Who the Clix? – Starfox

Who the Clix? is a series of articles featuring information on comic book characters that have been made into figures for the popular tabletop game Heroclix. These articles are meant to help Heroclix players learn more about the characters behind their favorite pieces.

Today we look at the lover, fighter, and Avenger known as Starfox!

Appearances in Heroclix: Avengers Infinity, Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Avengers
First Appearance: Iron Man #55 (Vol. 1)
Team Affiliations: Eternals, Avengers
Created by: Jim Starlin

Artwork and character is copyright/trademark Marvel; used under Fair Use
Artwork and character is copyright/trademark Marvel; used under Fair Use

 

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 A’lars (also known as Mentor) and Sui-San, and he grew up on Titan to be a fun-loving, carefree womanizer and adventurer in contrast to his brother Thanos, a power-hungry, nihilistic conqueror. Only when Thanos launched his first major attack on Titan did Eros begin to take life a bit more seriously.

Starfox fought alongside the remainder of Titan’s survivors (after many attacks from Thanos) as well as Captain Mar-Vell and the Avengers to repel his dark and disturbed brother. After successfully turning Thanos back and with little to defend on Titan, Starfox went out to seek adventure and intrigue.

After watching his good friend Captain Mar-Vell die from cancer, Eros went to Earth where he sought out and joined the Avengers as a trainee. They admitted him to their training program and the Wasp gave him the code-name Starfox, since they felt Eros was an inappropriate code-name. With the Avengers, he battled Annihilus, the Wizard, Maelstrom, Terminus, and Nebula. With the help of ISAAC, he was able to revive the damaged synthezoid Vision.

When Thanos had gained the Infinity Gauntlet, one of the first things he did was capture Starfox and place him under various torments. Starfox was forced to witness various cosmic murders, power plays, the personal deaths of heroes he knew and other atrocities. He did attempt to charm Thanos out of his plan but had his mouth neutralized for his effort.

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.

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, the She-Hulk. The law firm which employed her, Goodman, Lieber, Kurtzberg & Holliway, was contracted by Mentor to defend his son from the allegations. Mentor eventually helped Starfox teleport away from Earth, feeling that Earth justice would not be sufficient.

Mentor called a native Titan trial and She-Hulk was called for the prosecution. Eventually, Eros’ own brother Thanos was put on the stand and claimed that Eros used his emotion altering powers to make Thanos “fall in love with Death” when they were children (while attempting to make Thanos feel better about accidentally killing a small animal). Under Titan law, this would mean that every evil act Thanos had committed would be Eros’ responsibility.

It is revealed that this memory (that both share) was actually a fake implanted by Thanos into Starfox and into the clone of Thanos that appeared at the trial in an attempt to frame his brother. This had resulted in Starfox’s powers becoming unstable and working subconsciously. Moondragon was used to turn his powers off, at Starfox’s request, so that he would not hurt more people.

She-Hulk asked the clone why Thanos would do such a thing. After a short period of thinking, it looked at her and said that though he could not know for sure, he believed that Thanos would have done such a thing because “it amused me.”

She-Hulk proceeded to kill the clone.

Some time later, Starfox is living on Titan once more with his powers restored. He is flirting with several women but tells his companion that he refuses to use his powers to woo them against their will. Ultron then arrives and begins assimilating the entire population with a techno-organic virus. Starfox manages to escape to Earth and rallies the current Avengers to help him free Titan. In the final battle, he manages to use his powers to force the Ultron, now half-organic, to have an emotional breakdown.

Later, Starfox is teleported into the far flung future by his own future self. He spends years surviving before managing to get help from a passing ship. Years later, his own personal ship is brought down on a planet with such high gravity that he is unable to fly. He is eventually taken in by a local tribe and is able to repair his ship in exchange for helping the tribe gain greater technology. He leaves and travels to another planet where he lives for centuries before setting the entire world on fire and leaving. Some centuries later, he encounters Kang the Conqueror and learns of an omnipotent Thanos from the far future that is doing incredible damage. With Kang’s help, Starfox returns to the day he was teleported to the future and sends his past self into the future to live the same events.

Starfox enlists Pip to help him convince his brother Thanos to conspire to avoid this dark future. More time traveling shenanigans ensue before they return to the present, Starfox unaware that he has been manipulated by the future Thanos the whole time. Pip and Starfox begin jumping through time, trying to find the best way to stop Thanos who manages to absorb all the cosmic powers in the universe before absorbing his beloved, Mistress Death. With despair in his heart, Eros decides that he must travel back and kill his brother as an infant. He is stopped by a resurrected Adam Warlock, who conspires to have Starfox banished from Death’s realm. This results in Starfox becoming nigh immortal like Warlock and Thanos, which is apparently all part of Adam’s plan.

A series of incredibly complicated events follows which is ultimately successful in stopping Thanos from becoming so powerful that he is able to commit suicide and destroy the multiverse. Kang solves this loop by stopping Starfox from ever traveling to the future and setting the multiverse on this path.

After the Infinity Wars, Starfox plays a recording from Thanos at the Mad Titan’s funeral. This recording states that Thanos has uploaded his mind into a new body before the moment of this death. As the guests react to this announcement, the Black Order attacks the funeral and steals Thanos’ corpse before tearing a hole into space and sending the guests flying into the abyss. Gladiator arrives with ships from the Shi’ar empire and rescues the guests, allowing Starfox the time to form a new Dark Guardians team to track down Thanos’ new body.

The Dark Guardians finally capture Gamora, who Starfox believes is containing Thanos’ consciousness. They are about to execute her when Hela and the Black Order arrive. The Asgardian informs the Dark Guardians that Thanos is actually in Starfox’s body and the Mad Titan takes control of his brother’s body. Together, StarThanos, Hela and the Black Order travel to Knowhere and prepare to restore Thanos to his own body, at the cost of Starfox’s life.

The Guardians and Dark Guardians storm Knowhere, attempting to stop Thanos’ resurrection. Gamora apologizes to Starfox before running him through with her sword. Unfortunately, this doesn’t stop the resurrection but just leaves Thanos in his own body with a broken mind.

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