VULCAN: Page 3 of 3

Biography - Page 3

Rather than kill his captives, Gabriel locked Alex and the others away in the undersea prison on Kr’Kn. Havok, in particular, was locked away in a lightless room, cut off from any cosmic energy. To punish his brother, Vulcan would taunt his brother with information about what was happening on Earth and how the X-Men were suffering. His punishment backfired on him, though, when he told Alex about everything that had gone wrong from the X-Men due to the birth of the first new mutant since M-Day. All Alex took from this was there was a new mutant baby, meaning there was hope for the future. All Vulcan achieved was resolving his brother’s desire to kill him. [X-Men: Divided We Stand #2]

With the empire now fully behind him, Vulcan began a campaign of aggressive expansion. Numerous worlds fell to the Shi’ar, which drew the attention of the Galactic Council. When the Council sent an envoy to question the Shi’ar recent actions, Vulcan casually incinerated the group, as a message to the Council not to interfere in Shi’ar affairs.

In between his royal duties and his conquest of worlds, Gabriel continued to take pleasure in tormenting his brother in prison. When Lilandra and her allies blew up a Shi’ar shipyard and liberated the Starjammer, Vulcan grew tired of her actions. Knowing the Imperial Guard were occupied with the great expansion, he had the idea to recruit criminals from the very prison where he held his brother. One prisoner in particular, the extremely powerful Strontian Xenith, wanted a particular price for her service: her cousin Gladiator’s head. This was something Vulcan, who did not trust the Praetor and still resented him for taking his eye, happily agreed to.

The Praetorian Guard Gabriel set up did their job well and managed to track Lilandra and her X-Men allies to Kr’Krn prison, where Havok and his fellow prisoners had escaped. Vulcan and his Imperial Guard joined the fight and things were going in his favor, until his brother Alex absorbed the vast solar energies of one of the Praetorians, greatly increasing his power and brutally beat Vulcan. Meanwhile, his bride Deathbird was impaled by Lilandra and nearly killed, and his enemies escaped during the distraction. With his wife rendered comatose and held in stasis due to her injuries, and his enemies on the run, Gabriel renewed his focus on the great expansion. Unfortunately, Vulcan never learned that Deathbird was pregnant with his child. [X-Men: Kingbreaker #1-4]

When the Inhumans took control of the Kree Empire and destroyed some Shi’ar ships in the process, Vulcan took it as an invitation to war. Wanting a decapitating strike, he sent the Imperial Guard to kill the Inhuman royal family during the wedding of Crystal Amequilan and Ronan the Accuser. While the strike did not succeed, they did manage to capture Lilandra, who was attending the wedding. Meanwhile, Vulcan showed his ruthlessness and bloodthirstiness by happily approving the use of massively destructive nega-bombs upon the Kree. Furthermore, he tormented Lilandra, forcing her to watch the destruction wrought by the bombs. [War of Kings #1-2]

Unknown to Vulcan, the war with the Kree, in particular the large scale destruction wrought by the nega-bombs, was damaging the very fabric of reality. When Adam Warlock of the Guardians of the Galaxy teleported onto Vulcan’s flagship to talk some sense in to him, the emperor was enraged by the intrusion. Despite being an extremely powerful magic user, Warlock was outmatched by the energy manipulator, who easily stole his esoteric energies. Though Warlock tried to explain the severity of the situation, Vulcan did not care; he cared more about the insult Adam had made by intruding. Outmatched, Warlock made his escape but the outraged majestor refused to let it go and sent the Imperial Guard after the man, demanding his head. [Guardians of the Galaxy (2nd series) #14]

As the war took a turn in the Kree’s favor, Gabriel petulantly attempted to execute Lilandra during a tantrum, but was convinced to spare her by Ka’Ardum and Gladiator. Instead, he agreed to put the woman to trial for her “crimes,” knowing she would still be executed, but stripping her of her martyr status.

Vulcan continued to receive reports about how war, mainly that it was over stretching the empire to the breaking point. Nevertheless, the emperor cared little, demanding that they simply work everyone harder. His focus was set solely on conquest.

When his ship came under attack by Kree, Vulcan was surprisingly saved by a mysterious, winged figure. The mysterious savior revealed himself as Talon of the Fraternity of Raptors, an ancient group dedicated the furthering the cause of the Shi’ar. Talon scolded Vulcan for his hot-headed approach putting the Imperium in jeopardy, to which he naturally responded quite poorly. He grew even angrier when he learned Lilandra has escaped and was attempting to retake her throne. However, Talon arranged for the woman’s murder, something which Vulcan was ecstatic to learn about.

As someone focused on immediate gratification, Gabriel failed to anticipate that her murder could lead to civil war within the empire, with Lilandra’s martyrdom driving her supporters. Furthermore, Talon advised he was easily replaceable in the grand scheme of things and must end the conflict with the Kree and cease his warmongering, or he would lose the support of the Raptors. True to his nature, this enraged Vulcan, who was used to people obeying him. Further, when intel came in that the Inhumans were launching a decapitating strike against the Shi’ar, he disregarded Talon’s instructions and attacked them himself.

Black Bolt, king of the Inhumans, planned to launch a Terrigen Bomb, which would convert everyone in the Shi’ar imperium into Inhumans. Vulcan attacked Blackbolt within his ship and the pair launched into a brutal super powered battle. Both opponents were evenly matched, savaging each other both physically and through energy blasts. Beginning to gain the upper hand, Gabriel grew overconfident and declared his victory prematurely. As such, he was caught by surprise when Black Bolt unleashed the power of his voice upon him. Black Bolt’s scream, which could level cities, stripped the flesh from Vulcan’s bones, seemingly killing him.

However, Vulcan’s vast omega level abilities saved him and, while he was his body was horribly mutilated, it was already rebuilding itself. Unfortunately, during his battle with Black Bolt, the T-Bomb had become unstable and, while the Terrigen crystals had become inert, it was still a massive bomb. While attacking Black Bolt before he could escape, the bomb detonated, seemingly killing both. [War of Kings #3-6]

Whilst his tenure as Majestor of the Shi’ar was brief, Vulcan left a lasting impact. Even in death, his actions punished the Shi’ar. His warmongering resulted in the Shi’ar being absorbed into the Kree Empire, with Gladiator established as Majestor. Furthermore, his fatal melee with Black Bolt caused an explosion that tore a hole in time and space, through which monstrous horrors invaded the universe.