Starfox
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the fictional superhero from Marvel Comics. For the video game, see Star Fox and the Star Fox series. For the main character in that series, see Fox McCloud.
| Starfox | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
Starfox (real name Eros) is a fictional superhero from the Marvel Comics universe. He has operated as a member of the Avengers and is one of the Eternals of Titan. Where Eros serves as the superhero Starfox, he (and the universe) are opposed by his mad brother, the supervillain Thanos.
[edit] Fictional character biography
Eros is a member of the Eternals, a genetic offshoot of humanity, that left for deep space from Earth years ago and settled on Saturn's moon of Titan. Eros is the youngest son of Alars (also known as Mentor) and Sui-San, and he grew up to be a fun-loving, carefree womanizer in contrast to his brother Thanos, a power-hungry, nihilistic conqueror. Only when Thanos launched his first major attack against Titan did Eros begin to take life a bit more seriously.
Years later, in a subsequent campaign of terror by Thanos, Eros fought alongside Titan's handful of survivors. Eros then joined the alien Captain Mar-Vell and the Earth hero-team called the Avengers in the first major defeat of Thanos. No longer bound by duty on Titan, Eros left the war-torn moon, seeking out pleasure and recreation on humanoid-inhabited worlds.
Eros returned to Titan to help console his cancer-stricken friend Mar-Vell when he retreated to Titan to spend his final days of life. Just before he died, Mar-Vell made Eros promise to take care of his Titanian companion, Elysius, after he was gone. Eros honored his vow for several weeks, until Elysius, realizing his wanderlust, released him from his promise. Traveling to Earth, he sought out and joined The Avengers. They admitted him to their training program and gave him the name Starfox, since they felt Eros was an inappropriate code-name. He served the Avengers faithfully for several months, helping them vanquish such menaces as the Wizard, Terminus, and Maelstrom until leaving to pursue the space pirate Nebula, who claimed to be the granddaughter of Thanos.
Eros returned to a hedonistic life of adventure, preferring to wander space in search of romance and adventure. He would often return to help the Avengers in their adventures, serving during such cases as the Terminus crisis, Operation: Galactic Storm, and the Nemesis case involving the Infinity Gems and the so-called Ultraverse. He also spent time with the son of Mar-Vell, Genis-Vell, and attempted on multiple occasions to assist him and steer him in the right direction.
Eros and his brother, Thanos, have a custom, where each Eternal year (Eternal year = 1000 Earth years) they bury the hatchet and convene at a neutral place, usually bearing gifts. This was an initiative of their father, who demanded that the two would meet every year as a reminder of the blood that runs through both their veins. The meeting is called The Truce and the two meet alone, although the hero Quasar was present at one of their meetings, and they refuse to fight one another.
[edit] Allegations of sexual assault
In the second volume of Marvel Comics' She-Hulk series (2005-current), Starfox was put on trial for sexual assault, accused of using his powers to seduce a happily married woman. He was defended by lawyer Jennifer Walters, also known as She-Hulk, a fellow member of the Avengers. The law firm which employed her, Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway, was contracted by Mentor to defend his son from the allegations. In the course of the trial, Ms. Walters came to suspect that Starfox had used his powers on her in the past, resulting in a brief affair. By this time, Starfox had been banned from the courtroom after it was determined that he was using his special abilities to influence witnesses. When Jennifer Walters confronted Starfox with her suspicions via closed-circuit video link, he evaded her questions and then cut the video feed. Walters angrily charged out of the courtroom, transformed into the She-Hulk, and caught Starfox as he was attempting to escape from Earth. The She-Hulk dealt Starfox a savage beating, giving him no chance to defend his actions, and knocked him unconscious to ensure that he could not use his "charm" abilities to elude punishment. However, Mentor, Starfox's father, effected his son's release by teleporting Starfox away to Titan.
This She-Hulk storyline explored the issue of non-consensual sexual relationships. Although the evidence seemed to indicate that Starfox's use of his psionic abilities was automatic and at times almost subconscious-- the author determined in the end that Starfox was rarely unaware of his power's effects on others and had no moral compunction about taking advantage of those effects to his own benefit and pleasure, thus casting Starfox as a villainous character. Starfox is currently considered a fugitive from justice by New York State and the Federal Government, which quite possibly jeopardizes his continued status as a member of the Avengers.
In issue 12, Starfox is once again placed on trial for the abuse of his powers. Mentor himself has staged this new trial in the hopes of clearing his son's name. The Living Tribunal, interested in the equity of the process, calls on the She-Hulk as prosecuting attorney. Jennifer Walters, in an attempt to get to the bottom of the matter, agrees to a mindprobe of both Starfox and herself. She discovers that Starfox did not use his abilities to influence her decision to be intimate with him, but that he is responsible for her sudden infatuation with and marriage to John Jameson. An enraged She-Hulk once more lashes out at Starfox, bringing the legal proceedings to a halt. To further confuse matters, the villain Thanos, Starfox's brother, reveals that his lifelong fixation with Death is also a product of his brother's mind-altering superpowers. Thanos testifies that Starfox inspired Thanos' obsession with Death when they were children, when attempting to make young Thanos accept the death of an animal he had killed involuntarily with his superstrength. Mentor is left in horror at the implications, and the reader is left to ponder the moral ambiguity of the tale. It is revealed in the next issue however, that this was a false memory that Thanos implanted into Starfox's mind, and shared by a Thanos clone whom the real Thanos sent.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Starfox is a member of the offshoot of humanity known as the Eternals. His body has been enhanced by cosmic energy to the point that it ages far more slowly than most humanoids and is superhumanly strong and resistant to harm. He can harness his cosmic powers to enable himself to fly, and generate a personal forcefield (allowing space and underwater travel).
Starfox can stimulate the pleasure centers in people's brains, making them calm and open to suggestion using his persuasion skill. It has been suggested that when in physical contact, and there is direct line of sight between the subject and the target, Starfox can use this euphoria effect to cause a person or persons to become infatuated with him, objects, or people of his choosing. Notably, the euphoria power does not work on his brother Thanos. In the series Captain Marvel, Starfox also showed the ability to manipulate gravity, simulating psychokinesis. Starfox can speak 500 extraterrestrial languages.
The Titanian Eternals are not as powerful as those of Earth, being less able to channel cosmic energy.
