Box I

Character Name	Box I
Real Name	Roger Bochs
Aliases	Omega
Group Affiliations	None
Past Affiliations	Alpha Flight, Gamma Flight, Beta Flight
Relatives	Unknown
First Appearance	Alpha Flight #11 v.1 (Alpha Flight #1 v.1 cameo)
Current Status	Deceased
Height	4'0" (7?0? as Box)
Weight	140 lbs (465 lbs as Box)
Eyes	Blue
Hair	Red

History

Roger Bochs was a paraplegic angry at the world for his disability. It is not known how he came to lose his legs. He possessed an amazing intellect and an inventive mind. It was a combination of his intellect and social maladjustment that brought Roger to the Clinic for Socially Maladjusted Super-Beings. There, Bochs met and became good friends with Madison Jeffries, a mutant with the powers to transmute metal, glass and plastic. James MacDonald Hudson found the two men there, and drafted them for the Alpha Flight project. While in the early stages of the project, Hudson helped Bochs complete and refine his proudest invention: a robot he called Box (a play on words with his surname). Bochs mentally controlled the Box robot using a helmet.

When the Canadian government cut the funding for Alpha Flight, Roger and the other trainees were left to return to a normal life. Sometime later, Delphine Courtney, the robotic assistant to Jerry Jaxon approached Bochs, asking him to join a group who were out to kill Hudson. Bochs was still loyal to Hudson, and after failing to warn him, his plan was to infiltrate the evil group who called themselves Omega Flight. His plan was seen through, and Jaxon took control of the Box robot, using it to nearly beat Hudson to death. Hudson sent a surge of electricity through the Guardian suit into the Box robot. The feedback destroyed the mind of Jaxon, who was still connected to the robot.

Riddled with guilt, Bochs got in touch with his friend Madison Jeffries to help rebuild the Box robot. Roger was determined to make amends for his inadvertent role in the death of James MacDonald Hudson. The new version of the Box robot was a vast improvement over the old. Jeffries constructed the robot out of "Living Metal", allowing Bochs to phase his entire body into the robot, giving him a sense of freedom he had never known. This Box robot was more than twice as strong, and was much more resistant to damage.

Bochs responded to a mystical summons put out by Talisman to all Alphans to help retrieve the soul of Walter Langkowski from the Realm of the Beasts. Alpha saved Walter?s soul, but he had no body to inhabit. Bochs sacrificed his newfound sense of freedom to let Langkowski take up residence in the Box robot.

When Langkowski?s soul later became trapped in the dimensional crossroads, Bochs was able to make use of his robot again. He also struck up a romance with Langkowski?s lover, Aurora. Roger began to redevelop some of his old paranoid thoughts. He felt inadequate with Aurora, being an overweight, legless paraplegic. Roger sought out the assistance of Madison Jeffries? brother Lionel (Scramble, the Mixed Up Man), who gave him a new set of legs. Bochs was under the impression that Lionel had used his extra body fat to transmute the legs, but had in fact made them from the flesh of corpses. When Langkowski returned (in female form), and Roger?s new legs began to rot, he lost what was left of his sanity.

Madison Jeffries forced Roger out of the Box robot using his transmuting powers. Alpha then took Roger back to Lionel to see if he could help with Roger?s mental state. Little did Alpha Flight know that Lionel Jeffries was himself quite insane at this point. Transmuting his own body, that of Roger Bochs, and many corpses, Scramble, the Mixed-Up Man created a flesh monster named Omega to destroy Alpha Flight. When Bochs tried to rebel against the mad scheme, Scramble lobotomized him.

Brought to the ultimate desperation, Madison Jeffries (who had phased into the Box robot) turned himself into a giant cannon, killing his own brother and his best friend in one shot.

Note

This history of Bochs and Madison Jeffries pre-Alpha Flight seems to contradict their meeting in issue #16 v.1. That issue was written as though they had never met. This would seem to be an error in continuity by writer Bill Mantlo.

Powers/Abilities

Due to the nature of the last build of the Box armor used by Roger, he was able to phase into the armor, becoming one with the robot. The Box armor is highly resistant to damage. Through jets propulsion units in his feet, he is able to fly. The robot is equipped with many different sensors and a wide variety of tracking equipment. Stats from Marvel X-Men Encyclopedia [Vol.2] and The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe v2 - Deluxe Edition #02

Durability: The original Box robot was made primarily of steel, had vast strength, and was highly resistant to damage. The newer Box was constructed principally of an unidentified "living metal." This new model had a greater resistance to damage than the first model. Bochs could not actually feel physical pain while within Box. However, his psychic link with the armour is so great that he can feel psychic pain if enough force were inflicted on it. He's highly durable even to a point to survive the depths of the ocean without sustaining damage.

Electrical Current: Box has a powerful internal power pack and when the super-charged current is channeled out it is strong enough to render Sasquatch uncouncious.

Energy Blasts: The newest model of Box armor, unlike the previous version, could deliver energy blasts. Box was able to discharge multiple forms of energy. The full extent of his ability and the strength of the blasts were never stated.

Equipment: The model two version of Box had the ability to tap into computers and to recieve or jam radio signals. Box contains special tracking systems and can see in all areas of the electromagnetic spectrum. Other devices can be installed within Box if the need arises.

Flying: In the second model Box armor, there were powerful jets on the soles of its feet, enabling it to fly. From Marvel X-Men Encyclopedia [Vol.2], the stated speed is somewhere between Mach 2 - through orbital velocity.

Intelligence: Roger Bochs is a super-genius. He has been referred to as, "the mind who is capable of dreaming up 1001 mechanical marvels." He created an Interdimensional slider, that could tap into the dimensional nexus, a crossroad of realities.

Phasing: After Madison Jeffries and Roger Bochs developed the new Box, through an act of will, Roger Bochs could "phase into" Box's organic metal. Only Bochs or Madison Jeffries can phase into Box. Unlike previous versions of the armour that were externally controlled, whoever is phased in mentally controls Box and can perceive whatever Box perceives. Roger Bochs discovered that the longer he stays within the armour, the greater the risk that he will be psychologically incapable of leaving it.

Psycho-Cybernetic Helmet: The original Box robot was controlled externally by a person wearing a helmet. The helmet transformed psions from the wearer's mind into electrical impulses broadcast to Box. The wearer only needed to will Box to perform an action to cause Box to do it. The helmet allowed its wearer to perceive mentally the sensory data registered by Box; the wearer "saw" and "heard" what Box perceived.

Speed: Box has an unknown level of speed, but he is capable of speeds between mach 2 through orbital velocity.

Strength: The Box robot possesses great superhuman strength, and can lift (press) roughly 85 tons. The original Box could lift (press) 40 tons.