Box (Roger Bochs) - Marvel Universe: The definitive online source for Marvel super hero bios.

Marvel Universe

Box (Roger Bochs)

Universe
Marvel Universe

Real Name
Roger Bochs

Aliases
None

Identity
Secret (known to certain members of the Canadian government)

Occupation
Engineer, mechanic

Citizenship
Canadian

Place of Birth
Moosejaw, Saskatchewan

Known Relatives
None known

Group Affiliation
Formerly Alpha Flight, Beta Flight, Gamma Flight, Omega Flight

Education
Presumably has a college degree

Height
(Box) 7'0", (Bochs) 4'0"

Weight
(Box) currently 465 lb., formerly 326 lb.; (Bochs) 140 lb.

Eyes
Blue

Hair
Red

Powers
The Box robot possesses great superhuman strength, and can lift (press) roughly 85 tons. The original Box could lift (press) 40 tons. The original Box robot was made primarily of steel, had vast strength and was highly resistant to damage. It was mentally controlled from outside by a person wearing a psycho-cybernetic helmet. The helmet transformed psions from the wearer's mind into electrical impulses which it then broadcast to Box. The wearer needed only to will Box to perform an action in order to cause Box to do it. Moreover, the helmet allowed its wearer to perceive mentally the sensory data registered by Box: the wearer "saw" and "heard" what Box perceived. The new Box has greater strength than the previous one, and has a greater resistance to damage. Powerful jets in the soles of its feet enable the robot to fly. Box also contains many different devices, among which are ones enabling it to tap into computers and receive or jam radio signals. Box contains special tracking equipment, and it can see in all areas of the electromagnetic spectrum. Other devices can also be installed within Box if the need arises.

Abilities
The new Box is constructed principally of an unidentified "living metal." Through an act of will, Roger Bochs can "phase into" Box's body in order to control it from within. This is to that Bochs can cause his own body to pass into Box's from without damaging either, and to somehow fuse with Box's Form. It is not known how Bochs became able to perform this feat. Bochs has indicated that only he can physically enter into and control Box in this way. Roger Bochs mentally controls Box from within its box and he can perceive what ever it perceives. However, although Bochs can not actually feel physically pain while within Box, his psychic link with Box is so strong that he can feel psychic pain if enough force is inflicted upon Box. Moreover, the longer Bochs stays within Box, the greater becomes the danger that he will become unable to leave it, and, indeed, psychologically incapable of leaving it. So far, Bochs has spent no more than a few hours at a time within Box.

First Appearance
(as Box) Alpha Flight #1 (1983); (as Roger Bochs) Alpha Flight #11 (1984)

Significant Issues
Debut (Alpha Flight #1, 1983), first appearance of Roger Bochs (Alpha Flight #11, 1984), Jerome Jaxon takes possession of Box (Alpha Flight #12, 1984), Walter Langkowski takes possession of Box (Alpha Flight #24, 1985)

Roger Bochs is a brilliant engineer and mechanic who, for unrevealed reasons, is missing both his legs. He invented a large humanoid robot, which he called "Box" in a pun on his name. James McDonald Hudson, the leader of Alpha Flight, helped Bochs perfect Box, and recruited him as a candidate to join Alpha Flight. Bochs entered the initial training program for recruits, Gamma Flight, and had graduated into the next level, Beta Flight, when the Canadian government disbanded Department H, which supported Alpha Flight and the two training groups. Bochs returned to his ordinary life in Saskatchewan. Alpha Flight continued to operate independently of the Canadian government.

Sometime later, Bochs was recruited by Delphine Courtney, the robotic assistant to Jerome Jaxon, to join his new group of superhuman operatives, Omega Flight. Ten years before, Jaxon had been Hudson's superior at the Am-Can Petroleum Company in Canada, and had insisted that the special suit Hudson had designed for geological exploration be turned over to the American military. Hudson thereupon stole the psycho-cybernetic helmet that made the suit work, and destroyed Am-Can's plans for the helmet and suit. As a result Jaxon's career was ruined. Years later, Jaxon discovered the Guardian was Hudson, took a position with Roxxon Oil, and organized Omega Flight to destroy Guardian and Alpha Flight in revenge. Bochs who was loyal to Hudson, joined Omega Flight only to sabotage it from within. Jaxon realized Bochs' intentions, and seized control of Box himself. Controlling Box through Bochs' helmet, Jaxon sent it into battle against Guardian. Guardian destroyed Box with electronic blast from his power pack, causing feedback that killed Jaxon. However, Guardian's power pack then blew up, apparently killing Hudson.

Six weeks later, Bochs met with a man named Madison Jeffries, whom Guardian had called a transmutator. Jeffries can levitate and mechanical part made of metal, plastic, or glass, and can reshape and reorganize such parts into analogues to portions of his body. Together Bochs and Jeffries created a new, bigger, and stronger Box, which Bochs could control from inside by "phasing" into the robot's body. Bochs felt responsible for Guardian's death since he had invented the original Box, with which Jaxon had indirectly caused Hudson's death. Bochs intended to use Box to hunt down Jaxon, if he still lived, and Courtney.

Later, Snowbird discovered the truth behind her Alpha Flight teammate Walter Lagowski's transformations into the beast-like Sasquatch. Langkowski thought that he could turn into Sasquatch as the result of gamma radiation effects similar to those that create the Hulk. However, he had actually accidentally created a magical link with the other-dimensional mystical beast Tanaraq. Each time that Langkowski became Sasquatch, Tanaraq's control over him grew. Finally, when Tanaraq had taken full control of Sasquatch, Snowbird killed Sasquatch's physical form. Several members of Alpha Flight traveled into the beasts' dimension, where one member, Shaman, recovered Langkowski's soul. Unable to return the soul to Langkowski's body, which mystic forces had caused to crumble into dust, Shaman, with Bochs' consent, instead projected it into Box.

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contributors: jstephens, taxawagner, glacia

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