BANN'D
Classification:
Extraterrestrial humanoids
Location/Base of Operations: A number of worlds out in an unidentified region of outer space
Known Members: None named, assuming they even have individual names
Affiliations: None
Enemies: Star-Lord (Bass Murder/Yannick T., Boomsticks/Vince T., Ripchord/Yohann B., Space Rider/Steve S.), Star-Lord
First Appearance: Star-Lord: Space Rider#1 (October 2021) (see comments)
Powers/Abilities: The Bann'd can fly (or have individual flying tech that is not readily visible) and survive unaided in outer space. They are strong enough to rip apart vehicles with their bare hands, aided by the sharp claws on their fingers. They also have fangs and horns, though they were not seen to use either offensively. They were not seen to use weapons, preferring to depend on their brute strength and force of numbers.
Traits: The Bann'd are demonic aliens with a hatred for individualism, art and freedom, preferring bland uniformity.
Type: Semi-humanoids
Eyes: Two (on head, yellow, no visible pupil or iris)
Fingers: Three (plus opposable thumb) ending in claws
Toes: Three
Skin color: Green
Average height: 5'4"
History:
(Star-Lord: Space Rider#1 (fb)) - The
Bann'd were a species born in dead suns, an evil, demonic force in the
universe dedicated to crushing individualism, art and freedom. They
sought to make the galaxy a uniform and flavorless place where every
spark of creative joy was suppressed, their dominion gray, ugly and
dystopian. The intergalactic freedom fighter Star-Lord, who traveled the
space-lanes fighting for liberty against the forces of oppression
dedicated his life to stop them, but they pursued him across time and
space because he represented everything they opposed. In the Earth year
1981 A.D. in orbit above the planet they struck and gravely wounded the
hero, who fled to the world below, with them attempting to track him
down and finish him off.
(Star-Lord: Space Rider#1 - BTS) - Before the Bann'd found him Star-Lord encountered a lone human, a rock singer called Steve, wandering through Los Angeles late at night. Too weak from his injuries to fight the Bann'd himself, Star-Lord shared his power with Steve, transforming him into the superhero Space-Rider.
(Star-Lord: Space Rider#1)
- The Bann'd tracked Star-Lord to Los Angeles, finding the night-time
city relatively empty. Initially the only humans they encountered were
three members of a rock band that had yet to pick its name, out looking
for their absent fourth member, Steve. Sensing within them the spark of
creative power, the Bann'd informed them that they claimed "this
pathetic, bright world," and informed them their spark would be
extinguished. Then they began ripping the band's van apart, intent on
getting at the men inside and killing them. Just then Space-Rider
intervened, blasting the Bann'd with a sonic howl. Faced with too many
Bann'd to prevail solo, Space-Rider shared the power again, transforming
his band-mates into superheroes too, Ripchord, Boomsticks and Bass
Murder. Working together the group devastated the attacking Bann'd until
the survivors fled back into space. Star-Lord informed the four
transformed humans that he needed to return to space too to heal, but
insisted the Bann'd would not dare to return while it was protected by
them.
(Star-Lord: Space Rider#1 - BTS) - The band decided to name themselves Star-Lord, after their alien friend.
(Zero to Hero music video) - The Bann'd returned to Earth, apparently in the service of a hooded figure residing in a floating citadel, and fought the band Star-Lord again.
Comments:
Created by Dan Abnett and Paco Diaz.
Star-Lord: Space Rider has a somewhat
convoluted backstory. At first glance it seems like a merchandise tie-in
for a band, much like how KISS appeared back in Marvel Super Special.
However, the band Star-Lord doesn't share their name with the Guardians
of the Galaxy leader accidentally. They are named after him, but
in-universe it's the other way around. To explain - when Eidos-Montreal
were developing the game Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy, a tie-in to
the movie version of the team rather than the comic incarnation, they
decided to invent a backstory explaining where Peter Quill got the
inspiration for his codename, and since the movies had established him
as a fan of rock music from the 70s and 80s, they decided he'd been a
fan of a 1980s space-metal rock band called Star-Lord. Then they
decided to actually assemble this fictional band using real musicians,
and produce an album for them, titled Space-Rider. You can see a partial
music video for one
of their songs here, which you might notice includes the Bann'd as
well as the band. There's also a
video about making the music (you might need to switch on
subtitles to get translations for guitarist Yohann Boudreault). Once
they had the concept of a fictional band, someone came up with the idea
to produce a tie-in comic for the band rather than the GotG, and make it
available as a giveaway with certain purchases of the game.
With all that, what reality is the story set
in? It's not the MCU, nor even the reality the GotG game takes place in
(Earth-21778), not unless the comic is meant to be a depiction of actual
events in that reality (which is possible, but probably not the
intention). It is a comic within Earth-21778, but we've seen that
fictional tales in one universe generally match real events in another.
I don't actually see any reason why it couldn't take place in the main
Marvel reality, Earth-616, especially as it is set in 1981, a time that
thanks to the sliding timescale is now in an era of minimal recorded
superhuman activity.
Marvel.com's listing
for the title calls it Star-Lord: Space Rider#1, while the cover
is Star-Lord Space Rider#54, but the indicia is Custom Square Enix 2022
Mondo Print Comic#1. Similarly the Marvel site says it came out in
October 2021, the cover suggests December and the indicia says April
2022.
This profile was posted as a
late addition entry for the Appendix 25th anniversary's
celebratory event to represent Star-Lord: Space Rider.
Profile by Loki.
CLARIFICATIONS:
The Bann'd has no known connections to:
images: (without ads)
Star-Lord: Space
Rider#1, p11, pan2 (main image)
Star-Lord: Space
Rider#1, p13, pan1 (leaping into attack)
Star-Lord: Space
Rider#1, p6, pan6 (Bann'd army)
Star-Lord:
Space Rider#1, p10, pan2 (ripping van apart)
Zero to Hero music video screengrabs (Bann'd in the music video)
Appearances:
Star-Lord: Space Rider#1 (October
2021) - Dan Abnett (writer), Paco Diaz (art), Darren Sanchez
(editor)
First Posted: 10/01/2026
Last updated: 10/01/2026
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel
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