SNAP Into Marvel: Sasquatch To Bounce His Way To Success!

Real Name: Walter Langowski

First Comic Book Appearance: X-Men #120 (April 1979)

First Multimedia Appearance: Sasquatch has made a few animated appearances, but no live-action appearances to date.

Powers: As Sasquatch, Walter has superhuman strength, stamina, durability, and healing abilities.

Comic Book Chronicles

Sasquatch is basically “the Hulk, but Bruce Banner transforms into a super-strong sasquatch, and that sasquatch is the also the avatar of a god-like named Tanarag being from the Realm of the Great Beasts” Created by John Byrne as part of his groundbreaking run on X-Men with Chris Claremont, Sasquatch debuted as, essentially, the strong guy of Alpha Flight (in his first appearance, he caught, then destroyed, a commercial airliner). Of all the characters on that initial Alpha Flight, Sasquatch found the most immediate success as a standalone character. Between their debut and the launch of their solo series in 1983, Sasquatch made a handful of guest appearances throughout the Marvel Universe, often in Incredible Hulk, with Sasquatch’s powers attributed to Walter having dosed himself with gamma rays similar to the Hulk.

After Alpha Flight launched, it was revealed that Walter’s transformations into Sasquatch actually involved him channeling one of the Great Beasts — monstrous beings from another dimensions who want to conquer Earth — named Tanaraq. The more he transformed, the more Tanaraq gained control, until Sasquatch’s teammate Snowbird was forced to rip out his heart, killing him. With Walter’s consciousness trapped in the Realm of the Great Beasts, Alpha Flight journeyed there to bring him home, with Shaman placing Walter’s mind into a Box robot.

From there, Walter’s mind bounced to a few different bodies, eventually settling in Snowbird’s body after she died. Now identifying as the female “Wanda” Langowski, Sasquatch now sported white fur. Eventually, Snowbird returned in such a way that Wanda reverted to Walter and the orange-furred Sasquatch. Since then, Sasquatch remained a stalwart member of Alpha Flight, even leading the team for a time. Most recently, he became embroiled in the events of Al Ewing’s Immortal Hulk series, which ended with Walter once again died and shifted his consciousness into another body, this time the Hulk’s longtime friend Doc Samson.

Fit & Finish

There’s not a ton of variety to Sasquatch’s look. While different artists obviously draw him in subtly different ways, for the most part, he’s looked the same throughout most of his decades-long history. One notable exception comes in the form an alternate reality version of the character. In the Exiles series, a different version of Sasquatch, in which Heather McDaniel (the sometimes-leader of Alpha Flight as Guardian in the “main” reality) is the person who transforms into Sasquatch, joins the reality-hopping team for awhile.

This version of Sasquatch has bright white fur, instead of the usual orange-ish tan/brown. This version of Sasquatch is likely the justification for Sasquatch’s release during the “Blink in Time”/Exiles season and, to that end, both of Sasquatch’s initial cards feature the character with white fur. They could also be references to his time as “Wanda Langowski”; either way, it seems pretty clear that at this point, Marvel Snap’s Sasquatch is female.

Form & Function

Sasquatch works a bit like Mockingbird — a big power card whose cost is reduced by the playing of other cards. I honestly haven’t quite sussed out yet how this card effect connects to Sasquatch as a character. As one of Marvel’s “big strong guys”, the ten power makes sense (just a few notches below the base power of “strongest there is” Hulk). The cost reduction also puts the card alongside fellow “big strong cards” in the extended Hulk family, such as She-Hulk, Skaar, and Evolved Abomination, which makes sense, given Sasquatch’s connections to that corner of the Marvel Universe. But little of that seems all that relative to Sasquatch’s distinct characteristics like his connection to the dimension of the Great Beasts, or being a stalwart member of Alpha Flight (a group very under-represented in Marvel Snap), or his propensity for ending up in bodies that aren’t his own.

That aside, following in the wake of the recent Leech nerf and Werewolf by Night buffs, Sasquatch seems poised to help reinvigorate the Bounce archetype. Play some 1 drops, pick’em back up with Beast, replay them at zero cost then slam down a cheap Sasquatch for a big power burst. Black Swan is another card who might get played a lot more as a vehicle for dropping the cost of ‘Squatch. Pair Mockingbird and Sasquatch together, and in the right deck and combo of plays – say Mysterio plus Hit Monkey on turn 5 — you could end up with a 4 energy/19 power turn 6 drop! At first glance, at least, it seems like Sasquatch might be the card of the season.