Shadow King

Shadow King
Cover of X-Men #78 (vol. 2, August 1998). Art by German Garcia.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Uncanny X-Men #117 (January 1979)
Created by	Chris Claremont John Byrne
In-story information
Alter ego	Amahl Farouk
Species	undetermined
Team affiliations	Dark X-Men Gladiators
Notable aliases	Amahl Farouk, Jacob Reisz, Ananasi, Cypher, Karma
Abilities	Telepathy Possession Immortality

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

Publication history

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 developed/retconned the Shadow King into actually being an entity of the astral plane that has existed since the dawn of humanity, an ethereal demon preferring to enslave the bodies of powerful telepaths and psi-sentives and utilize their capabilities to enslave others to its whims. As a side effect of its greed, hedonism, and utter lack of self control, the Shadow King's longterm telepathic hosts are often left morbidly obese.

Fictional character biography

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 engage 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; this leads to the Muir Island Saga. 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 worshiped Storm as a goddess, and in the end, is defeated by Psylocke, who sacrifices the use of her telepathy to keep him imprisoned in the astral plane. 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 mind-controlled X-Men team travels back to 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 try to free their Xavier from his prison and are assisted by Lionheart, whom the Shadow King attempts to 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 appears once again, this time in Wakanda, where he killed a Wakandan priest and framed the former New X-Men member Gentle for the murder. He then takes 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]

Other versions

Age of Apocalypse

In the Age of Apocalypse storyline, the Shadow King also assumes the guise of crime lord Amahl Farouk, and encounters Charles Xavier, and the two engage in a psychic battle on the astral plane, that kills Farouk's physical body. However, Shadow King shifts his astral form to another plane. After the death of Charles Xavier, the Shadow King become 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 as well as teach some mutant with psionics powers, who accept the offer to join Apocalypse's regime. The Shadow King is the first to sense the presence of Nate Grey, forcing Apocalypse to send Domino and her Bounty Hunters to track the powerful mutant and capture or kill him. He was also 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.

Defeated but not killed, the Shadow King is last seen reporting to Apocalypse the downfall of the Southwest Kingdom by the Eurasian High Council's radioactive bombs.

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

Excalibur

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

Mutant X

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

Ultimate Universe

In the 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.

In other media

Television

• 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 realizing 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. Emma seemingly kills him by slicing him in half with a telepathic sword.

Video games

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

Toys

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

References

External links

• Shadow King at Marvel.com
• http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix3/shadowkingfarouk.htm
• Age of Apocalypse at Marvel.com