Shi'ar Death Commandos
The Shi'ar Death Commandos are a team that features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
History
The Shi'ar Death Commandos were an elite team of warriors that were tied to the Shi'ar empire. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #467) They were formed as an elite, black-book mercenary group composed of races removed from the typical Shi'ar political arena that were often given missions with low probabilities of success. The leader of the team named Blackcloak was believed to have been trained in the Superguardian program, whilst Flaw was set as the second in command. (New Mutants v4 #5) It was said that a secret cabal within the Shi'ar Empire organized the Shi'ar Death Commandos, a unit composed of warriors from various extraterrestrial races. (X-Men: Emperor Vulcan v1 #1)
During an assessment of threats, D'Keth of the Weather Council advised that the Grey genome should be neutralised as one of its members had once been host of the Phoenix Force. (X-Men v4 #19) This saw the secret cabal giving the order to the Death Commandos to eliminate the entire bloodline of Phoenix hosts. (X-Men: Emperor Vulcan v1 #1) Seemingly under the orders of the Majestrix Shi'ar, the Death Commandos were dispatched to eliminate the Grey genome on Earth due to its ties to the Phoenix with its former bearer Jean Grey. Arriving on Earth in secret, they ambushed the Grey family during a gathering where they were all massacred leaving only Rachel Grey as the only survivor. This was despite the X-Men arriving at the scene where they battled the Death Commandos at the scene that were being led by BlackCloak. He personally fought Rachel Grey and branded her with a symbol that would allow them to track her anywhere in the universe. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #467) The X-Men stopped the Commandos from killing Marvel Girl, and the Commandos gathered around to attack. Bishop, Cannonball, Colossus, and Rogue of the X-Men broke through Sega's shield and joined their allies in attacking the Commandos. More X-Men approached including Cyclops, Gambit, and Emma Frost with Sentinels, as Blackcloak killed Elaine Grey in a blast meant for Marvel Girl before the Commandos surrendered. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #468) After being incarcerated in Manhattan for a time, the Commandos tracked Marvel Girl to Chicago, though they fought Bishop and Detective Charlotte Jones on their way out. A few of the members were downed in the fight, and Jones was lost through Blackcloak's cloak. The Commandos utilized their orbiting Shi'ar ship to teleport to Chicago, where they attacked Marvel Girl in the office of Dr. Maureen Lyszinski. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #470) Marvel Girl fled with Lyszinski across Chicago with the Commandos in pursuit. The X-Men (Bishop, Cannonball, Nightcrawler, Psylocke) and a Sentinel arrived to aid her, and the Commandos were defeated quickly. The Shi'ar ship dropped a bomb to kill all below, including the Commandos, but the X-Men managed to block it leading to the crew of the starship being apprehended. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #471)
The Death Commandos were then assigned to guard Chancellor Araki during a meeting between Emperor Vulcan and Lilandra. However, upon sighting them, Rachel Summers attacked as she wanted to get revenge on the murderers responsible for the deaths of the Grey family. Araki entered with the Shi'ar Death Commandos for a meeting with current Shi'ar emperor Vulcan alongside his bride Deathbird, as well as memebrs of the Imperial Guard including Gladiator, Manta, Nightside, Oracle, Starbolt, Titan, and Warstar. Inside, they found Ka'ardum, Lilandra, and the Starjammers consisting of Ch'od, Havok, Korvus, Marvel Girl, Polaris, and Raza. Marvel Girl grew furious at seeing the Commandos and lashed out in a powerful attack, sending the Commandos scattering, and threatened Araki's life, even accusing him of running the secret order of the Shi'ar and ordering the death of her family, until Polaris stopped her whereupon the Commandos departed peaceably. (X-Men: Emperor Vulcan v1 #3) When Vulcan focused on expanding the Shi'ar empire via conquest, he put the Imperial Guard on the front lines along with the Shi'ar Death Commandos, though many were reported killed in battle with Marvel Girl. (X-Men: Kingbreaker v1 #1) Gladiator and the Starjammers met with Councilor D'bek, with whom they interrupted a speech of Araki's in order to proclaim Lilandra ruler of the Shi'ar once again. They fought back Araki's secret order and Lilandra announced her return to rule with mighty cheers from the crowd. As Chandilar broke out in war around them, Lilandra, flanked by the Starjammers, headed toward the temple to claim her right to rule. The Shi'ar Death Commandos then attacked, Sega permeating the crowd with his clouds. Blackcloak killed D'bek with a thrown spear. Marvel Girl furiously hit D'Evo with a telekinetic blast as Polaris used magnetism to crush Krait's wings. Lilandra stabbed Offset with a spear as Korvus and Marvel Girl tried to get her to cover. As the Commandos began reigning death on the crowd, Gladiator quickly took down Hypernova and Warshot before Flaw attacked him. As Blackcloak held off Gladiator with his spear's energy blast, Araki ordered the others to kill Lilandra. One of the Fraternity of Raptors hid himself in the crowd and fired multiple shots, one of them killing Lilandra during the chaos. Commandos in this mission: Blackcloak, D'Evo, Flaw, Hypernova, Krait, Offset, Sega, Shell, and Warshot. (War of Kings v1 #4) As Chandilar erupted into civil war, Gladiator targeted Araki and his secret order. Blackcloak rushed to protect Araki, successfully plunging his spear through Gladiator's chest, but Marvel Girl killed Blackcloak with a telepathic burst, then Gladiator killed Araki. (War of Kings v1 #5)
The Shi'ar Imperium later detected the return of the Phoenix that was on a course of Earth. This resulted in Gladiator activating the Phoenix Protocols and dispatching the Death Commandos to eliminate the potential host. (Wolverine and the X-Men v1 #9)
The Death Commandos were gathered in secret where they were tasked with the elimination of Deathbird who was being escorted by the New Mutants back to Chandilar. In secret, Oracle provided the group with Stargate coordinates where she told them that no one was to survive the attack. (New Mutants v4 #5)
Overview
In appearance, the Death Commandos were a military team that were dispatched to eliminate high priority targets. They existed outside the traditional Superguardian/guardian military structure of the Imperium. Instead, they operated as an elite black book group of mercenaries whose ranks consisted of races that existed outside the normal political arenas of the Shi'ar Empire. The Death Commandos were tasked with missions that had a low percentage of success or were deemed too politically problematic for the Imperial Guard. (New Mutants v4 #5)
Unlike the Imperial Guard, they had no institutional replacement program that was used to replace members that were killed in service. Thus, if any team member was killed then the Death Commandos had to recruit a new person into their ranks rather than have someone take over the identity of a fallen operative. The only except was its leader with their always being a Black Cloak who headed the unit. It was rumoured that Black Cloaks always came from the Superguardian/guardian stock within the empire. (New Mutants v4 #5)
Under the Phoenix Protocols, the Death Commandos were to be activated if the threat of the cosmic entity had manifested once again. (Wolverine and the X-Men v1 #9)
Members
- BlackCloak : the commander of the Death Commandos and its chief strategist. They were believed to had been trained in the Shi'ar war colleges as this was highlighted in their trademark advanced tactics and ruthless efficiency. Black Cloaks were armed with a D'Kere spear that was both blade and energy weapon with them also equipped with a containment cloak which put a foe into temporary stasis. (New Mutants v4 #5)
- Flaw : a field leader who was a biologically converted Warskrull with minimal shapeshifting due to natural incompatibility between his Shi'ar brain and Skrull body. He was a proven warrior and ruthless killer who practiced third stage Shi'ar meditation techniques with Flaw not eating solid foods for ethical reasons. (New Mutants v4 #5)
- Devo : a biological predator that created his own capture mechanisms through impenetrable forcefields which he used in conjunction with a acidic digestive gas that reduced prey into easily consumable high-protein goo. (New Mutants v4 #5)
- Hypernova : a failed guardian of the Hussar class who could fire energy blasts able to disintegrate targets. It was believed her inability to control the lethality of her attacks which resulted in her failing her guardianship. Hypernova believed that she was too good to be among the Death Commandos and had nothing but contempt for her compatriots. (New Mutants v4 #5)
- Krait : a biological experiment made by members of the Sharra sect who transformed a standard-type Shi'ar commoner who went through years of experiments and surgery to give them the properties of a bird of prey that included wings along with sharp claws. Krait could fly at speeds approaching escape velocity with superior strength and endurance. The Sharran scientists revealed the procedure was irreversible leading to Krait killing them and converted to the cult of K'ythri. (New Mutants v4 #5)
- Offset : a member of subterranean species of mantis-like insectoids that possessed six limbs. She could dislocate her jaw that possessed retractable teeth where she could secrete a neurotoxin able to neutralise superhuman abilities of those exposed to it. Offset was able to also gain the memories of her victims by severing and injecting their brains. Her species was entirely female and they reproduced by laying their eggs in the decapitated bodies of their victims. (New Mutants v4 #5)
- SeGa : a being who was a gaseous cloud-like life form who served as the scout for the Death Commandos. Sega was noted for being a coward who could not be depended on in a fight. (New Mutants v4 #5)
- Shell : an Orthoxalith who were a species composed entirely of rocks and bred to be subservient labour class workers that typically worked in high-radiation, high-gravity worlds. Shell was medically modified for limited cognitive thought and possessed superstrength, endurance along with the ability to produce containment exo-shells. (New Mutants v4 #5)
- Warshot : an exiled Kree weaponmaster who specialised in advanced energy weapons. Similar to others of his profession, he was a skilled sharpshooter and long-range marksman capable of advanced combat in most scenarios. Warshot was exiled from New Hala around 60 cycles ago for the crimes of rebellion, sedition and illegal arms trade. (New Mutants v4 #5)
- Colony :
Notes
- The Shi'ar Death Commandos were created by Chris Claremont and Chris Bachalo where they made their first appearance Uncanny X-Men v1 #467 (February, 2006).
- The All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe v1 #10 (2006) states that they were duly constituted agents consisting of elite alien mercenaries of the Shi'ar Imperium who deployed them on missions that were too politically sensitive or controversial for the more public Imperial Guard.
In other media
Video games
- In X-Men: Battle of the Atom, the Shi'ar Death Commandos were referenced with various of their members appearing as playable cards in the iOS video card game.
Appearances
- Uncanny X-Men v1: (2006)
- X-Men: Emperor Vulcan v1:
- War of Kings v1:
- Wolverine and the X-Men v1:
- New Mutants v4:
External link
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