STAR KINGS

Classification: Terrestrial television show

Creator: Unrevealed

User/Possessors: Its legions of fans (including the Beast/Hank McCoy)

First Appearance: (mentioned): Avengers III#0 (August, 1999);
    (Star Kings-related book seen): Marvels: Eye of the Camera#2 (February, 2009)

Powers/Abilities/Functions: Star Kings functioned as a typical science fiction television series and was popular enough to warrant several spin off shows.

History: (Avengers Two: Wonder Man & the Beast#2 (fb) - BTS) - The Star Lords television series was restructured as the new Star Kings television series starring Diane Cummings and Felix Simon, actors whose careers were avidly followed by the superhero known as the Beast following the transition.

(Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone & the Monster Hunters (fb) - BTS) - Star Lords special effects man Bob O'Bryan was also involved with the Star Kings project, ultimately marrying its star Diane Cummings.

(Marvels: Eye of the Camera#2 (fb) - BTS) - A book, The Making of Star Kings, was written by Grant Marshall and published by Empire Books.

(Marvels: Eye of the Camera#2 - BTS) - When photographer Phil Sheldon visited Empire Books to meet with publisher Bennett Schwed, a poster of The Making of Star Kings' book cover was on the wall.

(Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone & the Monster Hunters - BTS) - Bob O'Bryan, who worked on both Star Lords and Star Kings, was interviewed by film critic Matt O'Brien for the "O'Brien on Film" column.

(Avengers III#0 (fb) - BTS) - Star Kings became considered a classic in television and spun off three additional television series, Star Kings: A New Dynasty, Star Kings: Border Outpost and Star Kings: The Lost Crusade.

(Avengers III#0 - BTS) - When the All-New It's Amazing television talk show debuted, the host Mac Sanders introduced his new co-host, Diane Cummings, the only actor to not only appear on the Star Kings television show but its further spinoffs as well.

(Marvels Comics: Fantastic Four#1 / 4 - BTS) - A fan of the original Star Kings television show, Johnny Storm included a mention of the show in an article compiling his top three favorite television shows that was published in a comic book. In the article, he noted that while the original show was "scintilling," the spin-offs were lame.

(Avengers Two: Wonder Man & the Beast#2 - BTS) - When the Beast accompanied Wonder Man to visit Alex Flores, he quickly noticed Flores' guests, Diane Cummings and Felix Simon, and leapt into the air announcing himself a fan of theirs since Star Lords had become Star Kings.

(Captain Marvel: Marvels Snapshots#1 - BTS) - Fourteen-year-old Jenni Salto had a Star Kings poster on her bedroom wall.

Comments: Created by Kurt Busiek, Stuart Immonen and Wade Von Grawbadger.

While Star Kings itself was never seen on a television in any of its "appearances," we do see a poster of the book The Making of Star Kings and we also have seen a poster of Star Kings. Those are the images included in this profile.

Star Kings was an obvious homage to the real life Star Trek media franchise. It's three spinoff shows correspond to the three spinoff Star Trek shows at the time. For example:
Star Kings=Star Trek
Star Kings: A New Dynasty=Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Kings: Border Outpost=Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Kings: The Lost Crusade=Star Trek: Voyager

Special thanks to Qq Ww for catching the mention of Star Kings in Marvels Comics: Fantastic Four#1! One might think this appearance is from Earth-20007 since the main story in that issue takes place on Earth-20007 but the Marvels Comics: Fantastic Four#1 issue was written as if it were a comic book published on Earth-616 (with the comic stories reflecting actual Earth-20007 events). This being the case, that would mean that the article was written by Earth-616's Johnny Storm and published in that same reality.18,

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Star Kings has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Captain Marvel: Marvels Snapshots#1, p1, splash page (Star Kings poster)
Marvels: Eye of the Camera#2, p5, pan2 (The Making of Star Kings book poster)
Marvels Comics: Fantastic Four#1, p18, splash page (Star Kings DVD)

Appearances:
Avengers III#0 (August, 1999) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Stuart Immonen (pencils), Wade Von Grawbadger (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Marvels Comics: Fantastic Four#1 (May, 2000) - "Johnny Storm's Hot Lists! The Latest Faves & Raves of the Here & Now's Most Sizzling Super Hero!" story - Karl Kesel (writer), Carlos Pacheco, Jesus Merino (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers Two: Wonder Man & the Beast#2 (June, 2000) - Roger Stern (writer), Mark Bagley (pencils), Greg Adams (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Marvel Monsters: From the Files of Ulysses Bloodstone & the Monster Hunters (2006) - Michael Hoskin (head writer, coordinator), Madison Carter, Jeff Christiansen, Sean McQuaid, Stuart Vandal, Eric Moreels, Ronald Byrd, Barry Reese (writers), Gil Kane (It the Living Colossus entry art), Jeff Youngquist (editor)
Marvels: Eye of the Camera#2 (February, 2009) - Kurt Busiek (writer), Jay Anacleto (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Captain Marvel: Marvels Snapshots#1 (April, 2021) - Mark Waid (writer), Claire Roe (art), Darren Shan (editor)

First Posted: 05/15/2021
Last updated: 06/25/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

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