Origin
Korvus is a descendant of Rook’shir, a citizen of the Shi’ar Empire who, centuries ago, controlled the power of the Phoenix Force in conjunction with his blade. He was ultimately defeated by the Imperial Guard, a team which defends the empire and was formed for the purpose of stopping Rook’shir. After he was defeated, only a portion of his power remained in his blade, which could only be lifted by one of his descendants. Korvus is the last surviving descendant of Rook’shir, and because of this he was kept in prison.
Creation
Korvus was created by Ed Brubaker and Billy Tan and first appeared in Uncanny X-Men issue 478 (2006).
Major Story Arcs
The Rise and Fall of the Shi’ar Empire
As the last decendend of the Rook’shir, Korvus was thrown into prison where he remained for a long period of time. It was however when K’tor, a loyalist of D’ken, offered to set Korvus free, that things changed for the young warrior. He would be set free, provided that he would work for him and D’Ken. Korvus agreed and was thrown into battle against the mutant X-Men. He easily overpowered the X-men except for Rachel Summers, who also controled the Phoenix Force. With the help of Rachel, Korvus was able to break free from the control of K’tor. Since then, he has become a member of the Starjammers and is shown becoming more and more intimate with Rachel Summers.
War of Kings
After Korvus and Rachel Summer’s connection to the Phoenix-Force is lost, they, along with Havok and Polaris, leave the Starjammers and make their way back to Earth. Raza and Ch’od stay behind to fight with the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Cyclops
Korvus was seen with the rest of the Starjammers when the young time-displaced Cyclops joined the team after they had helped the All-New X-Men and Guardians of the Galaxy in saving the young time-displaced Jean Grey. Korvus remains a powerful ally to the team.
Powers
Korvus wields the semi-sentient Blade of the Phoenix, a massive sword roughly 5′ long by 2′ of titanic weight. The blade can be only used by blood relatives of Rook’shir: it does not allow anyone else to lift it easily or to tap its true power, which is a portion of the Phoenix Force. The blade teaches its wielders how to use it, and can show them its pasts wielders’ lives. It can easily cut trough most of the metals, and has the potential to rearrange matter at molecular level. The sword energy has charged a hyperspace jump engine for hours, and also can emit jets of psionic blue flames to stun opponents as well repel energy attacks and create telekinetic shields. The blade can locate other Phoenix hosts, and has created an empathic link between Korvus and former hoster Rachel Grey. Being a shi’ar, he possesses super human strength, agility, speed and durability.
During the ” War of Kings” Korvus’s blade and Rachel Summers, along with everyone else who was a Phoenix Force host, lost their connection to it.