Sebastian Shaw

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PHASE 1
PHASE 2
Sebastian Shaw
Shaw.jpg
Portrayed by Jason Isaacs
Known Aliases: The Black King
Affiliations: Hellfire Club
Socked By: Cai
Introduction: Hellfire


Both a powerful industrialist and Black King of the Hellfire Club, Sebastian Shaw has been a dangerous and cunning opponent of the X-Men. In the post M-Day world, he has come to realise that money cannot buy mutant safety, and is grudgingly working with the White Court to protect their own.

Details

Name: Sebastian Hiram Shaw

Aliases: Black King (formal title)

Affiliation: Hellfire Club

First appearance: X2 (mentioned briefly)

Family: Unnamed wife (deceased), Shinobi Shaw (son)

Biography

Sebastian Hiram Shaw is one of America's premier "self-made millionaires". Coming from a humble Pittsburgh family with a long history of working in the steel mills, Sebastian decided early on that he would not follow the path that drove his father to an early grave. Instead he concentrated on his studies, graduating college early and throwing himself into his work.

Within years, he had become one of the youngest millionaires in America and founded Shaw Industries, more than tripling his assets over five years. With his newfound social status and wealth, he attracted the attention of the Hellfire Club and was inducted into their ranks.

When mutants began to become more prominent and public discrimination began to become evident, Shaw decided to hide his status at any cost. To this end, he worked with Emma Frost to pitch the Sentinel program to the US government. When the contract was turned down, a prototype Sentinel was used in an attack on Frost's Massachusetts Academy. While denying responsibility for the attack, Shaw used the leverage to become Black King of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle.

Sebastian's nigh-obsessive business career left him little time or interest for friends, although his business associate Harry Leland would be the closest thing he has to one. His cold-hearted nature also alienated him from his wife and his son, Shinobi. Despondent over her husband's distant attitude and frequent affairs, Shaw's wife committed suicide, which further drove his son from him.

Phase 1

In recent years, Sebastian Shaw has come to conflict with the X-Men on multiple occasions, namely Selene's plans for Amanda Sefton and Manuel de la Rocha, his attempt to gain control of Shinobi's life, his financial conflicts with (and attempted assassination of) Cain Marko and an unlikely cooperation with the X-Men to prevent a mentally unstable Jean Grey from usurping Selene's abandoned chair on the Inner Circle.

in 2005, Shaw was reeling from the loss of significant financial and covert power following Pete Wisdom's infiltration and subsequent decimation of the Inner Circle's assets. One of his newer associations was with Tara Trask, with whom he was pursuing a cooperative venture relating to the Taygetos program until Trask's death following her final confrontation with the X-Men. The nature of his interest in her activities remains unclear. He has also been loosely associated with possible mutant smuggling through a group called the Serpent Society, but again, there is little to go on.

In April 2010, Shaw brokered a deal with the White Court, to replace Selene permanently as Black Queen and begin to rebuild his Inner Court. Selene was killed by her successor, Belladonna Boudreaux-LeBeau.

In November 2012, Jason Wyngarde attempted to usurp Shaw's kingship by planting a series of false connections between Blue Court Queen Emma Steed's resources and Shaw's own off the books business. The plan - to expose these "connections" and overthrow both Shaw and Steed - failed when Adrienne Frost double-crossed Wyngarde, though it left Shaw without a significant amount of his wealth (which was ceased in an FBI sting), limiting his moves against the White Court and the X-Men.

Phase 2

Following M-Day and the downturn in attitudes towards mutants, Shaw was forced to reconsider the structure of the Hellfire Club when his Black Rook died in police custody. Aware the Club's influence was little in the face of anti-mutant sentiment, Shaw made an agreement with the White Queen, Emma Frost that the two Courts would work together more, at least in the area of mutant safety and security.

The truce would not stop Shaw from trying to obtain the upper hand within the club, however. In September 2021, acting on the advice of Nicholas Harkness, he accused Emma and X-Force of having stolen a valuable magic book from the Black Court vaults. It turned out that Harkness was actually in possession of the original book, while the one in the vault was a fake and Shaw's wrath was terrible to behold. It would have been even worse had he known that X-Force had the real book all along, and the one taken from Harkness was a clever fake.

Powers/Abilities

Sebastian Shaw has the mutant ability to convert physical impact into strength. At high levels, this actually increases his muscle mass, often to deformed levels. After expending the stored energy, Shaw returns to a normal form. When powered up, Shaw has been shown to be incredibly resilient to harm, able to survive a thirty-story fall and cratering into a parking lot, as well as withstanding numerous blows from the Juggernaut.

Plots

Phase 1

X2 (seen briefly on a television debating with Henry McCoy)

Hellfire

Heiress Discordia

Hellfire and Damnation

Lost In The Woods

Not So Plain Jane

This Savage Land

Seven Minutes In Heaven (referenced)

The Magnificent Seven

Halflight (referenced)

Revenant

Allumwandlung in Azure and Gules

Phase 2

Paradise Lost

Operation: Dewey Deceptional System

Operation: Siege Perilous (fictional universe version)

Trivia

None.

Meta

Socked by: Cai

Formerly socked by Nute, Jen

PB: Jason Isaacs