Imperial Guard
PURPOSE: Enforcers of the Shi'ar Imperial Law and Personal Guard to the Shi'ar Emperor
AFFILIATIONS: X-Men, Star Jammers
ENEMIES: Skrull, The Brood, etc
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Shi'ar Empire, Intergalactic
FIRST APPEARENCE: X-Men 107 (1977)
HISTORY: The Imperial Guard is a legion of super-powered champions from
throughout the intergalactic Shi'ar Empire who act as enforcers of Imperial law.
An elite corps of the Guard, dubbed Superguardians, protects the ruling emperor
(majestor) or empress (majestrix) and carries out their personal directives.
The other divisions, the Borderers, aid the governors of conquered worlds in
enforcing Shi'ar law.
Each division of the Guard has a leader known as a praetor. While some Guardsmen
are capable of flight under their own power, all members wear anti-gravity devices
that permit them to fly. On occasions when a member of the Guard falls in battle,
another member of that Guardsman's race is often chosen to replace them in the
Guard's ranks, as has occurred with the Guardsmen named Fang.
When the X-Men sought to rescue the Princess-Majestrix Lilandra from her insane
brother, then-Majestor D'Ken, they fought members of the Guard. The X-Men and
the Guard subsequently clashed again after Lilandra had assumed the Shi'ar throne
and sought to end the universal threat posed by the Phoenix Force, which had
assumed the form of X-Man Jean Grey. The Guard defeated the X-Men, but allowed
them to return to Earth after Phoenix seemingly committed suicide.
Later, the exiled Shi'ar Deathbird manipulated the Guard into believing the X-Men
had kidnapped her sister, Lilandra. Despite the truth being revealed, Deathbird
was able to usurp the throne and forced the Guard to aid her in a search for the
powerful "Phalkon," which was revealed to be the Phoenix Force, then wielded by
Rachel Summers. In the ensuing clash with the Starjammers and Phoenix's teammates
in Excalibur, Deathbird and the Guard were defeated.
Later, Deathbird and the Guard were captured by members of the shape shifting
alien Skrulls. Deathbird was able to escape and enlisted the X-Men's aid in
defeating the Skrulls, after which she abdicated the throne to Lilandra.
However, the Skrulls were able to incite a war between the Shi'ar and the Kree
that spilled over into Earth space, resulting in the Guard clashing with the
Avengers. The war ended after the Kree population was decimated, leaving Lilandra
with no other choice but to conquer the remaining Kree.
During the time when many Earth heroes were believed dead after a battle with the
psionic being Onslaught, Lilandra dispatched a cadre of Guardsmen to help protect
Earth. 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.
After Lilandra came under the mental possession of Cassandra Nova, the genetic
twin of Xavier who had usurped her brother's body, she was mentally coerced into
dispatching the Guard to kill the X-Men. After a pitched battle, the X-Men were
able to convince the Guard of the true threat, and together they defeated Nova
and freed Lilandra. Most recently, the entire 300 member Guard came together to
combat the threat of the Skornn, however the creature was dispatched by X-Force
just as the Guard arrived in Earth's orbit.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES:
Battled X-Men over fate of Phoenix (X-Men #135-137, 1980)
Participated in Kree/Shi'ar War (Captain America #398/Avengers West Coast #80-82/Quasar #32-33/Avengers #345, 347/Thor #445-446, 1992)
On Earth, battled Kree Underground Militia (Imperial Guard #1-3, 1997)
Sought to prevent assassination of Lilandra by Inhumans (Inhumans #3-4; 2000)
With X-Men, battled Cassandra Nova (New X-Men #122-126, 2002)
CURRENT MEMBERS: Arc, Astra, Blackthorn, Commando (M'Nell), Cosmo, Delphos, Earthquake, Electron, Fader, Fang, Flashfire (Grannz), Gladiator, Glom, Hardball, Impulse, Magique, Manta, Mentor, Monstra, N'rill'iree, Neosaurus, Nightside, Oracle, Plutonia, Schism, Scintilla, Smasher (Vril Rokk), Starbolt, Titan, others
FORMER MEMBERS: Black Light, Blimp, Fang, G-Type, Hobgoblin/Shapeshifter, Hussar, Karnak, Mammoth, Moondancer (Myla), Neutron, Onslaught, Solar Wind, Squorm, Stuff, Triton, Voyager (Divad), Warstar, Webwing, White Noise, Zenith
Although the ranks of past and present Imperial Guardsmen are vast in number, only a
relatively small number have encountered beings from Earth so far.
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