Monark Starstalker (Marvel Premiere, Alternate Future)

Identity/Class: Extratemporal/extradimensional (Reality-7643 circa 2022 AD) human mutate (see comments)

Enemies: Contagion, Driver Reese, General Kosrouschah, the Mind, Mindless Ones, technonecrotic virus, Venture Executives for Galactic Security (VEGS), unidentified members (one of each) of the Pheragot, P'tah, and Scatter races of Reality-616;
Reality-7643: Kurt Hammer (deceased), Wharf Rats

Aliases: "Mon" (nickname from Paradox):
"Robot Boy" (nickname from Wolverine);
"jackal," "vulture," "viper" (terms by which his enemies referred to him)

Base of Operations: Mobile on Earth-616;
formerly mobile throughout the universe of Reality-616;
formerly mobile throughout distant galaxies in Reality-7643

Powers/Abilities: Monark Starstalker is a nanite entity, a highly adaptive nanological artificial intelligence with multiple backups. He uses nanotechnology for cloaking by mechanical, computer, and organic visual receptors, making it difficult to pinpoint his location - making it likely fighting smoke. He can also send nanotechnology to incapacitate local or distant (by sending then nanoencoding into a scanning wave) systems. His nano-swarm is also effective on organic systems, causing confusion and hesitation, and potentially partial or complete motor paralysis. Starstalker is a skilled brawler.

The robotic falcon Ulysses can generate shields able to resist Nova Force blasts. Ulysses can fly with great speed, is agile enough to dodge bullets, and can strike with force sufficient to topple Nova Prime Richard Rider. Ulysses was originally described to (and may still) function as a telepathic nervous system for Monark Starstalker, rendering Starstalker immune to bio-system disrupting weapons such as Vortex Pistols (though it may be Starstalker's nanite nature that actually provides this resistance).

Ulysses' audio, visual, and thermal senses are linked to Starstalker allowing him to fight blind and to shoot objects which would normally be out of sight; consequently, the falcon is an ideal scout. The consequences are unrevealed if it were damaged or destroyed.

His vortex pistol causes instantaneous blindness, vertigo, and nausea. He uses a sword formed by a nanoassembly of supra-sharp microbots able to slice though virtually anything.

His other weapons include a Technos Group D/R569 techno-necrotic-hazard containment grenade, which could contain and neutralize any hazards within its range.

Ulysses can target multiple sites with computer speed, accuracy, and efficiency.

When fragmented from his system, Monark's nanites are designed to spontaneously reconfigure. Isolated component clusters will build new systems, gradually maturing, self-generating unique nantools adapted to their current environment. In a hostile environment, the components will assimilate rather than engage. They can materials from their local environment as they reconfigure. They can even adapt to hide from Wolverine's healing factor so they can build new nanotools from his cells.

History:
(Marvel Premiere#32 (fb)) - Starstalker was a rigger (a pilot, whose nervous system is attached to a starship). During the war for independence between the Federation and Frontier Planets, Starstalker's starship was attacked. As a result, his nervous system, senses, and memory were incinerated. Fortunately, an alien race known as Technos seemingly rebuilt him and an android falcon named Ulysses to remedy his injuries.

(Wolverine: Best There Is#9 (fb) - BTS) - In reality, Starstalker was a nanotool, a nanotech shell built and controlled by the Technos. All jobs he would perform were actually to extend Technos interests.

(Marvel Premiere#32 (fb)) - When the war was aborted 7 years later, Starstalker became an infamous bounty hunter.

(Marvel Premiere#32) - Upon arrival on planet Stormking, Starstalker befriended a woman by the name of Robin Goodfriend whom he stayed with while investigating the whereabouts of Kurt Hammer (a wanted assassin). Starstalker dispensed frontier justice after tracking down Hammer in the harsh Stormking wilderness between the cities New Canaan and Vesalius. He was last seen leaving Stormking on the Federal Starship "Host of the Air", which was headed towards Mega IV.

(Nova IV#29 (fb) - BTS / Wolverine: Best There Is#9 (fb) - BTS) <2022 AD in Reality-7643> - Starstalker was hired to capture the Mind, the leader of the Black Hole Sons -- a group Neutron Slaves (Mindless Ones) used to mine rare minerals and chemicals on neutron stars -- who had gained limited intelligence by the neutron star's compression and distortion of his mind. The Mind was a captive by Zan Philo (who had been shunted extradimensionally from Reality-616 by a stargate accident 35 years ago). Starstalker plotted to take the Mind for himself to recover the bounty, but the Resolute Duty was shunted back into Reality-616 via the Fault (an interdimensional warp). Starstalker followed the Resolute Duty through the Fault.

(Wolverine: Best There Is#9 (fb) - BTS) - In Reality-616, Monark was freed from any programming and/or control from the Technos.

(Nova IV#29) - As the Nova Corps Richard Rider, Fraktur, Morrow and Irani investigated the Resolute Duty upon its emergence from the Fault, Starstalker used a nanocloud to follow them in entering the ship undetected; en route, he noted Nu-Xandar/Worldwind/Ego scanning the ship and drawing it near with a tractor beam. He then sent some nanoencoding back along its scanning wave, progressively crippling Worldmind (and speeding the recovery of Ego, whom the Worldmind was using as a body). Starstalker ambushed and incapacitated Fraktur with his Vortex Pistol, then impersonated him to get close to the Mind. When Worldmind located Starstalker by identifying the spot she could not scan, Starstalker revealed his true appearance and took out the remaining Centurions (including Zan Philo). After gaining the advantage of Rider with a nanosword to the throat, Starstalker stopped fighting and spoke with the Novas. Stating his case, he threatened to use his nanoswarm to cause the Resolute Duty's engines to blow. The Black Hole Sons then attacked the Resolute Duty.

(Nova IV#29) - Irani was assigned to watch Starstalker while the other Nova Corpsmen confronted the Mindless Ones, and after he started flirting with him, she threatened to shoot him, which only seemed to interest him more. When the Black Hole Sons damaged the main power, the Mind broke free and blasted a hole through Starstalker's chest. Starstalker collapsed, inert, and Ulysses warned against third party attempts to repair "this Starstalker series nanotool" while the hole sealed itself, upon which Starstalker revived, thinking he had simply blacked out. Irani told him he was a nanite construct, which was apparently the first he'd learned of this. Starstalker subsequently helped keep the Black Hole Sons away from Nova (Rider) as he drove and then detained the Mind out of and then away from ship. This distracted them long enough for Worldmind to transfer from Ego into the Resolute Duty, after which the Nova and the Worldmind opened a stargate that transferred the Mindless Ones into Ego's prefrontal cortex, causing both threats to attack the other. Afterwards, Starstalker, dejected by the knowledge that he was just an instrument used by someone else for that person's benefit. Nonetheless, autonomous in Reality-616, he decided to go live a little.

(Wolverine: Best There Is#9 (fb)) - At a ST'rugee (Space-Time refugee) bar in Shi'ar space, Monark met Paradox, who had taken an unspecified alien female form. With Monark unaware of Paradox's true nature, the two hit it off and had a romance; Paradox revealed the truth before things could get "too far," and Starstalker tried to understand and be flexible. Paradox convinced Starstalker of the opportunities the situation offered, and Starstalker accepted and embraced the situation. Ultimately, the two achieved a successful partnership on multiple levels.

(Wolverine: The Best There Is#9 (fb) - BTS) - Because they had both come to Reality-616 via the Fault (through which the technonecrotic virus/material had also arrived), Monark Starstalker and Paradox were employed by VEGS (Venture Executives for Galactic Security) agents as bounty hunters to seek out whoever had obtained the technonecrotic virus and brought it to Earth. They also encouraged the notion that they had some past experience with technonecrotic material in their own realities.

(Wolverine: Best There Is#9 (fb)) - Paradox and Monark were sent to Earth-616 to gain the material.

(Wolverine: Best There Is#9 (fb) - BTS) - Monark and Paradox lacked a ship to reach Earth. Taking a female form similar to General Kosrouschah's mother, Paradox seduced Kosrouschah, obtaining a spaceship as a wedding present. Paradox took the ship and left with Monark soon after.

(Wolverine: Best There Is#9 (fb) - BTS) - Monark and Paradox tracked the technonecrotic material to north of San Francisco, but lost track of it as its signature erased itself upon absorbing local matter.

(Wolverine: Best There Is#7) - As Wolverine met with Driver Reese, she suffered from a techno-necrotic virus inflicted on her by Contagion (Winsor). Monark Starstalker's falcon, Ulysses, severed Reese's head as Monark and Paradox arrived, and a techno-organic/necrotic spider rose from Driver Reese's remains.

(Wolverine: Best There Is#8) - Wolverine's efforts to stop the techno-necrotic spider met with little success, but Monark noted that Wolverine wasn't infected after being skewered by the techno-necrotic spider. Monark elected to save Wolverine, as he may know something to aid their search. As the spider continued to enlarge, eventually ripping through the city street on which they had arrived, both Monark and Paradox were concerned about being able to stop it. Paradox recommended a containment grenade, but Monark noted it had gotten too big for that. Wolverine, Paradox, and Monark assaulted the spider, eventually making it smaller (though Paradox was infected with the techno-necrotic virus in the process), and Monark urged Wolverine to get clear as he unleashed his containment grenade, which effectively contained the stem servers and replicated the containment protocols to all infected materials. With techno-necrotic infection likely within the next minute, Paradox refused Monark's offer to cut away the infected areas, as well as Wolverine's offer to kill him quickly, and instead achieved Mercurian form, burning away the infection from within him as his core temperature was over 700 degrees. Paradox and Monark revealed themselves to be from alternate realities, and all three headed to Monark's ship so he could replenish the nanites Monark had lost making the grenade.

(Wolverine: Best There Is#9) - As Monark replenished himself, Ulysses explained to Wolverine the nature of VEGS, but refused to detail their current mission parameters. As Wolverine looked over a control panel, a reconstituted Paradox warned him there could be fatal consequences from messing with the ship. Wolverine then wondered what might happen if he used his claws on Monark, who noted that he was a dispersed nano-cloud with a solid form, with shields and armor, and that Ulysses would would assault and, if he were really hurt, his nanites might cohese into a self-destruct device in order to protect their proprietary technology...though he really didn't know for sure since he had only recently learned he was composed of nanotechnology.

Monark and Paradox argued to try to convince Wolverine which of the two of them was more technologically advanced. Despite Monark's efforts to convince him otherwise, Paradox informed Wolverine they were bounty hunters searching for "a crazy guy with the technonecrotic virus, a variation of Technarchy DNA, akin to the Phalanx mutation. Ulysses clarified that it infected organic and non-organic hosts, imbuing them with a semblance of life. Wolverine suspected that, since he believed Contagion dead, that it was most likely one of his Unkillables who had made off with the virus from Contagion's lab.
After Paradox and Monark revealed their histories, Monark noted they had lost track of the technonecrotic material north of San Francisco, after which Ulysses noted the approach of incoming hostiles. Their stolen ship was then assaulted by General Kosrouschah and his agents, including a Pheragot, P'Tah, and one of the Scatter. Ulysses tore through the head of the P'Tah's space shark, then flew into the back of the Pheragot, shoving its talons through his brain. Paradox slew the P'Tah and the Scatter, but Wolverine was infested with hatching creatures laid by the Scatter.

(Wolverine: Best There Is#10) - As the Scatter parasites tried to rewrite Logan's form, Monark used his nannites to cure Wolverine, but Monark's nervous system briefly lost integrity, and was replaced by Ulysses, which controlled his form.

(Wolverine: Best There Is#10 (fb) - BTS) - Paradox flew himself, Wolverine, and Monark/Ulysses to Wolverine's car; Paradox nearly crashed the Cutter's shuttle twice en route.

(Wolverine: Best There Is#10) - The three then traveled to Earth, and as Wolverine drove them to Contagion's former base, Ulysses explained how adaptive nannites were trapped within Wolverine, seeking to construct new forms. As Monark began to regenerate, Contagion ambushed them shattering their engine block and hurling all three from the car as it stopped suddenly. Contagion's super-strong adaptations quickly dropped both Wolverine and Paradox. When Ulysses swooped in from behind and impaled Contagion's chest with the pointed ends of wings, Paradox attempted to superheat Contagion to burn out the technonecrotic infection, but Contagion apparently neutralized Paradox with intense cold and then infected Ulysses with the techno-necrotic virus, causing Ulysses to drop to the ground, inert.

(Wolverine: Best There Is#11) - Contagion casually walked past what remained of Monark -- a collapsed, headless frame, with the incapacitated, technonecrotic virus-infected Ulysses mess at its feet -- amongst his other victims and former pawns as he related his own origins. Recovering, Monark attacked anew, extending his sword to stab Winsor through the chest from across the room, and then his nanites broadcast a protocol to the ones in Wolverine's system, disassembling the suggestant virus (and/or/aka the Corruptor control formula) with which Winsor had infected Wolverine. Contagion re-infected Monark with some variant, turning Monark's sword (right)-hand into a techno-necrotic mess. Wolverine then attacked Winsor, at which point the X-Men (Beast/Hank McCoy, Dazzler/Alison Blaire, Cyclops/Scott Summers, Emma Frost) arrived.

(Wolverine: Best There Is#12) - After Contagion's son, Flip, deactivated the technonecrotic virus, Contagion's victims, including Paradox and Monark, were largely freed and cured. The Corruptor further forced Contagion to contain his viruses, after which the Unkillables assaulted (and presumably slew) him. Harold Sikes then convinced Wolverine to let the group of Unkillables act as mercenary "problem solvers." Paradox further noted he and Monark would fly the Unkillables out of there, keep the Shi'ar ship Contagion had obtained, and then "blend in to the general weird here." Then they departed to do just that.

In Wolverine: Best There Is#9, Monark Starstalker refers to having come from the year 2022 in his reality. It is not known how long he was active, and whether his activities as the bounty hunter started in 2022, or whether that was the year in which he left in reality. Monark Starstalker's exact timeline is unrevealed, but it occurs after an unspecified time period after Earth has begun planetary expansion into other systems. This reality was named Earth-7643 in OHotMU Hardcover#3.

Per http://downthetubes.net/?p=12655: The anthology Strip, in the issues prior to those which serializing Death's Heads' Body in Question story, featured a one-shot story about a post-apocalyptic female warrior Rourke (seen on the cover of Strip #4 http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_large/0/9116/1582378-4.jpg). She struck a chord with readers, so editor Dan Abnett asked her creator (and owner) Liam Sharp to develop ideas for an ongoing story, which, despite her creator-owned status, at one stage were to include her crossing over with Wolverine and, unusually, Monarch Starstalker. Concept art of Rourke alongside Wolverine and Starstalker can be seen at the downthetubes page above, or more directly here http://i2.wp.com/downthetubes.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/liam-fax01-1991a.jpg
--Loki

Robin Goodfriend

Robin was a frontierswoman born on planet Stormking. However as the daughter of a federal citizen, she was treated as an outcast in the frontier. She was a known cohort of Monark Starstalker, and knew Ulysses was the source of his power. She lived in a chalet on the outskirts of New Canaan.
--Marvel Premiere#32

Kurt Hammer

Kurt Hammer was a decorated war hero among the frontier planets. After the war he became an intergalactic assassin, who was wanted dead or alive for the murder of six people on the planet Tycho. It was also rumored that he was secretly involved with Triplanet Metals Inc. He was last seen in New Canaan where he murdered Bob Hightower, Emanuel Shaw, and a number of civilians. He was later found dead due to pneumonia, the location of his corpse was reported to authorities by Monark Starstalker.
--Marvel Premiere#32

Bob Hightower

Hightower was a frontier sheriff of New Canaan, he was respected and well liked. He was murdered in public by Kurt Hammer.
--Marvel Premiere#32

Host of the Air was the name of a federal starship that traveled from Istanbul, Earth, to the outer planets. It was a supply ship that transported tools, drugs and hardware.
--Marvel Premiere#32

Emanuel Shaw

Mr. Shaw was 3rd Vice President of Triplanet Metals Inc., and a federal citizen. He was murdered by Kurt Hammer while giving a public speech about methods of terraforming Stormking.
--Marvel Premiere#32

Brigid Siebold

Miss Siebold was Emanuel Shaw's aide, and a federal citizen. She was kidnapped by Kurt Hammer; however, she was actually Kurt Hammer's secret lover. She was later rescued by Monark Starstalker, but in need of immediate medical attention.
--Marvel Premiere#32

Stormking was an inhospitable planet of rock and ice, and the most distant of all the frontier worlds. It's inhabitants survived in cities protected by force domes. Places of interest included New Canaan, Vesalius, and a Mega IV out post.
--Marvel Premiere#32

Little has been revealed about this alien race, except that their hearts are mechanical. The Technos also created Ulysses, Monark Starstalker's android falcon.
--Marvel Premiere#32

Triplanet was a federal mining corporation, which also catered to the needs of terraformers. They were interested in the vast mineral wealth beneath the glaciers of planet Stormking.
--Marvel Premiere#32

Vortex Pistol

The vortex pistol is a peace keeping weapon developed during the Famine Riots of '03 (that would be 2003) for crowd dispersal. The weapon causes instantaneous blindness, vertigo, and nausea.
--Marvel Premiere#32

images:
Marvel Premiere I#32,cover (monarkstarstalker.jpg)
Marvel Premiere I#32,p11,pan6 (rigger.jpg)
Marvel Premiere I#32,p14,pan5 (robingoodfriend.jpg)
Marvel Premiere I#32,p16,pan3 (kurthammer.jpg)
Marvel Premiere I#32,p3,pan4 (bobhightower.jpg)
Marvel Premiere I#32,p1,pan1 (hostoftheair.jpg)
Marvel Premiere I#32,p15,pan5 (emanuelshaw.jpg)
Marvel Premiere I#32,p2,pan1 (brigidsiebold.jpg)
Marvel Premiere I#32,p3,pan7 (vortexpistol.jpg)
Nova IV#29 - my big scanner is down right now, so I used the image from Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z#3 (October, 2010);
Wolverine: Best There Is#9, pg. 10, panel 4 (Ulysses narrating);
pg. 14, panel 4 (Ulysses perched)

Appearances:
Marvel Premiere#32 (October, 1976) - Howard Chaykin (writer/artist), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Nova IV#29 (November, 2009) - Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writers), Kevin Sharpe (penciler), Nelson Pereira (inker), Michael Horowitz (assistant editor), Bill Rosemann (editor)
Nova IV#30 (December, 2009) - Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writers), Kevin Sharpe (penciler), Nelson Pereira (inker), Michael Horowitz & Rachel Pinnelas (assistant editor), Bill Rosemann (editor)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z#3 (October, 2010): Monark Starstalker profile
Wolverine: The Best There Is#7-12 (August, 2011 - January, 2012) - Charlie Huston (writer), Juan Jose Ryp (artist), Sebastian Girner (editor)

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