History
Early Life[]
Though the Shi'ar denied it for centuries, one of their race once wielded the power of the Phoenix Force. Rook'shir bonded with the Phoenix and channeled its power though a giant blade, called the Blade of the Phoenix. He devastated much of the Shi'ar Empire until the Imperial Guard was formed to defeat him. However, a fraction of his power remained in the blade, which could only be lifted by a direct descendant of Rook'shir. Hoping that the blade would never be lifted again, the Shi'ar set about wiping out Rook'shir's descendants.[1]
The descendants were killed by the Vice-Chancellor K'tor, a loyalist of Emperor D'Ken, who kept only one survivor as a slave. The survivor was Korvus, and he was tortured and put to work as a mechanic. When he reached adulthood, Korvus was imprisoned in a high security prison on the moon of Phygim and a kill-switch was implanted in his brain that would allow his jailors to kill him if he ever attempted to escape.[citation needed]
K'tor approached Korvus in prison and offered to commute the rest of Korvus' sentence if he acted against Rachel Summers, herself a host of the Phoenix, who was coming to the Shi'ar Empire to stop Emperor Vulcan, along with her fellow X-Men. K'tor allowed Korvus to take the Blade of the Phoenix and gave him a ship so he could slay Rachel. Korvus eventually found the X-Men by tracking Marvel Girl's Phoenix's brand, to which he was drawn. Korvus landed on their ship and easily thwarted the X-Men with the power of his blade. However when he tried to kill Rachel, she grasped the blade and their minds were involuntarily linked, forming a close bond between them. He then chose to ally with the X-Men and the device in his brain was deactivated with the help of Rachel.[citation needed]
Battle Against Vulcan[]
Korvus taught the X-Men that their jumpship had the potential of opening a stargate using their own mutant power sources. Korvus worked on fixing the ship while the X-Men sent out a distress signal to the Starjammers. Korvus and Marvel Girl found themselves drawn to each other through their bond, and soon became romantically involved. She soon put an end to the relationship,[2] believing their connection wasn't real and that they were only drawn to each other because of the Phoenix. This was much to Korvus' dismay, who had actually begun to fall in love with her.[3]
After the death of Corsair at the hands of Vulcan, he, along with Havok, Polaris, Rachel, Ch'od and Raza became the new Starjammers, electing to remain in Shi'ar space and fight to restore Lilandra to the throne.[citation needed]
The Starjammers found another threat in the form of the Scy'ar Tal (translates as "Death to the Shi'ar"). Rachel made contact with the Eldest Scy'ar Tal and discovered their true origin. The Scy'ar Tal were originally called 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 named to Scy'ar Tal and devoted their culture and society to 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 made contact with the Starjammers to call a temporary ceasefire. However, they were all betrayed by Vulcan and the Shi'ar who captured the Starjammers except Korvus, Rachel and Lilandra.[citation needed]
During battle with Vulcan's new guard, the Phoenix fragments within both his sword and Rachel left them.[4] The Starjammers fought valiantly against Vulcan, aiding the Inhumans and Kree Empire after Vulcan and his Shi'ar started a war against them. They eventually succeeded in their quest, as Vulcan was killed and the empire rallied around Gladiator. [5]
Still remaining in space, the Starjammers answered a distress call on a space station when they were mind controlled by a creature by the name of Friendless. An X-Men team led by Rogue arrived to save them, summoned there by Rachel, and the entire space station was safely brought to Earth. Korvus quickly grew restless among the mutants on Utopia however, longing for space. Rogue arranged for him to become the new captain of Sovel Redhand's crew and he left the Earth and Rachel.[6]
Return to the Starjammers[]
Korvus eventually found his way back to the Starjammers, now once again led by Corsair.[7] When a rival pirate group riding the Desolation attacked, while Corsair and his son were away, the Starjammers were cast out of their ship to die in space. They were saved by a passing vessel, but the crew recognized them and had them arrested. Korvus was to auctioned off as a slave but was saved by Corsair.[8]Attributes
Paraphernalia
Weapons
Korvus wields the Blade of the Phoenix. This weapon, which can only be handled by those from his bloodline ("For any hand but mine, it would be easier to lift a star, Raza. But to me it has no weight at all."), was first described to have a small piece of the Phoenix force left within. However this was corrected by Rachel Grey, who said, "No, it's more like a faded blue shadow ... or an echo of it ..." As a result the blade itself contains much less power compared to the Phoenix Force. But it also allows for a greater degree of control as a trade off.
Korvus said that the weapon taught him how to use it, and that it was far too easy. Another interesting effect of the blade is that it opened Korvus' mind to the past users, essentially letting him relive their greatest trials and tribulations. This would also lead to Korvus and Rachel Grey having linked minds, sharing one another's tragic histories, and ultimately lead to an attraction between the two scorned heroes.
The extent of the weapons potency has yet to be explored. It's to be noted that Korvus, while in use of the blade, has easily defeated all the X-Men at once, except for Rachel Grey, who has a special connection with the Phoenix energies within.Notes
Trivia
- It is strongly hinted that Korvus could become a possible avatar of the Phoenix, as he is Rook'shir's descendant.
- Korvus was clearly stated as not a mutant by Cerebra, a scanner and Emma Frost.[9]
See Also
- 44 appearance(s) of Korvus Rook'shir (Earth-616)
- 2 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Korvus Rook'shir (Earth-616)
- 27 image(s) of Korvus Rook'shir (Earth-616)
- 2 quotation(s) by or about Korvus Rook'shir (Earth-616)
- 1 item(s) used/owned by Korvus Rook'shir (Earth-616)