Smasher

Smasher is a fictional character in Marvel Comics.

Publication history
Smasher first appeared in X-Men #107 (October 1977-February 1978), and was created by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum.

The character subsequently appears in X-Men #137 (September 1980), Classic X-Men #43 (January 1990), X-Men: Spotlight on Starjammers #2 (June 1990), Uncanny X-Men #275 (April 1991), Quasar #32 (March 1992), Thor #446 (April 1992), Avengers West Coast #82 (May 1992), Starblast #2 (February 1994), Quasar #55 (February 1994), Starjammers #4 (January 1996), Untold Legend of Captain Marvel #1-3 (April–June 1997), Inhumans Vol. 4 #4 (September 2000), New X-Men #117 (October 2001), #122 (April 2002), #124-126 (May–July 2002), JLA/Avengers #1 (September 2003), X-Force #5-6 (February–March 2005), and Uncanny X-Men #477 (October 2006), and #480 (January 2007).

Smasher appeared as part of the "Imperial Guard" entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #6.

A new, female Smasher appears as a member of the Avengers in the Marvel NOW! relaunch.

Fictional character biography
The title of Smasher has been used by three different humanoid aliens who served in the Shi'ar Imperial Guard.

Vril Rokk
The first Smasher was Vril Rokk, who had a long, distinguished service with the Guard. He was also romantically linked with fellow Guardsman Plutonia.

When Cassandra Nova was decimating the Shi'ar empire, Smasher was one of the few entities that managed to personally protect the empress Lilandra. Under protest, Smasher is ordered to travel to Earth to warn the X-Men about the threat Nova posed. He crash lands in a field full of cows. He does not make it to the mansion until well after the Imperial Guard, brainwashed by Nova, were attempting to kill the X-Men. His presence manages to convince the Guard to fight against Nova, although he and the others were swiftly defeated by her.

Smasher is later killed by Vulcan, a powerful mutant who attempts to conquer the Shi'ar empire.

Salac Tuur
Vril Rokk is soon replaced with another Smasher, Salac Tuur. The new Smasher was among the Imperial Guardsmen who attacked the Kree homeworld during the wedding of Crystal and Ronan the Accuser. During the battle, Smasher was slain by the Inhuman Karnak.

Smasher III
The uniform and title of Smasher has since been passed onto an unidentified member of the original's race. However, the newest version of Smasher was killed by Gladiator during a raid performed by Starjammers and Guardians of the Galaxy. The Strontian praetor killed Smasher as a sign of defecting to Lilandra.

Izzy Dare
A new Smasher appears in the Marvel NOW! relaunch as part of Captain America's new Avengers line-up. She joins the Avengers to help fight Ex Nihilo on Mars. She is revealed to be Isabel "Izzy" Dare, a college student and astronomer from Iowa. After finding a pair of high-tech goggles that had been left behind in a cornfield by Vril Rokk when he crashed to the Earth to warn the X-Men about Cassandra Nova, Izzy becomes the new Smasher and Earth's first member of the Imperial Guard. Izzy is introduced to Captain America by her grandfather Dan Dare, an acquaintance from World War II.

Powers and abilities
Like his predecessors, Smasher could naturally absorb cosmic radiation from his environment in order to increase his strength to superhuman levels.

Smasher wore special goggles called "exospex" that enabled him to "download" additional superhuman powers. Via the exospex, he could obtain "penta-vision" (a form of X-ray vision), superhuman durability, even greater physical strength, and the ability to travel into hyperspace ("4-space"). Smasher was only capable of downloading one superpower at a time.

Smasher wore small anti-gravity "flight patches" that enabled him to fly. Flight patches are standard issue for Imperial Guardsmen who lack the power of flight.

Inspiration
Several of the members of the Imperial Guard are at least partly based on members of the DC Comics' team Legion of Super-Heroes. Dave Cockrum (co-creator of the Guard) also had a long run as artist on the Legion. Smasher is based on LSH member Ultra Boy.

X-Men: The End
In the alternate future of X-Men: The End Smasher is a veteran Guardian on duty when the plans of the series main villain is revealed. He attacks with a small group of other Guardians. They are all slain, Smasher's neck is snapped.

Star Trek/X-Men
Smasher also appears in Star Trek/X-Men #1 (December 1996). He, and several other members of the Imperial Guard assist Deathbird in a mission.

Television

 * The first Smasher appears in the X-Men episodes "The Dark Phoenix" and "Fate of the Phoenix." He and the Imperial Guard had to fight the X-Men to determine the fate of Jean Grey after what the Phoenix Force did to some of the galaxies.