Alpha (DC Comics)

Alpha is a fictional character in the DC Comics universe. He is a martial artist created by writer Kelley Puckett and artist Damion Scott as a villain to Batgirl, and he first appeared in Batgirl #35 (2003).

Fictional character biography

An extraordinarily skilled martial artist, Alpha was one of the instructors hired by assassin David Cain to train his young daughter Cassandra. Years later, once Cassandra had become Batgirl, she encountered Alpha again. Working as an international terrorist-for-hire, Alpha had planted a fusion bomb in Gotham City, only to be struck with amnesia before he could leave the city. Once she tracked him down, Batgirl saved Alpha from mob members that he had betrayed. She convinced the amnesiatic Alpha that he was a heroic Secret Agent named Michael Sommers (explaining his skills and equipment), and enlisted his help in locating the nuclear device.

Alpha was able to remember that the bomb was at city limits, but as he arrived at the location with Batgirl, Alpha remembered his true identity and turned on her. Although he had found happiness in his brief time believing himself a hero, ultimately he felt that people could not change who they were. Batgirl then revealed to him that she was Cain's daughter, and that she had become a hero despite being trained by Cain, Alpha, and others to become an assassin, proving that people can change. Although Alpha locked her in his base with the bomb and escaped, he had a last-second change of heart and deactivated the weapon remotely.

Some time later, Alpha reappeared as a member of the new League of Assassins formed by Nyssa Raatko, the daughter of Ra's al Ghul. Lady Shiva, Cassandra's mother and the sensei of Nyssa's League, had Alpha instruct David Cain's other student, the insane "Mad Dog". Alpha and Batgirl were both present during the disastrous rebirth of Mr. Freeze's wife Nora Fries as the monstrous Lazara, and several League members died in the resulting chaos. Due to the conflict between their loyalty to Shiva and Nyssa and their near-worship of Batgirl, the League split at that point, with several members pledging themselves to Cassandra. Several more members of the League (including all the defectors except one) died when The Mad Dog went on a killing spree. Alpha then revealed that his true loyalties lay with Cassandra, and he attempted to kill The Mad Dog in order to save her. This went against Cassandra's code against killing, and she prevented him from doing so. The Mad Dog was successful in killing Batgirl (who gave her life to protect the last of the defected assassins), although she was able to knock The Mad Dog unconscious before perishing. Cassandra was quickly restored to life in a Lazarus Pit by Shiva. Alpha's fate is unknown.

Fighting style

Alpha notably combined martial arts with gunplay, in a manner reminiscent of the Gun fu style popularaized by martial artist actor Chow Yun-fat and director John Woo, and the Gun Kata developed by Kurt Wimmer for the films Equilibrium and UltraViolet.