienced enough to trek alone in the Canadian Far North.

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Being a muscular 6’4” genius and a millionaire, Langkowski is confident and outgoing. Yet he’s not as cool and persuasive as he thinks he is. This is probably due a certain detachment from most folks’ everyday concerns as he focuses on science.

He does have a superior mental and spiritual fortitude, though. Thus, Langkowski was able to resist possession for a remarkable length of time. Puck also commented that he had a great nerd act that was very successful when picking up women. He has an allergy to dust.

Sound and furry, part 1

Professor Langkowski can morph into a 3 metres tall, furry form called Sasquatch. The Sasquatch form weighs about 2 tons, is superhumanly strong, and has a anthropoid-like body. For what it’s worth, 2000 lbs is a reasonable estimate for what a 10‘ tall gorilla would weight.

He can ambulate very quickly like some apes do, resting his weight on his knuckles and swinging his body body between his huge arms. Just after his transformation he was doing 40-45mph this way over Arctic snow.

He’s also a good climber and can perform great jumps. However, his comparatively short legs make him less efficient at jumping than some other individuals in the same general strength class. Sasquatch is also a big fan of uprooting huge trees to use as clubs, as rams, or for sweeping attacks.

The strength of the classic Sasquatch has been the subject of some controversy. Early appearances depict him as performing enormous feats of strength. Yet his sourcebook entry — back when Marvel was in the throes of the 100-ton rule — assign a Class 70 strength to him.

Our game stats go for a strength that is halfway between Colossus in the 1980s and a calm Hulk during the same time period. By the scale we’re using that works out somewhere in the 2,000-to-2,500 tons range. We’re so not using the 100-ton rule.

Sound and furry, part 2

This is somewhat conservative for some scenes. For instance Incredible Hulk Annual #8 has him lifting the front of a destroyer that displaces about 4,500 tons. Or 5,500 if that was an Iroquois-class destroyer, which would makes sense but doesn’t match the art.

Sasquatch also estimates during his fight with the Hulk that he’s stronger than the jade giant is in his calm state. But there’s little in the material to back that claim. And Langkowski doesn’t seem to be gauging the Hulk correctly until the end of the story.

Sasquatch also easily lifts and throws back a DC-10 airplane described as weighing 250 tons and exerting 150,000 lbs of thrust (which are correct values for one of the larger models – a DC-10-30). However we also observe that, while he was stronger than the classic Thing (Ben Grimm), he wasn’t strong enough to knock Grimm out.

Sasquatch is superhumanly durable. He is particularly resistant toward blunt impacts and cold – in part thanks to his thick fur. Edged attacks, bullets, energy blasts, etc. are more likely to wound him, ceteris paribus. He seems to have strong recuperative powers, beyond what one would expect even from a being of his fortitude.

Early on, Langkowski had to concentrate and meditate for about a minute. He uses a made-up mantra to help focus until he can trigger a certain secretion from his mutated thyroid gland. Practice made the process much shorter and easier over the years, though the transformation still takes about 10 seconds during the “classic” era covered by this entry.

Sasquatch thus usually transforms *before* trouble starts. He eventually demonstrated the ability to keep walking or even jogging whilst the change takes place.

Langkowski is equipped with a pair of large, grandpa-style swimming trunks made of unstable molecules. When he reverts to human form, he thus still has some clothing on, which wasn’t the case before these trunks were procured. He also once manufactured a sort of crude flight suit so Aurora could carry him a supersonic flight speeds.

History

Dr. Walter Langkowski is a Vancouver-born physicist, from what seems to be a wealthy family. However, he moved to the US as a young adult after being offered a gridiron football scholarship at Penn State . He studied high-energy physics. This included one semester under Dr. Otto Octavius, who impressed him with his genius about radiation research.

During his studies, Walter had a transformative experience. He met fellow physics student Bruce Banner. The two men studied together for but one term, and apparently never saw each other afterwards as they were too absorbed by their work.

However, Banner’s genius and intense focus on the study of gamma radiation marked Langkowski. They convinced him of the worth of this field. Even during the highly lucrative three years he spent as a professional linebacker with the Green Bay Packers , he continued independent study of gamma physics.

Langkowski ended his gridiron football career when Major Talbot publicly revealed that Bruce Banner was the Hulk. He resumed his study of the incredible properties of gamma radiation.

Walter was brilliant, hard-working and cool enough to join MIT’s Course 8 , where he became Dr. Langkowski. He then joined the McGill faculty in Montreal  where he continued the research project that consumed years of his life.

Suggested timeline

If you’re not using a sliding timescale (see our main Alpha Flight article and are using our Leòn Genetic Sequence article) :

• Langkowski is born in 1936.
• He is a freshman at Penn State along with Banner in 1955.
• He plays for the Packers from 1963 to 1966 – the same general football era as Jim Brown or Jack Kemp.
• He learns that Bruce Banner is the Hulk as Glenn Talbot witnesses the transformation in 1966 (as per publication date).
• He joins Department H (see below) in 1970 or 1971.
• He becomes Sasquatch in late 1977.

The only issue with this timeline is that invalidates one caption stating that the project consumed half of Langkowski’s lifetime.

Radiation research

Dr. Langkowski was determined to reenact, in far more controlled conditions, the incident that had created the Hulk. He also established that he was among the relatively few people who could develop superhuman powers from gamma irradiation, rather than just die from radiation poisoning. He thus decided to run the experiment on himself.

However, the project required millions of dollars in funding and was to take years. Thus, it required support beyond McGill’s.

Said funding and support were found when a secret government service, Department H, discovered Langkowski’s projects. Dr. James McDonald Hudson apparently also hired Dr. Langkowski’s to reinforce his science team. Walter pitched in when he wasn’t working full time on his gamma radiation project.

From flashbacks, it nevertheless seems that Langkowski’s became Hudson’s main scientist. As such he was involved in most of Hudson’s activities for H. The members of the Flight, Hudson’s first superhuman team, knew him as “Doctor L.”.

One throw-away remark also states that Langkowski was one of H’s most resourceful agents even before he became Sasquatch. Another bit of dialogue loosely implies that he retained a position as faculty at McGill.

It may be during his time with Department H that his wife left with his son, though nothing else is mentioned about them during this era.

The orange event

Given the clear dangers posed by the big experiment Walter was working toward, James sensibly had a lab built for it North of the Arctic circle. There, a disaster wouldn’t threaten the population. After several more years, Langkowski finalised the experiment, and sent away his assistants. During an aurora borealis , he ran the protocol on himself without warning or supervision.

On one level, the experiment was a success. Dr. Langkowski gained the ability to turn into a super-strong superhuman. Initially, he even seemed free of the temper issues that plagued the Hulk. He also had Langkowski’s full intellect.

However, it was actually a failure on two levels.

1. This transformation was absolutely not a result of the carefully planned gamma irradiation. As could be hypothesized from the lack of a green hue to Langkowski’s new alter ego.
2. The high-yield gamma detonation had actually broken one of the mystical seals of the Far North. That made it possible for ancient enemies of mankind, the Great Beasts, to enter the Earth dimension whence they had been banished.

A sort of merger between Dr. Langkowski and one of the Great Beasts, Tanaraq, had taken place. The giant superhuman body Walter could morph into was actually Tanaraq’s – but the Great Beast’s mind was knocked out. However, over the years, Tanaraq gradually reasserted itself. This would eventually manifest as Sasquatch experiencing bestial rages of increasing severity.

Alpha male

Langkowski went amok as the transformation took place. He ran straight ahead in a primal rage. After he dropped in exhaustion and reverted to human form, he was found just in time by Snowbird.

Langkowski spent weeks in the hospital to recover from hypothermia and frostbites. Nobody really minded his reckless experiment. Department H was desperate for more superhuman agents. Furthermore, Hudson needed some good news to soften the blowback after a flubbed attempt to recapture Wolverine as Weapon Alpha.

Intelligent and physically adept, Langkowski (now code-named “Sasquatch”) quickly learned to use his gargantuan alter-ego, which possessed incalculable strength. He thus swiftly graduated to Alpha Flight, the fully-trained and full-readiness team of Department H. The young Snowbird, a shapeshifter, also taught him to manage his changes and retain his unaltered mentality in giant form.

During this era, Dr. Langkowski started a relationship with Aurora. Her Aurora personality was so dominant at that point that he would only discover the existence of her Jeanne-Marie personality years later.

The X-Men and the Hulk

Sasquatch was part of an assault against the uncanny X-Men in Calgary. During that fight he neutralised their target Wolverine through a surprise attack. During a subsequent melee, he seemed stronger than Colossus (Piotr Rasputin) but was surprised when the young Russian switched to a judo throw. Colossus apparently kept him out of the fight with an arm lock.

A few months later, most of Alpha was deployed on manoeuvres. The exception was Langkowski, who had a prior engagement as a guest lecturer at Simon Fraser University , in British Columbia. When the Hulk accidentally crashed in that province, Sasquatch was thus air-dropped in to contain the Hulk.

Though Langkowski could have dealt with Banner constructively, he was morbidly curious to see whether he was as strong as the Hulk. He thus deliberately forced Banner to change in order to fight the Hulk. Things went wrong when Langkowski realised that the Hulk got stronger the angrier he was. Sasquatch was nearly killed by the gamma-powered behemoth.

The Hulk left as Sasquatch rescued a bystander. But the sickened Langkowski realised that his stupid experiment had devastated a vast swathe of pristine forest, terrorised a local and her cat and harmed his former friend. Yet of course, it was the Hulk who was blamed for the damage.

Canadian intelligence then discovered that the Hulk had been sent to British Columbia by Machine Man (Aaron Stack). Sasquatch was sent on a covert mission to the US to capture him, along with Northstar and Aurora. However, Machine Man outmaneuvered them and escaped.

(For what it’s worth, we do not treat this Machine Man issue as authoritative in terms of power levels, as all three Alphans perform markedly under their usual level.)

Alpha disbanded, part 1

When the government shut down Department H, Dr. Langkowski was adamant that the team should carry on even without Ottawa’s backing. Though this stance was initially unsuccessful, it was credited with facilitating the 1983 unofficial reformation of the team at Heather Hudson’s initiative.

During the few years when Alpha Flight was inactive, Sasquatch helped the Hulk fight a Wendigo (François Lartigue) while also helping Banner’s mentality retain control of the Hulk form.

When the team was unofficially reformed, Langkowski immediately joined. Aurora eventually reasserted herself strongly enough to resume her relationship with a surprised Langkowski, since from her point of view little time had passed. During the early months of Alpha’s reformation, Dr. Langkowski also finally learned about Beaubier’s psychological issues.

Sasquatch was also one of the competitors during the original Contest of Champions. He fought for the Grandmaster along with Captain America (Steve Rogers) and the Blitzkrieger (Franz Mittelstaedt). However they lost to Shamrock (Molly Fitzgerald)’s luck.

Sasquatch was also one of the super-strong heroes summoned to fight the Champion of the Universe (Tryco Slatterus). The extraordinarily powerful Elder of the Universe easily defeated him in the ring.

Alpha disbanded, part 2

As Dr. Langkowski, he was part of the team assembled by Dr. Richards (along with Dr. Morbius and Dr. Banner) to solve the complex problem of Susan Richards’ 1984 pregnancy. Doctor L. came up with the idea of contacting his former instructor Dr. Octavius (now better known as Doctor Octopus) when the team got stalled.

Later on, while avenging several persons ruthlessly murdered by the Super-Skrull in an isolated research station, Sasquatch went berserk. This rage abated when the Super-Skrull used his hypnotic powers to subdue Sasquatch, unwittingly putting Langkowski back in control.

This episode was only the beginning. The Sasquatch form grew increasingly violent and short-tempered as Tanaraq reasserted itself underneath Langkowski’s mentality. His colleagues Shaman and Snowbird suspected the truth, but did not realise that the Sasquatch body was actually Tanaraq’s.

Bodyrock

Tanaraq’s presence was revealed when Snowbird’s relatives inflicted a painful and accusatory vision to her. They left her little choice but to confront and kill the Great Beast right away. She came in shortly after the armoured villain Caliber wounded Sasquatch. The pain and anger were finally pushing Langkowski out of control.

Snowbird engaged Tanaraq before he could start rampaging. She then had the clever idea to shapechange into his form to fight him toe-to-toe. Snowbird eventually won, and ripped Tanaraq’s heart out. The corpse reverted to a dead Walter Langkowski.

However, the spirit of Dr. Langkowski was still out there. Snowbird correctly hypothesised that when Tanaraq took over, Walter’s consciousness was displaced to Tanaraq’s native dimension, the Kingdom of Beasts. At Aurora’s urging, a rescue mission was launched. Alpha Flight successfully brought back Walter’s soul.

Needing some sort of vessel, Shaman came up with the idea of projecting it into a vacant Box robot. This worked just fine. Dr. Langkowski was now possessing the robot, and the only thing that had been lost was his physical body.

However, life as a human robot wasn’t going to satisfy Walter Langkowski. Especially since Aurora would likely dump him if sex was off the menu for too long.

With Roger Bochs’ technological help, he came up with another reckless, covert scheme. A powerful yet mindless human body would be procured from another dimension, and Walter’s consciousness would be projected therein.

This project proceeded apace, out of the sight of team leader Heather Hudson. Meanwhile, Langkowski continued to serve on the team as Box, using the super-strong robot body in much the same role as he used to operate as Sasquatch. However, when the time came to reel in Langkowski’s future organic body, things went quite wrong.

Description

See illustrations.

Personality

Dr. Langkowski is primarily a 1980s comic book scientist. Thus :

• He does science.
• He wants to analyse and test stuff (primarily his own strength, as it is the result of years of scientific work).
• He’s a bit distant as he ponders intricate science stuff.
• He occasionally launches into reckless experiments of debatable ethics for no clear reason.

He has been described as overbearing. It is true that he tends to do whatever the heck he wants, being rich and a physically and intellectually powerful alpha male. There’s a sort of will to power behind Langkowski’s motivation. It sometimes seems that he’s truly motivated by being the most powerful being around, to the point of taking huge risks with gamma radiation.

He greatly enjoys the might that his Sasquatch form gives him. He looks for any occasion to exert his immense strength. Even when that’s really not constructive – or even petty and pointless.

While Langkowski is thus not necessarily a good person, he seems to be primarily kept in check by his patriotism. He always stands ready to defend Canada. He was one of the big boosters of the Alpha Flight project, and is convinced of the need of a team of heroes to protect Canuckistan . He was also a good friend of James Hudson, and wholeheartedly shared his belief in Department H.

At the same time, this role as a national defender might be more of an excuse to use his power. When volunteering to use his immense strength to help build a sanatorium, his motivation is clearly to run test about his strength and endurance rather than help people.

Langkowski usually speaks in an articulate and elaborate way. He often overdoes it for fun as Sasquatch, a bit like the Beast (Dr. Henry McCoy) does.

Quotes

“That your best shot ? I’ve taken worse from the Steelers’ front-four.”

“We’re not going anywhere until I more fully understand what’s wrong here.”

“Obviously, this isn’t going to be as easy as I had hoped.”

“Evening, Doctor. Excuse the highly unorthodox means of entry, but I’m a bit too big for conventional doors just now and this man needs your attention.”

“The whole house is collapsing ! It must have been tied in with her somehow — mystically, perhaps. Now she’s dead, and the house is dying too !”

By Sébastien Andrivet.

Source of Character: This entry entry only covers the “Classic” era of Alpha Flight – that is, Byrne’s run. It includes material from latter flashbacks, though there’s nothing really major, plus some scattered appearances before Alpha Flight #1.

Helper(s): Frank Murdock.

Writeup completed on the 22^nd of September, 2013.