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).

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''.

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, and later became romantically involved with Nightcrawler.

Alongside Excalibur, she battled the Anti-Phoenix's rock creatures. She also fought Necrom alongside Excalibur. She later encountered the Crazy Gang. Alongside Excalibur, she was attacked by Jamie Braddock and Sat-Yr-9, but the team managed to overpower their attackers. She next aided Excalibur and the X-Men against Troll Associates. Cerise and Nightcrawler then encountered the Knight Errant. She was then attacked by the Sentinels and captured by Nigel Orpington-Smythe. She then met Khaos, and alongside Khaos and Excalibur she battled his foe Ghath on their planet Irth, and invited Khaos to join Excalibur.

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.

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.

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.

Cerise appeared in the 2006 storyline "Annihilation" as a member of the Graces, a group of female warriors led by Gamora.

Cerise appeared in the 2018 series '' Mr. & Mrs. X'', protecting the egg containing Xandra Neramani and enlisting the help of Gambit and Rogue.

Powers and abilities

Cerise is a member of the alien Shi'ar race, making her physical abilities somewhat more powerful than an Earth human.

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.

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.

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

Reception

Accolades

* In 2019, ''CBR.com'' ranked Cerise 7th in their "10 Most Powerful Members Of Excalibur" list.
* In 2020, ''Scary Mommy'' included Cerise in their "Looking For A Role Model? These 195+ Marvel Female Characters Are Truly Heroic" list.

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. Claremont, Chris (w), Chen, Sean (p), Florea, Sandu (i). "Dream a Little Dream". '' X-Men: The End: Book 1: Dreamers & Demons'' #3

References

External links

UncannyXmen.net Character Profile on Cerise

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cerise (Comics)
Characters created by Alan Davis
Comics characters introduced in 1992
Excalibur (comics)
Fictional aviators
Fictional characters who can manipulate light
Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities
Marvel Comics aliens
Marvel Comics extraterrestrial superheroes
Marvel Comics female superheroes
Shi'ar