Rachel and the Starjammers in Realm of Kings

So, the War of Kings epilogue, Who Will Rule, is out today, but we still don't have any more clues as to what is next for Rachel and the Starjammers. There's no answers about why they walked away from the fight in War of Kings, or what they might do next. In fact, they're barely in the issue.

We have to turn to some of the recent Q&As from folks at Marvel to get some answers, but it's really just more wait and see than anything.

At Fan Expo Toronto a few weeks ago, a fan asked at the Dark Reign Panel where the Starjammers will be next was asked, and Marvel's CB Cebulski answered that they will be in both the X-Verse and Cosmic books, but more on the Cosmic side of things for now.

Marvel's Ben Morse was asked on ComicBloc's forums about what Alex meant by walking away and replied to see Who Will Rule and Realm of Kings. Since Who Will Rule offers no help on the subject, hopefully something will be in Realm of Kings.

Ben also recently posted that Lorna would be in the Realm of King minis.

However, none of the press that Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (the writers of all of Realm of Kings) did when it was first announced even mentioned the Starjammers. So, there's no indication from them that the Starjammers are even involved in Realm of Kings.

Realm of Kings starts with a one-shot in November, and then runs until April in several mini-series along with Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy.

Realm of Kings: Imperial Guard - This will focus on the Imperial Guard searching for Black Bolt and Vulcan in the Fault. DnA have talked about this fleshing out the members of the Imperial Guard and how they are a military unit, not superheroes.

The Starjammers don't exactly fit into the story, especially since DnA have said it will be very militaristic. I can't see the X-Jammers blindly following Gladiator like good soldiers. And including the X-Jammers would overshadow the Guardsmen that DnA want to focus on.

Realm of Kings: Inhumans - DnA haven't said too much about the storyline here, except that it will pick up Crystal's narrative and that it will address the fallout from War of Kings and with political intrigue with the Kree and Shi'ar.

The Starjammers could be involved in this (especially with Lorna's ties to Crystal and Luna) but as part of a large cast of characters.

But since the X-Jammers' mission was to kill Vulcan, and they have never had any interest in the Shi'ar (especially considering how much damage the Shi'ar have inflicted on them and their loved ones), it would be strange to see any of them with an interest in Shi'ar politics or helping the Shi'ar people.

Nova #31-35 - This will deal with Nova bringing Darkhawk to justice for killing Lilandra.

Wanting to find Lilandra's killer might be a something that would interest Alex, Lorna and Rachel. Adding the Starjammers might also boost the sales of Nova, which is one of the lowest selling titles for Marvel.

Guardians of the Galaxy #20-24 - The Guardians will deal with the Fault, which will bring back a lot of old 70s Cosmic characters.

While the X-Jammers could appear here, they likely wouldn't have a large role.


X-Books
In the X-Titles, there are quite a few crossovers taking up most of the books, which may make it difficult to bring in a bunch of new characters and integrate them back into the X-books.

In X-Force, New Mutants and X-Men Legacy, Necrosha will be happening from the fall into early winter, while Uncanny X-Men is dealing with Magneto and the fallout from Utopia. Matt Fraction has said that the next year of Uncanny will happen in a very short period of time, so catching up with the X-Jammers probably isn't in the cards.

Then some time in the spring or summer, the final chapter of the Messiah Trilogy will get underway.

Cable would clearly be involved in the next Messiah crossover event, but it would be nice to see them address something with the Askani between the current Brood arc and the crossover.

In Cable (vol 2) #6, baby Nathan being taken by the Askani to the future was recapped, but simplified to Scott giving Nathan to Rachel directly. While it parallels the current situation with Scott giving Hope to Nathan, it did change the original events and the sacrifice Scott had made giving his son to a stranger, rather than trusting his daughter.

When asked whether this was a mistake or something done deliberately, Duane Swierczynski said it would be addressed later.

While nothing has been said about what's next for Cable and Hope following the Brood, it would be nice for Cable to actually provide some sort of education for Hope in the Askani religion. Cable (vol 2) has been seriously lacking anything Askani related, and could benefit from adding some depth to Nathan's character.

So, if Rachel can't be in the Messiah trilogy, it would be nice for something Askani related to be mentioned. She was prominently featured in the Messiah War Sourcebook, so it's not like she had been forgotten, even though she's in space.

Another possibility would the the recently announced S.W.O.R.D. title featuring Agent Brand from Astonishing X-Men along with Beast and Lockheed. Since it deals with space (although around Earth), the X-Jammers might fit.

And eventually someone needs to go rescue poor Kitty in the giant rocket floating through space, but nothing announced yet about when/where that will happen.


Unfortunately, it's more wait and see. But considering how little the Starjammers were used in War of Kings, the most likely scenario is similar with them appearing in a few panels here and there in various Realm of Kings titles, until eventually returning to the X-Books some time after the third part of the Messiah Trilogy is over some time in the summer or fall of 2010. :(