inspired by the debut of the fantastic four, james hudson refined the purpose of department h to find and/or develop canada's superheroes. new recruit groundhog joins snowbird, st. elmo, stitch, wolverine (as weapon x), and smart alec in training. within a week, the flight is pressed into their first battle with egghead's incarnation of the emissaries of evil (consisting of rhino, solarr, eel, porcupine, power man and swordsman). egghead threatens the united states from canadian soil with a nuclear missile. smart alec disables the missile's guidance system, but egghead triggers the detonation sequence. smart alec panics leading to st. elmo transforming the missile and the bomb into light. st. elmo succeeds, but loses himself in the process. groundhog and dr. michael twoyoungmen scold hudson for sending the team into battle while so inexperienced, with a near psychotic leader (weapon x) and someone who folds under pressure. hudson thus makes plans for a tiered team system, leading to the formation of alpha, beta and gamma flight.