Starhawk (Stakar of the House of Ogord)[1] is a fictional character appearing in

American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was created by Steve Gerber
(writer) and Sal Buscema (artist). He is an antihero in the Earth-691 timeline of
the Marvel Comics universe.

Stakar was fated to eventually re-inhabit his infant body, reliving his life over
countless times. Because of the knowledge of things to come, he manipulated events
to affect what he felt would be the best outcome, referring to himself as "One Who
Knows". He made many enemies in doing so, but his tampering and guidance also led
to the formation of the Guardians of the Galaxy in the 31st Century.[2]

Sylvester Stallone played Stakar in the Marvel Cinematic Universe[3] film Guardians
of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017).

Contents
1 Publication history
2 Fictional character biography
2.1 Origin
2.2 Guardians of the Galaxy
2.3 Freed from rebirth
2.4 Return
3 Powers and abilities
4 In other media
5 References
6 External links
Publication history
A character called Starhawk appeared in an advertisement on the last page of Marvel
Super-Heroes #20 (May, 1969) as the feature that would appear in the next issue.
That next issue, though, and all subsequent issues of the title, were reprints of
older Marvel material.

Writer Roy Thomas explained that publisher Martin Goodman "had no faith in science-
fiction comics," especially three particular elements that were all included on
artist Dan Adkins' cover. "Rockets, robots and ray-guns. By sheer accident, we
hadn't missed a trick in including all three of the elements which Martin Goodman
considered deadly. So he cancelled the book. Period. End of story."[4]

The unused cover of the Starhawk feature from Marvel Super-Heroes was used as the
cover of the third issue of Marvelmania, Marvel's in-house fanzine, and the first
part of the unused story itself was printed in Marvelmania #6. Though the
serialization was to continue in the next issue, the title was cancelled before
that happened.[5]

The in-continuity Starhawk first appeared in a cameo appearance in The Defenders

#27 (Sep 1975),[6] with his first full appearance in The Defenders #28 (Oct 1975).
The character was created by Steve Gerber and Sal Buscema. It is unclear whether
this Starhawk has any connection to the Marvel Super-Heroes character.

Starhawk appeared along with the rest of the original Guardians of the Galaxy team
in the 2014 series Guardians 3000. Writer Dan Abnett described him as "the soul" of
the team.[7]

Fictional character biography

Origin
A male child was born to the superheroes Quasar and Kismet in about the year 2002
of the Earth-691 timeline.[8] As such, he was half human and half-artificially
created being. Just as soon as he was born on the planet Vesper, he was kidnapped
and deposited on the planet Arcturus IV. The baby was discovered by an Arcturian
couple who were among the last of their planet's mutants; for much of his life,
Stakar would believe that these mutants were his birth parents. The mutants were
found and slain by the Reavers of Arcturus, Arcturian military cadres dedicated to
eradicating the mutants of their race. The Reaver Ogord discovered the infant and,
assuming him to be a normal Arcturian, adopted the child and raised him as his own
with his wife Salaan, naming the boy Stakar.[9]

Stakar cultivated an interest in science and archaeology and explored ruins

containing the Hawk God. Around the year 2020,[10] he and his adoptive sister Aleta
Ogord reanimated the dormant deity and were physically transformed. They took turns
occupying the same physical space, while the other stayed in a type of "limbo".
They were given extraordinary power and left Arcturus IV for the stars; when
dominant, Stakar adopted the costumed identity of Starhawk. Developing romantic
feelings for one another, Stakar and Aleta petitioned the Hawk God to temporarily
separate them. During this time, they had three children together: Sita, John and
Tara.[11] Upon receiving his power from the Hawk God, Starhawk identified himself
and summarized his purpose by saying "I am the wisdom and the glory of your
ancestors. I am the light and the giver of light. I am your heritage and your
destiny! I am the POWER that was Arcturus!"[12]

Guardians of the Galaxy

As an adventurer and protector, Starhawk revealed himself to the Guardians of the
Galaxy and the Defenders in the year 3014. He aided them in overthrowing the Badoon
occupation of Earth.[13] Starhawk joined the Guardians of the Galaxy in a space
mission, and helped defeat the Topographical Man.[14] It is later revealed he
manipulated events to bring the Guardians together; for example, when Charlie-27
teleported from Jupiter to escape the Badoon, Starhawk caused him to be transported
to Pluto where he met Martinex.[15]

During this time, Stakar's three children (Tara, John and Sita) were changed into
energy vampires by Aleta's father and sent to kill Stakar. They died of accelerated
old age. Aleta thereafter blamed Stakar (rather than her father) for the deaths of
their children, and their relationship never recovered.[16]

Starhawk teamed with the time-traveling Thor, and battled Korvac and his Minions of
Menace.[17] Starhawk later traveled to the 1970s alongside his fellow Guardians,
and assisted the Avengers in battle against Korvac.[18] Alongside the Guardians,
the Fantastic Four, Dargo, and Keeper, Starhawk battled manifestations of Korvac's
power in various eras.[19]

In 3017, Starhawk accompanied the Guardians on a quest to find the lost shield of
Captain America. He battled Taserface and the Stark, and was physically separated
from Aleta in an accident.[20] Aleta was the stronger of the pair, and Stakar
forcibly reabsorbed her to sustain himself. The two struggled for dominance of
their physical space, and Stakar metamorphosed into a 'dark' version of himself,
projecting 'black light'.

Because of Stakar's assault on their teammate, the Guardians chose to expel him
from the team. Eventually, Aleta became dominant, and reverted Stakar's body to an
infant state. Aware of his destiny, she sent him back in time to begin his life
cycle again.[21]

Freed from rebirth

When the Guardians traveled back in time to the 20th century of Earth-616, their
native timeline was altered – to the extent that Starhawk had lived his entire life
over again and was waiting for their arrival. Stakar and Aleta had harsh words for
each other, and the Hawk God appeared and intervened, attaching the two ex-lovers
by bonding their fingers together.[22] After being forced to work together for a
time, the Hawk God again granted them audience, allowing them to plead their cases.
He separated them and allowed only Stakar to retain his power, while Aleta was
given back her former power to manipulate light.[23]

Aleta then chose to stay with the Guardians, while the Hawk God told Stakar the
truth about his ancestry.[24] He then went on a quest to learn more. During this
quest he found the wounded Silver Surfer, whom he healed and equipped his Quantum
Bands for a short time. Eon then reveals to Stakar that his biological father
Quasar once wore the bands. Starhawk is then consumed by Abrogate, a place where
all former Quantum-Band wielders go after death. Quasar tells him about his lover
and Stakar's mother Kismet. Stakar finds her alive and living in a secluded
religious retreat on the planet Vesper.[25] After that, a creature who called
himself Era, the son of Eon, revealed himself. It admitted having kidnapped Stakar
at birth, along with other vile deeds.[25]

With the encouragement of the Hawk God, Starhawk and Kismet dedicated themselves to
locating and confronting Era.[25]

Starhawk as a female. From Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, #5 (November 2008), art
by Paul Pelletier.
Return
Using some technology from his timeline, Starhawk teleports himself into the 21st
century of the Earth-616 timeline, to meet up with that era's equivalent of the
Guardians of the Galaxy on Knowhere. Vance Astro, aka Major Victory, was found by
this new squad of Guardians, and Starhawk fights him before teleporting away.[26]
Starhawk again ventures to Knowhere, but this time appears as a woman. Claiming
that there is not meant to be a Guardians of the Galaxy at this point in the
timeline, and that Major Victory's appearance there has put the entire future in
flux, she again attempts to kill Astro and the Guardians.[27] She is detained by
the Guardians,[28] and held captive for a time, until Moondragon released her.[29]
She discovers that the anomaly that is disturbing the time stream is not Astro or
the Guardians, but instead Black Bolt activating a bomb that will cause time and
space to collapse. Starhawk sacrifices her life to save the Guardians, and
instructs Star-Lord to stop Black Bolt, at any cost.[30]

Powers and abilities

The true extent of Starhawk's powers is unknown, but they are said to be immense in
nature. He has an incredibly long lifespan, possibly inherited from his mother or
due to his empowerment by the Hawk God.

Starhawk can manipulate light to create concussive force blasts of photonic energy,
heat, and solid-light constructs. He can also fly at the speed of light by tapping
anti-gravitons, and survive in the vacuum of space. By tapping into Aleta's powers
(when merged with her), he can also generate solid constructs of light; it is
unknown if he can do so since their separation. His natural senses, especially
eyesight, are enhanced to a superhuman degree; in addition, his powers give him
extrasensory sensitivity to energy patterns and fluctuations in his environment,
and he can track energy trails across intergalactic distances.

He has superhuman strength and durability, and he can enhance these further by
reinforcing his body with light energy; on one occasion, he was able to engage in
hand-to-hand combat with the thunder god Thor. He has an immunity to most known
diseases and radiation sickness.

He seemingly has precognition, designating himself as "One-Who-Knows", but this is

actually an effect of remembering what happened in his previous life cycle.
However, due to Starhawk's efforts to change events for the better in each cycle,
as well as the manipulations of beings with greater understanding of the universe
(such as Mephisto), these memories can become unreliable; the overall thrust of
events may be the same, but vital details might differ from his previous
incarnation.

When he forced Aleta to re-merge with him after their second separation, Starhawk's
power changed from light to dark, and he was able to create constructs out of solid
darkness, and fire blasts of shadowy force. Valentino had initially decided to call
him Shadowhawk, but Tom DeFalco convinced him to save the name for a brand new
character.[31]

Stakar has knowledge of the archaeology of the planet Arcturus IV. He also has
extensive knowledge of various civilizations throughout the Milky Way Galaxy.

His costume is made of alien materials, including a retracting transparent facemask

and life support system, and retractable solar wind collector wings.