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.
