Shi'ar

Dominant spacefaring race of the Marvel Universe. Homeworld (Throneworld): Chandrilar.

Three superpowers control most of space in the Marvel Universe, the Skrulls and the Kree, who have been at war with each other for millions of years, and the Shi'ar Empire, most powerful of the three.

Shi'ar look fairly human. They evolved from avians, but only a hint of this remains in that they have feathers on their heads instead of hair, and small clusters of feathers on their forearms.

Earth lies in a strategic position between Shi'ar, Skrull, and Kree terriotory. Thus, the ruthless Emperor D'Ken kidnapped Scott Summers parents as genetic samples as prelude to later positioning. Scott's mother was raped by D'Ken and later killed, while Scott's father Christopher Summers later escaped to lead the pirates known as the Starjammers against D'ken.

The Shi'ar figured prominantly in the Phoenix Saga storyline of X-men.

Resulting in the permanent coma of D'Ken. D'Ken's younger sister Deathbird had earlier killed all of the rest of the royal family, save for Lilandra. As the fourth daughter in the family, Lilandra had no prospects for the throne and had taken on a career in the Shi'ar fleet, but as the last royal who could rule after D'Ken's incapacitation and earlier death of the rest of the royal family, Lilandra ascended the Shi'ar throne (Deathbird was alive but exiled; she would continually return as a major protagonist with designs on Lilandra's throne, but Lilandra always returns to power). Empress Lilandra has been a good friend to the X-men.

Recently, the Skrull homeworld was destroyed by Galactus, and seems set to lose the Skrull-Kree War. However, the Skrull manipulated the Shi'ar into using a "Nega-bomb" on the Kree, destroying most of their population, the rest being conquered by the Shi'ar.

Currently, the Kree have been conquered by the Shi'ar and the Skrull have become too factionalized after the destruction of their homeworld to pose a significant threat.

In the Age of Apocalypse alternate-timline, most of the Shi'ar Empire (and thus most of known space) had been overwhelmed by the Brood. In main Earth 616 continuity, the Brood are at least somewhat kept in check.