VINDICATOR (Heather MacNeil Hudson, aka Guardian II)
Created By: John Byrne & Chris Claremont
First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men #139 (Nov. 1980)
Role: Unwilling Team Leader, Nerdy Girl, Flying Blaster
Group Affiliations: Alpha Flight, Department H
PL 10 (175)
STRENGTH 0/7 STAMINA 2 AGILITY 2
FIGHTING 6 DEXTERITY 0
INTELLIGENCE 1 AWARENESS 2 PRESENCE 1
Skills:
Close Combat (Unarmed) 1 (+7)
Deception 6 (+7)
Expertise (Computers) 2 (+3)
Expertise (Current Events) 4 (+5)
Insight 4 (+6)
Intimidation 4 (+5)
Investigation 3 (+4)
Notice 5 (+7)
Persuasion 7 (+8)
Ranged Combat (Blasts) 2 (+8)
Stealth 4 (+6)
Vehicles 4 (+6)
Advantages:
Improved Aim, Improved Initiative, Inspire, Interpose, Leadership, Luck, Move-By Action, Power Attack, Ranged Attack 6, Teamwork
Powers:
"Guardian Battlesuit" (Flaws: Removable) [92]
Enhanced Strength 7 (14)
Protection 6 (6)
Flight 8 (500 mph) (16)
"Cybernetic Link" Communication (Electronic) 2 (8)
"Computerized Senses" Senses 11 (Infravision, Direction Sense, Radar- Accurate Radius, Sonar- Ultrasonic Hearing- Accurate, Detect Energy- Acute) (11)
"Super-Powerful Energy Field"
Force Field 4 (Extras: Impervious 9) (13)
Enhanced Advantages 2: Withstand Damage, Ultimate Toughness Save (2)
"Electro-Magnetic Blast" Blast 12 (Feats: Split, Improved Critical) (Extras: Penetrating) (38) -- (44)
- AE: "Concussion Wave" Damage 10 (Extras: Area- 60ft. Cone, Penetrating) (30)
- AE: "Plasma Funnel" Snare 10 (Flaws: Limited to One Target) (20)
- AE: "Graviton Beam" Move Object 9 (18)
- AE: "Flare" Dazzle Visuals 10 (20)
- AE: "Ultrasound Beam" Dazzle Hearing 10 (20)
- AE: "Shunt- Suspend Position to the Earth's Rotation" Flight 6 (total 14: 32,000 mph) (Flaws: Limited Uses) (6)
Offense:
Unarmed +7 (+0 Damage, DC 15)
Unarmed Suit +7 (+7 Damage, DC 22)
Energy Blasts +8 (+12 Ranged Damage, DC 27)
Dazzles & Funnel +10 (+8-10 Ranged Affliction, DC 18-20)
Initiative +6
Defenses:
Dodge +8 (DC 18), Parry +8 (DC 18), Toughness +2 (+8 Suit, +13 Force Field), Fortitude +6, Will +7
Complications:
Relationship (James MacDonald Hudson)- Mac & Heather have been married for years, despite the fact that he keeps dying. They remain close, despite Wolverine's crush on Heather, and the fact that Madison Jeffries was with her after Mac died the first time.
Relationship (Madison Jeffries)- Heather & Madison were actually engaged for a time, but she hooked back up with Mac, and he went with Diamond Lil.
Responsibility (Department H, Canadian Government)- Heather gets stuck as a government stooge a lot of the time, being the sometimes-leader of the team.
Total: Abilities: 28 / Skills: 46--23 / Advantages: 15 / Powers: 92 / Defenses: 17 (175)
-Heather Hudson was introduced as a "Woman From Logan's Past" (WAY before that ever became a giant cliche, too!)- in this case, an old friend who was married to his pal/boss, James "Mac" Hudson. John Byrne, her creator, had always intended her to be a "Homebase" kind of character, and lead the team from behind the scenes once her husband died (Byrne offed Guardian, viewing him as a one-note generic character), and hated it when the next writer on the book immediately threw her into a pair of super-tights and had her lead the team on the front lines ("that was such a cliche, I thought"). But of course that's the kind of thing that usually happens in comics- never mind that she was totally unqualified to be a field leader (she was a SECRETARY!).
-Heather, as Vindicator (one of many X-related characters & things to adopt an plane's name) ended up leading Alpha Flight for MUCH longer than Mac ever did, bringing it through many years of storylines. It turned out that she was one of many "taken" women that Logan had fallen in love with (dude has a type. That type is "women who are married/engaged/in love with someone else"). Initially, her character was more or less an "I'm in way over my head here, so my reaction to problems will be to order everyone around and be mean", but she more or less grew into the job after a point (one of a handful of Female Team Leaders in the '80s- joining Storm & Monica Rambeau). Unfortunately, as Alpha Flight was always a bottom-tier team, that didn't amount to much (much of her run involved screw-ups and team splits, anyways), and then GUARDIAN returned anyways!
-At this point, Heather becomes Guardian, and eventually she & Mac have a daughter. However, this was near the end of AF's run, and so they were cast into Marvel Limbo shortly thereafter. Mac was temporarily turned into a "barely above teenager" in a relaunched book, leading to some awkwardness with his adult wife (though really, both looked like perfect physical specimens anyways, so it's not like he was MILFhunting). Unfortunately, the Alpha books have been in a death-spiral over the past two decades- that relaunch failed pretty badly, and then the team was killed off by a collectively-empowered being (with the abilites of all of the Mutants who'd been de-powered on M-Day) in a move so casual that other characters even JOKED about it (Spider-Man: "Oh my God. He Alpha Flighted them."). Of course, this was undone pretty well immediately during Chaos War, and the whole team returned for ANOTHER relaunch... which also failed. It had amazing art, and strong early sales led to the "Limited Series" becoming an ongoing... but another spiral downwards led to that decision being reversed, and Heather's "temporarily brainwashed by the Evil Canadian Dictatorship" arc didn't go very far- she was acting out of character for the entire thing thanks to that, and so we probably saw less of her than of any of her teammates in the arc. She hasn't been seen in years, ever since she left Mac at the end of the story, going off on a road trip with her daughter, allowing Alpha Flight to do its thing.
-I kind of view Heather as probably the best all-around character in Alpha Flight's run, though I prefer a couple other characters based off of the strength of their concepts and costumes (Snowbird looks SO COOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLL!!!). The sad thing is, even though she was leader for almost the entirety of the comic book's first run, MAC is the "Iconic Team Leader" in most people's eyes, and so his similarly-powered & costumed wife is almost always pushed to the second half of "Guardian and---". This is a continual problem for Alpha Flight, as the early squad split apart pretty quickly and added new members... but it's only John Byrne's original grouping that people remember with any level of fondness. Alpha Flight books always suffer from this "iconic, but actually kind of unpopular" roster problem, as two relaunches have failed with "All-New, All-Different!" teams, but the relaunched "Mostly the guys you remember!" team failed as WELL. Essentially, people will reject any of the newbies outright as "Not Proper Alpha Flight", but then not actually buy the PROPER Alpha Flight's book either!
-Heather stats up pretty much like Mac does, but is less strong in her basic form and easier to damage with a weaker Force Field, but makes up for it with greater maneuverability higher power with her Blasts (she's broken a LOT more stuff than Mac ever seemed to).
For her later run while Mac was ALSO on the team, she wore this power armour, resulting in a slightly more expensive build:
"Vindicator Geothermal Battlesuit" (Flaws: Removable) [96]
Enhanced Strength 7 (14)
Protection 6 (6)
Flight 8 (500 mph) (16)
"Cybernetic Link" Communication (Electronic) 2 (8)
"Computerized Senses" Senses 11 (Infravision, Direction Sense, Radar- Accurate Radius, Sonar- Ultrasonic Hearing- Accurate, Detect Energy- Acute) (11)
"Super-Powerful Energy Field"
Force Field 4 (Extras: Impervious 9) (13)
Enhanced Advantages 2: Withstand Damage, Ultimate Toughness Save (2)
Immunity 5 (Heat Damage) (5)
"Ash Blast" Blast 8 Linked To Affliction 8 (Fort; Impaired/Disabled/Incapacitated) (Extras: Ranged, Cumulative) (40) -- (44)
- AE: "Lava Blast" Blast 12 (Feats: Split, Improved Critical) (Extras: Penetrating) (38)
- AE: "Lava Geysers" Blast 10 (Feats: Indirect 1- From Below) (Extras: Area- 30ft. Cylindar) (31)
- AE: "Cool Spring Water Mist" Environment 2 (Cold, Impede Movement, Visibility) (6)
- AE: "Heat-Absorbing Blast" Absorption 12 (24)