Origin

Cerise is an extraterrestrial from the Shi'ar race. She arrived upon Earth after deserting the empire's brutal army, refusing to fire upon innocents and as a result causing the death of her crew. She became a member of Excalibur and was romantically involved with Nightcrawler.

Creation

Cerise is a Marvel character created by Alan Davis, first appearing in Excalibur #46.

Character Evolution

An elite member of the Shi'ar military, Cerise served the empire with honour since graduating from its military academy. When she failed to follow through on orders to attack civilians which resulted in the deaths of her fellow crew members, Cerise deserted the Shi'ar army and found her way to Earth where she found a place for herself amongst Excalibur's members. In time her crimes were pardoned in exchange for serving as a personal aide to Shi'ar royalty. It was during this time period Cerise was rebuffed by her former lover Nightcrawler as he at the time of their re-union had committed to a life dedicated to his faith in the form of a priest. Sometime in the future Cerise would join a female intergalactic team headed by Gamora, known as the Graces.

Major Story Arcs

A member of an extraterrestrial race known as the Shi'ar, Cerise served her empire in approaching other lifeforms in offering them the opportunity to join her race. Horrified when her commander chose to wipe out an entire race for refusing to join the Shi'ar, Cerise intended to destroy herself along with her crew by steering their spaceship into the closest star. Cerise survived and found herself on Earth but was attacked by Excalibur who erroneously thought her to be an enemy. Cerise joined Excalibur and assisted it members on various missions, developing a romantic relationship with Nightcrawler during this time. She, along with her new team-mates took on the Anti-Phoenix's rock creatures Necrom, Crazy Gang and Jamie Braddock who did manage to defeat her temporarily with the assistance of Sat-Yr-9.

Cerise would also assist the X-Men against the Troll Associates and when attacked by Sentinels and captured by Nigel Orpington-Smythe, Cerise was able to escape and defeat both. Cerise revealed her creation via bio-engineering "emerging from the source" when she expressed confusion to Shadowcat the idea of "children" when rescuing superhuman offspring being manipulated during the Warpies Saga.

Convicted in absentia, Cerise was taken into custody by the Starjammers for her crimes against the Shi'ar Empire and for a time carried out her sentence in the dimensional prison known as Krag. However, the reigning Empress Lilandra pardoned Cerise for her crimes due to the nature in which they were committed to prevent genocide and allowed the former Excalibur member to serve the rest of her prison term as a personal aide. Cerise also participated in investigating reports of wrong doing by Shi'ar officials.

During Maximum Security, Cerise and Nightcrawler were reunited but their previous amorous relationship was not rekindled due to Nightcrawler's vow of celibacy in his pursuit to become a priest although Kurt remained deeply in love with Cerise.

In the future, Gamora would come to recruit Cerise to her warrior team comprised of females named The Graces.

Powers and Abilities

As a member of the alien Shi'ar race, Cerise possesses physical abilities much more powerful than an average Earth human female. She is capable of generating and psionically controlling energy fields comprised of coherent red spectrum light force in multiple forms ranging from concussive blasts, light or in the shape of solid weaponry and armour. Using this power also permits Cerise to levitate large objects such as an entire Sentinel by encasing it within a "bubble" of which she is capable of transporting great distances. Independent of this power, Cerise is able to fly on her own volition.

In her arsenal are Shi'ar developed gloves that contain broad-band sensors which can locate specific life-forms, temporal and/or dimensional frequencies and energy within her environment, as well as a suit which allows Cerise to travel through hypserpace.

Cerise is a superb warrior, having received intensive combat training in the Shi'ar military and is a trained starship navigator.

Physical Characteristics

Height: 6'3"

Weight: 190 lbs.

Eyes: Brown

Hair: Feathers consisting of black, brown, pink, and white

Citizenship: Shi'ar

Alternate Realities

X-Men : The End

In this reality Cerise is shown as the new host to the Brood Queen, and is aboard the Starjammer and is discovered by Bishop & Deathbird's daughter Aliyah, whose perspective most of the story is told from.