BLACKTHORN
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial sentient humanoid plant (unidentified species)
Occupation: Member of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard
Group Membership: Shi'ar Imperial Guard
Affiliations: Astra, Black Light, Deathbird, Earthquake, Electron, Fang, Gladiator (Kallark), Hobgoblin, Hussar, Impulse, Magic (Magique), Mentor, Nightside, Oracle, Quasar (later Neutron), Lord Samédàr, Scintilla, Smasher, Starbolt, Tempest, Titan, Warstar, Webwing, White Noise, several other unidentified Imperial Guardsmen and/or Borderers
Enemies:
Excalibur (Captain Britain, Lockheed, Meggan, Nightcrawler, Shadowcat,
Widget),
N'rill'irēē,
Nightcrawler, Kitty Pryde, Starjammers (Binary, Corsair,
Ch'od, Cr+eee, Hepzibah, Lockheed, Raza, Widget);
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations:
Shi'ar Galaxy;
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men I#157 (May, 1982)
Powers/Abilities: Blackthorn was a trained Shi'ar Imperial Guardsman skilled in hand-to-hand combat but was not that agile. Being a plant, the Guardsman had no vital internal organs that could be injured in battle and so could survive repeated thrusts by a sword; there is a possibility that it may have been able to regenerate any lost limbs. Blackthorn, who had thick spikes on its body that displayed no real offensive/defensive purpose, initially had a stylized long blue shield and spiked weapon but was never shown with them again.
History:
(Uncanny X-Men I#157) - As part of an attempted coup by Deathbird, Lord Samédàr had targeted the Earth for destruction but was countered by the combined forces of Gladiator, N'rill'irēē, Oracle, Starbolt, Nightcrawler and Shadowcat. However, Samédàr had other Guardsman and Borderers by his side, including Blackthorn, Fang, Hussar, Neutron, Warstar and Webwing. A fierce battle ensued between the two forces, with Gladiator's powerful punch causing Warstar to fall on Blackthorn. The humanoid plant recovered only to be knocked out, along the other combatants, by a Brood weapon planted and activated by Samédàr on B'nee, the smaller part of the Warstar symbiote.
(X-Men: Spotlight on Starjammers#2) - In an effort to stop Deathbird from acquiring the formidable powers of Phalkon (actually the Phoenix Force), the Starjammers pursued her to Earth but found her apparently knocked unconscious on a Shi'ar spaceship floating in the North Atlantic Ocean after a battle with Excalibur. Due to a misunderstanding, the Starjammers and Excalibur fought each other briefly before uniting against a large contingent of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, who had arrived to protect Deathbird and included Blackthorn. A fierce battle followed with Raza stabbing Blackthorn repeatedly, looking for a vital organ to maim or kill the Guardsman but to no avail. However, Deathbird was knocked out and the Imperial Guard were ordered to retreat by Gladiator to protect the fallen Deathbird, and they all headed into an open teleportal, left open by Widget, that led back to Shi'ar space.
Comments: Created by Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils) and Bob Wiacek (inks).
Certainly one of the more obscure Guardsman - despite 2 appearances, Blackthorn was shown in very few panels but was at least later named. Blackthorn's gender was not identified.
Uncanny X-men.net affirm that Blackthorn has the power to command plant life but, to my knowledge, this has yet to be substantiated.
Profile by Grendel Prime.
CLARIFICATIONS
:
Blackthorn has no known connections to:
images:
(without ads)
Uncanny X-Men I#157, p17, panel 4 (main image)
Appearances:
Uncanny X-Men I#157 (May, 1982) - Chris Claremont (writer), Dave
Cockrum (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Louise Jones (editor)
X-Men: Spotlight on … Starjammers#2 (1990) - Terry Kavanagh
(writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils), Jeff Albrecht (inks), Mark Gruenwald
(editor)
Last updated: 01/29/06
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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