GLADIATOR: Page 3 of 3

BIOGRAPHY - Page 3

Escorted by Gladiator and the Starjammers, Lilandra travelled to Chandilar to seize her throne back. While marching to a temple, the group was intercepted by Chancellor Araki and the Death Commandoes. During the tumult, Lilandra was assassinated by the Fraternity of Raptors member Razor (who was controlling the superhero Darkhawk’s body). Enraged and mad with grief, he attacked the Raptor but lost him in the crowd, before going on a rampage and killing Araki and all the Secret Order.

Beaten and shattered with grief, Kallark picked up Lilandra’s staff and the Shi’ar people, ravaged by war, begged him for aid and proclaimed him their Majestor. Meanwhile, both Vulcan and Black Bolt were seemingly killed in space in an explosion of the Terrigan Bomb, also opening a massive rift in space dubbed the Fault.  With the emperor seemingly dead and Lilandra killed, Admiral Ka’arduum made the executive decision to surrender to the Kree. [War of Kings crossover]

Despite the public’s demand for him to take the mantle of emperor, Kallark was reluctant to do so, instead acting only as interim leader of the temporary administration established to manage the recovery and transition to Kree leadership. He posted an empire-wide bounty on Darkhawk for killing Lilandra before attending her funeral. Inevitably, a fight broke out between the Inhuman Royal Family and the Imperial Guard, to which Gladiator promptly put a stop. Seeing Kallark as the leader the Shi’ar needed, Crystal named him Majestor, a role he accepted this time. [War of Kings: Who Will Rule? #1]

Kallark struggled to adjust into his role as Majestor, finding the endless meetings and hearings boring. When the planet Izumbard rebelled, he couldn’t help but assist the Imperial Guard to subdue the rebels, though he was later criticized by his court.  Realizing the threat posed by the Fault, the majestor assembled a select group of Imperial Guardsmen to explore and investigate it. When the group became overwhelmed by the horrors of the Fault, Oracle managed to send a warning of the gathering forces through the M’Kraan Crystal to the majestor. Gladiator managed to convince the guardian of the crystal, Jahf, to allow him and the remainder of the Imperial Guard to use the crystal to teleport into the Fault and save the others.

The majestor was angered to find Talon, a member of the Fraternity of Raptors, present but was convinced to allow him to help. All present participated in a fierce battle with horrifically mutated and extremely powerful versions of the X-Men. Gladiator was almost defeated by a gigantic version of Xavier, but the group managed to fight their way free and escape the Fault so that the Majestor could warn the Galactic Council of the impending threat. [Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard #1-6]

Kallark’s warning to the Galactic Council proved fortuitous, allowing the full force of council to arrive at the Fault in time for the forces from the Cancerverse beyond it to invade. The Shi’ar and the other races engaged in a fierce but, seeing themselves losing the battle with the Cancerverse forces, drastic action was needed. Gladiator joined a strike team of heavy hitters with Nova, Quasar, Ronan the Accuser, and former allies Beta Ray Bill and Silver Surfer to attack Cancerverse’s leadership. In the end, though, victory came due to the actions of Thanos and the Guardians of the Galaxy in the Cancerverse. Following the end of the war, the Guardians member Cosmo (a telepathic Russian space dog) recruited Gladiator and the other member of the strike team into a specialist team of heavy hitters; the Annihilators. [The Thanos Imperative crossover]

The Annihilators' first mission was quick and easy: thwart an invasion of Hala by Blastaar. Following this, they moved straight on to a mission on Galador, home of the Spaceknights, and became embroiled in the return of the Dire Wraiths to the universe. [The Thanos Imperative: Devastation #1, Annihilators #1-4]

Soon after, the Annihilators dedicated themselves to stopping the Universal Chruch ofTruth from destroying numerous worlds. Their mission led them to Earth, where the church had established a stronghold, disguised as a gated community and dedicated to returning the evil Magus to life. Inevitably, the group found themselves in a clash with the Avengers, who thought they were attacking innocents, and Kallark found himself faced off against former ally Wolverine. When the Magus was revived in the form of a child and possessed 30 percent of the U.S. population, the villain began to feed off the massive amount of faith energy. Gladiator, believing his faith in his cause to be stronger, placed himself in the machine used to focus that energy, the belief font, and allowed the Magus to possess him so that his allies may kill him and the villain. However, Ronan and Iron Man devised a plan to extract the Magus, sparing Kallark. [Annihilators: Earthfall 1-4]

When the Phoenix Force returned and headed straight towards Earth, Kallark, as Majestor, made the decision to send the Shi’ar Death Commandoes to kill its potential host, Hope Summers. The main concern on his mind, though, was the safety of his son, Kubark, whom he had placed on Earth at Wolverine’s Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. The emperor travelled to Earth himself with a contingent of Shi’ar troops to collect his son, leading to a confrontation with five X-Men possessed by the Phoenix. Kallark was soundly beaten within an inch of his life by the Phoenix Five and the majestor had to recuperate at the Jean Grey School. When he was well enough, he left, forcing Kubark to go with him too.  With one last act of kindness, he freed Kubark’s bodyguard, Warbird, from her service, recognizing that her heart did not lie with violence. [Wolverine and the X-Men (1st series) #9-15]

Gladiator was later approached by J-Son of Spartax to form a Council of Galactic Empires. Together with the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree, Freya of Asgard, the queen of the Brood, Annihilus of the Negative Zone and Y-Gaar of the Badoon, the group would meet to make decisions regarding the running of the universe. [Guardians of the Galaxy (3rd series) #1-3]

A short time after defeating the forces of the Cancerverse, the universe came under threat again, this time from the ancient and powerful Builders. The Galactic Council was forced to convene to coordinate the response, as the aliens cut a bloody swath through various empires. Kallark and Ronan devised a strategy to attack the Builders, based on a Kree/Shi’ar conflict, known as the Corridor. The council forces lured the Builders into a trap in an asteroid field but, unfortunately for them, the Builders saw through it and annihilated the Galactic Council forces. Despite the massive defeat, Gladiator managed to rouse his forces in a devastating counter attack, winning the battle.

Even with this success, the Council was losing the war. Soon after, the Builders destroyed the Council’s command center, killing thousands of refugees in the process. Many races, including the Kree, surrendered to the Builders soon after. Kallark and the Shi’ar, however, chose to remain standing against the enemy. Taking the Avengers’ lead, the allied forces manage to steal two Builder worldkiller ships and destroy the rest. Riding on this success, Kallark struggled with what to do next, even considering allowing Annihilus to unleash another Annihilation Wave, which he himself admitted he couldn’t control. Captain America instead convinced Gladiator to try a different approach, and engaged and requested parlay with Builders. It was a ruse though and the Avenger Thor killed the Builder ruling Hala.

Showing that the Builders can be killed turned the tide of the war. Seeing how the Avengers hadn’t steered them wrong so far, Gladiator conceded to follow their lead for the final stages of the war, which paid off as the Builders were defeated. During the events of the Builder war, the Mad Titan Thanos had invaded Earth. In gratitude, Kallark and the rest of the Galactic Council provided their forces to the Avengers to help take Earth back. Gladiator himself, along with Ronan, Annihilus and Super Skrull, helped defeat Thanos’ minion, Black Dwarf. [Infinity crossover]

During this time, Kallark continued to make efforts to keep his son Kubark safe from the cosmic conflict that the Imperium was embrolied in.  Kubark was sent to the Subguardian training center where he quickly learned what it meant to be the sole Strontian in line to assume the mantle of Gladiator.  When the Subguardians were called upon to join the Shi'ar forces in battle, Gladiator forbade his son from fighting and assigned a trio of Warbirds to ensure his compliance.  Kubark rebelled and revelled in battling alongside Earth's heroes and leading the Subguardians.  In the aftermath, Gladiator and his son shared a bonding moment and the Majestor decided to allow him to return to Wolverine’s Jean Grey School. After the war, Kallark vowed to expand the Imperial Guard and replace all the heroes lost.  [Wolverine & the X-Men Annual #1]

Upon learning that a young version of Jean Grey had been brought into the present, Kallark was angered and decided to put the young woman on trial for the actions of her older self as Dark Phoenix. He announced his decision to the other members of the Galactic Council, several of whom disagreed with him. Regardless of this, he sent his soldiers in to arrest young Jean anyway. Despite being questioned by his own Imperial Guard, and being warned he was asking for war with the X-Men, he proceeded with putting Jean on trial. Soon into the trial, it was interrupted by J-Son of Spartax and Jean managed to escape soon after. Tracking the escapee, the majestor found himself battling the X-Men, Starjammers and Guardians of the Galaxy simultaneously and easily stood his ground until Jean let loose with her powers. Conceding defeat, the Majestor reluctantly let the girl go. [The Trial of Jean Grey crossover]

When Mentor of the Imperial Guard deduced that the multiverse was on the verge of collapse and Earth was the epicenter, Gladiator was forced to convene the Galactic Council. Despite the massive debt they owed the Earth, the Council recognized that they had no choice but to destroy the planet. Despite pleas from his close friend Oracle, Gladiator assembled a massive armada around the Earth and advised the Earth via hologram that they had a short time to say their goodbyes. The Earth retaliated by launching two simultaneous attacks: a massive blast of geothermal energy from Earth and an attack with one of the worldkiller ships captured form the Builders, both of which failed. Ever resourceful though, the heroes of Earth launched a third surprise attack; a huge blast of solar energy from the sun, focused through a Dyson sphere by Tony Stark. The blast incinerated the entire Galactic Council fleet, presumably killing Gladiator in the process. [Avengers (5th series) #41-44]

Having failed in their mission to destroy the Earth, the last two universes in existence collided soon after, resulting in the formation of Battlworld, an amalgam of pieces of various universes. Thankfully, due to the actions of some humans, reality was restored. In this newly formed Prime universe, the Shi’ar Empire still exists as it did before the collapse of reality, with Gladiator still as its Emperor.