Shadow King: Difference between revisions

The Shadow King is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Created by writer Chris Claremont and illustrator/co-writer John Byrne, the character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #117 (January 1979) as a telepathic mutant named Amahl Farouk.

Amahl Farouk returns years later in The New Mutants #34 (December 1985), revealed to be possessing Karma since issue #6. Later appearing throughout Uncanny X-Men, the character does not first refer to himself by the name of Shadow King until issue #266 (August 1990).

X-Treme X-Men and X-Men: True Friends has developed/retconned the Shadow King into being actually a creature of the ethereal plane that has existed since the dawn of humanity; an astral demon preferring to enslave the bodies of psi-sentives, grow them into morbid obesity, and utilize their mental capabilities to enslave others to its whims.

The Shadow King exists as an entity of pure psychic energy that feeds on the hatred of humanity. It manifests itself on the physical plane by possessing the bodies of human beings. In the 1940s, Shadow King works with Baron Strucker and the Nazis in a scheme to mystically replace the King of England with a Nazi sympathizer.

Years later, Shadow King assumes the guise of crime lord Amahl Farouk, and leads a street gang that includes a young Storm, in Cairo, Egypt. He encounters another telepath, Charles Xavier, and the two engages in a psychic battle on the astral plane, that kills Farouk's physical body, however, Shadow King shifts his astral form to another plane. The encounter with an evil mutant encourages Xavier to later form the X-Men, a team dedicated to combating criminal mutants.^[1]

Shadow King eventually possesses the psionic mutant Karma. Storm and the New Mutants are able to reach Karma's true mind, who is able to purge the Shadow King from her body, confining him once more to the Astral Plane.^[2] Shadow King then possesses the body of FBI agent agent Jacob Reisz, hunting down Storm, and taking over the minds of the numerous mutants living on Muir Island. The Shadow King battles Charles Xavier once more and is defeated and thought killed, though the battle left Xavier once again wheelchair-bound and his son David comatose.^[3]

The Shadow King (posing as Ananasi) reappears later and takes over the African tribe that had worshipped Storm as a goddess, and in the end, is defeated by Psylocke. After Psylocke's death, the Shadow King is released from his prison and attempts to turn Rogue into his new Shadow Queen,^[4] hoping to gain her current ability to enter dreamtime. However, Rogue recalls the psionic abilities she had gained from Psylocke and uses them to defeat the Shadow King.

When Jamie Braddock brings Psylocke back from the dead, the Shadow King escapes, but due to the cosmic whim created by the Scarlet Witch during the House of M, the Shadow King found himself in another universe where he takes control over Professor Xavier and his team of X-Men, dubbing them the "Dark X-Men". Later after the world is shifted back to normal, the Shadow King and his mindcontrolled X-Men team travels back into Earth-616. The Shadow King attempts to kill Captain Britain with the controlled New Excalibur but is defeated once again by Psylocke. The Dark X-Men tries to free their Xavier from his prison and are assisted by Lionheart, whom the Shadow King attempts to take control.^[5] However, Lionheart has a device that prevents this and places a collar on the Dark Xavier that seals the Shadow King in that body, and then stabs Dark Xavier in the chest, killing him.

This death proved to be temporary however, as the Shadow King has appeared once again, this time in Wakanda, where he killed a Wakandan priest and framed the former New X-Men member Gentle for the murder before taking control of Black Panther in order to confront his longtime enemy and T'Challa's wife, Storm. In the conclusion of this battle, Storm was possessed by the Shadow King, but was ultimately defeated when it was revealed that she had allowed Bast, the Panther God of Wakanda to hide within her mind in order to take vengeance on the Shadow King for violating T'Challa's mind and was subsequently devoured by her.^[6]

In the Age of Apocalypse storyline, the Shadow King is an agent of Apocalypse, seen manifested as a cloudy face inside of a bottle in Apocalypse's sanctum. He was used by Apocalypse to hunt down almost all telepaths. He was also the great responsible for the destruction of the secret Heaven located in the Savage Land known as Avalon, but was eventually defeated by Nightcrawler, Mystique, Switchback and his former student Damask.

After the fall of Apocalypse, the Shadow King's current whereabouts remains unknown.

In an alternate universe, the Shadow King has conquered the Hellfire Club.^[7]

In the Mutant X dimension, Shadow King merges with Professor Xavier to form an evil being.

In Ultimate Marvel series, Shadow King appears as Storm's lover and the leader of the group of thieves that she and Lady Deathstrike belongs to. Storm sends him into a coma after unintentionally electrocuting him when she used her powers to summon lightning for the first time. As a result, his mind is sent to another dimension where he encounters the Brood and becomes the Shadow King.

• Shadow King appears in two episodes of X-Men: The Animated Series (1992-97), voiced by Maurice Dean Wint.
• Shadow King appears in the Wolverine and the X-Men episode "Overflow" voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. A flashback showed how he took in Ororo to steal for him until Professor X fought and defeated him. He possesses Storm and makes her see Africa burning. Storm tries to put the fire out with her powers, not realising it is her who is destroying Africa. The X-Men come to stop the Shadow King and Emma Frost fights with him on the Astral Plane. At first, it seems he would win, but he grows weak without a host. Emma seemingly kills him by slicing him in half with a telepathic sword.

• Shadow King is one of the three primary villains in the video game X-Men Legends voiced by Dorian Harewood.

• Shadow King is a figure in the Mutant Mayhem set from Marvel HeroClix.

• Shadow King at Marvel.com
• Shadow King (AoA) at Marvel.com