Shadow King
The Shadow King 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.
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
Created by writer Chris Claremont and illustrator/co-writer John Byrne, the character the Shadow King first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #117 as the telepathic mutant Amahl Farouk.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.
Fictional character biography
The Shadow King claims to be a multiversal manifestation of the dark side of the human consciousnesses, spawned by the first nightmare, and has since been feeding on the shadows in their souls, transferring from host to host since the dawn of humanity.As Amahl Farouk in the 1930s
The Shadow King was known as Amahl Farouk in 1936, working for two of Adolf Hitler's special agents. 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. When Farouk conducted a mystical ceremony, he accidentally brought back Phoenix Force host Rachel Summers and her teammate Shadowcat. Strucker began to doubt Farouk's abilities. The Shadow King quickly possessed Rachel Summers and, as Shadowcat escaped, allied herself with Alasdhair Kinross. Farouk kidnapped the heir to the throne, Lilibet, and fled to Edinburgh. When Shadowcat tried to reach Summers telepathically, she found Farouk in control. Pryde surprised Farouk by calling him "Shadow King", enabling her to escape. Farouk took control of Kinross and tried to kill them both, but Pryde used her phasing powers to disrupt Kinross's nervous system and knock him out.Although Farouk was going to sacrifice Kinross to demons in return for a spell which would annihilate the British monarchy, he was interrupted by Kitty and his crystal knife shattered. The demons entered Farouk's body, overpowering him. He began dispersing energy, killing all the Nazi soldiers; Strucker accused him of treason and tried to shoot him. Farouk transformed into the Shadow King and tried to force Pryde and Kinross to fight, but they were saved by the young Logan. Phoenix unleashed her power on Farouk, but she was subdued and possessed. Lilibet escaped, fleeing to Holyrood House. Farouk possessed the house's servants and sent them and Phoenix in pursuit. Logan ambushed Farouk, Strucker and Geist, but Farouk had Summers and the servants attack him. Farouk then possessed Pryde and Lilibet.
Pryde began talking about the future and the fall of Hitler; Lilibet attacked Farouk, disabling him enough for Pryde to disrupt his nervous system. Farouk recovered and tried to retake his prisoners, but Phoenix fought on the astral plane. Phoenix was going to kill him when Pryde struck them with the Sword of Scones, causing them to return to their bodies; Farouk's body was supposedly destroyed by an energy blast from the sword but later when questioned by Rachel if they had killed Farouk, Pryde reveals that they had for the moment only weakened him.
Confrontation with Charles Xavier
In 1971, Farouk returned and met V-Battalion leader James Watkins Jr. Watkins offered him V-Battalion support if Farouk could obtain information about the Everlasting. Farouk gave Watkins the name of Marduk.Farouk became a crime lord in Egypt, controlling Cairo's Thieves Quarter, where a young Charles Xavier's pocket was picked by the child Ororo Munroe. After Xavier stopped her and retrieved his wallet, he was struck by a bolt of psionic energy. When he recovered, he discovered that the source of the attack was a nearby tavern, where he met Farouk. Sitting at separate tables, they conversed telepathically. Farouk told Xavier that he sensed another telepath nearby, and the attack was a warning to stay clear of the area.
He unsuccessfully tried to persuade Xavier to join him in his criminal activities; Xavier believed that people with such gifts should use them to better the world. They assumed astral form, and Xavier defeated Farouk on the astral plane with a fatal psionic attack. Farouk was Xavier's first encounter with an evil mutant, which led to the formation of the X-Men. His psyche still on the astral plane, Farouk awaited another chance to fight Xavier.
New Mutants
The Shadow King became aware of a young mutant, Karma, a member of the New Mutants with the psychic ability to possess other beings. In one of the team's earliest missions, Karma was apparently killed in an explosion at Viper's hideout. However, the Shadow King used Karma's powers against her to possess her.As Karma, the Shadow King rebuilt his worldwide empire while indulging his gluttony through her body. He used her to control the Gladiators, a group of mutants, by using a holographic image of leader Alexander Flynn.
The Shadow King used the Gladiators to abduct Magma and Sunspot, forcing them to fight in an arena until teammates Cannonball and Magik, along with Shadowcat and Dazzler, tried to rescue them. Cannonball and Shadowcat recognize their antagonist as Karma, not realizing that she was controlled by the Shadow King.
The team followed Karma to Madripoor, where they were subjected to Karma's mind control, except for Magik and Mirage. The remaining New Mutants and Storm fought their teammates in Cairo, where Karma took control of Storm and Mirage. Magik, realizing that Karma was possessed by the Shadow King, released her teammates from Karma's control and Karma from the Shadow King. After losing his host, the Shadow King transferred to Cypher. Karma challenges him to a psychic duel. She wins and Shadow King flees to the astral plane.
Muir Island saga
The Shadow King resurfaces during the "Muir Island Saga" and sets a trap to capture Storm. When he tried to possess her mind she involuntarily hit him with a lightning bolt, and he soon found her with Gambit. They worked together to fight him, escaping with the Shadow King's hounds in pursuit. Mystique defeated Valerie Cooper and impersonated her, appearing on television to report Mystique's death. Part of Carol Danvers separated from Rogue and traveled to Muir Island, where she was forced to fight Legion and Moira MacTaggert. Although she defeated them, she was possessed by the Shadow King. He compelled her to go to the Savage Land to find Rogue, but she was defeated on arrival by Magneto. The Shadow King, with his ambitious schemes, was afraid of being identified by other telepaths. He needed a nexus between the astral and psionic planes to generate a disturbance which would affect other telepaths. Polaris' powers had been recently altered by Zaladane, and he chose Polaris as his nexus.Jean Grey tried to access the astral plane with Cerebro, but the Shadow King overrode Cerebro's defenses and noticed that Jean had lost her telepathic powers and was helpless. He tried to turn her into his Shadow Queen, but Psylocke, unaware of who he was, threatened him with her psi-blade but ended using it on Jean instead, returning her to the physical world; however, they could not remember the details of the encounter and his identity was not yet compromised. His control over Muir Island was only uncovered when Professor X probed Colossus' mind after the latter tried to kill him.
The X-Men sent a task force which included Storm, Forge, Gambit, Banshee, Wolverine, and Jubilee to remove his influence. The Shadow King sent his slaves to defend the island, and they defeated the invaders. Xavier understood that he needed a human host and a nexus to continue his exploits, and planned to cut both the links. Mystique revealed herself and shot Jacob Reisz in the head, destroying his brain and killing the Shadow King's human host. X-Factor discovered that his nexus was Polaris, but the Shadow King took possession of Legion. He ordered the slaves to hide underground because he was going to use Legion's power to destroy the surface of Muir Island. Jean Grey's telekinesis protected X-Factor and the X-Men.
Xavier then used Jean as a psi-anchor to fight the Shadow King in the astral plane, but he was defeated; 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. Archangel, Colossus, Cyclops, and Storm joined Jean in the astral plane to help Xavier, unaware of Legion's body nearby. Although they gave Xavier willpower and energy, the possessed Legion destroyed a large swath of Muir Island; upon awakening, Xavier acknowledges that his physical damage has returned him to a paraplegic state. Forge uses Psylocke's psi-blade on Polaris, breaking the Shadow King's link to the nexus, after which his energy dissipated overcoming the X-Men. Xavier and Jean tried to absorb whatever they could and shield the others. Xavier offered the Shadow King a chance to redeem himself, but he opted for the void and Legion was left in a coma.
Psi-War
After the Onslaught incident in which Charles Xavier lost his powers, the Shadow King could return to the physical world since the psionic plane had lost its guardian. Posing as "Ananasi", the Shadow King took over the African tribe who worshiped Storm. After attacking one of her relatives, Psylocke took Storm to the astral plane to fight "Ananasi" only to find the villagers’ minds set up in a distinct pattern. Before they can discern the reasoning, "Ananasi" attacks Psylocke and brings up her past failures and how she was always considered a redundant Jean Grey-wannabe. Ainet finds Storm and tells her the truth, but "Ananasi" buries Storm under bones of her dead friends before she can tell Psylocke the truth. Psylocke falls into Ananasi’s trap and accidentally hits one of the villagers with her psi-blade. This caused a chain reaction that cripples the entire psionic plan itself, damaging the collective subconscious of every being on Earth as well as all psi-sensitive in the corporeal world. Humans experienced déjà vu, nightmares, migraines or nosebleeds, and those born with psionic, telepathic, or intuitive abilities were maimed; Jean and Nate Grey, Cable, Emma Frost, Chamber, and Bianca LaNiege were devastated. "Maddie" Pryor was obliterated, and Doctor Strange and Spider-Man were also affected while Psylocke is left as a discombobulated mess, as "Ananasi" reveals himself to be the Shadow King, now free of any opposition on the Psionic Plane. With the world's telepaths crippled, the Shadow King ascends to dominance and, one by one, begins to corrupt mankind. He explains to Psylocke that although he was defeated and thought dead by Charles Xavier at Muir Island, as long as one dark thought exists in man, he can live. He went into hibernation, for the lack of a better word. He eventually bids her farewell forever as he teleports away and Psylocke turns to stone and then falls apart. Yet the Crimson Dawn saves Psylocke once again and resurrects her, this time with an all black psi-form and the ability to command the shadows of the Psionic Plane, which allow her to go undetected by the Shadow King. She eventually confronts the Shadow King and pretends to be tempted by his offer to become the Shadow Queen to distract him while Storm freed the other X-Men. However Farouk saw through the ruse; Psylocke sent the X-Men to the physical world and takes the fight directly to the Shadow King, who stretches his powers to the maximum to infect every mind on Earth. Psylocke is intoxicated by the power, but keeps her focus and discovers that the Shadow King has left his nexus, the soul of every person on the Psionic Plane, exposed as his body unravels to reach every mind. Psylocke uses her shadows to contain the nexus and the Shadow King is trapped, but only as long as Psylocke focuses her telepathy on him, which means she can never use her powers again or else he will be set free. Psylocke leaves the Psionic Plane for the last time and reveals what happened to Storm.Sometime later the Shadow King reached Psylocke's mind when she is forced to use Cerebro to cleanse Logan of the Death persona with a little push from each of Logan's closest friends, but Archangel experienced a metamorphosis of his own from his close contact to Apocalypse's handiwork. The Shadow King eventually managed to convince Psylocke to release him in order to help Archangel but before she reaches him, Archangel himself mysteriously appears on her mind and stop her from setting him free, sending the Shadow King back to his prison when Psylocke disconnected herself from Cerebro.