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So… you’ve started reading X-Factor and you’re wondering “who tf is this rude French dude they put in charge?” Well I’m here to answer all your questions in an extremely comprehensive thread!
trigger warnings: mentions of child abuse, religious trauma, homophobic violence, HIV/AIDS related deaths, and child deaths
Northstar, aka Jean-Paul Beaubier-Jinadu, is a Québécois mutant with the ability of superspeed, flight, as well as photokinesis. He is also most well known for being the first gay superheroes in mainstream comics.
He was first introduced in UNCANNY X-MEN 120 (April 1979) alongside Alpha Flight, a Canadian superhero group. Ironically, Alpha Flight got their start as X-men foes, with the mission of returning Wolverine to Department H, a secret weapons division of the Canadian government
They were taken in by relatives of their mother Louis and Genevienne Martin. However, the Martins found themselves unable to financially support both children, sending Jeanne-Marie to the highly abusive Catholic school: Madame Dupont’s.
The Martins would lose contact with Madame Dupont’s, frequently moving due to Louis' job as an officer in the RCMP. In a stroke of bad luck, the Martins would also die in a car accident, leaving Jean-Paul orphaned a second time.
Jean-Paul bounced around foster homes, unaware of his twin or that he was a Beaubier. Jean-Paul would run away as a young teenager to live on the streets of Montreal. (He would later reveal he ran away after coming out as gay to his foster dad)
As an unsheltered teenager in Montreal, Jean-Paul survived by stealing. On one occasion, Jean-Paul is caught stealing by Raymonde Belmonde, a local restaurant owner. Rather than punishment him, Raymonde encourages Jean-Paul to embrace himself, both as gay and as a mutant.
Under the mentorship of Raymonde, Jean-Paul is introduced to the sport of skiing as well as the Front de libération du Québec (FLQ), a terrorist group dedicated to Quebec sovereignty.
We interrupt this rant about fiction for real life history! One thing often overlooked when understanding The Beaubier Twins is that they are deeply connected to Québécois history. Most specifically the history of the Duplessis Orphans, the FLQ, and the Quiet Revolution.
When Alpha Flight came out in 1983, Northstar and Aurora were the exact age to be part of the generation experiencing a new Quebec culture in the wake of a lot of political unrest, and putting them in their historical context helps to understand them better as characters!
(Here’s a short video on the FLQ, with some incredibly entertaining imagery)
We now return to our regularly scheduled fiction! Jean-Paul would go on to join the Cell Combattre, a fictional subgroup of the FLQ as Courier, but would later leave the group, disapproving of their tactics and stopping an attempted bus bombing.
Jean-Paul would go on to do many things, including a stint as an acrobat, but most notably, Jean-Paul would go on to become a champion skier. Using his powers to his advantage, Jean-Paul earned fame and fortune. (Becoming somewhat of a Canadian heartthrob along the way)
In his early 20s, Jean-Paul is summoned to Parliament Hall by James Hudson, the founder of Alpha Flight, who approaches him with the opportunity to join Alpha Flight and reconnect with his twin sister (he also throws in a little blackmail for good measure).
Jean-Paul would join Alpha Flight, though he never really seemed thrilled about it, openly admitting to only joining for his sister, with whom he shares an empathic connect as well as their photokinetic abilities relying on their touch.
— taking another break to plug some more recommended reading here! Marvel editorial and the Comics Code Authority would keep JP’s sexuality to subtext and discussions at cons, until the release of Alpha Flight 106 in 1992!
For some really great and detailed breakdowns of the queer coding of Northstar, I highly recommend checking out https://archiveofourown.org/works/16848322/chapters/39555406 for a wonderful play by play of decoding Northstar’s queer coding! okay! Back to the program! —
The twins' relationship would be troubled from the start. After suffering abuse from the nuns at her school, Jeanne-Marie developed PTSD and DID with two personality. Aurora, who was more outgoing, and Jeanne-Marie, who was, for brevity’s sake, the “Catholic school girl”
Unfortunately, things would only get worse for Northstar and Aurora. Raymonde is killed by the Deadly Ernest, a mobster with the touch of Death. After avenging his death, the pair get into a fight leading Aurora to end their partnership.
In an effort to further the separation, Aurora allows her fellow teammate and boyfriend, Walter Langkowski/Sasquatch to experiment on her. Unbeknownst to her though, Walter also changes her genetics, making her no longer recognizable as a mutant.
In his own effort to further their separation, Northstar returns to skiing, however his identity as Northstar and as a mutant are revealed after saving a woman under Purple Girl’s influence. Jean-Paul would be stripped of his medals and blackballed from the sport.
Returning to Alpha Flight, it would be revealed, after the death of Sasquatch, just how detrimental his experiments were when the twins discover that their touch shorts out their powers, leaving them unable to touch.
During this time, Northstar also begins showing signs of a “mysterious virus” (There was no mystery, it was HIV) which would be accelerated by Pestilence. At the same time, Aurora’s PTSD and DID would also worsen.
In an effort to heal the twins, mentally and physically, Alpha Flight brought them to the Fire Fountain, a mystic place in remote Canada with healing quality. It is at Fire Fountain that Loki tricks the twins into thinking they are half elves.... just.... *sigh*
Aurora uses her light to heal Jean-Paul. Unfortunately the Fire Fountain collapses, sealing Aurora and teammate Puck inside. Northstar returns, no longer sick, but is taken to Alfheim. There, Loki’s tricks are revealed and Northstar is rejected and left stranded on Alfheim.
Northstar rejoins Alpha Flight after his eventual rescue, where he continues to do what he does best: be a cocky thorn in the side of the Canadian government.
During a battle against Mr. Hyde, Northstar is tossed into an alleyway where he discovers a baby abandoned in a trash can. After adopting her and naming her Joanne, it is discovered that she is not only HIV+, but that it has progressed to AIDS.
Joanne’s story gains national attention and the attention of Louis Sadler Sr., a former Canadian hero known as Major Mapleleaf, who recently lost his son Michael to complications with AIDS. Sadler attacks the hospital in an outrage. In the ensuing fight, Northstar comes out.
Joanne succumb to her illness and Northstar comes out publicly in a press conference. Not long after though, Northstar leaves Alpha Flight and the team is eventually dissolved.
We see Northstar between Alpha Flight and X-men for a brief solo where he takes on Arcade as well as the demons of his past (gotta love the 90s computer next to his bed lol)
Northstar returns sometime later a published author, he briefly joins the X-Men after being recruited by Jean Grey, helping to take down Magneto all the while having to deal with an extremely homophobic teammate.
Jean-Paul’s membership to the X-Men roster wouldn’t solidify until asked to join Xavier's school as a business professor, accepting the offer after a young mutant with unstable powers died in his arms.
Jean-Paul would continue to teach at Xavier’s leading the Alpha Squadron. However he is killed when a brainwashed Wolverine attacks the school. Before he can be cremated, his body is stolen and he is resurrected by The Hand. The X-men, however, would cover up the body snatching.
The brainwashed Northstar would lead the Dawn of White Light in spree killings. He would be stopped by Wolverine after an attack on the Helicarrier, and turned over to S.H.I.E.L.D. in secret as they attempted to deprogram his brainwashing.
Northstar makes his return from the “dead” altered and brainwashed by the Children of the Vault along with his sister Aurora. They attack the school, but later are reprogrammed after having their memories replayed for them and mind meddling.
Northstar would leave the X-men briefly, founding a Sporting goods company with his sister and sparking up a romantic relationship with (then unnamed) Kyle Jinadu. He is soon approached by Wolverine, accepting an invitation to join the X-Men in San Francisco.
Northstar is present throughout the X-men’s stint in Utopia, where he befriends Dazzler, goes to hell, and figures out how to make his long distance relationship with Kyle work.
Jean-Paul would briefly return to Canadian with Kyle, just long enough to claim he didn’t rejoin Alpha Flight before returning to the states and the X-men. He would marry Kyle in ASTONISHING X-MEN 51 and have his honeymoon crashed by x-men... or rather The Friends of Humanity.
Jean-Paul would continue to be a reserve member of the X-men, appearing occasionally throughout the years. Jean-Paul would be one of the X-men swept up in Nate Grey’s utopia.
In Nate Grey’s utopia Jean-Paul was stripped of his identity as a gay man and the memories of his sister and husband. He served as a member of X-Tremist, a task force dedicated to stopping “intimacy violations” (literally the horny police)
Jean-Paul would eventually break out of his conditioning, remembering his husband and sister and working with Jubilee, Rictor, and Iceman to tear down the Utopia and returning home
In the wake of Utopia, Jean-Paul and Kyle move to Krakoa together, where Jean-Paul launches X-Factor Investigations with Polaris to investigate that death of his sister Aurora.
Congratulations! You now have an understanding of Northstar (and if you’re dying for more, well then I have just the reading list for you) https://northstarfan.tumblr.com/post/638435028245889024/northstar-reading-list-updated-122420
I have nothing more to add to this thread, but it seems wrong to do a whole thread that almost 50 tweets long and NOT include Northstar’s most iconic line.
