Guardian is a Canadian superhero in the Marvel Universe who was the leader of Alpha Flight, created by John Byrne. He was designed to be self consciously created to be the Canadian equivalent of Captain America, hence his costume markings are modeled after the Canadian flag.

His real name was Jason MacDonald, a leading scientist for the Am-Can corporation who worked on developing a powered exo-skeleton suit. However, when he learned that his work would be used for American military purposes, MacDonald raided his workplace to steal the prototype suit and destroy the plans. While he left the suit to be recovered, albeit without the control helmet which he developed before coming to the company, he fully expected to be sued and arrested for his caper.

However, his girlfriend used some political connections in the Canadian government to convince the Prime Minister of Canada (who is obviously Pierre Trudeau) to convince Am-Can to waive charges and form Department H with MacDonald as head of operations. Eventually, MacDonald is inspired by the debut of the Fantastic Four to use the superhero format to create his powered armor to become a superhero himself.

As such, he formed Alpha Flight which was a superhero team for the federal government.

Eventually, he was killed off in Alpha Flight #12 and his suit was eventually adapted by his wife to become The Vindicator. Later MacDonald returned from the dead to resume his career.

Equipment

Guardian used a suit of powered armor which allowed him to fly, fire energy blasts and has a personal force field for defense. However, his most spectacular power was his ability to suspend his positioning to the earth while it literally turned under him, allowing him to travel West at high speed depending on his latitude positioning.