Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Which Legionnaires were the inspiration for the Imperial Guard?

Just wondering off the top of my head:

Which Legion members were the "prototype" for the Imperial Guard?

Nightside - Shadow Lass
Astra - Phantom Girl
Oracle - Saturn Girl
Titan - Colossal Boy
Midget - Shrinking Violet

Those were the only few I could pinpoint, so who were the other IG-ers patterned after?

Grab a copy of the latest BACK ISSUE magazine, with Dave Cockrum & Mike Grell interviews. They give a run-down on the entire group!

Thanks for that, Prof!

Looked up Yahoo and came across this:

CURRENT MEMBERS: Arc, Astra, Blackthorn, Commando (M'Nell), Cosmo, Delphos, Earthquake, Electron, Fader, Fang, Flashfire (Grannz), Gladiator, Glom, Hardball, Impulse, Magique, Manta, Mentor, Monstra, N'rill'iree, Neosaurus, Nightside, Oracle, Plutonia, Schism, Scintilla, Smasher (Vril Rokk), Starbolt, Titan, others
FORMER MEMBERS: Black Light, Blimp, Fang, G-Type, Hobgoblin/Shapeshifter, Hussar, Karnak, Mammoth, Moondancer (Myla), Neutron, Onslaught, Solar Wind, Squorm, Stuff, Triton, Voyager (Divad), Warstar, Webwing, White Noise, Zenith
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Intergalactic
FIRST APPEARANCE: X-Men #107 (1977)

HISTORY: The Imperial Guard is a legion of super-powered champions from throughout the intergalactic Shi'ar Empire who act as enforcers of Imperial law. An elite corps of the Guard, dubbed Superguardians, protects the ruling emperor (majestor) or empress (majestrix) and carries out their personal directives. The other divisions, the Borderers, aid the governors of conquered worlds in enforcing Shi'ar law.

Each division of the Guard has a leader known as a praetor. While some Guardsmen are capable of flight under their own power, all members wear anti-gravity devices that permit them to fly. On occasions when a member of the Guard falls in battle, another member of that Guardsman's race is often chosen to replace them in the Guard's ranks, as has occurred with the Guardsmen named Fang.

When the X-Men sought to rescue the Princess-Majestrix Lilandra from her insane brother, then-Majestor D'Ken, they fought members of the Guard. The X-Men and the Guard subsequently clashed again after Lilandra had assumed the Shi'ar throne and sought to end the universal threat posed by the Phoenix Force, which had assumed the form of X-Man Jean Grey. The Guard defeated the X-Men, but allowed them to return to Earth after Phoenix seemingly committed suicide.

Later, the exiled Shi'ar Deathbird manipulated the Guard into believing the X-Men had kidnapped her sister, Lilandra. Despite the truth being revealed, Deathbird was able to usurp the throne and forced the Guard to aid her in a search for the powerful "Phalkon," which was revealed to be the Phoenix Force, then wielded by Rachel Summers. In the ensuing clash with the Starjammers and Phoenix's teammates in Excalibur, Deathbird and the Guard were defeated.

Later, Deathbird and the Guard were captured by members of the shape shifting alien Skrulls. Deathbird was able to escape and enlisted the X-Men's aid in defeating the Skrulls, after which she abdicated the throne to Lilandra. However, the Skrulls were able to incite a war between the Shi'ar and the Kree that spilled over into Earth space, resulting in the Guard clashing with the Avengers. The war ended after the Kree population was decimated, leaving Lilandra with no other choice but to conquer the remaining Kree.

During the time when many Earth heroes were believed dead after a battle with the psionic being Onslaught, Lilandra dispatched a cadre of Guardsmen to help protect Earth. There, the Guardsmen uncovered a plot by a militant Kree faction to exact revenge for Earth's involvement in the Kree/Shi'ar war. The Guard ultimately proved triumphant, but not before the Kree's leader, the Supreme Intelligence, was recreated. Soon after, the Guard foiled an assassination attempt on Lilandra by the Kree Ronan and his unwilling agents, the Inhumans' Royal Family.

After Lilandra came under the mental possession of Cassandra Nova, the genetic twin of Xavier who had usurped her brother's body, she was mentally coerced into dispatching the Guard to kill the X-Men. After a pitched battle, the X-Men were able to convince the Guard of the true threat, and together they defeated Nova and freed Lilandra. Most recently, the entire 300 member Guard came together to combat the threat of the Skornn, however the creature was dispatched by X-Force just as the Guard arrived in Earth's orbit.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES:
Battled X-Men over fate of Phoenix (X-Men #135-137, 1980)
Participated in Kree/Shi'ar War (Captain America #398/Avengers West Coast #80-82/Quasar #32-33/Avengers #345, 347/Thor #445-446, 1992)
On Earth, battled Kree Underground Militia (Imperial Guard #1-3, 1997)
Sought to prevent assassination of Lilandra by Inhumans (Inhumans #3-4; 2000)
With X-Men, battled Cassandra Nova (New X-Men #122-126, 2002)
Entire Guard assembled to battle Skornn (X-Force #4-5, 2004-2005)

As for who inspired whom...

Astra = Phantom Girl
Electron = Lightning Lad
Fang = Timber Wolf
Gladiator = Mon-el
Hobgoblin = Chameleon Boy
Impulse = Wildfire
Manta = Shadow Lass
Mentor = Brainiac 5
Oracle = Saturn Girl
Smasher = Ultra Boy
Titan = Colossal Boy

A few corrections:

Electron was inspired by Cosmic Boy, not Lightning Lad. The Lightning Lad analog's name was originally Tempest, and later changed to Flashfire.

Hobgoblin and Midget's names were changed to Shifter and Scintilla.

Mon-El did not inspire Gladiator. Superboy, or rather, Superman, inspired Gladiator. In the 1985 edition of the Marvel Universe Handbook, they even went so far as to hire Curt Swan to draw Gladiator.

The Mon-El analog, Commando, first appeared in the 1997 Imperial Guard mini-series, which I haven't read because the uncannyxmen.net story summary does not make it sound promising.

The Hobgoblin name was changed to avoid confusion with Spider-Man's arch-foe of the same name. If so, then why not call Shifter "Hobgoblin II"?

Because Shifter is a snappier name than Hobgoblin II.

Oh. Okay, then. Another nit-pick for you, Stealth - are there equivalents in the Imperial Guard for Chemical King or Tyroc?

Not at the moment, but there's a possibility that Ed Brubaker might introduce some new analogs once he takes over Uncanny X-Men and does his Shi'ar/Imperial Guard storyarc.

Kewl!