- This article concerns the comic book character -- for the Viking explorer, see Erik the Red.
Erik the Red is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics comic book universe. He is Davan Shakari, an alien from the Shi'ar Empire in another galaxy. He 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 Erik the Red was actually first used by Cyclops in X-Men #51 by Roy Thomas and Neal Adams; he 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. The real Erik the Red did not appear until years later; Cyclops wondered what the connection was between this Erik and the identity he himself had used, but the answer was never given. Presumably, Davan Shakari based his identity off of the one that Cyclops had used year before.
Erik the Red was appointed the observer of planet Earth, its people, and its cultures, for the Shi'ar Empire. During the Phoenix Saga storyline, he worked under the evil Shi'ar ruler, D'Ken , and was known to be quite corrupt himself. He subsequently restored adulthood to Magneto, who had been de-aged to infancy by Alpha the Ultimate Mutant , using advanced Shi'ar technology. Erik would not appear again for years; when he did, he apparently died when his starship exploded during a battle with Genis-Vell and X-Treme .
When Erik the Red appeared in X-Men: The Animated Series, his main purpose was to capture Lilandra and the M'Kraan Crystal for D'Ken.
