From anthropomorphic ducks to mutated heroes, the comic world is home to a wide variety of unique characters. Some of the more interesting creations are found within the pages of the X-Men comic books, including the team of space pirates known as the Starjammers. How much do you know about them?

Created by Dave Cockrum, the team first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #107 in 1977. The team’s history begins with a military pilot named Christopher Summers, whose plane is suddenly attacked mid-flight. His wife attached their sons Scott and Alexander – who later become the X-Men Cyclops and Havok – to the only parachute and pushed them out of the plane, saving them. Summers and his wife were then teleported to the ship of an advanced alien race called the Shi’ar and brought to their ruler D’Ken. His wife was taken as a concubine, while Summers was taken to the slave pits. After a failed attempt to rescue his wife, which ends in her death, Summers is sent to a mining camp on another planet.

While there, Summers met the future members of the Starjammers – Raza Longknife, the large reptilian Ch’od, and the Mephitisoid Hepzibah. After commandeering a spaceship, the four escaped and became a team of outlaws rebelling against D’Ken’s tyranny. It was at this time that Summers began using his pilot call sign, Corsair, as his new moniker. The Starjammers’ travels have taken them across the universe, occasionally bringing them in contact with the X-Men. They helped the mutant heroes defeat the cosmic threat Magus, teamed with Hulk and Silver Surfer to assist in a raid on Troyjan, and were briefly allies of the Avengers. For a time, they were also held captive by the Collector.

The Starjammers played a large role in the 12-issue story arc “The Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire” in Uncanny X-Men. Following the events of X-Men: Deadly Genesis, Corsair’s long-lost third son of Corsair is revealed to be the powerful mutant known as Vulcan. Although initially seeking revenge against the Shi’ar empire, Vulcan later goes up against the X-Men and the Starjammers, who are trying to stop him. In the course of the finale, Corsair is seemingly killed. After Corsair’s death, many changes were made to the Starjammers team. At this time, the space pirates consisted of Havok, Polaris, Ch’od, Marvel Girl, Raza, Korvus, Sikorsky, and Cr’eee. This version of the team later starred in the miniseries X-Men: Emperor Vulcan, written by Chris Yost. 

Recently, as part of the line-wide X-Men relaunch Dawn of X, a new version of this classic cosmic team has returned to the forefront. New Mutants #1, written by Jonathan Hickman, Ed Brisson, Rod Reis, and Travis Lanham, sees the Starjammers reunited with the X-Men. But is this reunion a happy one...