Merge:Sebastian Shaw

Sebastian Hiram Shaw, also known as the Black King, is a Marvel Comics supervillain, and an adversary of the X-Men. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne, he first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #131 (March 1980).

A mutant, Shaw possesses the ability to absorb kinetic energy and transform it into raw strength. He is the leader of the New York branch of the Hellfire Club, an exclusive secret society bent on world domination, although to the public, he is a legitimate businessman and ordinary human. He once funded the mutant-hunting Sentinel program to keep it under his thumb.

Biography
Sebastian Shaw's power first manifested shortly after he was accepted to engineering school and his father died, when he was beaten by some rednecks in a bar. He devoted himself to his studies and created Shaw Industries, becoming a billionaire by age 40. Shaw became engaged to a woman named Lourdes Chantel, and was soon initiated into the Hellfire Club along with Warren Worthington, Jr. (father of Archangel), Howard Stark (father of Iron Man) and John Braddock (father of Captain Britain and Psylocke). Soon, Shaw became part of the Council of the Chosen earning the rank of Black Bishop. Lourdes was soon killed by Sentinels in a battle. Upon discovering that Ned Buckman, the White King of the Council, was supporting Steven Lang's Project: Armageddon and its Sentinels, he executed a coup, using Emma Frost's telepathy to make Buckman kill all the Council of the Chosen, including his own White Queen, Paris Seville, and then himself. Shaw proclaimed himself Black King, remade the Council of the Chosen into his Inner Circle and gathered Emma Frost, Harry Leland and the non-mutant cyborg Donald Pierce as the Lords Cardinal. At Shaw's side was Tessa, who, unbeknowst to Shaw, was a spy working for Charles Xavier.

As the leader of the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club, Shaw started plans to dominate the world through force, money and power. His connections to top officials of corporations and government, acquired via the Club and through his position as CEO of Shaw Industries, made him a powerful enemy. Ironically, Shaw was for years a major supporter and builder of Sentinels, figuring that it's better to be in control of them than not. This activity brought him into frequent contact with the major players of Project: Wideawake, Senator Robert Kelly and Henry Peter Gyrich, to whom he appeared to be an anti-mutant human bigot.

Shaw was a key part of the corruption of the Phoenix entity into the Dark Phoenix. This battle was Shaw's and the Hellfire Club's first encounter (and, soon, first battle) with the X-Men. Later, during the Hellfire Club's battle alongside the X-Men against Nimrod, a Sentinel from the future, Shaw was thrown into the upper atmosphere by the Sentinel, then caught by Harry Leland's power and slammed at phenomenal speed into Nimrod. This effort had the side effect of fatally overwhelming Leland's weak heart. Months later, Shaw was attacked by his son, Shinobi Shaw, who phased his hand into his father's chest to induce a coronary. Shaw was then supposedly blown up in his Swiss Mountain chalet by a bomb set by his son. However, he survived, albeit with a scar on his face crossing his left eye which was removed succesfully by Madelyne Pryor (seemingly a sentient psionic contruct of X-Man)using her psionic powers during their affair after his reappereance. Shaw became part of a new Inner Circle alongside Selene, Madelyne and Trevor Fitzroy, a descendant of the Shaw family in an alternate future.

Shaw's first move upon recovery from the bomb was to contact the mutant named Holocaust, who had crossed over from the "Age of Apocalypse" timeline. In exchange for a new armored containment suit, Holocaust agreed to help Shaw capture X-Force, which he did with ease. Shaw then had Tessa telepathically brainwash X-Force to hunt down Cable, but Cable used his own emergent telepathy to break the conditioning and free his team. Shaw's relationship with Holocaust declined soon after.

Shaw's more recent exploits included vying for control of the Elixir Vitae, thought to be a cure for the Legacy Virus; associations with the British intelligence agency Black Air and an unnamed time-manipulator; and hunting down X-51, the Machine Man. Then, Shaw was apparently ousted from his position as Black King by Selene, who installed the demon Blackheart in his place. This arrangement did not last long, as Selene and Blackheart were defeated and Shaw has since returned to power.

He attempted to use Lady Mastermind to control Tessa (now called "Sage") and her team of X-Men, who were searching for Destiny's prophetic diaries. Then, after Professor X was "outed" as a mutant, Shaw apparently returned to his capitalist roots and converted the NY branch of the Hellfire Club into a stripclub, which was in fact a safe haven for mutants regardless of affiliation. Using telepathic strippers, Shaw gleaned secrets from the minds of his patrons, who come in just to have a good decadent time. Thanks to the aid of his employees, Shaw pretended to be a telepath himself.

After a few months, though, Shaw made a play to become the new Lord Imperial of the entire Club worldwide, and invited Sage to help him. Shaw also invited Courtney Ross (who as actually her evil counterpart Sat-yr-9) and Sunspot to join him as the White Queen and Black King. All three accepted, but Sage effectively betrayed Shaw when she didn't warn him that Pierce might try to assassinate him. Shaw met with the X-Men, claiming to be somewhat reformed, just before Pierce's attack. He was then wounded by Pierce, but remained strong enough to literally knock Pierce's head off. However, he was too hurt to maintain his Club position and was replaced by Sunspot, who is now the current Lord Imperial of the Hellfire Club.

However, Shaw's motives were not as noble as he pretended. Following his hospitalization and recovery, he has recently joined forces with a new Inner Circle which includes Cassandra Nova and Emma Frost, the latter of whom had since joined the X-Men. As the story arc continues to unfold, the Hellfire Club make their attack as they each target an individual member of the Astonishing X-men. Shaw himself successfully defeats Colossus.

Powers and abilities
Shaw is a mutant with the ability to absorb kinetic energy to increase his strength, speed, and stamina to superhuman levels. This makes him extremely difficult to defeat in battle, as every blow struck to him only makes him stronger. Unusual tactics must be used to defeat him, usually by incapacitating him or by attacking him psionically. He absorbs the energy of any blow he is struck by, not just punches, but bullets, and to a less successful degree, electricity and physically based energy beams. Without absorbing energy he is merely a strong ordinary human, but normally Shaw works to keep his strength at a superhuman level. For example, in one instance, he was shown to spend time hitting a wall after waking in order to build up his power reserves. Shaw has been shown speculating if he could challenge the Thing or Thor.

Shaw also can forego sleep if he receives enough kinetic energy. Oftentimes he will have his mercenaries pummel him so that he need not sleep for some time. Shaw can still be crushed/cut, but cuts are superficial because he saps the blade of all its thrusting/cutting energy. Shaw is adept at not letting enemies realize his power until they have hit him one too many times. Hitting Shaw is often described as "punching a matress." If properly energized Shaw can lift and hold approximately one hundred times his weight. If bound, he can be punched by a teammate until he is strong enough to break the bonds. He is also adept at taunting foes into attacking.

Shaw's abilities can be overloaded by too great an influx of power, like being hit with too many super punches. He can also be defeated if an opponent focuses on simply immobilizing him without striking him with significant force, or if something heavy falls on him, for though he can sap the kinetic falling energy, the weight could still crush him, unless he is strong enough to lift/stop it. The X-Man known as Rogue once defeated Shaw simply by picking him up and throwing him straight up into the sky, effectively removing him from the battlefield.

Appearances in other media
Sebastian Shaw figured prominently in the Dark Phoenix saga in the X-Men animated series. In the film X2: X-Men United, he appeared briefly on screen debating with another well-known character from the comics, Hank McCoy.

Alternate versions

 * In the Age of Apocalypse, Sebastian Shaw is one of the many mutant aristocrats and a prized servant of Apocalypse. He reveals Angel's connections with the X-Men and other rebels, to his master, having seen Angel talking to the former X-Man Gambit.
 * The Ultimate version of Sebastian Shaw is also the leader of the Hellfire Club, a secret society that worships the Phoenix God. Ultimate Shaw, unlike his mainstream counterpart, is a regular human. He was killed by the Phoenix.
 * In the House of M, Sebastian Shaw was the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * In the video game X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, which draws loosely from the Age of Apocalypse storyline, Shaw remains an independent figure. He barters a key to Apocalypse's tower to the X-Men and the Brotherhood.