Ultimate X-Men Just Had a Major Callback to the Original Shadow King

Ultimate X-Men is a unique take on the X-Men mythos, focusing on a group of Japanese schoolgirls dealing with their mutant powers in Hi No Kuni, the Ultimate version of Japan. Ultimate X-Men is an amazing book, despite many of the complaints against it. Many fans aren’t into the book because it isn’t exactly like what they think the X-Men should be, but there are still many callbacks to the classic facets of the men and women of X. The last two issues of Ultimate X-Men in particular have dropped some major callbacks to the mainline X-Men, as the team faces their first major challenge, tested by the Maester and the Shadow King. The Shadow King has long been a major X-Men villain, and his Ultimate version has a lot in common with the 616 version of the character, including the source of his power.

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The last two issues have seen the X-Men battling Shadow King and Dark Armor, a corrupted version of the fan favorite character Armor. The battle seems to be taking place on the Astral Plane, which has always played a bigger role in the travails of the X-Men, and the Marvel Universe in general. The Astral Plane is a major development, both for the Shadow King himself, and for the future of Ultimate X-Men.

The Astral Plane Is the Playground of Some of Marvel’s Most Important Characters

The Shadow King’s home has always been the Astral Plane, but the first appearance of the Astral Plane came years before the Shadow King ever existed. The Astral Plane was an important part of the early Doctor Strange stories, by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, with Strange often traveling into the Astral Plane while using his magic. Ditko’s Astral Plane is one of the trippiest visuals in the history of the Marvel Universe. Ditko imbued the Astral Plane with bizarre constructs, creating a dimension that was unlike anything that readers in the ’60s had ever seen. It’s become one of the more well-known parts of Ditko’s work on Doctor Strange. Eventually, the Astral Plane would move beyond the Doctor Strange comics and became an important facet of the X-Men. The Astral Plane was established as a place that every human being’s mind touched, but only those with mental or magical abilities could affect. Professor X’s telepathic abilities allowed him to journey into the Astral Plane, allowing him and other powerful psionic talents to have battles on the Astral Plane.

Xavier first encountered the 616 Shadow King in Cairo and the two of them had a battle on the Astral Plane. The most powerful mental talents could actually make their home there, like the Shadow King. In fact, the Shadow King’s relationship with the Astral Plane is one of the most unique in comics. Amahl Farouk is the Shadow King, but he’s actually just a host; Farouk was a powerful telepathic mutant born centuries ago and was found by the Shadow King, who bonded with him from the Astral Plane. The Shadow King on the Astral Plane is very dangerous, even able to overpower Xavier, ostensibly the most powerful telepath on the planet. In fact, Shadow King was able to trap Xavier’s mind in the Astral Plane, allowing him to survive death. This isn’t the first time this sort of thing happened; spirits have been trapped in the Astral Plane before. Introducing the Astral Plane to the Ultimate Universe is a big deal, especially because of how important Shadow King is.

The Astral Plane Opens Up the Possibilities for the Shadow King

Making the Shadow King one of the main villains of Ultimate X-Men was quite unexpected, but it opens a load of possibilities. The Shadow King has long been one of the most dangerous yet underrated X-Men villains of them all. His telepathic powers allowed him to challenge the team, and he was constantly trying to use the connection of the Astral Plane to the minds of every human to become a god. The 616 Shadow King is a powerful psionic predator, one that is very different from the 6160 version because he has much grander ambitions. So far, the Ultimate Shadow King is much more focused on making Armor like him than anything else, but that looks like it’s about to change.

The Maester, the leader of the Children of the Atom, is using the powers of the Shadow King to access the Astral Plane and looks to want to use it in a bigger way in his plans for mutants — he’s even working with the Maker’s servants to use the Astral Plane for some sinister purpose. However, Shadow King has his own ambitions and the power over the Astral Plane. It looks like at some point the Maester and the Shadow King are going to fall out, possibly over Armor, and introducing the Astral Plane is the first step to that.

Ultimate X-Men #14 is on sale now.