ZA'KENZA'KEN
Real Name: Za'ken
Identity/Class: Extraterrestrial alien (Shi'ar)
Occupation: Adventurer, exile
Group Membership: None known (see comments)
Affiliations: Deathcry,
Hercules, possibly K'rin
Enemies: Majestrix Lilandra's Elite
Guard, unidentifief members of the Imperium's ruling class
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Presumed mobile
First Appearance: (In shadow) Avengers I#398 (May 1996);
Powers/Abilities: The full extent of Za'ken's abilities
is unknown. He is apparently a skilled fighter, good enough to take
down two of Lilandra's Elite Guardsmen fairly quickly. He has been
shown to have a power to heal a badly injured person, but it is unknown
if the source of said power is mystical, inborn (i.e. he's a Shi'ar mutant
of some sort), technology based, or from some other source. It is
also unknown if he has any other powers besides the healing one.
He also carries two swords on his back, and a rifle, as well as other less-obvious
weapons on his person, like knives and such.
(Avengers I#398) - Za'ken arrived in the Sol System, either to find
Shi'ar exile and Avengers ally Deathcry, or following the trail of Lilandra's
Elite Guard on their mission to keep Deathcry from returning to the Imperium
(possibly both reasons are true). He found Deathcry and her Avenger
ally Hercules in the Blue Area of Earth's moon, but not before two of Lilandra's
Elite Guardsmen had shot down Deathcry's ship, stole a sacred holo-scroll from
Deathcry, and beat the Shi'ar teenager nearly to death, the later of which he
witnessed from too far away to reach them in time.
(Avengers I#399 - BTS) - Za'ken ambushed the two guardsmen on the way
back to their ship, killed them, and retrieved the sacred holo-scroll.
(Avengers I#399) - Za'ken shot at Hercules, mistakenly believing
him a threat to Deathcry's life. He then revealed himself when Hercules
challenged him to show himself, and convinced a wary Hercules that he was
not the one who had attacked them (Herc had been knocked unconscious in
the crash, and had only awakened a few minutes before Za'ken returned)
and further convinced Hercules that he had the power to heal a dying Deathcry.
Hercules allowed the attempt, with the caveat that if Deathcry died, Za'ken would
soon follow. Speaking an ancient Shi'ar mantra, Za'ken performed
a long-abandoned ritual to heal Deathcry's wounds and bring her back to the land
of the living. After returning the scroll to her, Za'ken then took
Deathcry and Hercules to shelter in an abandoned citadel, where he revealed some
of his backstory, and offered an excited Deathcry the chance to return home to
the Imperium, and a chance to lift both of their sentences of exile.
Za'ken, Deathcry, and Hercules then left the Moon to journey to Chandilar.
Comments:
Created by Terry Kavanagh & Ben Raab (writers), Mike Deodato (penciler),
Tom Palmer (inks). I'm guessing Za'ken and the Guardsmen's Caucasian appearance
is a coloring error, since Shi'ar are normally a lot more golden than they
were shown here.
The source of Za'ken's powers is unclear. Apparently
they were once a lot more common among the Shi'ar than they are nowadays.
Based on the reference to rituals and mantras as part of the healing process,
I'm guessing his powers have more of a mystical/magical basis than a technological
basis, or a 'derived from a mutant gene'-type basis. And that he
possibly belonged to a religious order that included 'warrior' as part
of its adherents' services. But calling him a Jedi Knight would cause
all sorts of problems with the copyright laws, so his order has to remain
unnamed until someone becomes interested enough in this guy to flesh out
his backstory more.
I assume he's still out in space and still allied with Deathcry, acting
as her protector and teacher. At least that's where I'd place him.
And hey, a pseudo-Jedi group could be interesting, if given the right writer
handling it. At least in my opinion.
Profile by Elf
with a gun Clarifications:
Za'ken has no known connections to
Elite Guard These two unnamed soldiers were members of Lilandra's
Elite Guard (top fighters who sole purpose was to guard Lilandra and carry
out her will), who were sent on a mission to retrieve the holo-scroll Deathcry's
nanny K'rin sent to her, and to inform Deathcry of K'rin's fate. They shot
down Deathcry's spacecraft when they spotted it above Earth's moon, and when
they found Deathcry and Hercules they took the scroll from Deathcry, gave her Lilandra's
message, then (possibly without Lilandra's direct or implied permission)
beat Deathcry to within an inch of her life and left her to die. They were
then ambushed and killed by Za'ken before they could leave the Moon.
--Avengers I#398
images:
Avengers I#399, p10, pan11 (main image) Appearances:
Last updated: 01/14/07
Any Additions/Corrections? please let
me know.
Non-Marvel
Copyright info
(in full) Avengers I#399 (June 1996)
History:
(Avengers I#399 (fb) - BTS) - Little is known of Za'ken's history save that he was raised on the Imperial
Homeworld Chandilar, and was exiled from the Shi'ar for several years 'with
the highest bounty in all the Imperium' on his head after his parents were
murdered to satisfy an unnamed demagogue's political agenda.
Avengers I#398, p22, pan1 (Elite Guard)
Avengers I#398-399 (May-June, 1996) - Terry Kavanagh & Ben Raab (writers), Mike Deodato (penciler), Tom Palmer (inks), Mark Gruenwald (editor)
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