DEATHBIRD

In the Age of Apocalypse, Deathbird took over the Shi’ar throne when she and D’ken murdered their father. Deathbird was later betrayed by D’ken who forcibly took the throne for himself before murdering Lilandra. With nowhere else to go Deathbird joined the Starjammers to oppose D’ken’s rule. They ended up rescuing a group of mutants from Earth, who had journeyed to the Shi’ar homeworld in the hopes of stealing the powerful M’kraan Crystal. The crystal had become increasingly unstable of late and it was emitting waves of energy that crystallised anything that got in their way. Deathbird teamed up with the mutants in the hope they could help wrestle control of the crystal from D’ken. When they made their way to the crystal Deathbird and a few of the mutants were pulled inside it and discovered another dimension residing within. Deathbird discovered D’ken inside the crystal, trapped by its energies, and when she attempted to kill him she too became trapped. The mutants were allowed to leave but Deathbird’s fate was never revealed.

In a future that depicted The End of the X-Men Deathbird had an important role to play in the deadly timeline. Her history followed her main universe’s counterparts up to the point she met the X-Man Bishop. In this reality she fell in love with him and even had his child, a girl named Aliyah. Bishop ended up leaving them to return to Earth but Deathbird made sure their daughter knew that he was a heroic man. Deathbird had let her sister Lilandra take control of the Shi’ar throne, but in the years that passed she had slipped into insanity. Deathbird kept the existence of Aliyah a secret but thanks to Lilandra’s unstable rule she was forced to leave her daughter. Deathbird attempted to overthrow Lilandra but was captured and remained a prisoner for some time. Lilandra ended up using Deathbird to host a Brood Queen embryo from an alternate dimension, in the hopes of re-introducing the deadly race back into her dimension. Deathbird was put into stasis and the ship she was travelling somehow ended up crashing into the Starjammer. The ship was stealthed and it remained undetected in a disused area of the ‘Jammer for many years. By chance Aliyah found her way onto the ‘Jammer and accidentally came across the ship. She discovered her mother but their reunion was short lived as the Brood had taken over Deathbird. She attacked her daughter and was killed, but not before implanting another Brood in Aliyah. In the subsequent months Aliyah rid herself of the Brood and Lilandra was killed, with Aliyah taking over the Shi’ar throne.

In Exiles (1st series) #54, Deathbird’s plans to conquer the Earth so she could turn it into her own pleasure planet were inadvertently thwarted by the Exiles. The reality hopping team were oblivious to the oncoming invasion, but thanks to a sequence of seemingly random events the entire world was doused in pollution. When Deathbird saw the toxic world she had second thoughts on invading it and departed to look for a cleaner planet to take over.

The version of Deathbird seen in New Exiles #14-18 was a remarkably different person from her main universe counterpart. Going by the name Nerimani, she looked human, had a calm and gentle temperament, and believed that peace was the way forward. Fleeing across the galaxy from her violent younger sister Lilandra, she was forced to give up the Shi’ar throne and go into hiding on Earth. Lilandra sent a squad of Death Commandos after her but thankfully the arrival of the Exiles changed things in her favour. When the Commandos fell, Lilandra took to the battlefield herself and proved a powerful adversary. Nerimani eventually found the courage to take on her sister herself and, thanks to her new friends, came out on top. Nerimani took the Shi’ar throne and started peace talks with Earth, something that had not been done in generations.

In the Ages of Apocalypse reality, Deathbird remained the Horseman of War and used her upgraded powers to murder Lilandra and take the Shi’ar throne once more. Earth and the Shi’ar went to war and after many years of fighting Deathbird and the rest of the Horsemen clashed with the X-Men. The X-Men were outnumbered but the arrival of Xavier and a group of Skrulls turned the tide of the battle. Xavier personally attacked Deathbird for the murder of his lover, but she escaped once she realised she was not going to win.