Guardian (James Hudson; also known as "Weapon Alpha" or "Vindicator") 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 (February 1978) which was co-plotted by Byrne and his long-time collaborator Chris Claremont. The character is a founding member and leader of Alpha Flight. He was designed to be the Canadian equivalent of Captain America, hence his costume markings are modeled after the Canadian flag. Guardian is often confused with Captain Canuck, another Canadian-themed superhero with similar costume and superpowers. As Vindicator, the character appears in X-Men: The Animated Series, voiced by Barry Flatman. In February 2022, showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker confirmed that the death of Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes (primarily portrayed by Mahershala Ali) in the first season of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Netflix television series Luke Cage had been based on that of Guardian's from the original Alpha Flight comic book series. Concept and creation Guardian was a fan character, created by John Byrne years before he did any professional work in comics. He was originally called "the Canadian Shield", after the rock formation, but when Byrne introduced the character in X-Men, this name was rejected by publisher Marvel Comics because of their prominent fictional organization named S.H.I.E.L.D. Byrne then suggested "Guardian", but this was also rejected due to the numerous extant Marvel characters under that name, so X-Men scripter Chris Claremont came up with Weapon Alpha and later Vindicator. These names were used for the character's initial appearances in The Uncanny X-Men #109, 120–121, and 139–140. Byrne disliked both these names, and when he was assigned the writing and penciling of the newly launched Alpha Flight comic, he quickly had "Vindicator" change names to his earlier suggestion, "Guardian". Fictional character biography James MacDonald Hudson was born in London, Ontario, Canada. He is a leading petrochemical engineer and scientist for the Am-Can Corporation developing a powered exoskeleton suit. When he learns that his work will be used for American military purposes, Hudson raids his workplace, steals the prototype suit and destroys the plans. He leaves the suit to be recovered (albeit without the vital control helmet, which he built before coming to the company) and fully expects to be sued and arrested for his actions. However, Hudson's girlfriend, Heather MacNeil, uses political connections in the Canadian government to persuade Am-Can