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 (Astra, Black Light, Earthquake, Electron, Fang, Gladiator/Kallark, Hobgoblin, Hussar, Impulse, Magic/Magique, Mentor, Nightside, Oracle, Quasar/Neutron, Scintilla, Sea Spine, Smasher, Sp'yxx, Starbolt, Tempest, Titan, Trypthe, Warstar, Webwing, White Noise, several other unidentified Imperial Guardsmen and/or Borderers)
Affiliations: Deathbird, Diascar, K'rk N'Kzaii, Lord Samédàr
Enemies: Chlorites,
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), X-Men (Cyclops, Jean Grey, Lockheed, Nightcrawler, Professor X, Kitty Pryde, Rogue, Wolverine);
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. He was able to communicate with plantlife and command them to do his bidding. 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 he may have been able to regenerate any lost limbs. Blackthorn, who had thick spikes on his 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.
Height: 6'
Weight: 190 lbs
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.
(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 4: Exodus) - The Imperial Guard allied with the Diascar race, and pursued Chlorite refugees to Earth, with the intent of killing them. The X-Men (Professor X, Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Lockheed) stood against the Guard (Smasher (Vrill Rokk), Manta, Blackthorn, N'rill'iree, Flashfire, Magique, Nightside). During the fight, Manta engulfed Wolverine in burning light, and later hit Jean Grey. Blackthorn animated corn to fight for him until Lockheed set him on fire, and Astra, who had been holding Shadowcat phased, had to rescue him. Magique used illusions to defeat Cyclops. Nightside engulfed some of the mutants in Darkforce until Wolverine slashed at her, pulling his blows. Smasher defeated Kitty before Nightcrawler stole his specs and Lockheed hit him with fire, but he managed to punch Rogue down. Before the fight could escalate further, Dr. Valerie Cooper arrived to break up the fight, having talked about the threat of the Chlorites with the Diascar, and the Imperial Guard and X-Men stood down.
(X-Men: Watchers on the Walls: Chapter 8: Exclosure) - The Diascar placed a forcefield over a mutant community in Brazil. When the X-Men investigated, the Imperial Guard attacked, making sure to keep the X-Men out of the enclosure. Smasher burst into the ship, throwing devices to contain some of the team. When Kitty Pryde tried phasing into a team member to hide, Astra unphased her and Blackthorn poisoned her with a thorn. Smasher realized that all those under the dome would be dead within days.
Comments: Created by Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils) and Bob Wiacek (inks).
Thanks to Proto Man for noting that certain details of Blackthorn were cited in the Marvel Encyclopedia Vol. 2: X-Men.
Thanks to deadboy71 for noting that Blackthorn appeared in the X-Men novel, "Watchers on the Walls", by Christopher L. Bennett. Blackthorn's ability to command plantlife was demonstrated in the story and was linked to the fertility of the ground. He was also described as having a wooden carapace that was susceptible to fire.
Blackthorn is possibly Marvel’s version of the Legion of Superheroes' Chlorophyll Kid, who can cause the rapid growth of plant life.---Kyle Sims
Blackthorn was pictured in OHotMU Deluxe Edition#6 along with other Borderers of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard.
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)
X-Men: Watchers on the Walls (May, 2006) - Christopher L. Bennett (writer)
Last updated: 09/29/17
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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