Members
Biography
Biography
The Imperial Guard is a legion of super-powered champions from throughout the intergalactic Shi’ar Empire who act as enforcers of Imperial law.
To Fight a Force and Enforce Laws
As its intergalactic empire expands, the Shi’ar race spreads its power and influence to other galaxies, planets and cultures, marrying many races to their own and keeping them all under the direct rule of the current Shi’ar emperor/majestor or empress/majestrix.
The Imperial Guard is formed in response to the powerful Phoenix Force (also called the Phalkon force), which takes on a Shi’ar host in outlaw Korvus Rook’shir, AKA Korvus. Composed of a multi-ethnic group of super-powered beings from various Shi’ar-controlled planets, the Imperial Guard fights the Phoenix-empowered Rook’shir.
Be On Guard
This first guard, led by extremely powerful Shi’ar loyalist Kallark, AKA Gladiator, and including among its ranks Magic/Magique, Mentor and Neutron apprehended Rook’shir, who was beheaded for his crimes. The Guard is soon expanded and tasked with keeping the peace across the Empire and enforcing Shi’ar galactic law, and each Guard appointee is required to go through extensive training before deployment.
The Guard members represent a wide variety of abilities, powers and cultures. Arc manipulates bioelectric blasts. Astra can alter her molecular density. Binder emitted plasma beams. Claiming to be the children of Cal’syee Neramani, AKA Deathbird, of the Imperial Royal Family, Black Light, who can discharge energy blasts from his eyes, and his sister White Noise, who give off sonic screams, share a neural link. Blackthorn commands plant life. Blimp inhabits a containment suit filled with bio-helium gas, allowing him to fly.
Praetor Chakar possessed superhuman strength and invulnerability. The sole known Kree Guardsman, M-Nell, AKA Commando, wears an armored suit into battle that gives him superhuman strength and durability. The super-strong Cosmo (possibly a Stygian) is highly durable and capable of flight. Delphos is precognitive.
Earthquake projects seismic energy into the ground, causing tremors, or as force waves directed against objects or beings. Electron, of the Shi’ar, manipulates electromagnetic energy, projecting bursts of electricity, forming magnetic shields and manipulating metals.
Fader can disguise himself by hiding within different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, like ultraviolet light, which humans cannot see; he also carries a “Spazzgun.” Fang’s species possesses claws and enhanced strength, senses, speed and agility. Granny, AKA Flashfire, manipulates bioelectric energy, using it to project blinding light or lightning-like bolts.
G-Type is living solar plasma and, housed in insulated armor, can give off heat blasts. The most powerful Guardsman, Gladiator is a Strontian whose powers include vast super-strength (Class 100) and speed reaching trans-light speeds in space, heightened lung capacity, heat-ray vision, enhanced vision and hearing. Gladiator is virtually invulnerable, though he has been weakened by sufficiently powerful blows and certain types of radiation, and his powers, believed by some to be partially psionic in nature, are dependent on his self-confidence, fading with doubt. The monstrous Glom can consume virtually any form of matter and/or energy. Hardball bounces from object to object with high resiliency and agility.
Hobgoblin (Shifter), like the others of his Chameloid race, is a metamorph who can take on the abilities of forms he adopts. Hussar wields a bioelectric whip, which can paralyze others.
Magic, or Magique, uses ambient magical energy to create illusions. The elephantine Mammoth has super-strength. The long-lived Manta emits blinding light from inside her cape. Mentor’s computer-like brain can process information at superhuman rates. Monstra has enhanced strength and a purple monstrous body. The lithe Myla, AKA Moondancer, can track others expertly across galaxies.
Neosaurus’ artificial brain controls various purple reptilian bodies. Neutron is a Stygian who absorbs electromagnetic and kinetic energy and channels it into strength or size. The shadowcaster Nightside pulls dark energy (possibly the Darkforce) from another dimension to blind her opponents. N’rill’iree is a monstrous alien with enhanced strength.
An experienced unarmed fighter, Onslaught has enhanced strength, speed and durability. Lady Sybil, AKA Oracle, is a powerful telepath.
The purple energy being Plutonia can alter her molecular density. Earth’s Peter Quill, on hiatus from being Star-Lord, is briefly a part of the Guard for his military knowledge.
Schism can split into two beings, one black and one white, each able to operate independently. The alien Scintilla/Midget can change her size, often shrinking, and with the help of a device, she can channel her ability into concussive energy blasts. Vril Rokk, AKA Smasher, absorbs cosmic energy to enhance his strength and can download various powers, such as X-ray vision, super-strength, and invulnerability, through his exo-specs. The armored Solar Wind projects waves of force from his chest. Starbolt can manipulate his living energy form to fly and project fiery blasts. The amoeboid Stuff manipulates its pseudoplasm to ensnare others in tentacles, and its single red eye can also see through things.
Titan can increase his height, weight, and bulk proportionately, enhancing his strength and durability. Voltor wielded electroshock bolts. Voyager can open warps across interstellar distances.
Warstar is made up of seemingly symbiotic automated beings C’cil, who possesses increased bulk and strength, and B’nee, who rides in a chamber on C’cil’s back and can emit electric shocks. Webwing is a cephalopod who encases opponents in his webbed tentacles and administers hallucination-inducing narcotics and sedatives. Zenith can feed off the energy of others and rechannel it. Other Guard members and their capabilities have not been clearly identified.
Hostiles and Lawbreakers
The Imperial Guard goes up against all kinds of foes in the galaxy, including the shape-shifting Skrulls, the Starjammers, space pirates who oppose Shi’ar rule, and Earth’s mutants, such as the X-Men and Excalibur teams.
When the X-Men seek to rescue the Shi’ar Princess-Majestrix Lilandra Neramani from her insane brother, then-Majestor D’Ken Neramani, they fight members of the Guard. The X-Men and the Guard subsequently clash again when Lilandra assumes the Shi'ar throne and seek to end the universal threat posed by the Phoenix Force, which assumes the form of X-Man Jean Grey. The Guard defeats the X-Men, but allows them to return to Earth once Phoenix seemingly commits suicide.
They also fight against and alongside the Avengers, Earth’s premier Super Hero team, against Kree and Skrull agents to obtain powerful artifacts.
Allies in Arms
Most of the Imperial Guard’s activities over the centuries remain unrevealed, but they grow loyal to the Neramani family as they rise to rule the Empire, such as D’Ken, Deathbird, and later, their sister, Lilandra.
The Guard allies with Lord Samédàr in an attack on Earth to retrieve Deathbird, but in the process the Guard goes up against the X-Men. The merry mutants convince some of the Guard to join them and side with Deathbird’s own sister, Lilandra instead.
War Stories
Years ago, Deathbird led Fang, Oracle, Smasher and Starbolt in a battle against the Skrulls, who shape-change at will, during which they met famous Kree soldier Mar-Vell, AKA Captain Marvel.
Guard members were soon assigned to help Lord Samédàr attack the Earth in order to retrieve Deathbird, capturing some of the X-Men to force the others to secure their target. The X-Men convinced some of the Guard to stand with them against those loyal to Samédàr, who was no longer following Lilandra’s orders, but the battle soon ended, and Lilandra was exiled with the X-Men, leaving Deathbird to claim the Shi’ar throne; Guard member Fang was killed by the Brood shortly after, and replaced by another member of his race. Across space, a Borderer unit of the Guard fought the maddened Spaceknight Pulsar, who killed Binder, Chakar, Kwill and Voltor. The Guard investigated and came to blows with a group of Spaceknights before they united against their common foe, Liberator (Dr. Tyreseus wearing Pulsar’s armor and seeking vengeance for the Shi’ar enslaving his race). Deathbird later led the Imperial Guard in an assault on the Starjammers as she sought a power source, and Guard member Zenith was killed during the battle. The Guard followed the Starjammers to Earth, where they fought the mutant team Excalibur, but they were soon ordered to retreat when Deathbird was put at risk.
In time, a group of super-powered Warskrulls posing as the Starjammers fought against the Guard, who narrowly escaped when the X-Men joined the fight. Skrull infiltration of Shi’ar culture was exposed soon after and Lilandra took the Shi’ar throne again at the battle’s conclusion. Gladiator led the Guard against the giant Garthan Saal, AKA Supernova, when he attacked the Shi’ar Empire. When a potential war with the Kree looked likely, the Shi’ar sent the Guard to complete various missions on Earth.
After fighting against and alongside the Avengers, and against Kree Sentry #372, Att-Lass, AKA Captain Atlas, and Minn-Erva, AKA Doctor Minerva, the Guard successfully retrieved the deceased Mar-Vell’s Nega-Bands and a component of the Kree Psyche-Magnetron. Back in Shi’ar space, an Avengers delegation petitioned Lilandra for peace and they aided the Guard against the attacking Kree Starforce. After briefly battling the Avengers, the Guard stood by when another Skrull infiltration was exposed, but it was too late to recall the Nega-Bomb, a deadly genocidal weapon Lilandra had authorized to use against the Kree Empire. The devastated Kree Empire was claimed by the Shi’ar.
The Guard occasionally aided Deathbird, who was made the viceroy of the conquered Kree territories, and Gladiator and Starbolt helped retrieve Kree insurgents who had escaped to Earth, where Guard members were sent to retrieve stranded ally Neutron. The Guard later briefly fought a contingent of Earth heroes to retrieve a Shi’ar ship, but they parted ways rather than choosing to battle the enigmatic Stranger.
After the Guard aided the Shi’ar against the alien Uncreated, the Shi’ar galaxy was attacked by the techno-organic Phalanx. Lilandra sent eight of the Guard, led by Gladiator, to pose as humans on Earth and to recruit the help of the X-Men, who later helped defeat the Uncreated. The Guard members on Earth, with new Kree teammate Commando, teamed with the Avengers against Kree insurgents the People’s Underground Militia and later defeated the Militia on their own, stopping a Nega-Bomb from decimating the planet. They returned to the Shi’ar galaxy after fighting Elamron the Changeling alongside Bruce Banner, AKA Hulk. When the Shi’ar Empire decided to ally with the massive Spartoi Empire, the Guard stood by during the necessary religious ceremonies on the planet Kritnah. The alliance was undermined when the Earth’s Inhumans tried to assassinate Lilandra, actually killing the shape-shifting Hobgoblin. Suspecting the Spartoi were behind the attack, the Shi’ar dissolved the alliance after the Guard fought the Inhumans; it was never learned that Kree agent Ronan the Accuser was actually behind the attack.
Lilandra led several of the Guard to Earth to pick up her consort Charles Xavier, AKA Professor X, of the X-Men, not realizing he had been possessed by his malevolent twin, Cassandra Nova, who possessed vast psychic abilities. Nova drove those on the ship insane and led many, including Guardsman Mammoth, to be killed. Controlling many of the Guard, Nova sent them to Earth to kill the X-Men; these Guardsmen shook off Nova’s influence after a fierce battle with the mutants, but Nova easily defeated the Guard before the X-Men stopped her, and the Shi’ar came to distrust Professor X, annulling Lilandra’s marriage to him. Members of the Guard briefly stood alongside Earth’s heroes against Thanos, then later against a deadly killer from another universe. When the Shi’ar settlement of Eru-7 went missing, the Guard learned that the Maker (formerly the Beyonder) was behind it and investigated. Gladiator led a team, including brief recruit Peter Quill, to find the Maker, and ended up fighting Thanos and Fallen One, a former herald of the world-devourer Galactus.
Months after fighting more Skrull insurgents and traveling to Earth to combat the ancient deadly Skornn, whom X-Force had already defeated, the Guard was dispatched to defeat Gabriel Summers, AKA Vulcan, an Earth mutant who was attacking Shi’ar space, though Vulcan seemingly killed several of the Guard before he was apprehended. Vulcan ended up betrothed to Deathbird and aiding in the restoration of D’Ken’s sanity, leaving Lilandra dethroned and D’Ken in command of the Empire once again. D’Ken soon presided at the wedding of Vulcan and Deathbird, where the X-Men, the Starjammers and the forces loyal to the rebel General Ka’ardum attacked D’Ken’s forces, including the Guard. The massive battle ended when Vulcan murdered D’Ken and proclaimed himself the new Emperor. Vulcan then commanded the Guard in battles against Lilandra, Ka’ardum and their forces, but the Empire soon found itself under assault by the Scy’ar Tal, ancient Shi’ar enemies. Vulcan and the Guard manipulated the Starjammers into joining forces with them against the Scy’ar Tal, then captured and imprisoned the Starjammers in turn.
At the trial, the Guard showed her irrefutable evidence that, as the destructive Phoenix, she committed galactic genocide. J-Son, the King of Spartax, interrupted the tribunal, revealing that the Shi’ar once sent their people to Earth to wipe out her entire lineage, and made the argument that since her family was no more, that was enough punishment for the girl. During a recess of the tribunal, Jean escaped and attempted to leave the Shi’ar homeworld, only to return to find her fellow time-displaced X-Men, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Starjammers battling the Imperial Guard. Interrupting the battle, Jean gave herself up.
Addressing the group, she noted how none of them stopped her as the Phoenix, yet she was the one on trial, and that she was prepared to forgive the Guard for capturing her, until hearing about what they did to her family. She then fought the Guard with a force unlike anything ever seen before. Oracle, as the Guard’s resident Minder (i.e., telepath) met Jean in her mindscape and they both realized that Jean’s telepathy and telekinesis were working together, and effectively Jean had used everyone’s psychic energy against them. Seeing that she had become something new, Oracle returned to the battle and declared it over. The young Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops, warned Gladiator and the Guard that should they ever come after Jean again, they would be met with the full force of Earth’s heroes. In their defeat, the Guard departed but not before Gladiator left them a stern warning that history would repeat itself.
This first guard, led by extremely powerful Shi’ar loyalist Kallark, AKA Gladiator, and including among its ranks Magic/Magique, Mentor and Neutron apprehended Rook’shir, who was beheaded for his crimes. The Guard is soon expanded and tasked with keeping the peace across the Empire and enforcing Shi’ar galactic law, and each Guard appointee is required to go through extensive training before deployment.
The Guard members represent a wide variety of abilities, powers and cultures. Arc manipulates bioelectric blasts. Astra can alter her molecular density. Binder emitted plasma beams. Claiming to be the children of Cal’syee Neramani, AKA Deathbird, of the Imperial Royal Family, Black Light, who can discharge energy blasts from his eyes, and his sister White Noise, who give off sonic screams, share a neural link. Blackthorn commands plant life. Blimp inhabits a containment suit filled with bio-helium gas, allowing him to fly.
Praetor Chakar possessed superhuman strength and invulnerability. The sole known Kree Guardsman, M-Nell, AKA Commando, wears an armored suit into battle that gives him superhuman strength and durability. The super-strong Cosmo (possibly a Stygian) is highly durable and capable of flight. Delphos is precognitive.
Earthquake projects seismic energy into the ground, causing tremors, or as force waves directed against objects or beings. Electron, of the Shi’ar, manipulates electromagnetic energy, projecting bursts of electricity, forming magnetic shields and manipulating metals.
Fader can disguise himself by hiding within different parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, like ultraviolet light, which humans cannot see; he also carries a “Spazzgun.” Fang’s species possesses claws and enhanced strength, senses, speed and agility. Granny, AKA Flashfire, manipulates bioelectric energy, using it to project blinding light or lightning-like bolts.
G-Type is living solar plasma and, housed in insulated armor, can give off heat blasts. The most powerful Guardsman, Gladiator is a Strontian whose powers include vast super-strength (Class 100) and speed reaching trans-light speeds in space, heightened lung capacity, heat-ray vision, enhanced vision and hearing. Gladiator is virtually invulnerable, though he has been weakened by sufficiently powerful blows and certain types of radiation, and his powers, believed by some to be partially psionic in nature, are dependent on his self-confidence, fading with doubt. The monstrous Glom can consume virtually any form of matter and/or energy. Hardball bounces from object to object with high resiliency and agility.
Hobgoblin (Shifter), like the others of his Chameloid race, is a metamorph who can take on the abilities of forms he adopts. Hussar wields a bioelectric whip, which can paralyze others.
Magic, or Magique, uses ambient magical energy to create illusions. The elephantine Mammoth has super-strength. The long-lived Manta emits blinding light from inside her cape. Mentor’s computer-like brain can process information at superhuman rates. Monstra has enhanced strength and a purple monstrous body. The lithe Myla, AKA Moondancer, can track others expertly across galaxies.
Neosaurus’ artificial brain controls various purple reptilian bodies. Neutron is a Stygian who absorbs electromagnetic and kinetic energy and channels it into strength or size. The shadowcaster Nightside pulls dark energy (possibly the Darkforce) from another dimension to blind her opponents. N’rill’iree is a monstrous alien with enhanced strength.
An experienced unarmed fighter, Onslaught has enhanced strength, speed and durability. Lady Sybil, AKA Oracle, is a powerful telepath.
The purple energy being Plutonia can alter her molecular density. Earth’s Peter Quill, on hiatus from being Star-Lord, is briefly a part of the Guard for his military knowledge.
Schism can split into two beings, one black and one white, each able to operate independently. The alien Scintilla/Midget can change her size, often shrinking, and with the help of a device, she can channel her ability into concussive energy blasts. Vril Rokk, AKA Smasher, absorbs cosmic energy to enhance his strength and can download various powers, such as X-ray vision, super-strength, and invulnerability, through his exo-specs. The armored Solar Wind projects waves of force from his chest. Starbolt can manipulate his living energy form to fly and project fiery blasts. The amoeboid Stuff manipulates its pseudoplasm to ensnare others in tentacles, and its single red eye can also see through things.
Titan can increase his height, weight, and bulk proportionately, enhancing his strength and durability. Voltor wielded electroshock bolts. Voyager can open warps across interstellar distances.
Warstar is made up of seemingly symbiotic automated beings C’cil, who possesses increased bulk and strength, and B’nee, who rides in a chamber on C’cil’s back and can emit electric shocks. Webwing is a cephalopod who encases opponents in his webbed tentacles and administers hallucination-inducing narcotics and sedatives. Zenith can feed off the energy of others and rechannel it. Other Guard members and their capabilities have not been clearly identified.
Hostiles and Lawbreakers
The Imperial Guard goes up against all kinds of foes in the galaxy, including the shape-shifting Skrulls, the Starjammers, space pirates who oppose Shi’ar rule, and Earth’s mutants, such as the X-Men and Excalibur teams.
When the X-Men seek to rescue the Shi’ar Princess-Majestrix Lilandra Neramani from her insane brother, then-Majestor D’Ken Neramani, they fight members of the Guard. The X-Men and the Guard subsequently clash again when Lilandra assumes the Shi'ar throne and seek to end the universal threat posed by the Phoenix Force, which assumes the form of X-Man Jean Grey. The Guard defeats the X-Men, but allows them to return to Earth once Phoenix seemingly commits suicide.
They also fight against and alongside the Avengers, Earth’s premier Super Hero team, against Kree and Skrull agents to obtain powerful artifacts.
Allies in Arms
Most of the Imperial Guard’s activities over the centuries remain unrevealed, but they grow loyal to the Neramani family as they rise to rule the Empire, such as D’Ken, Deathbird, and later, their sister, Lilandra.
The Guard allies with Lord Samédàr in an attack on Earth to retrieve Deathbird, but in the process the Guard goes up against the X-Men. The merry mutants convince some of the Guard to join them and side with Deathbird’s own sister, Lilandra instead.
War Stories
Years ago, Deathbird led Fang, Oracle, Smasher and Starbolt in a battle against the Skrulls, who shape-change at will, during which they met famous Kree soldier Mar-Vell, AKA Captain Marvel.
Guard members were soon assigned to help Lord Samédàr attack the Earth in order to retrieve Deathbird, capturing some of the X-Men to force the others to secure their target. The X-Men convinced some of the Guard to stand with them against those loyal to Samédàr, who was no longer following Lilandra’s orders, but the battle soon ended, and Lilandra was exiled with the X-Men, leaving Deathbird to claim the Shi’ar throne; Guard member Fang was killed by the Brood shortly after, and replaced by another member of his race. Across space, a Borderer unit of the Guard fought the maddened Spaceknight Pulsar, who killed Binder, Chakar, Kwill and Voltor. The Guard investigated and came to blows with a group of Spaceknights before they united against their common foe, Liberator (Dr. Tyreseus wearing Pulsar’s armor and seeking vengeance for the Shi’ar enslaving his race). Deathbird later led the Imperial Guard in an assault on the Starjammers as she sought a power source, and Guard member Zenith was killed during the battle. The Guard followed the Starjammers to Earth, where they fought the mutant team Excalibur, but they were soon ordered to retreat when Deathbird was put at risk.
In time, a group of super-powered Warskrulls posing as the Starjammers fought against the Guard, who narrowly escaped when the X-Men joined the fight. Skrull infiltration of Shi’ar culture was exposed soon after and Lilandra took the Shi’ar throne again at the battle’s conclusion. Gladiator led the Guard against the giant Garthan Saal, AKA Supernova, when he attacked the Shi’ar Empire. When a potential war with the Kree looked likely, the Shi’ar sent the Guard to complete various missions on Earth.
After fighting against and alongside the Avengers, and against Kree Sentry #372, Att-Lass, AKA Captain Atlas, and Minn-Erva, AKA Doctor Minerva, the Guard successfully retrieved the deceased Mar-Vell’s Nega-Bands and a component of the Kree Psyche-Magnetron. Back in Shi’ar space, an Avengers delegation petitioned Lilandra for peace and they aided the Guard against the attacking Kree Starforce. After briefly battling the Avengers, the Guard stood by when another Skrull infiltration was exposed, but it was too late to recall the Nega-Bomb, a deadly genocidal weapon Lilandra had authorized to use against the Kree Empire. The devastated Kree Empire was claimed by the Shi’ar.
The Guard occasionally aided Deathbird, who was made the viceroy of the conquered Kree territories, and Gladiator and Starbolt helped retrieve Kree insurgents who had escaped to Earth, where Guard members were sent to retrieve stranded ally Neutron. The Guard later briefly fought a contingent of Earth heroes to retrieve a Shi’ar ship, but they parted ways rather than choosing to battle the enigmatic Stranger.
After the Guard aided the Shi’ar against the alien Uncreated, the Shi’ar galaxy was attacked by the techno-organic Phalanx. Lilandra sent eight of the Guard, led by Gladiator, to pose as humans on Earth and to recruit the help of the X-Men, who later helped defeat the Uncreated. The Guard members on Earth, with new Kree teammate Commando, teamed with the Avengers against Kree insurgents the People’s Underground Militia and later defeated the Militia on their own, stopping a Nega-Bomb from decimating the planet. They returned to the Shi’ar galaxy after fighting Elamron the Changeling alongside Bruce Banner, AKA Hulk. When the Shi’ar Empire decided to ally with the massive Spartoi Empire, the Guard stood by during the necessary religious ceremonies on the planet Kritnah. The alliance was undermined when the Earth’s Inhumans tried to assassinate Lilandra, actually killing the shape-shifting Hobgoblin. Suspecting the Spartoi were behind the attack, the Shi’ar dissolved the alliance after the Guard fought the Inhumans; it was never learned that Kree agent Ronan the Accuser was actually behind the attack.
Lilandra led several of the Guard to Earth to pick up her consort Charles Xavier, AKA Professor X, of the X-Men, not realizing he had been possessed by his malevolent twin, Cassandra Nova, who possessed vast psychic abilities. Nova drove those on the ship insane and led many, including Guardsman Mammoth, to be killed. Controlling many of the Guard, Nova sent them to Earth to kill the X-Men; these Guardsmen shook off Nova’s influence after a fierce battle with the mutants, but Nova easily defeated the Guard before the X-Men stopped her, and the Shi’ar came to distrust Professor X, annulling Lilandra’s marriage to him. Members of the Guard briefly stood alongside Earth’s heroes against Thanos, then later against a deadly killer from another universe. When the Shi’ar settlement of Eru-7 went missing, the Guard learned that the Maker (formerly the Beyonder) was behind it and investigated. Gladiator led a team, including brief recruit Peter Quill, to find the Maker, and ended up fighting Thanos and Fallen One, a former herald of the world-devourer Galactus.
Months after fighting more Skrull insurgents and traveling to Earth to combat the ancient deadly Skornn, whom X-Force had already defeated, the Guard was dispatched to defeat Gabriel Summers, AKA Vulcan, an Earth mutant who was attacking Shi’ar space, though Vulcan seemingly killed several of the Guard before he was apprehended. Vulcan ended up betrothed to Deathbird and aiding in the restoration of D’Ken’s sanity, leaving Lilandra dethroned and D’Ken in command of the Empire once again. D’Ken soon presided at the wedding of Vulcan and Deathbird, where the X-Men, the Starjammers and the forces loyal to the rebel General Ka’ardum attacked D’Ken’s forces, including the Guard. The massive battle ended when Vulcan murdered D’Ken and proclaimed himself the new Emperor. Vulcan then commanded the Guard in battles against Lilandra, Ka’ardum and their forces, but the Empire soon found itself under assault by the Scy’ar Tal, ancient Shi’ar enemies. Vulcan and the Guard manipulated the Starjammers into joining forces with them against the Scy’ar Tal, then captured and imprisoned the Starjammers in turn.
At the trial, the Guard showed her irrefutable evidence that, as the destructive Phoenix, she committed galactic genocide. J-Son, the King of Spartax, interrupted the tribunal, revealing that the Shi’ar once sent their people to Earth to wipe out her entire lineage, and made the argument that since her family was no more, that was enough punishment for the girl. During a recess of the tribunal, Jean escaped and attempted to leave the Shi’ar homeworld, only to return to find her fellow time-displaced X-Men, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Starjammers battling the Imperial Guard. Interrupting the battle, Jean gave herself up.
Addressing the group, she noted how none of them stopped her as the Phoenix, yet she was the one on trial, and that she was prepared to forgive the Guard for capturing her, until hearing about what they did to her family. She then fought the Guard with a force unlike anything ever seen before. Oracle, as the Guard’s resident Minder (i.e., telepath) met Jean in her mindscape and they both realized that Jean’s telepathy and telekinesis were working together, and effectively Jean had used everyone’s psychic energy against them. Seeing that she had become something new, Oracle returned to the battle and declared it over. The young Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops, warned Gladiator and the Guard that should they ever come after Jean again, they would be met with the full force of Earth’s heroes. In their defeat, the Guard departed but not before Gladiator left them a stern warning that history would repeat itself.
Most of the Imperial Guard’s activities over the centuries remain unrevealed, but they grow loyal to the Neramani family as they rise to rule the Empire, such as D’Ken, Deathbird, and later, their sister, Lilandra.
The Guard allies with Lord Samédàr in an attack on Earth to retrieve Deathbird, but in the process the Guard goes up against the X-Men. The merry mutants convince some of the Guard to join them and side with Deathbird’s own sister, Lilandra instead.
War Stories
Years ago, Deathbird led Fang, Oracle, Smasher and Starbolt in a battle against the Skrulls, who shape-change at will, during which they met famous Kree soldier Mar-Vell, AKA Captain Marvel.
Guard members were soon assigned to help Lord Samédàr attack the Earth in order to retrieve Deathbird, capturing some of the X-Men to force the others to secure their target. The X-Men convinced some of the Guard to stand with them against those loyal to Samédàr, who was no longer following Lilandra’s orders, but the battle soon ended, and Lilandra was exiled with the X-Men, leaving Deathbird to claim the Shi’ar throne; Guard member Fang was killed by the Brood shortly after, and replaced by another member of his race. Across space, a Borderer unit of the Guard fought the maddened Spaceknight Pulsar, who killed Binder, Chakar, Kwill and Voltor. The Guard investigated and came to blows with a group of Spaceknights before they united against their common foe, Liberator (Dr. Tyreseus wearing Pulsar’s armor and seeking vengeance for the Shi’ar enslaving his race). Deathbird later led the Imperial Guard in an assault on the Starjammers as she sought a power source, and Guard member Zenith was killed during the battle. The Guard followed the Starjammers to Earth, where they fought the mutant team Excalibur, but they were soon ordered to retreat when Deathbird was put at risk.
In time, a group of super-powered Warskrulls posing as the Starjammers fought against the Guard, who narrowly escaped when the X-Men joined the fight. Skrull infiltration of Shi’ar culture was exposed soon after and Lilandra took the Shi’ar throne again at the battle’s conclusion. Gladiator led the Guard against the giant Garthan Saal, AKA Supernova, when he attacked the Shi’ar Empire. When a potential war with the Kree looked likely, the Shi’ar sent the Guard to complete various missions on Earth.
After fighting against and alongside the Avengers, and against Kree Sentry #372, Att-Lass, AKA Captain Atlas, and Minn-Erva, AKA Doctor Minerva, the Guard successfully retrieved the deceased Mar-Vell’s Nega-Bands and a component of the Kree Psyche-Magnetron. Back in Shi’ar space, an Avengers delegation petitioned Lilandra for peace and they aided the Guard against the attacking Kree Starforce. After briefly battling the Avengers, the Guard stood by when another Skrull infiltration was exposed, but it was too late to recall the Nega-Bomb, a deadly genocidal weapon Lilandra had authorized to use against the Kree Empire. The devastated Kree Empire was claimed by the Shi’ar.
The Guard occasionally aided Deathbird, who was made the viceroy of the conquered Kree territories, and Gladiator and Starbolt helped retrieve Kree insurgents who had escaped to Earth, where Guard members were sent to retrieve stranded ally Neutron. The Guard later briefly fought a contingent of Earth heroes to retrieve a Shi’ar ship, but they parted ways rather than choosing to battle the enigmatic Stranger.
After the Guard aided the Shi’ar against the alien Uncreated, the Shi’ar galaxy was attacked by the techno-organic Phalanx. Lilandra sent eight of the Guard, led by Gladiator, to pose as humans on Earth and to recruit the help of the X-Men, who later helped defeat the Uncreated. The Guard members on Earth, with new Kree teammate Commando, teamed with the Avengers against Kree insurgents the People’s Underground Militia and later defeated the Militia on their own, stopping a Nega-Bomb from decimating the planet. They returned to the Shi’ar galaxy after fighting Elamron the Changeling alongside Bruce Banner, AKA Hulk. When the Shi’ar Empire decided to ally with the massive Spartoi Empire, the Guard stood by during the necessary religious ceremonies on the planet Kritnah. The alliance was undermined when the Earth’s Inhumans tried to assassinate Lilandra, actually killing the shape-shifting Hobgoblin. Suspecting the Spartoi were behind the attack, the Shi’ar dissolved the alliance after the Guard fought the Inhumans; it was never learned that Kree agent Ronan the Accuser was actually behind the attack.
Lilandra led several of the Guard to Earth to pick up her consort Charles Xavier, AKA Professor X, of the X-Men, not realizing he had been possessed by his malevolent twin, Cassandra Nova, who possessed vast psychic abilities. Nova drove those on the ship insane and led many, including Guardsman Mammoth, to be killed. Controlling many of the Guard, Nova sent them to Earth to kill the X-Men; these Guardsmen shook off Nova’s influence after a fierce battle with the mutants, but Nova easily defeated the Guard before the X-Men stopped her, and the Shi’ar came to distrust Professor X, annulling Lilandra’s marriage to him. Members of the Guard briefly stood alongside Earth’s heroes against Thanos, then later against a deadly killer from another universe. When the Shi’ar settlement of Eru-7 went missing, the Guard learned that the Maker (formerly the Beyonder) was behind it and investigated. Gladiator led a team, including brief recruit Peter Quill, to find the Maker, and ended up fighting Thanos and Fallen One, a former herald of the world-devourer Galactus.
Months after fighting more Skrull insurgents and traveling to Earth to combat the ancient deadly Skornn, whom X-Force had already defeated, the Guard was dispatched to defeat Gabriel Summers, AKA Vulcan, an Earth mutant who was attacking Shi’ar space, though Vulcan seemingly killed several of the Guard before he was apprehended. Vulcan ended up betrothed to Deathbird and aiding in the restoration of D’Ken’s sanity, leaving Lilandra dethroned and D’Ken in command of the Empire once again. D’Ken soon presided at the wedding of Vulcan and Deathbird, where the X-Men, the Starjammers and the forces loyal to the rebel General Ka’ardum attacked D’Ken’s forces, including the Guard. The massive battle ended when Vulcan murdered D’Ken and proclaimed himself the new Emperor. Vulcan then commanded the Guard in battles against Lilandra, Ka’ardum and their forces, but the Empire soon found itself under assault by the Scy’ar Tal, ancient Shi’ar enemies. Vulcan and the Guard manipulated the Starjammers into joining forces with them against the Scy’ar Tal, then captured and imprisoned the Starjammers in turn.
At the trial, the Guard showed her irrefutable evidence that, as the destructive Phoenix, she committed galactic genocide. J-Son, the King of Spartax, interrupted the tribunal, revealing that the Shi’ar once sent their people to Earth to wipe out her entire lineage, and made the argument that since her family was no more, that was enough punishment for the girl. During a recess of the tribunal, Jean escaped and attempted to leave the Shi’ar homeworld, only to return to find her fellow time-displaced X-Men, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Starjammers battling the Imperial Guard. Interrupting the battle, Jean gave herself up.
Addressing the group, she noted how none of them stopped her as the Phoenix, yet she was the one on trial, and that she was prepared to forgive the Guard for capturing her, until hearing about what they did to her family. She then fought the Guard with a force unlike anything ever seen before. Oracle, as the Guard’s resident Minder (i.e., telepath) met Jean in her mindscape and they both realized that Jean’s telepathy and telekinesis were working together, and effectively Jean had used everyone’s psychic energy against them. Seeing that she had become something new, Oracle returned to the battle and declared it over. The young Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops, warned Gladiator and the Guard that should they ever come after Jean again, they would be met with the full force of Earth’s heroes. In their defeat, the Guard departed but not before Gladiator left them a stern warning that history would repeat itself.
Base of Operations
- Intergalactic
Current Members
- Arc
- Astra
- Blackthorn
- Blimp
- Commando (M-Nell)
- Delphos
- Electron
- Fader
- Flashfire
- Gladiator (Kallark)
- Glom
- G-Type
- Hardball (Imperial Guard)
- Hussar
- Manta
- Monstra
- Oracle
- Scintilla
- Squorm
- Stuff
- Warstar
- Webwing
- White Noise
Former Members
- Black Light
- Cannonball (Sam Guthrie)
- Cosmo (Imperial Guard)
- Earthquake
- Hobgoblin (Shifter)
- Magique
- Mammoth
- Mentor (alien)
- Moondancer
- Nightside
- Neutron
- Plutonia
- Pn'zo
- Smasher (Vril Rokk)
- Starbolt
- Star-Lord (Peter Quill)
- Solar Wind
- Hodinn
- Titan (alien)
- Triton
- Voyager (Imperial Guardsman)
- Xenith
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