Classic X-Men Villain To Return In Astonishing X-Men

In March, as part of the X-Men ResurrXion, Marvel announced plans to revive the Astonishing X-Men series with writer Charles Soule and a rotating group of star artists. The book will feature a cast of popular X-Men characters and a mystery plot that will dive into the X-Men’s long history.

The series will also feature the return of one of the X-Men’s oldest enemies. Marvel and Soule have now confirmed that The Shadow King will be the primary antagonist of the new Astonishing X-Men.

“The Shadow King was the first ‘evil’ mutant Charles Xavier ever encountered, and as we saw way back in Uncanny X-Men #117 in 1979, he’s essentially the reason Xavier decided to train up other mutants to fight emerging threats in the world,” Soule tells Marvel.com. “The nice thing about The Shadow King is that he 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 onto 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.”

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The Shadow King’s involvement as a villain in Astonishing X-Men helps explain at least one choice made for the book’s cast of X-Men. Battles against the Shadow King tend to be decided by powerful telepaths, and Psylocke fits that bill. In the past, Psylocke has even put a semi-permanent end to The Shadow King by trapping him in her own mind. With Professor X dead, Psylocke is easily the X-Man with the most experience dealing with The Shadow King.

Psylocke won’t be alone though. The cast of Astonishing X-Men – which Soule has emphasized is an ensemble but not a team – also includes Old Man Logan, Gambit, Rogue, Bishop, Fantomex, Archangel, and Mystique.

Check out a preview of Astonishing X-Men #1, featuring art by Jim Cheung, in the gallery below. Astonishing X-Men #1 goes on sale in July.

The Shadow King recently made his live-action debut in Fox’s first X-Men television series, FX’s Legion, played in a surprise twist by Aubrey Plaza.

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