Cerebra's Files

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 fell in love with a woman named Chantel, and was soon initiated into the Hellfire Club along with Warren Worthington, Jr., Howard Stark and John Braddock. Soon, Shaw rose to the position of Black King, and gathered mutant associates to his side, including Emma Frost and Tessa. Unfortunately, Chantel was soon killed by Sentinels in a battle. Upon discovering that Ned Buckman, the White King of the Inner Circle, was supporting Steven Lang's Project: Armageddon and its Sentinels, he executed a coup, using Emma's telepathy to make Buckman kill his own White Queen and then himself.

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 Senator Robert Kelly and H.P. Gyrich, to whom he appeared to be an anti-mutant human bigot. Secretly, however, he continued his plans, some of which have involved Black Air and more recently, an unnamed group of time-manipulators.

Shaw was, of course, a key part of the corruption of Phoenix II into Dark Phoenix, as well as the Hellfire Club's battle with the X-Men against Nimrod, during which he was thrown into the upper atmosphere by the future Sentinel, then caught by Harry Leland's power and slammed at phenomenal speed into Nimrod. This effort had the unfortunate result of killing Leland. Months later, Shaw was attacked by his son Shinobi, who phased his hand into his father's chest to induce a coronary. Shaw was supposedly blown up in his Swiss Mountain chalet by a bomb set by his son. However, it's clear that he survived, with a scar on his face crossing his left eye (probably since removed with plastic surgery).

Shaw's first move upon recovery from the bomb was to contact the man named Holocaust, who had crossed over from the "Age of Apocalypse." In exchange for a new armored containment suit, Holocaust agreed to help Shaw capture X-Force, which he did with frightful ease. Shaw then had Tessa reprogram X-Force to hunt down Cable, but Cable used his fledgling 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, and hunting down X-51, the Machine Man.

Then, somehow, Shaw was apparently ousted from his position as Black King by Selene, who installed Blackheart in his place. This arrangement did not last long, as Shaw has since returned to power. He attempted to use Lady Mastermind to control Sage and the team of X-Men who were searching for the Destiny Prophecies. Then, after Professor X was "outed" as a mutant, Shaw apparently returned to his capitalist roots and converted the Hellfire Club into something closer to a real nightclub, in fact a safe haven for mutants regardless of affiliation. Using telepathic dancers, Shaw gleaned secrets from the minds of his patrons, who come in just to have a good decadent time.

After a few months, though, Shaw made a play to become the Lord Imperial of the entire Club worldwide, and invited Sage to help him. Sage accepted, but 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, whom he had chosen as his Black Rook.

After Magneto's rise to world power, Shaw was assigned to be the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. He rarely ventures into the field, but when he does, you know something big has happened. He is most concerned about his top agent Wolverine, who was showing signs of instability, and then jumped off the Helicarrier and joined up with the Human Resistance.

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