Kyras Shakati is a minor antagonist of the third volume of Inhumans, published by Marvel comics in 2000, although his first appearance was in X-Men vol 1 #125, "There's Something Awful on Muir Island!", which was published in 1979. He is an alien merchant who is an official of the Commercial Guilds, a guild of interstellar merchants present across the Shi'ar and Spartoi empires, including in the neutral frontier worlds between the Spartoi Empire and Kree territories subjugated by the Shi'ar. Externally, Shakati mostly resembles a tall, broad, bearded human, but bears grey skin.
Kyras Shakati was presumably meant to be a younger version of Master Shakati, a character featured in the classic stories of Star-Lord, as the Inhumans run was meant to properly bring Star-Lord into the mainstream Marvel universe, and serve as a prequel to his classic stories. However, later developments made this impossible, so the classic stories were rebranded as an alternate universe, Earth-791, and the Kyras Shakati featured in Inhumans remained in Earth-616, the prime Marvel continuity.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Kyras Shakati was a merchant from Shi'ar space who worked in the Commercial Guilds, eventually becoming a high-ranking official of said guilds, allowing him great wealth and influence over a vast region of space, most people seeing him as simply a peaceful merchant and trusting him. However, in secret, Shakati would partake in criminal activities, such as smuggling across neutral space, in order to increase the profits of the guilds, willing to commit any crime for others if the price was right, gaining great enjoyment from doing so. Additionally, at some point in time, Shakati acquired a few young male personal servants/bodyguards, including G'anym, his most trusted aide. Two of his aides, Arak and Arion, accompanied Shakati to the first state ball of the newly-crowned Shi'ar empress Lilandra, on a world known as the Imperial Center.
For some time, Shakati conducted a great deal of business across the frontier worlds, a buffer zone of neutral worlds in the Large Magellanic Cloud, between the bordering Kree and Spartoi empires, where he would commit most of his illicit activities, far from the jurisdiction of either side's authorities. After a war between the Shi'ar and Kree, the Shi'ar annexed the Kree and took control of the border territories, many Kree refugees fleeing to the frontier worlds, but Shakati continued his business regardless. At another unknown point in time, Prince Jason, prince of the Spartoi Empire, did something that placed the Commercial Guilds in his debt, and met Shakati, the two on seemingly good terms.
Shi'ar-Spartoi alliance and Kree-Inhumans conspiracy[]
Eventually, around 2000, by Earth's time, the Spartoi and Shi'ar Empires sought a more formal, peaceful, and mutually beneficial alliance, as their scientists had determined that the two species were of common ancestry. After tense negotiations, a proposal for an alliance was reached, via a symbolic marriage between Spartoi Emperor Eson and Shi'ar Empress Lilandra. As part of the alliance, Shi'ar and Spartoi forces would dissolve the neutral buffer zone of frontier worlds between the two states, removing or exterminating any natives who resisted and giving Kree refugees in the buffer zone to Spartoi for slave labor, while the planets themselves would be given to Spartoi colonists. However, Ronan the Accuser, a Kree warlord, met with Shakati for the purposes of stopping the alliance and destabilizing the Shi'ar Empire as vengeance, which Shakati was in favor of, as the alliance would harm the criminal side of his enterprises. Specifically, Ronan planned to assassinate Lilandra during the symbolic marriage, which he believed would spark a Spartoi-Shi'ar war that would destroy both sides, and allow the Kree Empire to be reformed from the ashes. To accomplish this, he had enslaved the Inhumans, a group of Kree-modified humans, to be his agents. Shakati agreed to work with Ronan, although in private, he figured that the plan may be impossible to fully complete, and thus plotted ways to make sure the merchant guilds secured a profit no matter the outcome.
A few months later, as preparations for the alliance were underway in both empires, Shakati and G'anym were invited to the planet Kritnah, a former Kree planet where the marriage was to take place, being transported in a Shi'ar ship alongside other dignitaries. However, that ship became the site of an attack by the Kree-controlled Inhumans, who were disguised as "alien marauders targeting the Shi'ar outer rim," following a plan to force the passengers to evacuate. On the orders of the Shi'ar captain, P'kkrd, Shakati and G'anym boarded an escape pod to get away from the fighting, although the pod appeared to have a faulty air circulation system, nearly making G'anym faint. Soon enough, the ship was rescued by none other than Prince Jason, who arrived in his living starfighter Soulship with two other Spartoi starfighters. The Inhumans quickly fled, but not before leaving a fake escape pod holding Inhumans Triton and Karnak, disguised as Shi'ar soldiers, who were unknowingly brought aboard when the pods were retrieved and returned to the ship. Now back aboard, Shakati and G'anym exited their pod and greeted Jason, who had docked, where Shakati thanked Jason for his timely arrival and noted how the Commercial Guilds were in his debt once again, before berating P'kkrd for not keeping the ship safe. P'kkrd quickly offered his own cabin to Shakati until they arrived, which Shakati accepted, although he still vowed to file a complaint with his homeworld's Shi'ar embassy. Later, Shakati, P'kkrd, and Jason shared a meal, where Shakati noted that things would be safer when the alliance was completed, but Jason, who opposed the imperialist goals of the Shi'ar-Spartoi alliance, expressed some doubt in it. When asked if the guilds knew anything of the "alien marauders," Shakati denied any knowledge, instead noting that the symbolic marriage could bring profit.
Two weeks later, Shakati left Kritnah for a space station in Shi'ar space, where he met Black Bolt, Medusa, and Gorgon, three Inhumans under Ronan's control. As they were to infiltrate the wedding under the guise of Kree refugees, Triton and Karnak meant to infiltrate in the guise of military and already working their way into joining the Imperial Guard that would accompany Lilandra, Shakati provided ID chips to the three, allowing them to reach Kritnah. Following them to Kritnah with G'anym, they saw the Inhumans get their ID chips stolen by alien scavengers, seemingly part of a plan to rope in Jason, who had been leading security patrols around Kritnah. Sure enough, Jason arrived on the scene and fought off the scavengers, before personally offering new chips to the Inhumans, buying their story of being refugees and taking pity on them. The lead scavenger, Pogo, found G'anym, who bought the stolen chips from him, which Shakati had disintegrated to erase all evidence of his involvement, noting that the plan was working smoothly.
A few days later, the wedding ceremony took place, and Shakati was present alongside G'anym, various Spartoi officials, including Jason, and even a few representatives of soon-to-be enslaved Kree refugees. Black Bolt, Medusa, and Gorgon were already present, using the chips Jason gave them to secure a place of honor, while Triton and Karnak already in place as Imperial Guard, all poised to strike Lilandra as she personally awarded the frontier world property titles to the Spartoi. However, Lilandra suddenly summoned a forcefield over Black Bolt and ordered her troops to apprehend the Inhumans, revealing them to the Spartoi and other Shi'ar. A fight quickly broke out between the Shi'ar and Inhumans, ending with Black Bolt forced to fire a bolt of force that seemingly killed Lilandra after a jolt from an obedience device Ronan planted on him. The entire time, Shakati had stood off to the side with G'anym, the two protected by a forcefield.
After the dust settled, the Inhumans teleporting away, it was revealed that "Lilandra" was actually a shapeshifting Shi'ar agent, as the real Lilandra appeared via hologram, explaining that a psychic member of her guard had foretold these events, and thus she now believed that the alliance would only bring more harm than good. To the shock of the Spartoi, she canceled the alliance and nullified the frontier world disbursement, but to Ronan's anger, she did not declare war, merely having the Shi'ar leave to reestablish the previous neutral zone. The datachips Jason gave the Inhumans were also picked up by Spartoi ministers, implicating Jason as part of the conspiracy, resulting in his immediate exile. Shakati then had the forcefield turned off, and began to gloat, as the dissolution of the alliance meant that the neutral zone would remain in place, allowing for the Commercial Guild's profitable criminal activities to continue, commenting that he had bet on all odds, and that "warriors," referring to the Kree, were so naïve. Ronan soon realized that Shakati had effectively conned him, vowing vengeance, but it is unknown if he ever carried it out, and Shakati presumably returned to his illicit work after the failed ceremony.
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 Villains
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