The villain that inspired the creation of the X-Men returns in the new Astonishing X-Men.
Magneto? Apocalypse? Sinister?
The Shadow King.
Writer Charles Soule revealed this psychic entity will be the first villain in the upcoming book as the X-Men ResurrXion continues.
Marvel and the writer behind Death of Wolverine shares new details and Jim Cheung art that raises a big question.
But first about our claim that The Shadow King “inspired” the X-Men:
Back in Uncanny X-Men #117 a flashback revealed Charles Xavier’s first encounter with an evil mutant. Xavier encountered a crime lord named Amalh Farouk in Cairo. The two men never spoke but battle in a duel on the psychic plane on the astral plane. Farouk was the human guise of a psionic entity known as The Shadow King. Xavier’s encounter made him decide to go back to his home to create a school for training young mutants. The Shadow King would return to attack the X-Men, New Mutants and the Professor’s son.
The Shadow King just hit the small screen as the villain of Legion on FX, the television series based on the Professor’s trouble son.
Soule shares why he chose this classic enemy, how it will figure into battle and future of the mutants:
“The nice thing about The Shadow King is the the resides in a place called the astral plane, which is sort of a dream dimension where anything anyone imagines can become real. So, battles there tend to be about willpower; the person who can impose their reality on their opponents, force them to believe in whatever situation they’re projecting into them, tends to win. In Astonishing, we’ll see some fantastic set pieces built around that idea, some of which will tie into signature past events from X-Men history. It’s not all backwards-looking, though. This is a story that moves the X-Men forward in a huge way.” Soule told Marvel.com.
Soule says the series is “designed to work as a series of reveals. Every time you think you know what’s happening, the script gets flipped a bit, usually around the last page of the issue. It’s like a puzzle box: part of the fun is figuring it all out. That said the book does do a lot with what I think of as X-Men touchstones – significant events in the lore, characters new and old – but rarely the way you think. I call it “weaponized nostalgia,” It’s all explained and laid out, though. Even if you’ve never read an X-Men comic before, it’ll just work as a fun adventure.”
Marvel shared a first look inside the issue with art by Jim Cheung. showing Rogue and Elizabeth Braddock/Psylocke.
The team roster is Old Man Logan, Psylocke, Mystique, Fantomex, Rogue, Bishop, Gambit, Archangel.
Who is this woman that looks very familiar?
Is this Emma Frost? Soule and Jeff Lemire transformed Frost back to full-on villainy during Death of X and IvX. Emma appeared to be driven mad with grief vowing revenge for the death of Cyclops. Emma will be leading her own X-Men in Secret Empire: United, a tie-in series. Is this Emma above or a new mutant?
The return of Shadow King will mark a rematch for Elizabeth who once fought their own psi-war.
Astonishing X-Men #1 arrives in July.
By Editor