JASON of SPARTA

Real Name: Jason

Identity/Class: Extra-terrestrial (Spartoi)

Occupation: Prince, later Emperor; former Adventurer

Affiliations: Black Bolt and Medusa, Kip Holme, Captain P'krrd (Shiar), Sandy, Starlord;
formerly Ship (companion); Meredith Quill (former lover); Kyras Shakati, Shiar Empire

Enemies: Ariguans, Gareth, Inhumans, Kree, Ronan the Accuser, Rruothk'ar, Kyras Shakati

Known Relatives: Eson (father), Gareth (paternal uncle), Star-Lord (Peter Quill, son)

Aliases: Emperor, Jason of Spartax, Prince Jason

Base of Operations: Sparta (aka Spartax)
(a planet, part of the Spartoi empire, somewhere near the Shiar Galaxy)

First Appearance: Marvel Preview#11 (Summer, 1977)

 

Powers/Abilities: Jason commands the Spartoi Empire, and thus has control of a large galactic fleet. The Empire has interstellar starships armed with various destructive and defensive weapons.
Jason himself is a skilled pilot and presumably reasonably talented in combat.
In the modern era, he has access to the power of Ship.

History: Jason is the son of Eson, and was thus born prince to the empire of the Spartoi.

(Inhumans IV#3(fb)-BTS) - As part of the rules of his empire, he, like any heir to the throne, was brought up on a dozen different planets, and tutored in a dozen different fields. He served as a pilot, a poet, a miner, a servant, and a soldier, among others.

BTS - Under unknown circumstances, Jason became linked to the sentient spacecraft known as Ship. The two became close companions.

(Inhumans IV#2-4) - The Shiar and Spartoi empires planned to meet and create an alliance. Ronan of the Kree sought to prevent this, and using Earth's Inhumans, whom he had brought under his control, he attacked the Shiar fleet as the neared the planet Kritnah (the proposed meeting place). Jason and Ship led a squadron of Spartoi and arrived in time to turn the tide and drive off the Inhumans. Jason and Ship then escorted Kyras Shakati and other dignitaries to Kritnah, and Jasaon met with Shakati and P'krrd to discuss the recent raids by the as yet unidentified Inhumans.

 

On Kritnah, Jason led a Spartoi patrol to rescue the unknown Black Bolt and Medusa from a band of thieves. Jason was bewitched by Medusa's beauty and invited her and Black Bolt for some drinks. Jason thought the two to be Kree refugees, but came to like and trust them. He discussed his lack of interest in inheriting the throne as well as his disagreement with the "marriage" with the Shiar, which included hundreds of ships worth of Kree refugees as a dowry. He disagreed with the advancement of one race at the expense of another. He then gave Black Bolt and Medusa datachips which allowed them access to the wedding ceremony, little realizing that he had opened the door to assassination.
Black Bolt and Medusa, most of the rest of their race held hostage by Ronan, followed through on their orders and used Jason's passes to get close to the front of the ceremony. Black Bolt slew Lilandra before being teleported away by Ronan, although it was actually the Imperial Guard member Hobgoblin/Shapeshifter/Shifter impersonating Lilandra who died. The Shiar had expected an assassination attempt and allowed things to proceed to draw out the would-be assassins.
Nonetheless, Jason's role in allowing in the assassins was discovered from the datachips used, and he was branded a traitor and exiled from the Spartoi empire by his father.
As he left, Delphos, a precognitive member of the Shiar Imperial Guard saw his potential future--his search to prove his innocence (and to find the red-haired woman who had enthralled him so) would bring him to Earth, where he would meet a woman and have a child, destined to be a Lord among the Stars. At the conclusion of the vision, Star-Lord is seen battling some alien creature.

(Marvel Preview#11(fb)) - War broke out between the Spartoi Empire and the Ariguans, and his father summoned Jason home. However, En route, his ship blew a converter and he crash-landed on Earth. This was observed by Meredith Quill, who found and recovered Jason, and nursed him back to health. Over the course of a year, Jason and Meredith fell in love, but when he had rebuilt his ship, he was forced to leave. Not wanting to risk her life at the hands of the Ariguans (and knowing that she carried his son, and he didn't want to hazard that life), he left Meredith behind. For her own safety and sanity, Jason placed a mindlock on her memories of their time together, so that she would only remember it as a dream.
Within a month, Meredith married her high school sweetheart, Jake.

(Marvel Preview#11(fb)-BTS) - After a few years, Jason felt it to be safe to bring Meredith and their son to Sparta. However, as Prince, he was too involved in the war and could not leave, so he requested aid from his uncle, Gareth. Seeking to potentially gain the throne himself one day, Gareth decided to eliminate anyone else who would stand in his way, and so he hired Kyras Shakati of Cinnibar to kill Meredith and Peter. Shakati sent Rruothk'ar, of the Ariguan Confederacy to do the deed.

BTS - At some point, Eson finally gave up the ghost, and Jason became Emperor of the Spartoi empire.

(Marvel Preview#11) - After Star-Lord traveled to Sparta following the trail of a band of Slavers. After slaying conspirators Gareth and Rruothk'ar, he met Jason, the Emperor, who revealed himself to be his father. Jason offered Peter the role as heir to the throne of Sparta, but he declined, preferring the freedom of space. Instead, Quill recommended that Jason adopt Kip and take him as heir to the throne.

(Starlord Special Edition#1) - On the one hundredth anniversary of his taking the throne, Jason of Sparta could look back at 50 years of peace. Kip, Sandy and their children, Alain, Rhys, and Robyn wandered in to see him. Noting that he waited "eighty years to bear this trio", Jason of Sparta decided to tell them a story; a reprint of Marvel Preview#11.

(Starlord Special Edition#1: Epilogue) - After having sat through the reprint of Marvel Preview#11, the children nodded off. Jason announced that he would abdicate the throne. However, later Starlord returned to see Jason, with Ship present, too. Sandy and Kip came to Jason's bed and found the imperial signet ring and Starlord's helmet, as Jason and Starlord, with Ship, took to the stars.

Comments: Created by Chris Claremont and John Byrne.

You'll have to read the Inhuman series to get the whole story. Jason was only a part of it.

Jason's chronology spans from the modern era to what may be a potential future (at least 30 years off), so it may be that the Earth-616 version diverges from the path seen in the Star-Lord saga. More likely, however, is that he'll be forgotten and never seen again.
    In the original saga, Jason's trips to Earth and the related Star-Lord flashbacks took place in 1960-1961and around 1970. These dates are either topical, or there's some time traveling craziness going on.
    Someone's got some 'splaining to do!

    Ship initially described herself (in Marvel Preview#15) as having taken the form of the Ship to work alongside Peter/Star-Lord. In the Inhumans series, Ship is seen as the ally of Peter's father, Jason of Sparta, before Peter had been conceived.
    The ship with which Jason crashed on Earth (in Marvel Preview#11) is distinctly different from Ship's form, but in Inhumans IV#1, Delphos saw Ship crashing and "dying" on Earth. Since she had survived the destruction of her physical form before (and did so again later), it seems likely that she could have again. She may likely then have returned to the Master of the Sun, awaiting a period when she could be returned to solid form. It would also seem likely that if this is the case, that when Jason rebuilt his ship, it was just a mechanical device, no longer inhabited by the consciousness of Ship.
    In addition, in the Inhumans limited series, Jason is seen wearing a uniform very similar to the Star-Lord costume, especially the helmet. However, that may have merely been homage, or a hint or foreshadowing, and may or may not have any significance.

    A running joke in the early All New X-Men series was a Shiar captain named K'rk. In the Inhumans series, there was a Shiar captain named P'krrd. If I have to explain this to you, you're no true comic geek type! Strip yourself of pony tail and goatee, lose 50 pounds, and move out of your parents' basement. You're no longer welcome in this crowd, mister!

Thanks to Per Degaton for sending the Starlord Special Edition info.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connections to:

Eson of Sparta has no known connection to:

Sparta (or Spartax), the planet of the Spartoi, has no known connection to:

images: (without ads)
(main image)
Inhumans IV#2, p10, pan4 (with helmet)
  #3, p18, pan2 (head shot)

Appearances:
Marvel Preview#11 (Summer, 1977) - Chris Claremont (writer), John Byrne (pencils), Terry Austin (inks), John Warner & Ralph Macchio (editors)
Inhumans IV#2-4 (July-September, 2000) - Carlos Pacheco & Rafael Marin (writers), Jose Ladronn (#2-3) & Jorge Pereira Lucas (#4) (artist), Mark Powers (editor)
Starlord Special Edition#1 (February, 1982)

Last updated: 01/19/05

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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