Legion’s Professor X vs Shadow King Backstory Explained

Legion “Chapter 6” took us deep inside the mind of David Haller, where he and the other members of Melanie Bird’s Summerland group (and the creepy plus-one of The Eye) were stranded in a false reality within the Astral Plane. Running this psychic Asylum was none other than “Lenny” (Aubrey Plaza), who played a menacing cat-and-mouse game, probing each member of the group, trying to convince them that this new reality was their only truth.

Of course it did’t work the way that Dr. Lenny hoped, and by the end of the episode, she drops the fluffy pretense and reveals some pretty dark history about Her and David’s real father. For X-Men comic book fans, this episode heavily suggested that Legion‘s main villain is The Shadow King – and a Legion season 7 preview has now confirmed it.

If you need more details on how the show is drawing on the history of X-Men comics, we’re here to help: Here is Legion’s Professor X vs Shadow King BackstoryExplained.

Comic Book History

In X-Men comic books, The Shadow King is Amahl Farouk, a mutant whose psychic powers took a dark turn when he began controlling the minds of others, using their darker natures as his fuel and sustenance.

That abuse of power eventually brought Farouk into contact with an Astral Plane entity known as The Shadow King, a being of pure psychic energy that targeted telepaths and other psychic mutants, using their gifts to control and feed on the minds of others. 

Farouk tried to recruit a younger Charles Xavier to follow in his footsteps; however, Xavier’s nobler view of mutant powers put him at odds with the crime lord/psychic predator, and the two had an epic battle across the Astral Plane.

That battle resulted in Farouk/Shadow King being thought dead, when he really was stranded, bodiless, in the Astral Plane. 

Legion Continuity

As our own Jamie Lovett already broke down in his examination of Legion‘s tease of David’s true father, there was a lot revealed about in a monologue by Lenny/Shadow King in the climatic moment of “Chapter 6”:

“I knew your father. Did you know that? You’re real father. The guy that gave you away. I know, boo-hoo. Talk about an asshole, always acting so holy then gives away his only son. He thought he could hide you from me, but he was wrong. I found you. Such a sweet little baby and me, you’re very own walking, talking fungus. What do you think he’ll say when he finds out?”

Later on in her rant, Lenny/Farouk mentions the potential of adding David’s power to his/her own, seemingly confirming that the villain was also a telepath or some kind of psychic mutant – likely how he first met and/or bonded with Charles Xavier.  

In Legion‘s continuity it seems that the comic book history between Charles Xavier and Amahl Farouk is largely the same: Charles and Amahl knew one another, and had a falling out/battle – one that left Farouk bodiless, stranded on the Astral Plane. Farouk then found an outlet in the form of baby David, the son of his hated nemesis. Farouk latched onto David like a psychic parasite, nesting in his mind, feeding on his formidable powers.

What The Shadow King’s endgame is remains to be seen, but certain clues suggest he wants to use David’s body (the only part he confesses to care about) as a vessel to enact vengeance on a certain Professor… 

Where’s Charles Xavier?

The biggest question that fans have now (beyond the immediate problem of David and the Summerland mutants defeating The Shadow King) is: will we see Legion’s version of Charles Xavier on the show? 

Lenny/Shadow King already teased as much when she asked David “What do you think he’ll say when he finds out?” The question seems to suggest that Shadow King has every intention of possessing David’s mature body and powers set, with the intention of once again confronting Charles Xavier. 

There’s two ways that The Shadow King’s plot could presumably play out: 

1. He gains control of David (which seemingly happens at the end of episode 6), and it takes Charles Xavier to help set him free. 
2. David and the Summerland mutants fight off The Shadow King before or during his possession of David, and Professor X doesn’t have to get involved. 

Whichever way it plays out, it seems like now that the dye has been cast, there’s no way that David can drop the thread of who his father is. So even if Xavier doesn’t appear in the show during this first season, David’s quest to learn more about his true origins would almost have to be a major focus of the already-confirmed season 2.

More Legion

EPISODE RECAPS: Episode One | Episode Two | Episode Three |Episode Four | Episode Five | Episode Six

Legion, based on the Marvel Comics by Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz, is the story of David Haller (Dan Stevens), a troubled young man who may be more than human. Diagnosed as schizophrenic as a child, David has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for years. Now in his early 20’s and free once again, David loses himself in the rhythm of the structured regimen of daily life: breakfast, lunch, dinner, therapy, medications, sleep. David spends the rest of his time in companionable silence alongside his chatterbox friend Lenny (Aubrey Plaza), a fellow patient whose life-long drug and alcohol addiction has done nothing to quell her boundless optimism that her luck is about to change. The pleasant numbness of David’s routine is completely upended with the arrival of a beautiful and troubled new patient named Syd (Rachel Keller). Inexplicably drawn to one another, David and Syd share a startling encounter, after which David must confront the shocking possibility that the voices he hears and the visions he sees may actually be real.

Legion airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on FX. Like the show? Rate it in our Rankings Database Below! 

Up Next: Legion Renewed For Second Season