Universe
Marvel Universe

Real Name
Araki (full name unrevealed)

Aliases
Grand Vizier

Identity
No dual identity

Citizenship
Shi'ar

Place of Birth
The Aerie, Shi'ar Empire

First Appearance
(Flashback) X-Men #109 (1977); (fully) X-Men #122 (1979)

Araki is Prime Minister of the intergalactic Shi'ar Imperium and acts as the Lord Chancellor to the Empire's ruling emperor or empress. Originally slain by the teacherous Shi'ar High Council member Lord Samédàr during an attempted coup of the Shi'ar throne by the exiled Deathbird, Araki's services had proven so valuable to the Empire that the Majestrix Lilandra had him cloned by means of the Shi'ar's advanced technology and ordered his consciousness transferred into the new body. The first clone of Araki came to serve the Empire during the interstellar war with the rival Kree Empire.

Araki was killed again by a member of the shape-shifting alien Skrulls who took on Araki's form and manipulated the Shi'ar Majestrix Lilandra into unleashing a destructive Nega-Bomb on the Kree. Once again cloned, a third Araki appeared once more at his Empress' side during the Shi'ar's battle with the cosmic world-devourer known as Galactus.

Soon after, another Araki was present when Lilandra came under the mental possession of Cassandra Nova, the genetic twin of Lilandra's consort, the telepathic Earthman Professor Charles Xavier, who had usurped her brother's body. Whilst under Nova's control, Lilandra was forced to dispatch the Shi'ar Imperial Guard to kill the X-Men and also to plunge her Empire into chaos. Nova then duped the Guardsman named G-Type into killing Araki whilst forcing Lilandra to take her own life, but they were saved by X-Men members Cyclops and Xorn.

Nova was subsequently defeated by the combined forces of the Imperial Guard and the X-Men. However, the damage Nova caused to Lilandra's mind was great enough that Lilandra later attempted to assassinate Xavier, whom she still believed was Nova, in Mumbai, India. She failed, and a sixth Araki arrived to return his Empress to her people to recover.

Despite the death of the original Araki, the Shi'ar possess the technology to continually clone him, transferring his consciousness into the new body. Although the Shi'ar's technology is one of the more advanced in the known galaxy, each clone of Araki is slightly different in appearance and personality than its predecessor. It is unknown how many more times Araki can be cloned before his consciousness becomes negatively affected by the procedure.