Flex (comics)

Last updated
Flex
Adrian Corbo.png
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance Alpha Flight vol. 2 #1 (August, 1997)
Created by Steven T. Seagle (writer), Anthony Winn (artist)
In-story information
Alter egoAdrian Corbo
Species Human Mutant
Team affiliations Department H
Beta Flight
Alpha Flight
AbilitiesAbility to transmute limbs into razor sharp weapons

Flex (Adrian Corbo) is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a former member of the superhero team Alpha Flight, but later got downgraded to Beta Flight.

Contents

Fictional character biography

Adrian and his older half-brother Jared (later codenamed Radius) were raised in the Hull House orphanage, which was actually a facility operated by the Government of Canada's secretive Department H. While Adrian became shy, reserved and bookish, Jared became athletically inclined, aggressive, and arrogant. Both brothers manifested mutant powers after puberty: Adrian gained the ability to transform parts of his body into blades, while Jared manifested a personal force field that could not be shut down. The brothers were recruited into a new incarnation of the Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight.

This incarnation was being heavily mentally controlled by Department H, led by Jermery Clarke. As part of this, the team was led to believe that Wolverine had murdered the ex-Alpha Flight member Box. Flex was one of the team sent to stop him, which they did on a heavily forested back road in New York. Wolverine initially faces down the team, discussing things and using his senses to check them out. Flex becomes very nervous, despite his brother's bravado. Despite the efforts of both sides, a fight breaks out and it is soon joined by several more X-Men. Flex is personally confronted by Cannonball and loudly declares his desires to talk, not fight. Cannonball, always willing to do the same, does so and the two manage to get the fight to end. The entire Alpha Flight team realizes something stinks about the entire situation, mainly because they had been tracking Wolverine by his adamantium and at that point in time, he had none.

Radius and Flex assist the new Alpha Flight in battling several foes, including the Zodiac and the Brass Bishop.

During the Brass Bishop incident, the team encounters a church full of zombified townspeople. Flex's teammate Man-Bot reports no life signs, other than the church-goers but a scared little girl emerges from the crowd. The team follows her directions, flying off to where the girl said all the people had gone. While mid-flight, Flex is the one to realize that Man-Bot did not register the girl's lifesigns. His warning saves the team from flying nose-first into a mysterious, shielded structure.

The team eventually fought the malicious, mind-controlling leader of Alpha Flight, Jeremy Clarke. He later died of radiation poisoning during a Zodiac raid on the Department H headquarters, to be replaced by a new, kinder administrator. A reorganized Alpha Flight team confronts several members of the original Flight and later team up with them to defeat a new Weapon X, who had been created by a rogue Department H scientist. Both groups of Alphans merge into a unified Alpha Flight following this adventure. The Corbo brothers and several other members of the new team were later reassigned to Alpha Flight's trainee team, Beta Flight.

After the events of M-Day, Corbo lost his mutant abilities. His current whereabouts are unknown.

Powers and abilities

Adrian had the ability to "flex" parts of his body into thin sheets of "organic metal" (possibly similar in nature to the organic steel analogue of Colossus), which are highly resistant to physical damage. Often he "flexes" his hands into sharp long blades, and has even been shown to flex his leg into a blade preventing someone from grabbing him. It's relatively thin, but by doing so he had the strength to send over 15 people into the air. Adrian's metal blades have been shown to cut through metal with ease and block laser and gunfire, but the overall strength and durability of his organic metal was never stated. It may be possible that he could transform his entire body into this substance.

Related Research Articles

Northstar (character) Marvel Comics fictional character

Northstar is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, the character first appeared in X-Men #120 as a member of the Canadian superhero team, Alpha Flight.

Alpha Flight Group of fictional characters

Alpha Flight is a fictional team of Canadian superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The characters premiered in The Uncanny X-Men #120, and were created to serve as part of the X-Men member Wolverine's backstory. Marvel published an Alpha Flight comic book series from 1983 to 1994. The team serves as Canada's premier superhero team akin to America's Avengers.

Weapon X is a fictional clandestine government genetic research facility project appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. They are conducted by Department K, which turns willing and unwilling beings into living weapons, carry out covert missions like assassination or eliminating potential threat to the government. Similar to Human enhancement experiments in the real world, but it captures mutants and does experiments on them to enhance their abilities such as superpowers, turning them into human weapons. They also mutate baseline humans. The Weapon X Project produced Wolverine, Leech, Deadpool, Sabretooth, and Weapon H.

Cannonball (Marvel Comics) Marvel Comics fictional character

Cannonball is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the X-Men. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bob McLeod, Cannonball first appeared in The New Mutants.

Karma is a fictional superheroine appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, mostly in association with The X-Men. The character was created by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller.

Cypher (Marvel Comics) Marvel Comics fictional character

Cypher is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character appears usually in the X-Men family of books, in particular those featuring The New Mutants, of which Cypher has been a member. He is a mutant with the ability to easily understand any language, whether spoken or written.

Aurora (comics) Fictional character

Aurora is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, the character first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #120 as a member of the Canadian superhero team, Alpha Flight.

Husk (comics)

Husk is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Guthrie is a superhero associated with the X-Men.

Guardian (Marvel Comics) Fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics

Guardian is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by John Byrne, the character made his first appearance in The Uncanny X-Men #109 which was co-plotted by Byrne and his long-time collaborator Chris Claremont.

Wild Child (character)

Wild Child alternately spelled Wildchild and also known as Weapon Omega and Wildheart, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character has been depicted as both a superhero and a supervillain, and as a member of Alpha Flight, X-Factor and Weapon X.

Garrison Kane

Garrison Kane, also known as Weapon X and Kane, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was created by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld, and debuted in X-Force #2 (1991).

Radius (comics)

Radius is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a former member of the superhero team Alpha Flight. He first appeared in Alpha Flight: In The Beginning #-1, and first appeared as Radius in Alpha Flight vol. 2 #1.

Madison Jeffries is a fictional mutant superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is depicted as having the ability to reshape plastic, metal, and glass to any shape desired. He also has the technopathic ability to mentally communicate with A.I., such as machines and robots. Madison Jeffries is the brother of Scramble.

"Murmur" is the name of two distinct fictional mutant characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, a male related to a Hellions team and a female related to Alpha Flight.

Omega Flight is the name used by four teams of fictional characters with superpowers appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Omega Flight is one of the few Canadian teams published by an American comic book company. Omega Flight first appeared in the pages of Alpha Flight as a supervillain team. Some later incarnations have been composed of heroes.

Scramble (comics)

Scramble, also known as Scramble the Mixed-Up Man, is a fictional supervillain and Canadian mutant appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Specifically, he was an enemy of Alpha Flight, but for a brief time he was alternately their ally. Scramble is the brother of Madison Jeffries.