Cerise (comics)

Cerise is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, in particular those featuring Excalibur and other books of the X-Men franchise. Created by Alan Davis, the character first appeared in Excalibur #47 (March 1992).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Publication history

Cerise first appeared in Excalibur #47 (March 1992), created by Alan Davis. Visually the character was a reuse of a design for a proposed series called Warpforce, pitched to DC Comics by Davis and Paul Neary. When DC passed on the series Davis decided to refine the design and include it in Excalibur.<ref name="auto3">Template:Cite book</ref>

Fictional character biography

Cerise is an extraterrestrial from the planet Shaskofrugnon in the Shi'ar empire. As she has revealed in her first appearance, she is the gene stock of Subruki, Zarstock, and Kuli Ka. She was accidentally transported to Earth after deserting the empire's army, the Ghrand Jhar, refusing to fire upon innocents and as a result causing the death of her crew. She became a member of Excalibur upon encountering them,<ref>Excalibur #46-47 (January - February 1992)</ref> and later became romantically involved with Nightcrawler.<ref name="CBR">Template:Cite web</ref>

Alongside Excalibur, she battled the Anti-Phoenix's rock creatures.<ref>Excalibur #48 (March 1992)</ref> She also fought Necrom alongside Excalibur.<ref>Excalibur #49-50 (April - May 1992)</ref> She later encountered the Crazy Gang.<ref>Excalibur #54 (September 1992)</ref> Alongside Excalibur, she was attacked by Jamie Braddock and Sat-Yr-9, but the team managed to overpower their attackers.<ref>Excalibur #55-56 (October - November 1992)</ref> She next aided Excalibur and the X-Men against Troll Associates.<ref>Excalibur #57-58 (November - December 1992)</ref> Cerise and Nightcrawler then encountered the Knight Errant.<ref>Excalibur #59-60 (December 1992 - January 1993)</ref> She was then attacked by the Sentinels and captured by Nigel Orpington-Smythe.<ref>Excalibur #62 (February 1993)</ref> She then met Khaos, and alongside Khaos and Excalibur she battled his foe Ghath on their planet Irth, and invited Khaos to join Excalibur.<ref>Excalibur Annual #1 (July 1993)</ref>

During the "Warpies Saga", wherein superhuman children were being manipulated, Cerise was baffled with the concept of "children". Shadowcat tried to explain to her how infants are born and grow up to become adults. Cerise reveals that she "emerged from the source" as she is.<ref>Excalibur #63 (March 1993)</ref>

Eventually, Cerise was taken into custody by the Starjammers for her crimes against the Shi'ar empire. She was sent to the pan-dimensional prison Krag, where she was revealed to have destroyed the Shi'ar recruitment vehicle (Ghrand Jhar) to prevent it from carrying out further acts of genocide. She was forced to kill Fang, a member of the Imperial Guard, in personal combat. The Shi'ar empress Lilandra Neramani pardoned Cerise for her crimes, given their circumstances, and allowed her to serve out her prison sentence as a personal aide. Cerise's role in the Shi'ar empire is to investigate reports of brutality and violence among Shi'ar officials.<ref>Excalibur #68 - 70 (August - October 1993)</ref>

During 2000's "Maximum Security" crossover, Nightcrawler professed at one point that he still loves her, but at the time he was planning to become a Catholic priest, and thus could not rekindle their relationship.<ref>X-Men (vol. 2) #107 (December 2000)</ref>

Cerise appeared in the 2006 storyline "Annihilation" as a member of the Graces, a group of female warriors led by Gamora.<ref>Annihilation: Ronan #2-4 (July - September 2006)</ref><ref name="CBR"/>

Cerise appeared in the 2018 series Mr. & Mrs. X, protecting the egg containing Xandra Neramani and enlisting the help of Gambit and Rogue.<ref>Mr. & Mrs. X #1-5 (September 2018 - January 2019)</ref><ref name="CBR"/>

Powers and abilities

Cerise is a member of the alien Shi'ar race, making her physical abilities somewhat more powerful than an Earth human.<ref name=":0" />

She also has the ability to generate and psionically manipulate energy fields of coherent red spectrum light force. She can project the light as simple brightness, or as concussive blasts, or use it to form solid energy constructs.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Excalibur #61 (January 1993)</ref>

Cerise wears gloves that contain broad-band sensor arrays which allow her to search for specific life-forms, energy, and temporal/dimensional abnormalities in a surrounding area. She also wore a "transit suit" permitting travel through hyperspace. Her equipment was designed by Shi'ar scientists and craftsmen.Template:Citation needed

Cerise is a skilled warrior, having received combat training in the Shi'ar military, and is a trained starship navigator.Template:Citation needed

Reception

Accolades

• CBR.com ranked Cerise 7th in their 2019 "10 Most Powerful Members Of Excalibur" and 9th in their 2024 "Nightcrawler's Greatest Relationships In Marvel Comics".<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• In 2020, Scary Mommy included Cerise in their "Looking For A Role Model? These 195+ Marvel Female Characters Are Truly Heroic" list.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Other versions

In the future timeline seen in X-Men: The End, Cerise is an elite member of the Imperial Guard is sent by Lilandra to rescue Jean Grey. While she completes her mission in rescuing Jean, her cover was blown by Mister Sinister and she is killed by his agent, Shaitan.<ref>Claremont, Chris (w), Chen, Sean (p), Florea, Sandu (i). "Dream a Little Dream". X-Men: The End: Book 1: Dreamers & Demons #3</ref>

External links

• UncannyXmen.net Character Profile on Cerise