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Information
Black
King
Real
Name: Sebastian Shaw Occupation: Chief executive officer and principal shareholder
in Shaw Industries, Inc. Identity: Publicly known; however, the general public
in unaware of Shaw's criminal activities Legal Status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal
record Former Aliases: None Place of Birth: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Marital Status: Single Known Relatives: Shinobi Shaw (son) Group Affiliation: Leader and Black King of the Hellfire
Club and of its secret Inner Circle Base of Operation: Worldwide; the Inner Circle is based
at the Hellfire Club mansion in Manhattan First Appearance: (voice and shadow figure only) X-MEN
#129, (fully seen) X-MEN #130
History: Sebastian Shaw was born into an impoverished
family, but with his superb business skills, he became a millionaire
by the age of 20. He eventually became the head of Shaw Industries,
a multinational corporation which is heavily involved with United
States defense contracts and the productions of munitions. Shaw
was invited to join the Hellfire Club, the leading organization
for the elite of society. Soon after joining, Shaw learned of
the Club's secret Council of the Chosen, a group of members
who, unknown to the others, conspired to achieve world domination
through economic and political means. Through the force of his
personality, Shaw became one of the leaders of the Council,
rising to the rank of Black Bishop. (Members of the Inner Circle
are given titles corresponding to the names of chess pieces.)
The leader of the Council, a White king, had the Council give
considerable financial backing to Dr. Steven Lang's attempt
to create new mutant-hunting Sentinels. Upon the collapse of
Lang's enterprise, Shaw seized the opportunity to turn the White
King out of office. Shaw then became Black King, leader of the
Council of the Chosen (which he renamed the Inner Circle) and
master of the Hellfire Club. As leader of the Inner Circle,
Shaw works closely with another leading member of the Circle,
Emma Frost, its White Queen, who like Shaw is a superhumanly
powerful mutant. Shaw survived an attempted challenge to his
leadership of the Circle by its renegade White Bishop, Donald
Pierce. Shaw is also cooperating with the United States government's
covert Project: Wideawake, which is an attempt to deal with
what is perceived as the possible menace presented by mutants.
Shaw Industries was secretly manufacturing Sentinels for use
by the Project. The government remains unaware of Shaw's criminal
activities and of the fact that he himself is a superhumanly
powerful mutant.
Height: 6 ft. 2 in. Weight: 210 lbs. Eyes: Black Hair: Gray
Strength Level: Without having absorbed additional energy,
Sebastian Shaw possesses the normal strength of a man of his
age, height, and build who engages in intensive regular exercise.
However, Shaw can gain superhuman levels of strength by absorbing
kinetic energy, and usually takes care to absorb enough in order
to keep his strength at a superhuman level throughout his waking
hours: for example, upon waking he will punch walls repeatedly
in order to build up his reserves of absorbed energy. There
is a limit to the amount of physical strength he can achieve,
but it as yet remains unknown.
Known Superhuman Powers: Sebastian Shaw is a mutant with
the superhuman ability to absorb kinetic energy and to use it
in an unknown manner to enhance his own physical strength, speed,
and stamina. Shaw must be in contact with the energy in order
to absorb it. If Shaw strikes a blow to someone or something,
or is himself struck, he will absorb the energy of that blow.
He has also been observed to be able to absorb electrical energy
directed at him. Shaw's power to absorb and convert kinetic
energy him invulnerable to various forms of attack. It is not
known how long Shaw can retain the energy he absorbs. There
is an upper limit to the amount of energy that Shaw can absorb
and convert: once he was "overloaded" by an electrical
energy discharged from the X-Man named Storm, and fell into
a temporary coma. However, the exact extent of this limit remains
unknown.