Imperial Guard (Marvel Comics)
- For the Mentor who is head of the Titanian Eternals, see A'lars. For the Tempest who is a member of the Exemplars, see Exemplars (comics). For the DC Comics supervillain, see Neutron (DC Comics).
The Imperial Guard is a team of fictional super-powered alien warriors in the Marvel Comics universe.
| Imperial Guard | |
|---|---|
| File:Imperialguardwiki.jpg Imperial Guard by Dave Cockrum | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | X-Men (vol. 1) #107 (1977) |
| Created by | Chris Claremond Dave Cockrum |
| In-story information | |
| Base(s) | Shi'ar Empire |
| Member(s) | Gladiator Mentor Oracle Starbolt Smasher Warstar (B'nee and C'il) Earthquake Manta Hussar
Fang Neutron / Quasar Electron Titan Astra Nightside Hobgoblin |
| Roster | |
| See: List of Imperial Guard members | |
History
The Imperial Guard, an army of powerful beings that enforce Shi'ar Imperial law on all planets within the Shi'ar Galaxy, serves the rulers of the Shi'ar Empire (currently Vulcan and Deathbird). The original incarnation of the Imperial Guard were created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Dave Cockrum. The team first appeared in X-Men volume 1 #107 and its most notable appearance was at the conclusion of the Dark Phoenix Saga, where they defeated the X-Men in the Phoenix's trial by combat, but the team lost to Phoenix from one attack.
Gladiator is the Praetor (leader) of this elite corps of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard. The elite corps also protects and carries out the personal directives of the majestor or majestrix (emperor or empress) of the Shi’ar Empire.
The first known encounter of the Imperial Guard when the Imperial Guard battles the X-Men at the command of then-Shi'ar Emperor D'Ken.[1] Gladiator and several members of the Guard fight the X-Men once more when new Shi'ar Empress Lilandra Neramani and Professor Charles Xavier arrange a trial by combat to decide the fate of the out of control Dark Phoenix.[2]
Lilandra's sister, Deathbird, later staged a successful coup and becomes the new majestrix of the Shi'ar Empire. Despite the guards loyalty to Lilandra , they continued to serve the Shi'ar Empire as the Imperial Guard.
Much later Lilandra reclaimed the right to the Shi'ar throne and the Imperial Guard protected her throneworld as usual.
Imperial Guard Limited Series
During the time when many Earth heroes were believed dead after a battle with the psionic being Onslaught, Lilandra dispatched a cadre of 8 Guardsmen to help protect Earth. These were: Gladiator, Commando, -a new guardsman who used to be a Kree soldier-, Earthquake, Electron, Flashfire, Mentor, Nightside and Oracle. There, the Guardsmen uncovered a plot by a militant Kree faction to exact revenge for Earth's involvement in the Kree/Shi'ar war. The Guard ultimately proved triumphant, but not before the Kree's leader, the Supreme Intelligence, was recreated. Soon after, the Guard foiled an assassination attempt on Lilandra by the Kree Ronan and his unwilling agents, the Inhumans' Royal Family.
Maximum Security
In the multi-series crossover event called Maximum Security, four members of the Imperial Guard go rogue; Hussar, Warstar, Neutron and Webwing. They are placed on Earth, which the Shi'ar, along with other alien races, had appointed as an interstellar prison. The four ex-Guard help the entity 'Starhammer' attack the X-Men, paticularly Jean Grey. After the crossover, Warstar and Nuetron return to active duty with the Guard. The fate of Webwing and Hussar is not made clear.
In this crossover Gladiator serves as Lilandra's advisor.
Cassandra Nova
During Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's run on New X-Men, Lilandra comes under the mental possession of Cassandra Nova, the genetic twin of Xavier who had usurped her brother's body. She is mentally coerced into dispatching the Guard to kill the X-Men, while Nova stays behind and ravages the Shi'ar empire. After a pitched battle on the grounds of the X-Mansion, the X-Men are able to convince the Guard of the true threat. This is bolstered by Smasher, who is sent to earth as a warning when Lilandra temporarily has a clear mind. The Guard rally to defeat Nova but fall early on under her telepathic assault. The X-Men, with the unwilling recruitment of the shape-changing Shi'ar spy 'Stuff', defeat Nova. Lilandra suffers long-term mental damage from this encounter, even trying to assisinate Xaiver at a later date.
During this storyline, the Guard is called the Shi'ar Superguardian Elite. It is unknown what, if any, distinction exists between the Guard and the Elite, although many old Guardsmen were also members of the Elite.
The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire
As of the Guard's most recent appearance in Uncanny X-Men #480, the Imperial Guard suffers heavy casualties in battle with Vulcan. Those believed to have died are Smasher, Impulse, Neutron, Hobgoblin, and Cosmo. Titan, Nightside and Oracle are injured, but Nightside has since recovered. Gladiator, Scintilla, Manta, Earthquake, Mentor, Electron, Astra, Starbolt and Flashfire survive. The status of the rest of the Imperial Guard is unknown as yet.
Emperor Vulcan
Oracle and Titan have since recovered from Vulcan's attack as they both appeared in issue #2 of this mini-series.
Resemblances to DC Comics' Legion of Super-Heroes.
The Imperial Guard has many intentional resemblances to DC Comics' Legion of Super-Heroes. The Guard is headed by Gladiator, who is the team's analogue to the LSH's Mon-El and by association is also analogous to Superboy and Superman. Most of the other members are direct equivalents in super-powers and have similar details of costume design to specific Legionnaires, but there are a number who differ greatly from their counterparts or who have no counterpart at all. The original Imperial Guard members seen in X-Men #107 were designed by artist Dave Cockrum, who had previously been best known for his work on the Legion of Super-Heroes, and all had direct counterparts among the Legionnaires. (Nightcrawler was intended to be in a Legion spinoff team book, but Cockrum left the book before he could be introduced, so he brought the character over to Marvel. [1]) Later Guardsmen, beginning with the members introduced in X-Men #137, moved away from the Legion pastiche and began introducing characters with no Legionnaire counterparts. New Guardsmen corresponding to the LSH would not be introduced until the 1990s' Avengers crossover "Operation: Galactic Storm".
Collective list of titles
- Avengers vol. 1 #345
- Avengers West Coast #80-82
- Captain America vol. 1 #398
- Classic X-Men #14
- Excalibur vol. 1 #69-70
- Exiles #3-4, 87-88
- Imperial Guard #1-3
- Inhumans vol. 3 #3-4
- New X-Men vol. 1 #117, 122-126, 133
- Quasar #32-33, 54-56
- Rom Annual #4
- Starblast #1-4
- Starjammers #4
- Thor vol. 1 #445-446
- Uncanny X-Men #107-109, 136-137, 155, 157-158, 162, 275-277, 341, 467-468, 477, 480, 482-483
- What If? #55-56
- X-Men Spotlight on ... Starjammers #2
- X-Men: Emperor Vulcan # 1 - 5
Other Media
The Imperial Guard appears in the 1990's X-Men TV series. Present in the series are Starbolt, Flashfire, Oracle, Smasher, Titan, Hobgoblin, Warstar, Quake, Hussar, and Manta.
Gladiator, Neutron, Hussar, Starbolt, and Warstar of the Imperial Guard appear in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance as enemies. Apparently some of the guards turned traitor and helped Deathbird take the throne from her sister Lilandra. At the same time the player's team comes to obtain a shard of the M'Kraan Crystal, and defeat the traitorous guards, Shi'ar soldiers, and Deathbird.