Puck

Origin

Born in the early 1900’s, Eugene Milton Judd, or just “Judd” to his friends, was a soldier of fortune who traveled the world, having adventures. On one of these early adventures, he attempted to attain the ‘Black Blade of Raazer“, a mystical blade which, unbeknownst to Judd, contained the spirit of an evil being named Raazer. Upon accidentally releasing Raazer, Judd found the only way to defeat him was to absorb the spirit of Raazer into his body. This had the effect of changing the seven-foot Judd into a 3’6” dwarf, although he retained the full strength and agility of the formerly giant bullfighter and athlete; the demon’s presence also stopped him from aging. Containing the evil being also caused Judd great pain on a constant basis.

Judd had a long life of adventuring, as both a soldier of fortune and a spy and has dealt with many costumed operatives during World War II and since. He became close friends with Wolverine during the war, and the two have remained close to this day.

Creation

Puck was created by John Byrne and first appeared in Alpha Flight Vol.1 issue 1 (1983).

Major Story Arcs

Alpha Flight

When James MacDonald Hudson, who would become the costumed hero known as Guardian, was starting up the first Alpha Flight, Judd was asked to join the team, where he took the code name “Puck”. The name was both an allusion to his speed and size, as well as a reference to the Shakespearean dwarf in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. Puck has served in a number of incarnations of Alpha Flight, and also served as a mentor in Beta Flight for the younger heroes.

Raazer has been released from Puck on a number of occasions, although Puck has managed to reabsorb the spirit again. Each time Raazer was released, Puck would return to his regular size and age. As this happened at an advanced age, Puck would revert to an elderly man during these separations. Upon recapturing Raazer, Puck would regress to his smaller size, and return to the age he was when he first absorbed the spirit.

Larger Puck

However, the last time that Raazer was released, it was done by Loki, the Norse God of Mischief, and upon separation, Judd again became full sized again and elderly, although he was not able to recapture the spirit. Judd traveled to Tibet, once again planning on seeing the world, but was brought into the dimension of the Dreamqueen to aid his former Alpha Flight teammates. When the rest of the team was able to escape, Puck was stranded in this dimension, in which the Dreamqueen would torture him daily. Every night she would restore him to health, and begin again. While there, Judd used the methods he had learned in Tibet to aid him in retaining his youth and healing his wounds.

Return to Alpha Flight

When Judd was finally released from the Dreamqueen’s clutches, he found all the restoration he had accomplished was wearing off, and every wound he had received returned. He was captured by the Alphan villain the Master, who experimented on Judd, in order to reconfigure his genetics and transform him into a mate for fellow Alphan Marrina. When Alpha Flight finally found Judd, he had been transformed into a genetic mass with little resemblance his human self. Sasquatch, aka Dr. Walter Langowski, was unable to restore Puck to his previous state, but, through using the Master’s technology, he was able to compress Judd back into his dwarf size. The process compressed Puck to the density of hard rubber, making him more durable and stronger than before. Puck, recovered and re-powered, rejoined Alpha Flight.

Leaving Earth

In more recent times, Puck, along with the rest of Alpha Flight, left Earth with a star ship full of Plodex eggs, intent on seeing the eggs home to their planet of origin. In the meantime, a new version of Alpha Flight took up the mantle of Alpha Flight while the original Flight was in space. Among these new members was Zuzha Yu, the apparent daughter of Puck whom he had never spoken of before. She took on his legacy and started calling herself Puck as well.

Death

During a battle with the Collective, it appeared all the members of Alpha Flight were either seriously hurt or killed. Puck was one of the teammates to have died. Surviving member Sasquatch made a new team called Omega Flight to keep the legacy of his fallen team-members alive. Some months later, when Wolverine was brought to Hell by a demon whom, it was learned that Puck was in Hell with Logan. Why he was stuck here, and not heaven and whether this was because of a trick or that he was truly deemed not worthy of heaven remained to be seen.

Chaos War

During the events of the Chaos War, many deceased characters from the Marvel Universe where brought back to life by an ancient God for a short period of time. This included Puck and his perished teammates from Alpha Flight. However, when the evil god was defeated, some of the resurrected teammates remained alive. This included Puck and his other teammates. The group re-assembled again and started working as a superhero team again, with renewed strength and happy they got a second chance in life. Puck however did not last long with the group, as he traveled to America.

Uncanny X-Force

Puck has also recently joined the newest incarnation of X-Force, lead by Storm. In an e-mail to Psylocke, Puck explained that there’s a new drug called TAO causing trouble on Los Angeles. TAO makes people feel “united”. Storm and Psylocke meets Puck at a bar, he leads them to the source of TAO. It is revealed that Spiral is behind this, using the powers of a new mutant girl, called Ginny, to help the two survive.

Psylocke attacks Spiral, while Storm and Puck tries to save Ginny. But Ginny refuses, using her powers to make the people at the nightclub attack Psylocke. Spiral and Ginny escapes, but is soon found since Psylocke could track Ginny using her telepathic powers.

They are soon attacked by Bishop, who has returned from the future, who kidnaps the girl. The team is being teleported with the help of Spiral to a subway, where they meet and fights the mentally controlled Bishop. Psylocke enters bishop’s mind, and where she fights an owl and a bear-like creature. When Bishop is free again, Puck punches him, making him unconscious.

Alpha Flight Space Station

After the X-Force team disbanned, Puck found himself returing to Canada and joining it’s new space-plan. He and other members of Alpha Flight became part of the Alpha Flight Space Station, located into orbit around Earth. There Puck and the old members of Alpha Flight work together with Carol Danvers, better known as the new Captain Marvel.

Zuzha Yu

Zuzha Yu is a young woman who is apparently the daughter of the original Puck, and an Asian woman that Judd met in his travels. She was working in a bar she owned as a bartender and bouncer when she was recruited by Sasquatch into a replacement Alpha Flight to search for the missing team.

Little is known about her past, although she appears to have powers and abilities similar to her father. She has taken the same name, “Puck”, even after her father returned to the team. She was with the team when they were apparently killed in battle with the Collective, and it is unknown is she survived.

Powers & Abilities

Puck (Eugene Judd) is a durable dwarf with enhanced agility, strength and invulnerability. He has the density of compressed rubber, and can withstand bullets, explosions and high impacts with little effect. He uses his short stature and agility to his advantage, being able to use his body as a weapon, and cartwheeling through opponents. Judd has the super strength to lift 10 tons.

Eugene Judd is a long-lived and experienced fighter, who is a master of a number of martial arts. He has incorporated his abilities into these fighting skills, and is easily as agile as Spider-Man. He has been shown to be able to sneak up on Wolverine.

Judd has a lifetime of experience, and is intelligent, quick thinking, and a master tactician, serving as Alpha Flight’s field strategist. He often quotes Shakespeare in combat, and can speak several languages fluently. He has also mastered the Tibetan art of faking death through slowing his breathing.

Other Media

Television

X-Men: The Animated Series

Puck along with Alpha Flight appeared in the episode “Repo Man,” voiced by Don Francks.

Video Games

Marvel Super Heroes In War of the Gems

Doppelgängers of Puck appeared as enemies in the game from Capcom.

Merchandise

• Puck was featured in a two-pack with Snowbird by ToyBiz.
• Puck was featured in Hasbro’s Marvel Universe line.
• Eaglemoss released a two-pack of Puck and Sasquatch for the Classic Marvel Figurine Collection.
• Bowen Designs released two Puck busts.
• Puck was featured alongside Marrina, Guardian and Northstar was part of an Alpha Flight Minimates box set from Diamond Select, which was a San Diego Comic-Con 2012 exclusive.
• Puck was the subject of a Marvel Legends Build-a-Figure wave from Hasbro, made to coincide with the release of The Wolverine in 2013. The toy could only be completed after purchasing all of the figures in the wave (Wolverine, Emma Frost, Sabretooth and Cyclops). A Rogue figure was also planned for the wave, but was never released.