Starhawk (Stakar Ogord) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He was created by writer Steve Gerber and artist Sal Buscema. 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. Sylvester Stallone played Stakar in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023).
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." 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. This Starhawk's material was published in Marvel Masterworks vol. 209: Marvel Rarities vol. 1 in September 2014. Starhawk was Mark Wilde, son of Jonathan Wilde, who lived in the 22nd Century. He battled an android called 75110, which was an agent of the master computer, MASCOM, against which he was rebelling. Jonathan was also part of the underground movement against MASCOM and was in regular contact with his son. The in-continuity Starhawk first appeared in a cameo appearance in The Defenders #27 (Sep 1975), 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.
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. 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 Arcturan 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 killed by the Reavers of Arcturus, Arcturan military cadres dedicated to eradicating the mutants of their race. The Reaver Ogord discovered the infant and, assuming him to be a normal Arcturan, adopted the child and raised him as his own with his wife Salaan, naming the boy Stakar. Stakar cultivated an interest in science and archaeology and explored ruins containing the Hawk God. Around the year 2020, 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.
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. Starhawk joined the Guardians of the Galaxy in a space mission, and helped defeat the Topographical Man. 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. 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 before dying from rapid aging. Aleta thereafter blamed Stakar (rather than her father) for the deaths of their children, and their relationship never recovered. Starhawk teamed with the time-traveling Thor, and battled Korvac and his Minions of Menace. Starhawk later traveled to the 1970s alongside his fellow Guardians, and assisted the Avengers in battle against Korvac. Alongside the Guardians, the Fantastic Four, Dargo, and Keeper, Starhawk battled manifestations of Korvac's power in various eras. 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. 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.
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