Sybil (Oracle) (Earth-616)

The Lady Sybil was a member of the Imperial Guard, a multi-special group of super-powered alien beings, enforcing of the laws of the Shi'ar Empire. As Oracle, she was amongst the first of the Imperial Guard encountered by the team of superhuman mutant adventurers known as the X-Men who sought to rescue the Princess-Majestrix Lilandra from her insane brother, then-Majesty D'Ken. Following the orders of their emperor, the Guard clashed with the X-Men and were on the verge of winning when the band of interstellar freebooters known as the Starjammers arrived to turn the tide of battle in the X-Men's favor.^[2]

The Guard and the X-Men subsequently clashed once more when the Shi'ar sought to end the threat to the universe posed by the cosmic entity known as the Phoenix, which had assumed the form of X-Men member Jean Grey. As the Guard's only telepathic member at the time, Oracle was an obvious choice to be one of eight Guardsmen chosen to battle the X-Men. The Guard defeated the X-Men on this occasion, but the mutants were allowed to return to Earth after Phoenix seemingly committed suicide.^[3]

Soon after, Oracle was among those few Imperial Guard members who opposed the treacherous Shi'ar High Council member Lord Samédàr who was aiding an attempted coup of the Shi'ar throne by Deathbird. Even after many of the Guard chose to side with Samédàr, Oracle remained steadfast in her loyalty to then-Empress Lilandra.^[4]

Later, after the formerly-exiled Deathbird had usurped the Shi'ar throne, Oracle was amongst those Imperial Guard members who clashed with the British team of costumed adventurers known as Excalibur and the team the Starjammers over the fate of the then-bearer of the cosmic Phoenix Force, the alternate future daughter of the X-Man Jean Grey named Rachel Summers.^[5]

Much later, the intergalactic teleporter Lila Cheney transported the X-Men to the Shi'ar Empire at the behest of then-Empress Deathbird in time to see Lilandra regain her throne. Not all was as it seemed, however, as in reality a group of Warskrulls, using technology to allow them to duplicate superpowers, had captured and impersonated the X-Men's founder, the telepathic Professor Charles Xavier, using his telepathy to control Lilandra and the Imperial Guard including Oracle, whose own telepathic powers were no match for Xavier's. After the ruse was discovered by the X-Men and all the Warskrull impostors were exposed, Lilandra settled matters with Deathbird, discovering her sister did not want the throne anymore.^[6]

During the war between the Shi'ar and Kree Empires, Oracle was part of a small team of Guardsmen who were charged with discovering the whereabouts of the powerful Kree weapon known as the Omni-Wave Projector. Oracle's team captured the Earthling named Rick Jones, a long-time ally of the former Kree soldier known as Captain Mar-Vell, and learned of the location of the device by scanning Jones' mind.^[7]

When the Empress Lilandra learned of the many Earth heroes that had sacrificed their lives to stop the malevolent psionic being named Onslaught, she dispatched eight members of the Imperial Guard, including Oracle, to protect Earth. While on Earth, the Guard uncovered a plot by a militant Kree faction to simulate a radical political activist group in revenge for Earth's involvement in the Kree/Shi'ar war. In reality, the group created a "nega-reactor", similar to the bomb that was used on the Kree. However, this plot was stopped by the Guard, but not before the reactor was used by the Kree's leader, the Supreme Intelligence, to re-incorporate itself after being presumably killed at the end of the war.^[8]

During their brief stay on Earth, Oracle and her fellow Guardsman Gladiator learned that a fugitive from Shi'ar justice was hiding on the planet, stuck in the form of a child and with no memory of his former life. Their search brought them into confrontation with the gamma-spawned man-beast known as the incredible Hulk.

In her time as a member of the Imperial Guard, Oracle and her fellow Guardsman Flashfire had fallen in love and planned to marry. She took the opportunity to retire from active duty with the Guard, and her place was taken by the telepath named Delphos.^[9]

For reasons unknown, Oracle's relationship with Flashfire did not last, and she later returned as a member of the Imperial Guard following the mental possession of their Empress Lilandra by Charles Xavier's mutant twin sister Cassandra Nova and her decree that all mutants on Earth had to be destroyed, starting with the X-Men. Oracle's appearance had changed drastically - instead of the refined, well-kept woman she once was, Oracle now appears as a naked, feral harridan. During the ensuing clash, Oracle was defeated by the group of young telepaths known as the Stepford Cuckoos, whose combined mental abilities proved more powerful than Oracle's own.^[10]

Oracle was injured in the battle with Vulcan, but survived.^[11] Later she served in Vulcan's Imperial Guard, but never forgetting the members of the Guard that Vulcan killed in their first confrontation. She opposed Vulcan's decision to create a new guard from some of the most dangerous criminals the Shi'ar Empire had ever known, and was horrified by the idea that Vulcan would give Gladiator to his cousin, the Strontian.

After the War of Kings ended and Gladiator became the new Majestor of the Shi'ar Empire, she served in Gladiator's Imperial Guard.

When the focus of the decay of the universe was found to be the Earth, the Majestor addressed the Galactic Council, and decided that the Earth had to be destroyed to save the universe.^[12] Even though the Shi'ar planned a sneak attack on the Earth, the Guardians of the Galaxy managed to discover their plan and warned the Avengers.^[13]

While approaching Earth, the Shi'ar alerted humanity that they had two hours left to live until Earth was destroyed by their fleet. Using a super weapon capable of channeling the Earth's power, Sunspot and A.I.M. retaliated against the Shi'ar in front, while S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Avengers used a Planetkiller seized from the Builders to attack from behind. However, A.I.M.'s weapon overheated and exploded, and the Planetkiller was destroyed by the Annihilation Wave. With no options left, the Avengers prepared to meet their end. However, the Illuminati used the controller disk of a rogue planet that shared the same space with Earth while phased while Iron Man flew to the Sol's Hammer, and prepared to use it.^[14] Iron Man charged and fired Sol's Hammer, successfully destroying the Shi'ar fleet, including Oracle.^[15]

Once the universe was destroyed,^[16] it ultimately came back.^[17] The Shi'ar and the Imperial Guard were brought back as a byproduct of the universal renewal,^[18] with no memories of the universe's temporary demise, like the rest of the inhabitants of the universe.^[19]

Oracle was dispatched along with fellow Imperial Guard members Smasher and Mentor to investigate the rebirth of the planet Archeopia after it was destroyed by the world devourer Galactus. Oracle used her telepathic abilities in conjunction with the vast amounts of information processed from the environment by Mentor to determine that Galactus underwent another cosmic metamorphosis which caused the planet to be brought back to life. This revelation was later transmitted back to Gladiator.^[18]

Attributes

Power Grid^[22]

Powers

Telepathy: Oracle is a member of an unidentified alien race whose members all possess telepathic abilities to varying degrees. Oracle is one of the stronger members of her race, being able to read the thoughts of other sentient beings, project her own thoughts into the minds of others, stun her opponents with bolts of pure mental energy, and perform other various telepathic feats.^[20] Lilandra once referred to Oracle as the Shi'ar Empire's premier telepath, further alluding to how powerful she is. She has proved able to overpower and block accomplished telepaths like Cosmo^[21] and Mantis^[21].

Sybil (Oracle) (Earth-616) from Ultimates Vol 3 3 002 — Oracle using her Mind-Sight

- Psychoscopic Awareness: Oracle possesses the ability to expand her over-consciousness which allows her "Mind-Sight" to read the impressions left by events in the fabric of time and matter. She can also extend the awareness to other people showing them what she sees.^[18]

Abilities

Hand-to-Hand Combat: Some training in unarmed combat.^[20]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Flight Patches: An anti-gravity device enabling her to fly at 200 mph.^[20]

Transportation

Various Shi'ar starships.

Trivia

Most members of the Imperial Guard are analogs of DC Comics' Legion of Super-Heroes. Oracle is based on Saturn Girl who was also a telepath.

Links and References

References

[Infinity_Vol_1_5-1] Infinity #5

[X-Men_Vol_1_107-2] X-Men #107

[X-Men_Vol_1_137-3] X-Men #137

[Uncanny_X-Men_Vol_1_157-4] Uncanny X-Men #157

[X-Men_Spotlight_onStarjammers_Vol_1_2-5] X-Men: Spotlight on...Starjammers #2

[Uncanny_X-Men_Vol_1_275-277-6] Uncanny X-Men #275–277

[Avengers_West_Coast_Vol_1_80-7] Avengers: West Coast #80

[Imperial_Guard_Vol_1_1-3-8] Imperial Guard #1–3

[Inhumans_Vol_3_4-9] Inhumans (Vol. 3) #4

[New_X-Men_Vol_1_124-126-10] New X-Men #124–126

[Uncanny_X-Men_Vol_1_480-11] Uncanny X-Men #480

[Avengers_Vol_5_41-12] Avengers (Vol. 5) #41

[Avengers_Vol_5_42-13] Avengers (Vol. 5) #42

[Avengers_Vol_5_43-14] Avengers (Vol. 5) #43

[Avengers_Vol_5_44-15] Avengers (Vol. 5) #44

[Secret_Wars_Vol_1_1-16] Secret Wars #1

[Secret_Wars_Vol_1_9-17] Secret Wars #9

[Ultimates_Vol_3_3-18] 18.0 ^18.1 ^18.2 Ultimates (Vol. 3) #3

[Ultimates_Vol_3_1-19] Ultimates (Vol. 3) #1

[Official_Handbook_of_the_Marvel_Universe_A-Z_Vol_1_14-20] 20.0 ^20.1 ^20.2 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #14

[Guardians_of_the_Galaxy_Vol_2_15-21] 21.0 ^21.1 Guardians of the Galaxy (Vol. 2) #15

[22] Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 14

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