Name

Current Alias

Aliases

Happiness is a lie. Life is horror. The light is always dying, all across the universe. The last star will flicker out someday. When it does, all that remains... shadow.And I will be its king.

Prime Marvel Universe[]

The Shadow King is allegedly a multiversal manifestation of the dark side of human consciousness, spawned by the first nightmare,^[10] which wished to bring mass death and destruction to all of existence.^[5] At some point in the past, the Shadow King fought against an Egyptian priestess by the name ofAshake.^[11]

When the mutantAmahl Farouk lost his father and the market he lived in, the Shadow King appeared to him and promised him that he would never be alone again. Amahl accepted the deal and bonded with the Shadow King.^[2][12]

Shortly beforeWorld War II, Amahl Farouk worked withBaron von Strucker on a plot to destabilizeBritain's political structure, with the intention being Britain allying withGermany in coming war, or at the very least, staying neutral. He first learned of his future enemies, theX-Men andCharles Xavier, and other future history at this time.^[13]

Shortly after encountering a youngStorm, Xavier walked by a restaurant inCairo when he was suddenly hit with a powerful psychic attack. Realizing the culprit was inside, he confronted Farouk. The two engaged in a fierce battle on the astral plane. Xavier defeated Farouk, whose body slumped over in his chair. But Farouk's evil mind continued to exist on the astral plane, calling itself the Shadow King. (It was also hinted that Farouk was just a body inhabited by the Shadow King).^[1]

Many years later, the Shadow King sought to attack Xavier, still angry that he had been defeated. He was able to take over the New MutantKarma due to her own mutant ability of possession making her vulnerable.^[6] The Shadow King possessed Karma for many months, and his eating habits made her grow as corpulent as his last host body. When the New Mutants inadvertently discovered Karma under the Shadow King's possession, they fought for her freedom and won, forcing him out.^[14]

The Shadow King also chased the de-aged Storm inCairo.^[15] He possessed the body ofF.B.I. agentJacob Reisz as his new permanent host and kept up the search for Ororo. He corrupted the doctorLian Shen into being his slave and used her and Hounds to hunt the Wind-rider. She was able to escape with the help ofGambit.^[16]

Meanwhile, Farouk also began manipulatingMoira MacTaggert and the inhabitants of herMuir Island facility. This led to Moira and others on Muir adopting more aggressive behavior patterns.^[17] Shadow King attempted to compelVal Cooper into executingMystique for him, and for a time believed she was successful.^[16] Eventually, the outside world took notice of the Shadow King's activities on Muir. Xavier was recently returned from space, and his X-Men were captured on Muir by the Shadow King's thralls. Xavier arranged withS.H.I.E.L.D. andX-Factor to make a strike against the Shadow King. The Shadow King believed he had an edge over his foes, since his pawn Val Cooper maneuvered Jacob Reisz into being FBI liaison to the mission. The King was caught off-guard when Cooper was revealed as Mystique in disguise, and his host body was killed. The Shadow King jumped into Xavier's son,Legion, on Muir Island, but the X-Men defeated his other thralls. In the ensuing psychic battle the backlash re-injured Professor X's legs and spine, but the Shadow King was apparently destroyed once more.^[18][19]

The Shadow King later caused thePsi-War, trickingPsylocke into causing a massive wave of energy that disrupted psionic powers across the world. However, he stretched himself too thin attempting to link with all the minds on Earth and was defeated by Psylocke in her new shadow astral form when she assaulted his personal psionic nexus. The Shadow King then became trapped in Psylocke's mind and was unable to enter the Astral Plane.^[20]

When Psylocke perished in combat with the mutant hunter, Vargas, the Shadow King was free again and attempted to attack the X-Men. However, it seemed Rogue's acquired memories were too much for him to handle, and he was defeated once again.^[10]

The Shadow King later appeared in Britain possessing an alternate realityCharles Xavier and using that reality'sX-Men as his Hounds. He was able to bring the Shadow X-Men back to Earth-616 because of the events of M-Day. He and his Shadow X-Men were defeated byNew Excalibur and placed in prison. After an attack on a prison transport failed to free him, he attacked the transport's pilot,Sage. She reflected his mental assault, destroying Xavier's psyche. Soon after, he took control of a guard stationed by the body, and had him utter the word "Psylocke." Psylocke visited the unconscious body and the Shadow King revealed himself. The Shadow King could no longer control Psylocke after her resurrection, so he attempted to get revenge on her by having her watch New Excalibur kill herbrother. Psylocke caused the Shadow King's host body to have a stroke, flat-lining him and was just about to plunge her psychic sword into the body when she suddenly disappeared in a flash of light.^[21]

Brotherhood of Evil Mutants[]

The Shadow King later re-appeared in his old Farouk body and approached the journalistHarper Simmons. He gave Simmons footage of X-Force assassinating people so that Simmons would go public with the existence of X-Force.^[22] It was later revealed that the Shadow King was working with a newBrotherhood of Evil Mutants.^[23]

A Man Called X[]

Following the death of Charles Xavier, the Shadow King managed to collect a portion of his spirit and brought it to the Astral Plane, where Xavier was forced to partake in an endless battle against his dire enemy using their psychic powers as arsenal. After what felt like, or might have been, a thousand years in the Astral Plane,^[24] the Shadow King attempted to access a network of psychics around the Earth to escape the Astral Plane, but a group of X-Men sought out by Psylocke stopped this plan.^[3] These X-Men were lured into the Astral Plane, and Xavier hoped their presence could give him the advantage to put an end to the confrontation.^[24] The X-Men ultimately defeated the Shadow King and Fantomex donated his body to Professor X's astral form while his mind remained in the Astral Plane.^[25] However, the Shadow King planted a portion of himself in Xavier's mind.^[26]

AfterProteus was released from the Astral Plane,^[27] Professor X, now simply going by X, convinced Psylocke to form a psychic network and draw its power to push back his influence. The Shadow King took advantage of this strategy and accessed the network to escape from the Astral Plane through X's body.^[26] After the Shadow King subdued the X-Men, X managed to recover and worked together with Psylocke to create a deeper psychic network, gathering enough power to destroy the monster once and for all.^[28]

Reign andFall of the House of X[]

Farouk moved toKrakoa where the Shadow King planned to corrupt several young mutants, starting withScout andWolfsbane.^[29] Unfortunately for the Shadow King, Scout managed to discover his plan and went to confront Farouk with the rest of the New Mutants.^[30] This caused Farouk to bring them all to the Astral Plane where they battled the Shadow King. The New Mutants convinced Farouk to break his connection to the evil being and redeem himself. With influence of the Shadow King gone from him, Farouk regretted what he had done under his control and left Krakoa to improve himself.^[31]

Following their deaths, Storm andMagneto sought their way to be resurrected, only for the Shadow King to intercept them. He separated the two mutants and confronted each, assuming different forms to get into their minds. The Shadow King conjured several dark beings to fight Storm, while he took the appearance of Charles Xavier when talking to Magneto. He urged Magneto to drop all his masks that he had assumed over the course of his life and go by the name that held the deepest meaning to him, that being Magneto. This prompted the Shadow King to take the appearance Magneto used to have back when he was an extremist.

Meanwhile, the Shadow King, in the forms of theFirst Fallen,Annihilation,Le Bete Noir,Goblin Force, and theAdversary, mocked Storm over being obsessed with her responsibilities and belief that she was necessary to save countless lives. As the battle raged on, the Shadow King reminded Magneto of his past as a villain who believed in mutant supremacy and human inferiority, but Magneto told the being that he had outgrown his past self and had changed for the better, as he now only wished to protect those who were discriminated and were too weak to fight back. Storm managed to fight off all of the beings summoned by the Shadow King, leaving he himself to face her alone. He continued mocking her for believing that she was a goddess who would save the world. Storm knew that this was his last trap, and mustered enough energy to disperse the Shadow King's essence and get both her and Magneto away from his clutches.^[32]

Other Realities[]

Earth-161[]

During his assault onMuir Island, it was Shadow King's dark influence that corrupted theStorm bio-synth, starting her on the path that saw her join theConsortium, slayWolverine, and take control ofWakanda.^[33]

Earth-295[]

An aspect of the Shadow King was an agent ofApocalypse. He was usually seen manifested as a cloudy face inside of Apocalypse's sanctum. He was the first to detect the presence ofNate Grey, prompting Apocalypse to send his assassins to attempt to kill the youth.^[34] WhenAngel's assistantKarma was captured by Apocalypse's servants, the Shadow King psychically tortured her into revealing the location ofMagneto'sX-Men.^[35] He later attempted to read the mind ofBishop, but Bishop's memory of the original reality (Earth-616) was enough to expel the Shadow King from his mind.^[36]

Finally, the Shadow King followedNightcrawler to the sanctuary ofAvalon by hiding in the mind of Apocalypse's minionDead Man Wade. There he took control of the minds of the many of Avalon's mutant and human refugees, causing great carnage. Nightcrawler, with the assistance of the psychic Damask and the time-stoppingSwitchback, was able to physically teleport into the astral plane and destroy the Shadow King's mind. The casualties caused by the Shadow King's attack were enough to convinceDestiny to accompany Nightcrawler and the X-Men on a mission to Apocalypse's stronghold; her presence was pivotal to the heroes' success in restoring Earth-616 and repairing the timestream.

The Shadow King would survive, and return to a host body in Apocalypse's citadel. He would advise Apocalypse whenDomino failed to capture the X-Man.^[37] When the nuclear bombs were launched by theHuman High Council, he would detect all the death and destruction and inform Apocalypse about the strike. Apocalypse would retaliate by unleashing his sea-wall defense system.^[38]

AfterWeapon X betrayed theX-Men to become the heir of Apocalypse, the Shadow King became his agent and chief telepath. He also regained his psychical body as Amahl Farouk.^{[citation needed]}

Earth-1298[]

Absorbed byCharles Xavier and used to becomeOnslaught.^[39]

Earth-6141[]

The Shadow King possessedProfessor X and turned him dark and by extension used him to corrupt his students and turned them intoShadow X.^[40]

Earth-7964[]

The Shadow King kidnappedProfessor X on the astral plane, thus crippling theX-Men. He was eventually defeated by Xavier after the X-Men released him. When he first appeared, he dropped hints about a mysterious benefactor who told him how to get his revenge on Xavier, who turned out to begeneral William Kincaid.^[41]

Earth-9112[]

In a world wherePhoenix lost her powers instead of dying, the Shadow King usedMastermind as a decoy to get in close to Jean Grey. After killing the mother, he claimed her infant daughter,Rachel, and the psychic potential she possessed as his new host body.^[42]

Killing Jean inadvertently restored the power of thePhoenix; however, Jean tracked Shadow King down toMuir Island, where he had turned Rachel into an adult to fully access her powers. Shadow King made the mistake of confronting the Phoenix on theAstral Plane, and was consumed and obliterated by the raw power of the Phoenix.^[43]

Earth-21923[]

On Earth-21923, the Shadow King became trapped inX-Mansion'sCerebro for unknown reasons. Because the villains wiped out almost all of the heroes when they took over theUnited States, there was no one to free the Shadow King from his prison. At least 50 years later,Star-Lord visited the X-Mansion to pay his respects to the fallenX-Men. The Shadow King sensed his presence and lured him to Cerebro using psychic illusions of the X-Men and non-Mutant heroes. The Shadow King almost broke Star-Lord's spirit and possessed him, but Star-Lord was able to overcome the Shadow King's manipulations and destroyed Cerebro's control panel with Two-Gun Kid's revolver, causing the Shadow King to vanish.^[44]

Earth-21993[]

Charles Xavier would be assassinated byCable leading to widespread human/mutant violence.

The Shadow King is a multi-universal ethereal entity extending into each reality as a tendril of its larger self, requiring a host body to exist in the material world.

Telepathy: Shadow King is a telepath of a very high order to the point he has been stated to be a"true Omega Telepath".^[46] According to Storm, with the exception of Charles Xavier, Shadow King is the most powerful telepath on Earth and has easily taken over the minds of strong-willed individuals such asGentle andBlack Panther without their knowledge.^[47] He has also shown enough capability to mentally control high class telepaths such asMarvel Girl andPsylocke.^[48]

• Astral Form: As an astral form he can only be harmed by attacks able to damage such a form, such as psychically or using certain magical weapons. He has demonstrated the ability to live beyond the death of his physical body.^[49]
• Anchor Host: Shadow King is able to possess other beings while on the astral plane. Although he can influence many individuals telepathically, he typically chooses one host to occupy with his disembodied spirit. This host body effectively becomes Farouk's own. His powers can somehow physically repair damage to the host.^[50] Although taking a host gives him more power on the physical plane, it also makes him vulnerable. Killing the Shadow King's host can disperse his astral essence, and it may take months or even years for him to manifest his astral form again.^[51]

• It is suggested that the Shadow King,Annihilation, theAdversary, theFirst Fallen, leBete Noir, and theGoblin Force are all different aspects of the same thing.^[32] Interestingly, several of those are known oppositional entities to thePhoenix Force.
  • The Shadow King was described as the absence that opposed the Phoenix's passion.^[52]

• Because of its greed, hedonism and lack of self-control, the Shadow King's long-term telepathic hosts are often left morbidly obese.^[53][54]

• Fantasy
• Sci-fi
• Marvel