Fictional Character Biography
The second Erik the Red is Davan Shakari, an alien from the Shi'ar Empire. This version of the character was created by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum in X-Men #97 (1975) as a precursor to the original Phoenix Saga storyline.
The identity of Eric the Red (note the spelling) was actually first used by Cyclops in X-Men #51 by Arnold Drake and Jim Steranko. Cyclops pretended to be a mutant supervillain to infiltrate a group of mutants led by Mesmero and a robot pretending to be Magneto, who had captured the rest of the X-Men. Cyclops' Eric the Red costume included a mask and gloves that redirected his optic blasts so that they were fired from his hands.
Davan Shakari did not debut as Erik the Red until years later. D'Ken, the power-hungry ruler of the Shi'ar appointed Davan Shakari as his observer of planet Earth, its people, and its cultures. When rebel leader, Lilandra, attempted to flee to Earth and ally herself with Professor X, Davan Shakari assumed the identity of Erik the Red. Cyclops wondered what the connection was between this Erik and the identity he himself had used, but an answer was never given. Presumably, Davan Shakari used the Erik the Red identity in a strategy to catch the X-Men off guard.
An early foe of Cyclops' second team of X-Men, Erik the Red used his superior Shi'ar technology to restore adulthood to Magneto, who had been de-aged to infancy by Alpha the Ultimate Mutant and mentally dominate reserve X-Men Havok and Polaris. After being defeated by Phoenix and the X-Men, Erik would not appear again for years. Erik apparently died when his Spaceship exploded during a battle with Genis-Vell and X-Treme.
The third person to take the name of Eric the Red was Magneto. He took this identity during the trial of Gambit and has abandoned it since.
Read more about this topic: Erik The Red (comics)
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