CORSAIR: Page 4 of 4

BIOGRAPHY - Page 4

Hepzibah, however, wasn’t willing to spend the rest of her life without her lover. She set out to resurrect Corsair by any means necessary and convinced the rest of the Starjammers to share her goal. A few years later, they made a deal with the mysterious Shrouded, who brought Corsair back to life, probably for an exorbitant amount of money. However, his resurrection came at a price for another reason: Corsair had to inject himself regularly with a nano-serum containing a collective artificial intelligence. The serum was illegal, banned by all governments across the cosmos due to the threat it posed, as it allowed A.I.s to use a living body as a host. Corsair had to go to great lengths to buy the illegal serum and to avoid arrest but there was no other way he could remain alive. [Cyclops (3rd series) #3]

Corsair went back to his old life as a space pirate and leader of the Starjammers, content to be given a second chance. Sometime later, Corsair encountered what seemed to be his son Cyclops, reduced to a teenager. He soon learned that this was not his de-aged son, but literally his teenage son who had been brought forward in time to the present, along with the other four original X-Men, shortly after the team had first formed. The crisis at hand was the young Jean Grey, who was to be put on trial for the crimes committed by her dead, adult version. Corsair was thrilled to be given another chance to be with Scott, though he feared that the teenage version of his son was bound to make the same mistakes his adult version had done in the past when it came to Jean and the Phoenix Force. The teenage Cyclops caught up on everything that had happened with Corsair’s life, considering this was actually the first time these two had ever met from his point of view. The Starjammers, along with the Guardians of the Galaxy, assisted the X-Men against the Shi’ar, now ruled by Gladiator following Lilandra’s recent death. Following the crisis, the teenage Scott opted not to return to Earth with his teammates but remain with his father to spend time with him aboard the Starjammer. [The Trial of Jean Grey crossover] When the adult Cyclops later found out about this, he thought it understandably weird, but also felt jealous of his younger self. [All-New X-Men (1st series) #26]

After commandeering a Badoon starship, Corsair decided to take off on this ship together with teenage Scott, with the two of them spending a month alone together. Christopher promised to show him various wondrous parts of the universe. Although this month-long trip was really meant to be a bonding experience and make up for the lost time between them, Chris wasn’t sure he would truly be able to parent a sixteen-year old boy. Chris initially took them to planet Yrzt, where he secretly wanted to buy doses of the serum keeping him alive. It was there that Scott first realized how much of a wanted man his father was when they were attacked by bounty hunters. The same pattern was to be repeated on other planets they visited. Eventually, they crash-landed on a deserted planet. Stranded there, Corsair explained to Cyclops the circumstances of his resurrection and how this serum kept him to life. When the teenage Cyclops asked the question that his adult version had once formulated – why Corsair never came back for his sons – Chris once again had to admit he was full of anger and shame and had thought it best not to intrude into their lives. [Cyclops (3rd series) #1-3]

Father and son spent the following weeks on this planet hunting together or with Chris training Scott in sword fighting, before eventually finding their way back to the Starjammer. [Cyclops (3rd series) #4] Corsair resumed his duties as leader of the group and even did the occasional favor to old friends, as when he helped Cannonball get on a Shi’ar ship heading for Chandilar. [Avengers World #17]

At some point, the pirate team was attacked by a rival pirate ship led by Captain Malafect, who captured Corsair and conscripted Cyclops, threatening to kill Corsair if Cyclops failed to comply. All the while Corsair was kept prisoner, Scott tried to take care of him and injected him regularly with the serum. Ultimately, they were able to escape. However, Cyclops was now smitten with Vileena, Malafect’s daughter, and convinced his father to save Malafect’s crew when they were facing some enemies. Vileena, angry that Cyclops had abandoned her, ordered her father to arrest them again. Cyclops and Corsair ended up in a slaver moon, where they reunited with the other Starjammers. Thanks to their combined efforts, they escaped again and went about repairing the damaged Starjammer. [Cyclops (3rd series) #5-11]

Corsair and Cyclops later fought side by side with other heroes during the Black Cortex crisis, seeking this mysterious, powerful artifact. Cyclops was captured by the nefarious Mister Knife and expected to be rescued by his father – in vain, as Corsair and his crew were among billion of beings captured by the Brood, allies of Knife, to be used for impregnation. The threat was vanquished thanks to the X-Men and the Guardians of the Galaxy. [The Black Vortex crossover]

A few months later, Corsair was in the middle of an interstellar video call with the teenage Cyclops when the Starjammer was attacked by a team of bounty hunters bonded with alien symbiotes. Before passing out, Corsair informed Cyclops of their exact location, so he and the five time-displaced X-Men could come and rescue them. Indeed, the X-Men came and the true threat soon emerged: the Poisons, an interdimensional race capable of completely assimilating the symbiotes and using them for their horrific purposes. After the battle was over, the Starjammers decided to carry the still surviving symbiotes that had been abducted by the Poisons back to Klyntar, the home planet of the symbiotes. Once again, Corsair had to part ways with his teenage son, who wanted to head back to Earth and prepare for a possible attack of the Poisons. On Klyntar, Corsair and his crew discovered the planet completely deserted: apparently, the Poisons had already assimilated every single symbiote. [Poison X crossover]