Created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, the character first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #120 (April 1979) as a member of the Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight.

In addition to the Alpha Flight comic and associated annuals, Northstar and other members of the team made numerous guest appearances in other titles, particularly Uncanny X-Men and Wolverine.

Creator John Byrne was reluctant to produce an initial run of the 1983 Alpha Flight comic series for lack of developed and compelling characters.

So in order to make the team less two-dimensional and more developed, Northstar's sexual orientation was subtly introduced into the start of the new Alpha Flight series.

"[8][10][11] As the first major, openly gay character created by Marvel Comics, Northstar generated significant publicity in the mainstream press,[12] and Alpha Flight #106 sold out in a week, although the series was not a very popular title.

[26] In young adulthood he joins the Front de libération du Québec (a militant separatist movement for Quebec from Canada) but soon becomes disgusted with, and renounces, the group's violent tactics.

[31] The villain Pestilence senses decay in Northstar's body and causes his sickness to grow serious to the point that his wounds no longer heal, slowly killing him.

Her death weeks later spurs Northstar to publicly acknowledge his homosexuality, hoping that, as a gay celebrity, he can increase media attention on HIV/AIDS safety and prevention.

[34] Eventually Northstar leaves Alpha Flight and writes a memoir about his experience as a mutant and gay man entitled Born Normal.

[35] In the 2001 "Eve of Destruction" story arc, Northstar is briefly recruited to an improvized team of X-Men by Jean Grey to rescue Professor X, who has been captured by Magneto and is being kept prisoner in Genosha.

Later, he meets one of the new mutants, an invulnerable young man called "Omerta", whose extreme homophobia leads to an actual fight between the two on X-Men's mansion driveway.

Soon afterwards, Northstar officially joins the X-Men,[38] and becomes an instructor at the Xavier Institute, teaching business, economics, French, and superpowered flight classes.

[volume & issue needed] When HYDRA forms an alliance with the cults the Dawn of the White Light and the Hand, the groups start recruiting new agents from the superhero community by killing, resurrecting, and brainwashing them.

Together they attack the school under The Children's command and make quick work of several X-Men, notably Iceman and Anole, whose encounter with Northstar briefly shakes him from mind-control.

[volume & issue needed] Northstar and his sister Aurora respond to Emma Frost's telepathic APB and fight alongside the X-Men in San Francisco against the Skrulls when they invade Earth.

[45] However, Northstar also makes a life for himself outside of superheroics, having returned to being a star at extreme snowsports, as well as starting his own brand of snow sporting equipment and becoming involved in a relationship.

[46] While training Surge in super-speed, Northstar stops to give an interview, where he learns of Simon Trask's Proposition X (a Mutant Breeding Act Ballot Initiative).

[volume & issue needed] During the "Chaos War" storyline, Northstar alongside Aurora, Sasquatch, and Snowbird are reunited with a resurrected Guardian, Vindicator, Shaman, and Marrina Smallwood, and they reform Alpha Flight.

Northstar also has an advanced equilibrium, and exceptional agility, reaction time, and coordination which allows for him to make sharp turns, and run at such speeds without becoming sick.

While Northstar can withstand Mach 10 speeds, traveling any faster would carry complications with breathing and damage caused by wind and air resistance to his body.

When Aurora, his sister, and Northstar are in contact with each other, usually by holding hands, they can also vary the rate of acceleration of his molecules to release a cascade of photons creating a momentary burst of light equal to one million candela which they use to blind their opponents.

Northstar wears a costume of synthetic stretch fabric made of special materials for protection from friction and other hazards of superhuman speed.

When the X-Men reveal to him he is a mutant and ask him to join them, he turns them down, saying that separating themselves from humans is segregation and noting how a student there (Beast) had been recently killed.

[74] Northstar is later recruited by Emma Frost to join the Academy of Tomorrow, a magnet school for gifted children both mutant and human with a more pacifistic and integrationist philosophy than the X-Men.

[volume & issue needed] Along with fellow students Lorna Dane and Alex Summers, he completes Frost's Advanced Leadership Workshop, allowing him to make use of his powers performing off-campus community service missions in conjunction with local authorities.

[volume & issue needed] When Lorna is framed for murder and imprisoned in the Triskelion (the headquarters of the Ultimates), in an elaborate scheme by Magneto to help him escape the prison, Northstar is part of the group of Frost's students who try to break her out.

[volume & issue needed] During the battle he shows romantic interest in Colossus, and a week later it is revealed that the two have kept in contact, having exchanged email addresses.

[volume & issue needed] During a softball game between the Academy of Tomorrow and the Xavier School, Ultimate Alpha Flight shows up to kidnap Northstar.

After they incapacitate Alpha Flight, Colossus finds Northstar overdosing on the mutant drug, Banshee, resulting in him being crippled from the waist down.

As in the mainstream reality, the X-Men (Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossus, Banshee and their associate Colleen Wing) flew off, but here, Wolverine did not escape custody and slip aboard the plane.