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83-550: The Phalanx were co-created by writer Scott Lobdell and artist Joe Madureira but owe much in concept and appearance to the original Technarchy by writer Chris Claremont and artist Bill Sienkiewicz . Appearing in prototype variations in earlier issues, the Phalanx are featured in Uncanny X-Men #312 (May 1994). The Phalanx are a mechanical species of unknown origin. However, they are believed to have been created by

166-562: A Prism Comics panel at Long Beach Comic Con. MariNaomi had submitted an article to XoJane describing how they had felt harassed by an unnamed fellow panelist, who had questioned their sexuality on stage, made offensive comments about their appearance and Asian features, and made sexually inappropriate jokes about them during the panel. Lobdell later identified himself as the panelist in question, and issued an apology to MariNaomi through Heidi MacDonald of ComicsBeat.com. Shi%27ar The Shi'ar ( / ʃ iː ˈ ɑːr / SHEE -ar ) are

249-1009: A fictional species of aliens appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . The Shi'ar Empire (or Imperium ) is a vast collection of alien species, cultures, and worlds situated close to the Skrull and Kree Empires. The Shi'ar are one of the three main extraterrestrial empires depicted in the Marvel Universe , alongside the Kree and Skrulls . The Shi'ar first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #97 (Feb. 1976) and were created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Dave Cockrum . The Shi'ar are cold-blooded humanoids of avian descent; they resemble humans with feathered crests atop their heads in lieu of hair. Two different styles are common: most Shi'ar, particularly those of

332-635: A Phalanx and experimented on it to replicate its abilities. Eventually, it is disconnected from the Phalanx hive mind and loses most of its body, but manages to regrow by assimilating humans before the X-Men defeat it. Clones of the Phalanx (and others) remain captive in Mister Sinister's prize collection. However, despite Sinister's best efforts, they were wiped from existence by the Phoenix Force. Another group of Phalanx later almost decimated

415-563: A certain frequency to separate the organic from the technological part, causing all Phalanx within its range to dissolve but not before thousands or more Shi'ar were massacred. The rest of this group later conquered another planet, but were destroyed by the Magus after the construction of a Babel Spire. A new breed of Phalanx is the primary villain with the Super-Adaptoid as an enforcer. They tried to begin where Annihilus left off. When

498-514: A good portion of the Shi'ar Empire. Inhabiting the body of her brother, Nova asserts control of Empress Lilandra and causes a Shi'ar civil war. Jean Grey is instrumental in ending this threat. Despite the aid she gave them by eliminating the threat of Cassandra Nova, the Shi'ar still held a grudge against Jean Grey for the destruction she caused as Dark Phoenix. In the Phoenix Endsong series,

581-712: A group of Shi'ar tried to eliminate both the Phoenix Force and Jean Grey. Jean, however, escaped their suicide bomb attack and returned to the White Hot Room to restore herself. In the "End of Greys" story arc, the Shi'ar wanted to wipe out the Grey genome and Quentin Quire with the purpose of eliminating the possibility of a new Omega-level mutant becoming a host for the Phoenix Force. The Shi'ar Death Commandos murdered Jean Grey's father , niece , nephew , and other relatives in an alien invasion on Earth, thus inciting

664-650: A group of human mutant haters who voluntarily infected themselves with the Transmode virus , taken from the remains of the renegade Technarch Warlock . Steven Lang , who had used the Sentinels against the X-Men many years before, was recruited from a mental hospital to become an "interface". Uninfected by the Transmode virus, Lang was meant to be a buffer, keeping the Phalanx "on track" for its intended purpose. Lang

747-834: A human. Unlike Humans the Shi'ar do not dream, except for those born "defective" or "infected by dreams". Such Shi'ar include Warbird and the Shi'ar having survived the Fianden's weapons. There have also been Shi'ar who had developed superpowers such as Electron, Rook'shir, Deathcry, Dakari, White Noise and Black Light. This can be explained as most of them are members of the Imperial Family and because of Rook'shir, who had transmitted his Phoenix Force manipulation power to his descendants. Some Shi'ar have also telepathic abilities. The Shi'ar possess technologies common to most Marvel alien races, including: The Shi'ar also possess more unique technologies, including: According to

830-634: A member of the Galactic Council representing the Shi'ar Empire. When the Shi'ar found out that the reason for the decay of the universe was on Earth, they decided to destroy the planet. However, the Guardians of the Galaxy managed to warn the Avengers about the attack. When approaching Earth, the Shi'ar alerted humanity about their destruction of Earth. However Sunspot and A.I.M. used

913-586: A run-in he had had with writer Ron Marz on Twitter . Lobdell had accused Marz of having a "brain tumor" in response to comments in which Marz characterized as "racist" complaints by some fans that Afro-Latino character Miles Morales would replace Peter Parker in Ultimate Spider-Man , and that African-American actor Laurence Fishburne had been cast as Perry White in the film Man of Steel . In 2013, Lobdell admitted to sexually harassing comic book artist/writer MariNaomi on stage during

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996-432: A small portion of the Phoenix Force's power. The sword could only be lifted by Rook'shir's descendants. Korvus is the only known surviving descendant of Rook'shir. D'Ken Neramani, a corrupt Shi'ar ruler, attempted to use the powerful M'Kraan Crystal to take over the universe. His younger sister Lilandra and her new allies, the X-Men, foiled his plans. He was rendered comatose by the crystal and Lilandra then took over as

1079-530: A small subset who already are able to dream recover after a brief delay. The Fianden were wiped out in a mass genocide. After they were used to destroy the Fianden, the Shi'ar executed all of the natural dreamers to purge the taint from their bloodlines. Nevertheless, the trait does still emerge periodically, to continued violent repression. After leaving their world, the Shi'ar started an intergalactic Empire and forced other cultures in order to become stronger and ruled for millions of years. Such cultures included

1162-553: A statement by Emma Frost in Astonishing X-Men #9, most if not all Shi'ar technology is sentient . A Shi'ar "Galaxian" has stated that they have learned nearly every spoken language. The Shi'ar have multiple forms, including the High Shi'ar, used for formal events, and Shi'ar Glorkon dialect. Mostly for tactical terms or insults, the Shi'ar insert words of their language into English sentences. Traditionally,

1245-602: A super weapon to retaliate against the Shi'ar, while S.H.I.E.L.D. 's Avengers used a Planetkiller to attack from behind. However, A.I.M.'s weapon exploded due to overheat, and the Planetkiller was destroyed by the Annihilation Wave . The Avengers were ready to meet their end, but the Illuminati intervened used the controller disk of a rogue planet that shared the same space with Earth, while Iron Man flew to

1328-462: A world infested by a mutated version of the Phalanx. On this world, Cypher fell ill with the Legacy Virus and in an act of desperation Warlock infected him with the transmode virus to try and save his life. Unfortunately the two diseases combined and mutated into something far worse. Within the year, almost all of the world's population were transformed into Phalanx drones, calling themselves

1411-580: Is its driving force. Not all races have the same rights in the Imperium, as the Shi'ar appear to have a disproportionate influence on its governance. It is nominally ruled over by a high council, which has representatives from a large majority of the alien races that exist within the Imperium. However, in practice, the head of the council (the Majestor or Majestrix) exercises strong executive control and can institute policy virtually by decree. The leader of

1494-544: The Shi'ar Empire in the absence of the Imperial Guard . With their bodies now pitch-black, except for a few red and blue glowing sensor slits, this new breed only displayed the basic Phalanx and Technarchy features while shapeshifting or when individuals were damaged. These Phalanx also considered themselves as "pure" Phalanx compared to such sects like the one on Earth and hadn't any reservations about infecting mutants with

1577-515: The Spartoi . The empire came under the threat of the "techno-organic" alien race known as the Phalanx after they infiltrated the Shi'ar Empire as the "Pure", killing tens of thousands before the X-Men fought them on the Shi'ar throneworld and separated the transmode virus from its hosts, killing most of those Phalanx. Professor X 's evil twin sister Cassandra Nova single-handedly destroys

1660-576: The Starjammers , to stop both Vulcan and the plot to return rulership of the empire to D'Ken. In the end, Vulcan kills his father, Corsair , and D'Ken, and assumes the throne of the Shi'ar Empire for himself, with Deathbird as his queen; Lilandra and the Starjammers now lead a resistance against Vulcan's rule. This occurs in a 12 issue arc entitled " The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire ". The civil war between Vulcan's forces and those loyal to

1743-520: The Vi-Locks . The group was led by Forge whose innate understanding of machinery made him a prime candidate for leadership. In the course of the team's mission, Blink was infected and slowly started succumbing to the virus. On a hunch, Morph was able to contact the Asgardians whose divine blood was able to heal the victims after they received a transfusion . In yet another alternate reality,

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1826-587: The aristocracy , have feathers sprouting in a triangular shape away from the face, one peak on the top of the head and one peak on each side slightly over the shoulder; the other commonly seen "hairstyle" is bushy on both sides and very flat on the top. Internally, they have lightweight and hollow bones, and on their forearms there are still some vestigial feathers left of wings that were lost over millions of years of evolution. The average Shi'ar can lift 1 ton in Earth-like gravity and has far greater stamina than

1909-507: The " Heroes Reborn " event. Lobdell wrote the 1992 issue of Alpha Flight in which the superhero Northstar – originally intended to be gay, but closeted by the publisher's existing policy against openly LGBT characters – declared that he is gay, in a storyline intended to also address the HIV/AIDS epidemic . Lobdell returned to Marvel in 2001 to conclude plots he left behind with one last storyline, "Eve of Destruction". Lobdell wrote

1992-660: The 2010s, namely Red Hood and the Outlaws , Teen Titans , and Superman , and comics for other publishers, including the Hardy Boys: Undercover Brothers series by Papercutz or Fathom by Aspen MLT . He also wrote the script to the 2017 slasher film Happy Death Day . Lobdell did not begin to read comics until he was 17 years old, while lying in bed after lung surgery. Later, he went to college to study psychology , but quit two years later when he began to write. While in college, he wrote for

2075-544: The Chameloids, Lupaks, Stygians, Strontians, Hodinn, Saurids and many more. When the Shi'ar invaded the homeworld of the Mephitisoids, they declared to bring civilization to the primitive world. However this was a lie and the Mephitisoids had technology almost equal to the Shi'ar. The Shi'ar conquered the peaceful Mephistoids stealing their technology. However, the true history was lost to legend and propaganda. When

2158-571: The Children of the Vault, these genetically engineered superhumans were known as the Homo novissima. In hopes of preserving their civilization, these post-humans turned the planet Nibiru into a planet-size artificial intelligence, Nimbus, to draw the attention of a stronger civilization that could help them ascend to the next galactic level. Subsequently, the Phalanx found and absorbed Nibiru and followed

2241-644: The Eldest Scy'ar tries to stop them. Once Vulcan figures out how the Eldest is powered, he severs the connection Eldest has with his brothers, making him powerless. Once the connection is severed, the Scy'ar become disorganized, and the tide of the battle shifts to the Sh'ar. The Shi'ar then proceed to attack both the Scy'ar and the Starjammers. Meanwhile, Vulcan blasts Havok into a sun. Vulcan decides to use Finality to destroy

2324-557: The Emperor of the Shi'ar rebel's against their gods after their wanton display. In their final fit of mindless ire, the Shi'ar gods summoned the Phoenix Force to eviscerate the galaxy spiting everyone who defied them. Later after a sorrowing battle following the appeasement of the Phoenix, the former gods of the empire are taken away to the dungeons of Omnipotence City for their crimes and reckless actions. All while Kid Omega , holder of

2407-676: The Fraternity of Raptors and eventually they grew too powerful for the Empire to control. Therefore, they all were sealed in patches of dark matter throughout Shi'ar territory and their history almost completely forgotten. The story revolved around the Starjammers , the Shi'ar, the Inhumans , the Kree, the Guardians of the Galaxy , and the Nova Corps . The Shi'ar end up in conflict with

2490-427: The Imperium has aggressively absorbed new cultures. Warren Ellis ' 1995 Starjammers miniseries described the story of the Shi'ar deities Sharra and K'ythri as a parable which guides the Shi'ar expansionist philosophy to other worlds: Sharra and K'ythri are the gods in marriage. The gods who didn't want to marry, but were forced into it. In marriage they found strength and in strength they found love. That's what

2573-457: The Inhumans and the Kree. After the death of Lilandra and the presumed deaths of Vulcan and Black Bolt , Gladiator assumes the throne and surrenders to the Inhumans and the Kree when the damage to the Shi'ar military is too much. During the " Infinity " storyline, it is revealed that at some point, the Shi'ar managed to take control of their own empire back from the Kree as Gladiator appears as

Phalanx (comics) - Misplaced Pages Continue

2656-538: The Kree began the test of the new defensive network, the Phalanx managed to corrupt the system directly through the Kree homeworld of Hala, surrounding the entire Kree Empire in an inescapable energy barrier. They also spread their Transmode Virus, turning all organic life forms into Phalanx, fully under their control and members of their single-minded matrix. High-powered beings such as Ronan the Accuser were made into their group Select, used to cut off any attempts to stop

2739-426: The M'Kraan. Early in their history, the Shi'ar attacked them, killed a great number of their people, making the rest flee for their lives. Eventually, the Shi'ar settled on their planet, took the M'Kraan Crystal as their own, and passed down the legend of the M'Kraan Crystal as a sacred gift from their deities, Sharra & K'ythri. The M'Kraan then changed their name to Scy'ar Tal and devoted their culture and society to

2822-461: The Majestrix of the Shi'ar Empire. The X-Men, as well as most of Earth's other superheroes, have had cordial if not friendly relations with the Shi'ar Empire ever since. The Shi'ar put Reed Richards on trial for the crimes of genocide. He was guilty of reviving Galactus after he was defeated on Earth. Shortly after his revival, Galactus proceeded to consume the Skrull throneworld, resulting in

2905-468: The Phalanx has overrun Earth, assimilating every lifeform. The mutant Cable serves as its central consciousness. The Phalanx appear in X-Men 2: Clone Wars . Scott Lobdell Scott Lobdell ( / ˈ l ɒ b d ɛ l / ; born 1960) is an American comic book writer and screenwriter known for his work on numerous X-Men series for Marvel Comics in the 1990s, various work for DC Comics in

2988-460: The Phalanx. They were however deemed a failure by the Black Judges due to their advanced adaptivity. In the timeline created by the sixth life of Moira MacTaggert , the war between humans, mutants, and machines ended with the emergence of post-humans, the genetically engineered next step of human evolution that quickly took over Earth and reigned as its dominant species for a millennium. Like

3071-475: The Scy'ar by using the weapon to place a star in the middle of their fleet. Alex returns and, having absorbed enough power to burn him, decides to end things with Vulcan. While they battle, Rachel and Korvus try, but fail to stop the beacon that will initiate the attack by the Shi'ar. The Shi'ar Imperial Guard end Alex's battle with Vulcan by appearing with the Starjammers in captivity, threatening to kill them. Before surrendering, Alex destroys Finality. With Alex and

3154-465: The Shi'ar Imperium does. It marries other cultures. Shotgun weddings. There are aggressive and violent ancient traditions, such as the Rite of Arin'nn Haelar, which is a battle to the death. This rite can be invoked to settle disagreements and their outcomes are accepted by the Imperium. Their philosophy also impacts their court, as they do not recognize insanity. X-Men writer Ed Brubaker compared

3237-506: The Shi'ar are slaughtered in these inane divinity games weights heavily on Thor/Jane's conscience. Until finally after the Genesis Round, where the Shi'ar gods use dust to create Shi'ar Giants who indiscriminately murder more of their worshipers causes the female Thor to fight them. As the female Thor failed to create life, the Shi'ar won the Genesis Round. Having had enough of the murderous spectacles, Thor chose to directly challenge

3320-528: The Shi'ar empire is protected by his or her own personal guard called the Imperial Guard , which is made up of the most powerful and elite soldiers from throughout the Empire with most of them being Shi'ar and others being from other alien races in the Shi'ar's jurisdiction. The Imperial Guard is led by a praetor . The military itself (outside of the Imperial Guard) has been depicted as consisting almost exclusively of Shi'ar personnel, at least in most of

3403-598: The Shi'ar fleet to Asgard whilst threatening Earth with their Super Destroyers. An event which had been secretly instigated by Loki behind closed doors. In the Natural Disasters Round, Sharra and K'ythri use their power to cause a tidal wave in order to ferment greater worship in the survivors. Thor impedes their efforts by saving lives instead of claiming them, the round going to her as the living Shi'ar people are thankful for her mercy; much to her displeasure. Round after round where countless denizens of

Phalanx (comics) - Misplaced Pages Continue

3486-607: The Shi'ar gods; later receiving some unexpected help from the Asgardian Gods themselves. It was this act that tilted the Challenge of the Gods in her favor as none had ever brought so many divine under their banner to fight at their side before, causing the new Thor to be crowned winner of the Challenge. Greatly angered at such a turn of events Sharra and K'ythri order their Majestor to eviscerate her homeworld in retribution; but

3569-468: The Shi'ar known as Rook'shir was bonded to the Phoenix Force, he became Dark Phoenix and wreaked havoc across Shi'ar Empire. In order to stop him, the first Imperial Guard sent Gladiator after him, who killed him. For years all his descendants were culled, out of fear that one of them might host the Phoenix Force like their ancestor. Rook'shir left behind a sword known as the Blade of the Phoenix which contained

3652-413: The Shi'ar to Star Trek ' s Romulans , saying they are "smart, aggressive, and mean". Though the empire has grown to include hundreds of thousands of different sentient species and worlds, the Shi'ar race controls and governs the empire. Its central base of power is located on the "throneworld" Chandilar, while the Shi'ar homeworld is called Aerie (it is unknown if the planet still exists). The leader of

3735-527: The Sol's Hammer, and used it, successfully destroying the Shi'ar fleet, including the Imperial Guards. As part of the " All-New, All-Different Marvel ," it was revealed that some Shi'ar that are living on Earth have established a Shi'ar corporation called Shi'ar Solutions Consolidations. During "The Asgard/Shi'ar War" storyline, the Shi'ar Gods Sharra and K'ythri do a "Challenge of the Gods" by bringing

3818-546: The Starjammers in custody Vulcan declares that he will return the Shi'ar Empire to its former glory. Vulcan and the Shi'ar were featured prominently in the mini-series X-Men: Kingbreaker that revolved around Vulcan and the Starjammers following the conclusion of the mini-series Emperor Vulcan. This mini-series led to the War of Kings event and revealed that eons ago the Shi'ar, used dark sorcery to created and stored in Null Space

3901-501: The Starjammers. However, in the middle of the battle, his ship, the Hammer, is destroyed by the Scy'ar Tal (translates as "Death to the Shi'ar"). Vulcan and Gladiator (still the praetor of his Imperial Guard) attack the leader of the Scy'ar Tal and are easily defeated, whereupon they retreat deeper into Shi'ar space. Marvel Girl makes contact with the Eldest Scy'ar Tal and discovers their true origin. The Scy'ar Tal were originally called

3984-574: The Titans, a group of advanced disembodied consciousnesses. The Phalanx wield various advanced ships and use techno-organic viruses to create drones and infect civilizations. The virus compels its victims to build a " Babel Spire " to attract the Technarchy, who consume the planet. If the Phalanx find the society worthy or of great interest to them, they instead assimilate its members into their hive mind. The Phalanx on Earth were initially formed by

4067-460: The Transmode virus. In a scheme to subvert the X-Men's mutant genome knowledge base , Phalanx attacked the X-Mansion, kidnapped most of the X-Men and replaced them with disguised Phalanx members. Banshee returned to the school after the attack and kidnappings. The imposters' ignorance of Professor X 's inability to walk alerted Banshee to their deception. Sabretooth , recruited from a cell in

4150-508: The Tree of Shadows which is the repository for all of the Darkhawk amulets used to empower the Fraternity of Raptors to whom the Shi'ar intended to use to maintain the Shi'ar Empire as it evolved over the centuries. The Fraternity of Raptors refer to their mission to protect the long term interests of the empire as "The Great Purpose." However, as the Shi'ar Empire aggressively expanded so to did

4233-651: The assistance of the X-Men. In the 1992 crossover " Operation: Galactic Storm ," the Shi'ar annexed the Kree Empire at the end of the Kree-Shi'ar War and Deathbird was placed into a prominent position as viceroy of Hala, the Kree homeworld. However, Deathbird did not last long in this position and has since abandoned her responsibilities and it appears that the Kree Empire has, at least in some part, been re-established. The Shi'ar have had recent contact with

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4316-483: The average human. Most Shi'ar have no other special abilities, though occasionally a genetic throwback appears possessing wings that allow for flight (an example of atavism ). The superhuman Shi'ar can at least lift one ton through exercise. The Wasp stated that the Shi'ar aren't stronger than humans. The Shi'ar conceive their offspring in eggs. They are nurtured in special chambers and the children are referred to as hatchlings . The Shi'ar have more chakras than

4399-537: The boy to him, however, some of the operatives turn out to be Phalanx themselves and begin attacking the group. Nostromo is eventually delivered to Doom, who then activates the subroutine within Nostromo and, bidding Spider-Man to take him to safety, blows up his castle, while Twilight brings reinforcements of aboriginal Martians to destroy the Phalanx in orbit. In the Exiles series, the dimension-hopping team visited

4482-401: The characters involved were rather obscure, DeFalco did not need to extract approval from other editors, and he decided to give Lobdell a chance. In the 1990s, Lobdell worked on Marvel Comics ' X-Men -related titles, specifically Uncanny X-Men and the spin-off series Generation X . He wrote the first 28 issues of Generation X along with runs on Excalibur and X-Factor . Lobdell

4565-473: The coding called subroutine Cynthia which would erase the scout program. When Doom jumped to the future he lost track of the scout program and therefore created the Mutant Messiah myth to track the carrier down again. When, during a mission, the mutant Nostromo becomes sheathed in a strange cocoon, he reveals himself to be the carrier when he "hatches" as a Phalanx. Doom sends some operatives to bring

4648-401: The college newspaper and interviewed Marvel editor Al Milgrom . Lobdell started submitting various stories to Marvel, but was systematically rejected by various editors, including Tom DeFalco . Later, DeFalco started editing Marvel Comics Presents (a bi-weekly book) requiring many writers, pencillers and inkers. Lobdell submitted a story about a character from Contest of Champions . Because

4731-567: The command positions. Though having warlike and militaristic ancestry, the Shi'ar Empire has largely occupied the role of peacekeepers in many interstellar affairs. Just to name a few, Empress Lilandra Neramani tried to broker peace between the Kree Empire and the Skrull Empire to help bring an end to their devastating war: she sought interstellar accord when deciding how to end the threat of Dark Phoenix , and attempted to avenge

4814-461: The complex, joined with Banshee to save Emma Frost and Jubilee . When Banshee discovered the Phalanx had accessed the location of several young mutants for use in further study, he alerted Wolverine and Cable . In turn, they recruited Cyclops and Jean Grey . Professor X , Excalibur , X-Factor and X-Force sought the location of a third, unknown, group of Phalanx. To prevent the Phalanx from accessing any further information, Banshee destroyed

4897-516: The comprehension stays. In the 1980s, Lilandra and D'Ken's unstable exiled elder sibling Deathbird made several attempts to overthrow her sister from power. Deathbird even resorted to attacking Lilandra's Earth-based allies to achieve her goals. She is also responsible for initially directing the alien parasites known as the Brood towards the Earth and its heroes. Deathbird was eventually deposed with

4980-464: The death of billions. Uatu the Watcher , acting as his lawyer and with the help of Odin and Galactus himself, convinced the gathered tribunal that Galactus is a necessary force of betterment of the universe and is not a villain. This was done by summoning Eternity . The truth as shown by Eternity however, is so grand and overpowering that none of the tribunal's members can remember it fully, although

5063-531: The destruction of Tarnax IV, the Skrull throneworld, by Galactus . The Shi'ar consider artistic creativity to be a sign of insanity and deviance, as they lack the ability to dream. Shi'ar who have the ability to dream and create do all they can to suppress their impulses. In the past, execution was a common remedy to such 'infections'. A race called the Fianden had the ability to cause any Shi'ar to dream; this caused mass catatonia and insanity in most Shi'ar, although

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5146-466: The destruction of the Shi'ar Empire. With their first attack, they destroyed Feather's Edge by transporting a star to obliterate it. After which, Vulcan makes contact with the Starjammers to call a temporary ceasefire. Under the ceasefire, the Shi'ar and the Starjammers decide to take out the Finality, thus crippling the Scy'ar's biggest threat. Once Havok and Vulcan are in position to destroy Finality,

5229-435: The dethroned Lilandra rages on. Led by Havok and the Starjammers, Lilandra's forces gradually whittle away at Vulcan's forces, which are plagued by defections. The Shi'ar, contrary to Vulcan's expectations, are not happy to have an outsider as their ruler. Vulcan is discouraged by this, but Deathbird convinces him that they will come to accept him. Warned in advance of a rebel raid on Feather's Edge, Vulcan and his fleet ambush

5312-516: The effect was reversed without apparent incident, though Warlock was constantly worried that a time would come when the reversal would not take. Any organism infected by the Phalanx is automatically inducted into the group mind. Certain individuals with exceptional powers and/or abilities retain their identity. Phalanx possess the Technarchs' abilities to shapeshift and teleport, but cannot grow in size and mass without absorbing external matter. Over time, they can adapt to attacks used against them. In

5395-417: The empire is given the title Majestor (male) or Majestrix (female) and is a hereditary position, occupied by members of the royal family of the Shi'ar. Formerly, the Neramani family represented the royal bloodline. The Shi'ar Empire is one of the most advanced and expansive civilizations in the universe, spanning entire galaxies . It is mainly an economic co-operative, where trade with other galactic powers

5478-412: The empire, D'Ken killed Vulcan's mother Katherine Summers (also mother to longtime X-Men Scott and Alex Summers ) and made him a slave for most of his adolescent life. Bent on revenge against D'Ken, Vulcan attacks the Empire. Not only that, but within the empire, there is a coup to dethrone Lilandra and return D'Ken to power, with the aid of Deathbird. The X-Men once again team up with their space allies,

5561-403: The expansion process. Although one post-human Elder was assimilated and killed through this process, the death of Moira MacTaggert ended this timeline before the Phalanx could consume the post-humans and make their machine intelligence part of a Dominion. Given the powerful nature of the Phalanx, different individuals and governments attempted to experiment with the alien race. In contrast to

5644-423: The fiercely independent Technarchy, the Phalanx exhibit a hive mind reminiscent of insects. Although individual members retain memories and some aspects of their personalities from before assimilation, they are typically unable to act against the collective will without first being disconnected from the group consciousness, as was the case with Douglock. Phalanx, like the Technarchy, can infect other organisms with

5727-425: The first issue was criticized as shallow and sexist by some critics. He also wrote a new Teen Titans comic starring Red Robin, Superboy , Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, and three new characters, including the gay Hispanic superhero Bunker . His run on Teen Titans ended with Volume 4 Issue 30, the series was relaunched soon afterwards. In 2019, Lobdell wrote a new Flash book focusing on Wally West following

5810-485: The implicit invitation to Earth. After reaching Earth, the Phalanx announced they would absorb and assimilate the post-humans’ intelligence and preserve it as part of their collective as well as the larger Dominion they served therefore initiating the "Ascencion". While this would allow post-human culture, history, and collective consciousness to exist outside of the bounds of space-time, the Phalanx would have to destroy every living thing on Earth to harvest enough energy for

5893-402: The knowledge base. While Banshee's group scramble to save the young mutants, the Phalanx secretly follow them and impersonate various people. Eventually, the group save all the targeted mutants except for Blink , who sacrifices herself to save the rest and kill Harvest. The rest of these young mutants went on to become the core of Generation X , tutored by Banshee and Emma Frost . Meanwhile,

5976-591: The limited series Heroes in Crisis , titled Flash Forward , which began publication in November. His work has won him recognition in the comic books industry, such as a nomination for the Comics Buyer's Guide Award for "Favorite Writer" in 1997. In 2011, Lobdell explained that among the reasons he no longer had a social media presence was the unintended spillover from his personal to professional life, and

6059-425: The other mutant teams found a group of Phalanx attempting to follow their genetic instruction to construct a Babel Spire to contact the Technarchy. Douglock led a small team consisting of Forge , Wolfsbane and Cannonball in destroying the spire. Cyclops' group, covertly assisted by Lang, assault the core Phalanx base on Mount Everest to rescue the X-Men. Much later, it is revealed that Mister Sinister captured

6142-474: The possible future known as 2099, the Phalanx tried to invade the planet Earth a second time. To prevent Earth from being converted by the Transmode Virus, Spider-Man ( Miguel O'Hara ) forms an uneasy alliance with Dr. Doom , who had encountered the Phalanx in their first attempt to invade Earth in the 20th century. Doom knew that the Phalanx would have a "scout program" so he added his own subroutine to

6225-591: The relaunch of the Galaxy Quest series, now titled Galaxy Quest: The Journey Continues . To date, he has written the majority of The Hardy Boys Graphic Novel series by Papercutz . Lobdell has also performed as a stand-up comedian . Lobdell created Paranormal Activity: The Search for Katie with art from Mark Badger it was released in December 2009 on iPhone . Lobdell wrote the screenplay for Blumhouse ’s slasher film Happy Death Day . The film

6308-467: The script to Stan Lee's Mosaic and an upcoming film from POW! Entertainment featuring Ringo Starr . He also participated in the Marvel Comics and Image Comics (from Jim Lee 's WildStorm ) crossover mini-series WildC.A.T.s/X-Men . In 2008 Lobdell became the regular writer for Galaxy Quest , a series published by IDW Publishing , with art by Ilias Kyriazis , centered on the eve of

6391-496: The spread and control of the Phalanx. The Kree who didn't fall under control fought back against their oppressors as well as Quasar (Phyla Vell) , Moondragon , Adam Warlock , Star-Lord and the Dirty Half Dozen only to discover that they were under Ultron 's control. It was later revealed that the Kree had in the past, captured several hive-mind species, to weaponize them and use them against rival empires, among them

6474-406: The transmode virus as they almost transformed Rogue . The Phalanx made their way to Chandilar, the throneworld of the Shi'ar Empire where they tried to assimilate the "Nest", actually the hatching chamber where all Shi'ar eggs were being nurtured. Had they succeeded, the entire next generation of Shi'ar would have become part of the Phalanx collective. However, Beast developed a device that would emit

6557-498: The transmode virus with any physical contact - the only known exception being Earth mutants who possess a degree of immunity to the transmode virus. This seems to be a limitation of the Phalanx which their Technarchy progenitors do not have, as Warlock had no problems infecting his future teammate Magik (accidentally) when they first met and repeatedly infecting Cypher to form the Douglock entity on multiple occasions. In Cypher's case

6640-406: The wrath of Rachel Summers , the daughter of Jean Grey and Scott Summers from an alternate future, who has since declared vengeance on the entire Shi'ar Empire. Recent events seem to indicate the Shi'ar Council was responsible for this, and that Lilandra is unaware of what has been done in her name. Another Shi'ar threat comes from an X-Men villain called Vulcan . During his tenure as majestor of

6723-407: Was assisted by Cameron Hodge , a fellow anti-mutant with immortality obtained from the demon N'astirh . Years ago, in a failed effort to contract the Transmode virus, Hodge had killed Warlock. In an attempt to destroy Archangel , Hodge used a Phalanx construct of Candy Southern . Phalanx' initial attempt to assimilate mutants into its collective was thwarted by the natural resistance of mutants to

6806-553: Was released on October 13, 2017 by Universal Pictures . Lobdell's original comic book series Ball and Chain sold to Netflix on May 14, 2020. The comic is being adapted into a feature film starring Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson and Emily Blunt . Emily V. Gordon is writing the screenplay. In 2011, Lobdell took on the writing duties for Red Hood and the Outlaws , which debuted as part of DC Comics ' company-wide title relaunch, The New 52 . His portrayal of Starfire/Koriand'r in

6889-467: Was the primary creative force behind most of the major X-title related storylines throughout a majority of the 1990s, including " X-Cutioner's Song ", " Fatal Attractions ", " Phalanx Covenant ", " Age of Apocalypse ", the " Onslaught " saga, and " Operation: Zero Tolerance ". Lobdell had writing stints on Marvel's Daredevil , Alpha Flight , The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix and early issues of issues of Iron Man and Fantastic Four during

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