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Shadow King

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shadow King
Textless variant cover of Astonishing X-Men (vol. 4) #1 (September 2017).
Art by Dale Keown.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceThe Uncanny X-Men #117 (January 1979)
Created by
In-story information
Alter egoAmahl Farouk
SpeciesAncient entity and human mutant
Team affiliationsDark X-Men
Gladiators
Brotherhood of Mutants
Jacob Reisz
Master of the Games
Anansi
Lenny
Benny
Cypher
Karma
AbilitiesTelepathy
Possession
Immortality

The Shadow King (Amahl Farouk) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, primarily as an enemy of the X-Men. His nemesis is the X-Men's leader, Professor X, while he also figures into the backstory of the X-Man Storm. As originally introduced, Farouk was a human mutant from Egypt who used his vast telepathic abilities for evil, taking the alias Shadow King. Later writers established Farouk as the modern incarnation of an ancient evil entity.[1]

The Shadow King has appeared in various adaptations of X-Men stories. The character's live-action debut is as the primary antagonist in the television series Legion, portrayed by Aubrey Plaza and Navid Negahban.

Publication history

[edit]

Created by writer Chris Claremont and illustrator/co-writer John Byrne, the character the Shadow King first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #117 (January 1979) as the telepathic mutant Amahl Farouk.[2]

X-Treme X-Men and X-Men: True Friends reveal the Shadow King to be an entity of the astral plane which has existed since the dawn of humanity, an ethereal demon preferring to enslave the bodies of telepaths and psychics and use their capabilities to enslave others. As a side effect of its greed, hedonism and lack of self-control, the Shadow King's long-term telepathic hosts are often morbidly obese.[1]

Fictional character biography

[edit]

The Shadow King claims to be a multiversal manifestation of the dark side of the human consciousnesses, spawned by the first nightmare.[3]

As Amahl Farouk in the 1930s

[edit]

The Shadow King was known as Amahl Farouk in 1936, working for two of Adolf Hitler's special agents (Wolfgang von Strucker and Geist). Farouk planned to use a magic spell to strike down the British royal family, leaving Strucker's and Geist's ally, Lady Windermere, on the throne.

New Mutants

[edit]

Karma challenges the Shadow King to a psychic duel. She wins and Shadow King flees to the astral plane.[4]

Muir Island saga

[edit]

The Shadow King resurfaces during the "Muir Island Saga" and sets a trap to capture Storm.

Mystique defeated Valerie Cooper and impersonated her, appearing on television to report Mystique's death. Carol Danvers was forced to fight Legion and Moira MacTaggert.[5]

Reveling in making Xavier suffer, he issued psychic attacks so intense that they manifested as physical damage, breaking Xavier's legs and crippling him in the process.

New Excalibur

[edit]

The Scarlet Witch's Decimation Wave enabled the Shadow King tried to kill Captain Britain with the controlled New Excalibur, but was again defeated by Psylocke (who was revived by her brother, Jamie Braddock).[6] The Dark X-Men tried to free Xavier from his prison with the help of Lionheart. Lionheart sealed the Shadow King in Dark Xavier's body and killed Dark Xavier.[7]

X-Men: Worlds Apart

[edit]

The Shadow King reappeared in Wakanda, where he killed a Wakandan priest and framed former New X-Men member Gentle. He then controlled Black Panther to confront his longtime enemy (and T'Challa's wife) Storm. Storm revealed that she allowed Bast to hide in her mind to avenge the Shadow King for violating T'Challa's mind. Bast devoured the Shadow King's astral form.[8]

Brotherhood of Evil Mutants

[edit]

As Farouk, the Shadow King appeared as a member of Daken's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (consisting of Sabretooth, Mystique, Skinless Man, Blob, and the Omega Clan) in a plot to attack the X-Force.[9]

He created an illusion of the Professor and Angel to catch Psylocke off-guard, expressing disappointment at the ease of defeating the warrior who caged him. Farouk was with the Brotherhood as they watched the apparent death of the X-Force. He, Creed and Daken showed Evan that his life was a computer-generated illusion and he was a clone of Apocalypse. The Brotherhood unsuccessfully planned to compel Evan to put on Apocalypse armor, make the Shadow King control him and destroy Jean Grey's school.[10] Psylocke locked the Shadow King in Omega White's body and entrusted it to her brother, Captain Britain.[11]

The Shadow King's host body was unwittingly released by a telepath, Bloody Bess. He possessed the Pirates except for Bess, who appealed to Nightcrawler for help. Nightcrawler and Bess fought the Pirates and the X-Men, who were controlled by the Shadow King. He was defeated when Bess and Psylocke threw off his mind control and sent Nightcrawler against him armed with Psylocke's psi-blade, which stunned him long enough to be interred again in Omega Black's body.[12]

Dawn of X

[edit]

The Shadow King sets his plans in motion and begins seducing several young mutants who are unsure of themselves, including Gabrielle Kinney and Rahne Sinclair.[13] However, Gabrielle begins to suspect Farouk and is subsequently killed by Rahne, whom he had placed under his mind control.[14] Gabrielle is resurrected and confronted by the senior New Mutants before Farouk draws all of them into astral plane.[15] The young mutants confront the Shadow King and encourage Farouk to dissolve his connection with him, restoring his human mind and personality. Scarred by his connection with the Shadow King, Farouk leaves Krakoa, with the endorsement of the New Mutants, to undergo rehabilitation.[16]

Powers and abilities

[edit]

Originally presented as a telepathic mutant second only to Professor X, the Shadow King preys on the bodies of powerful psychics. He uses captive psychics to enslave others.[3]

Other versions

[edit]

Age of Apocalypse

[edit]

An alternate universe version of the Shadow King from Earth-295 appears in Age of Apocalypse. This version is an agent of Apocalypse who became a disembodied, cloud-like entity after Charles Xavier destroyed his body.[17][18]

Mutant X

[edit]

In an alternate universe, the Shadow King conquered the Hellfire Club.[19] In the Mutant X dimension, he merged with Professor Xavier to form an evil being.

Ultimate Marvel

[edit]

An alternate universe version of Amahl Farouk / Shadow King from Earth-1610 appears in Ultimate X-Men. This version is Storm's lover and the leader of the group of thieves which she and Lady Deathstrike are a part of.[20] After Storm's mutant powers manifest, she accidentally electrocutes Farouk, rendering him comatose.[20] Farouk's mind enters another dimension, where he encounters the Brood and becomes the Shadow King.[21]

Ultimate Universe

[edit]

An alternate universe version of the Shadow King appears in the Ultimate Universe. This version is Shinobu Kageyama, a Japanese boy and member of a mutant cult.[22]

X-Men '92

[edit]

An alternate universe version of the Shadow King, inspired by the X-Men: The Animated Series incarnation of the character, appears in Secret Wars.[23]

In other media

[edit]

Television

[edit]
Aubrey Plaza and Navid Negahban play Amahl Farouk / Shadow King in Legion.
  • Amahl Farouk / Shadow King appears in Legion, portrayed primarily by Aubrey Plaza in the first season (in the form of Lenny Busker) and Navid Negahban in the second and third seasons (in his original likeness).[25][26][27] Prior to the revelation of the character's identity, he was referred to by David Haller as "the Devil with the Yellow Eyes" (portrayed by Quinton Boisclair). The Shadow King takes several forms over the course of the series, including the Angry Boy (portrayed by Devyn Dalton), David's friend Benny (portrayed by Kirby Morrow), and David's childhood dog, King.

Video games

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 Schedeen, Jesse (3 April 2018). "Legion: How the Shadow King Connects to the X-Men". IGN. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  2. ↑ DeFalco, Tom; Sanderson, Peter; Brevoort, Tom; Teitelbaum, Michael; Wallace, Daniel; Darling, Andrew; Forbeck, Matt; Cowsill, Alan; Bray, Adam (2019). The Marvel Encyclopedia. DK Publishing. p. 320. ISBN 978-1-4654-7890-0.
  3. 1 2 All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #9
  4. ↑ The New Mutants #34 (December 1985)
  5. ↑ Uncanny X-Men #269 (October 1990)
  6. ↑ New Excalibur #8 (August 2006)
  7. ↑ New Excalibur #19 (June 2007)
  8. ↑ X-Men: Worlds Apart #1-4 (December 2008 - March 2009)
  9. ↑ Uncanny X-Force #27 (September 2012)
  10. ↑ Uncanny X-Force #34 (January 2013)
  11. ↑ Uncanny X-Force #35 (February 2013)
  12. ↑ Nightcrawler (vol. 4) #8-10 (January - March 2015)
  13. ↑ The New Mutants (vol. 4) #16 (April 2021)
  14. ↑ The New Mutants (vol. 4) #18-19 (July - August 2021)
  15. ↑ The New Mutants (vol. 4) #20-21 (September - October 2021)
  16. ↑ The New Mutants (vol. 4) #23-24 (February - March 2022)
  17. ↑ X-Men Alpha
  18. ↑ Age of Apocalypse #5 (September 2012)
  19. ↑ Excalibur #21-22 (April - May 1990)
  20. 1 2 Ultimate X-Men #81 (June 2007)
  21. ↑ Ultimate X-Men #89 (February 2008)
  22. ↑ Ultimate X-Men (vol. 2) #1-6 (May - October 2024)
  23. ↑ X-Men '92 #6 (August 2015)
  24. 1 2 3 "Shadow King Voices (X-Men)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved December 19, 2019. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
  25. ↑ Desta, Yohana (February 8, 2017). "How David Bowie Inspired Aubrey Plaza's Gender-Bending Legion Character". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on February 11, 2017. Retrieved February 8, 2017.
  26. ↑ Nemetz, Dave (January 5, 2018). "Legion Adds Homeland Alum Navid Negahban in Season 2 Villain Recast". TVLine. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
  27. ↑ Holloway, Daniel (November 28, 2017). "'Wonder Woman' Star Saïd Taghmaoui Exits 'Legion' Season 2". Variety. Retrieved November 23, 2023.
[edit]
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