Origin
D’Ken was the first ruler of the Shi’ar Empire, and is the brother of both Lilandra Neramani and Caly’see Neramani ( Deathbird). D’Ken was an emperor that had slowly drifted into madness.
Creation
D’Ken was created by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum and first appeared in (Uncanny) X-Men issue 97 (1976).
Major Story Arcs
Mad Emperor
D’Ken was the ruler of the Shi’ar Emprie at the moment that they kidnapped Corsair and Katherine Anne Summers, parents to Cyclops, Havok, and as recently revealed, Vulcan. Corsair made an unsuccessful escape attempt which resulted in D’Ken killing Katherine and ripping his unborn child from her womb as punishment. Corsair was enslaved and D’Ken, using Shi’ar technology, was able to keep Vulcan alive in hopes of making him into a slave one day as well. As Vulcan grew up, he was able to escape from D’Ken and make it back to Earth, where he found aide from Professor X and Moira MacTaggart.
D’Ken was unconcerned by this, he had bigger plans. He sought out the M’Kraan Crystal due to its fabled power. Despite his family’s objections, he finally found the Crystal on a planet only known as “The World”. At this point, due to her brothers machinations of power and disregard for Shi’ar beliefs, Lilandra allied herself with the X-Men to put an end to her brother’s quest. The Phoenix Force which was still weakened an inexperienced within its new host body, Jean Grey, flew to the Crystal to try and stop D’Ken. Unfortunately, the Phoenix, along with everyone else was pulled into the Crystal.
Once inside, they found an endless city, at the center was the heart of the Crystal- a sphere containing a Neutron Galaxy. D’Ken, along with the X-men were immobilized by a ray that was coming out of the orb. The effect of which was causing anyone caught in it to live out their greatest nightmare. The Phoenix was the only one unaffected by the rays, so she used the empathic link she had with the Crystal and discovered that the Sphere had a living shield that was breaking down. If gone unchecked, it would cause all of creation to be sucked into it. Phoenix tried, unsuccessfully, to stop it on her own, so she created a telepathic link to the X-Men, and using their combined power she was able to repair the M’Kraan Crystal and save the entire universe. Unfortunately, the Crystal’s immense power put D’Ken into a coma. With D’Ken incapacitated, his younger sister Lilandra became queen of the Shi’ar Empire.
Revival and death.
Some years after these events, D’ken was brought out of his coma thanks to the help of some of his loyal followers. The Shi’ar Empire had long lost it’s former glory as a conquering race since Lilandra was made Empress. And although most people where happy with, or at least accepted, the new ways of the Shi’ar, more and more people wanted D’ken back as their Emperor. After D’ken was released from his coma and his prison, a civil war soon erupted, pro and con sides where at each others throats in a full scale war where the X-men where caught in the middle. The X-men where there to try and capture Cyclops’ long lost brother, Vulcan. He was on his way to the Shi’ar empire and make them, and above all, D’ken pay for what they had done to his mother (namely killing her).
Although Vulcan first wanted to outright kill him, D’ken came up with a plan. He offered Vulcan to join him in his quest for absolute ruler of the galaxy as his second in command. He also gave his blessings to the marriage between Vulcan and his sister Deathbird, making Vulcan a member of the family. Vulcan strangely accepted and D’ken thought to be invincible with a powerful ally such as Vulcan by his side. His enthusiasm would not last long. Not a minute after Vulcan and Deathbird where married, Vulcan turned to D’ken and killed him. Thus being the next in line as a mail member of the royal family, Vulcan became the new emperor of the Shi’ar empire.
Alternate Realities
Earth 295 – Age of Apocalypse
He manged to kill his own father and younger sister Lilanda and exiling Deathbird, in order to take control over the Shi´ar Empire.