main imageSHADOW-X

Membership: Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, Jean Grey, Shadow Xavier (all Earth-6141)

Purpose: To serve the Shadow King

Affiliations: Black Air (Michele Scicluna, presumably others), Black Tom Cassidy (loose), Excalibur (Captain Britain (Brian Braddock), Dazzler (Alison Blaire), Juggernaut (Cain Marko), Nocturne (Talia Wagner (Earth-2182)), Sage, Pete Wisdom), Shadow King

Enemies: Andy, Lockheed, Marvel Girl (Rachel Grey), MI13, Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner), Kitty Pryde, Psylocke (Betsy Braddock), Royal Victoria Hospital staff, the Shadow Captains (Albion (Bran Bardic (Earth-70518)), Lionheart (Kelsey Leigh (Earth-616)), Derek Petrie, Ricky, others) (all of Earth-616 except where noted);
    formerly Excalibur (Captain Britain (Brian Braddock), Dazzler (Alison Blaire), Juggernaut (Cain Marko), Nocturne (Talia Wagner (Earth-2182)), Sage, Pete Wisdom)

Base of Operations: London, England, UK (Earth-616);
   formerly Earth-6141

First Appearance: (unidentified team): New Excalibur#1 (January, 2006); (as Earth-6141’s X-Men): New Excalibur#2 (February, 2006); (mentioned as the Shadow Mob): New Excalibur#4 (April, 2006); (as Shadow-X): New Excalibur#19 (June, 2007)

History:

(New Excalibur#8 (fb) – BTS) – Having been recently freed from his containment within Earth-616’s Psylocke mind following her supposed death, the psychic entity, the Shadow King, was transported to Earth-6141, where he located the Charles Xavier of that reality. Shattering Xavier’s mind and possessing his body, the Shadow King corrupted Xavier’s X-Men, transforming into the twisted versions of the people they once were and making them his servants.

(New Excalibur#2 (fb) – BTS) – The corrupted Charles Xavier killed all of the other super heroes in his universe.

(New Excalibur#8 (fb) – BTS) – During the events of M-Day, the Scarlet Witch’s reality warp formed cracks across multiple alternate realities, including Earth-6141, allowing the Shadow King to learn of Psylocke’s survival and allowing him access to Earth-616. Slipping back onto Earth-616 with his X-Men, the Shadow King, still in Xavier-6141’s body, prepared to take revenge on Psylocke.

(New Excalibur#1) – Following a singing gig in London, Dazzler collided with a man running for his life. Seeing a superpowered flyer chase after the running man, Dazzler hit the flying man with a light blast. When the flying man turned, Dazzler was shocked to see whom she thought was her fellow X-Man Angel and confused, Dazzler tried to apologize, only to be attacked by seemingly villainous Angel. Grabbing her motorcycle and escaping, Dazzler was soon hit by an optic blast from Cyclops and was grabbed by the human-looking Beast. After being tossed around by the villainous Beast, Dazzler met with the evil counterpart of Jean Grey, who telekinetically forced Dazzler to have a heart attack. Investigating the disturbance, Pete Wisdom and several other heroes found Dazzler and revived her before taking her to the Royal Victoria Hospital nearby. Later that night, Angel, Beast and Cyclops scoped out the hospital while Jean Grey went undercover inside the hospital to learn how Dazzler survived. When Angel asked to attack, Cyclops reminded them that an attack was not their call and they were all telepathically reminded that the privilege of an attack belonged to their leader, Charles Xavier. Shadow Xavier then attacked the mind of the Earth-2182 native Nocturne, who was present in the Hospital along with other heroes.

(New Excalibur#2) – When the X-Men’s Marvel Girl and Kitty Pryde telepathically entered Nocturne’s mind, they found the sadistic Shadow Xavier, who explained that while Nocturne was safe for the moment, the two X-Men were not. Marvel Girl and Kitty then screamed and fell to the floor. Shadow Xavier then telepathically explained to Iceman that the heroes were intent on protecting their friends and ordered Iceman to remove them from the equation. Iceman then began freezing the Hospital, opposed by Psylocke and Lockheed, while Kitty Pryde and Marvel Girl’s astral selves were being remade in the evil Shadow Xavier’s image. Iceman soon turned his attention toward the recovering Dazzler, who blasted Iceman’s ice slide, causing Iceman to fall from several stories up. Beast shortly after surprised Psylocke and both Pete Wisdom and Nightcrawler joined the fight against Beast. While Nightcrawler battled Beast, Angel rendezvoused with Iceman and Shadow Xavier telepathically reminded them that despite their personal desires, their mission was to acquire Nocturne. Cyclops then explained to the Professor that he was in a position to attack. Xavier then linked Cyclops’ mind with Angel’s to get a better view of Beast’s battle with Nightcrawler and ordered Cyclops to deal with Nightcrawler. Cyclops then fired off an optic blast that ricocheted off several buildings before going through the Hospital wall and hitting Nightcrawler. Jean Grey next entered the Hospital in preparation to deal with Psylocke and Pete Wisdom while Shadow Xavier continued his attempts to corrupt the astral forms of Kitty Pryde and Marvel Girl. The enigmatic X-Man Sage was soon drawn to the battle and confronted Jean Grey with a gun, warning her to let Psylocke go or be shot. Jean instead telekinetically dismantled Sage’s gun and when Pete Wisdom attempted to attack in the distraction, Jean penned him up against Iceman’s ice wall and plugged the blood flow to his brain, causing him to pass out. She was then confronted by Juggernaut and Dazzler, who blinded Jean before Juggernaut punched her out of the Hospital from several stories up. Jean was caught by the Angel and Jean telekinetically retrieved Nocturne from her hospital bed before warning the heroes that their lives had reached their final act. Iceman then attempted to freeze Dazzler but Juggernaut took the brunt of the ice blast while Shadow Xavier ordered his X-Men to return to his sanctum, reminding them that the next time they faced the heroes, it would be the heroes’ last battle. The team then returned to Shadow Xavier, leaving the Beast with the heroes.

(New Excalibur#3) – Shadow Xavier continued trying to telepathically corrupt Kitty Pryde and Marvel Girl’s astral selves from afar while their physical bodies remained catatonic. Sage discussed ways to defeat the evil Shadow Xavier counterpart while the captive Beast gloated that the heroes might as well try to extinguish the sun with spit, reminding them that Xavier could not be beaten. Captain Britain and Dazzler soon gave chase to the escaping X-Men, with Sage monitoring their progress from the Hospital. Iceman eventually turned back and tried to freeze the heroes but Dazzler hit him with a light blast before launching herself into the Angel, causing him to drop Nocturne. Shadow Xavier briefly returned to gloat at Kitty Pryde and Marvel Girl before being distracted by the X-Men’s fight with the pursuing heroes. Juggernaut managed to take down many of the individual X-Men while Sage and an escaped Beast knocked each other out. Shadow Xavier eventually arrived to battle Juggernaut personally and during the scuffle, Shadow Xavier was sufficently distracted enough for Marvel Girl’s astral form to attack Shadow Xavier’s astral form, freeing herself and Kitty Pryde from his psychic corruption. With Xavier taken down on the astral plane, Pete Wisdom was able to take down Xavier’s physical body with his “hot knives.” Earth-6141’s Shadow Xavier and his X-Men were then taken back into custody of the British MI13 at Her Majesty’s Prison in Wormwood Scrubs.

(New Excalibur#4 - BTS) – Sage viewed Earth-6141’s X-Men, referring to them as the Shadow Mob, in prison via computer link to prove to Pete Wisdom that she could see all.

(New Excalibur#6) – Researching the recent battles in London, Sage monitored the Shadow Mob’s Shadow Xavier, curious as to why Pete Wisdom’s hot knives did not incinerate Xavier’s brain and noting that the evil Xavier counterpart’s powers seemed to surpass Earth-616’s Professor X in some ways. Pete Wisdom later visited Her Majesty’s Prison, where he informed his old friend Andy of the upcoming prison transport for the Shadow Mob, unaware that Andy had been secretly killed and was being impersonated by the villainous Black Tom Cassidy. Later that night, Shadow Xavier was loaded into a prison transport vehicle but the vehicle was attacked by gigantic vines being manipulated by Black Tom Cassidy. During the attack, Shadow Xavier attacked Sage inside the vehicle.

(New Excalibur#7) – Xavier continued his battle with Sage on the astral plane, invading her memories in an attempt to corrupt her. Showing Xavier that she controlled her own memories and mind, Sage shot Xavier’s astral form in the head, supposedly causing Shadow Xavier’s body to fall comatose.

Shadow Xavier corrupting the X-Men(New Excalibur#8) – Transferred to the prison in Crossmoor with the other X-Men, Shadow Xavier was viewed in his cell by Excalibur. The team commented on how the evil Xavier had managed to physically survive having his brain fried by Pete Wisdom’s hot knives and having his astral form shot in the head. Trying to think of a way to permanently defeat Xavier, Sage suggested having the telepathically immune Psylocke act as a bait to Xavier. Venturing into Xavier’s cell, Psylocke was confronted by the Shadow King, who revealed his presence with the alternate reality Charles Xavier. The Shadow King then revealed the origins of the Shadow Mob and his plan to force Psylocke to watch her friends die but Psylocke, knowing better, exclaimed that if the Shadow King could really hurt and take her over as he boasted, he would have done so. She then formed a telekinetic bubble in Xavier-6141’s brain, forcing the Shadow King’s host body to have a stroke. Psylocke then rushed at the suffering Xavier and seemingly disappeared.

(New Excalibur#18) – Having been freed from the Crossmoor prison by Scicluna of the Black Air organization, the Shadow Mob was brought to the headquarters of the alternate reality warrior Albion in hopes that they could all work together to destroy Earth-616’s Captain Britain and his teammates in Excalibur.

(New Excalibur#19) – Now calling themselves Shadow-X, the Earth-6141 X-Men and Scicluna met with Albion, agreeing to aid him in his upcoming battle against Captain Britain and Excalibur in exchange for the release of their captive master, Shadow Xavier. During their meeting, Jean Grey attempted to force Albion’s ally, Lionheart, into becoming her slave but a device given to Lionheart by Albion caused psychic feedback to Jean Grey, with Lionheart warning Grey that slavery was not permitted in Britain. As Albion met with the rest of Shadow-X, he mentioned that first impressions often define relationships and that he was glad that they did not get off on the wrong foot. Later, Lionheart led Shadow-X to the Crossmoor prison in order to set Shadow Xavier free. Once inside, Shadow-X double-crossed Lionheart and prepared to use her as a new host body for the Shadow King but Lionheart’s device prevented the Shadow King’s intrusion into her mind. She then placed a headband device on Shadow Xavier’s head, preventing the Shadow King from leaving Xavier’s body, then fatally stabbed Shadow Xavier in the chest with her sword. Turning her attention to Shadow-X, Lionheart’s battle was interrupted by the arrival of Excalibur.

(New Excalibur#20) – Excalibur took the fight quickly to Shadow-X and soon defeated them while Lionheart escaped back to Albion.

(New Excalibur#21) – After Albion activated a device that removed the power of all electronics in Britain, Excalibur managed to convince Shadow-X to turn against Albion and help save civilian lives. Noticing Albion had gathered together an army of Shadow Captains, Shadow-X agreed to work with Excalibur in order to defeat Albion and return to their own reality. Taking the fight to Albion and the Shadow Captains, Shadow-X focused their attack on Lionheart. Captain Britain eventually tried to talk sense into Lionheart while Pete Wisdom and Cyclops secretly attempted to assassinate Albion. Unfortunately, Cyclops’ shot was blocked by Excalibur’s Sage, who had taken on the identity of Diana Fox, one of Albion’s Shadow Captains. Cyclops continued to blast “Diana Fox” with all the power he could muster but he quickly became groggy from the overload. His delay allowed “Diana” to overtake him and while Angel managed to rescue Pete Wisdom, “Diana” decapitated Shadow-X’s Cyclops, causing an immense psychic backlash for Jean Grey due to their mind-link.

(New Excalibur#22) – While “Diana Fox” stood victorious over Cyclops’ corpse, Shadow-X’s Beast was annoying Dazzler by sneaking up on her during her watch duty. When Dazzler threatened Beast with a light sword, Iceman tried to step in but Juggernaut knocked him away. Noticing Dazzler’s light burst, Pete Wisdom led Angel in Dazzler’s direction but their flight was interrupted by Shadow Captains. Wisdom ordered Angel to flee, followed by two Shadow Captains, while Wisdom tried to fight off one Shadow Captain alone. The Captains eventually slashed Angel, causing him to fall to the ground and almost immediately after, Dazzler, Juggernaut, Iceman and Beast arrived to turn the tide of the battle. During the fight, Iceman was slashed in half by a Shadow Captain but managed to reform himself in time for “Diana Fox” to arrive. Fiercely battling the Beast, “Fox” was attacked by an ice blast from Iceman. “Fox” then managed to hurl Beast into the ice blast, freezing him in place and allowing her to fatally stab Beast with her sword. The Shadow Captain then retreated as Beast died, leaving Juggernaut, Wisdom, Dazzler, and the surviving Shadow-X Angel and Iceman more determined than ever to take down Albion.

(New Excalibur#23) – Taking the fight directly to Albion, Iceman covered England in a wave of ice to cover the tracks of the rest of Shadow-X and Excalibur. As they fought their way through hordes of Shadow Captains, Jean Grey became increasingly ruthless while Angel was stabbed in the side. Noticing Pete Wisdom about the be fatally stabbed, Angel flew down and battled the Shadow Captain, ignoring the pain of his stabbing. Unfortunately, one of Angel’s wings was slashed off and he was knocked off an ice wall to his death. Jean Grey managed to kill the Shadow Captain but was confronted by Albion himself. Before Albion could kill Jean Grey, Captain Britain intervened.

(New Excalibur#24) – While Albion battled Captain Britain, Jean Grey noticed a Shadow Captain about to kill Nocturne and she hit him with a telekinetic blast. The Shadow Captain retaliated by stabbing her through the shoulder. Punching the Shadow Captain away, Jean Grey asked Nocturne to help her to her feet to continue fighting while Iceman was using up all of his stored moisture and ice battling other Shadow Captains. Dying, Jean Grey carried Nocturne to the location of Albion’s electric power dampening device and the two battled the Shadow Captains guarding the device. After defeating Albion, Captain Britain ordered Albion to yield as Lionheart arrived carrying the withered corpse of Iceman, who had fatally drained his own body of moisture battling the Shadow Captains and used his last breaths to banish the ice he had covered England in. The dying Jean Grey and Nocturne arrived soon after with the dampening device and with her last bit of life, smashed the device, restoring the power to England and putting an end to Albion’s plans.

Comments: Created by Chris Claremont, Michael Ryan and Rick Ketchum.

The Earth-6141 Xavier was only referred to as “Shadow Xavier” and “Dark Charles” in various New Excalibur recap pages and only as Charles Xavier within the story itself. Since he was never referred to as “Professor X,” I assume he never took that particular codename and instead took the codename of Shadow Xavier. Also, while Beast, Iceman and Angel were referred to by their codenames, Jean Grey was never referred to under a codename, unlike her Earth-616 counterpart, Marvel Girl.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Shadow-X has no known connections to

Andy has no known connections to

AndyAndy

Andy was an old friend of Pete Wisdom’s and warden to Her Majesty’s Prison in Wormwood Scrubs, England. While the Shadow Mob was incarcerated at the prison, Andy was killed and impersonated by Black Tom Cassidy, who used Andy’s position to attack Excalibur during the Shadow Mob’s prison transport out of London.

 

 

 

--New Excalibur#6 (6d,

images: (without ads)
New Excalibur#19, p17, pan5 (Shadow-X, with Lionheart in the background, main image)
New Excalibur#3, p19, pan4 (Shadow Xavier)
New Excalibur#8, p18, pan6 (Shadow Xavier corrupting the X-Men)
New Excalibur#6, p7, pan6 (Andy)

Appearances:
New Excalibur#1 (January, 2006) – Chris Claremont (writer), Michael Ryan (pencils), Rick Ketcham (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
New Excalibur#2 (February, 2006) – Chris Claremont (writer), Michael Ryan (pencils), Rick Ketcham (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
New Excalibur#3 (March, 2006) – Chris Claremont (writer), Michael Ryan (pencils), Rick Ketcham (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
New Excalibur#4 (April, 2006) – Chris Claremont (writer), Steven Cummings (pencils), Rick Ketcham (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
New Excalibur#6 (June, 2006) – Chris Claremont (writer), Michael Ryan (pencils), Rick Ketcham (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
New Excalibur#7 (July, 2006) – Chris Claremont (plot), Christopher Yost (dialogue), Michael Ryan (pencils), Rick Ketcham (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
New Excalibur#8 (August, 2006) – Chris Claremont (plot), Christopher Yost (dialogue, plot), Michael Ryan (pencils), Rick Ketcham (inks), Mike Marts (editor)
New Excalibur#18 (May, 2007) – Chris Claremont (writer), Scott Eaton, Staz Johnson (pencils), John Dell, Scott Hanna, Dave Meikis, Tom Palmer (inks), Nick Lowe, Andy Schmidt (editors)
New Excalibur#19 (June, 2007) – Chris Claremont (writer), Scott Eaton (pencils), John Dell, Dave Meikis (inks), Nick Lowe, Andy Schmidt (editors)
New Excalibur#20 (July, 2007) – Chris Claremont (writer), Jeremy Haun (pencils), Dave Meikis, Sean Parsons (inks), Nick Lowe, Andy Schmidt (editors)
New Excalibur#21 (September, 2007) – Chris Claremont (writer), Jeremy Haun (pencils), Dave Meikis, John Dell (inks), Nick Lowe, Andy Schmidt (editors)
New Excalibur#22 (October, 2007) – Chris Claremont (writer), Pat Olliffe (pencils), Sean Parsons, Dave Meikis, Jonathan Sibal, Scott Koblish (inks), Nick Lowe, Andy Schmidt (editors)
New Excalibur#23 (November, 2007) – Chris Claremont (writer), Jeremy Haun (pencils), Dave Meikis, John Dell (inks), Nick Lowe, Andy Schmidt (editors)
New Excalibur#24 (December, 2007) – Chris Claremont (writer), Jeremy Haun (pencils), Dave Meikis, Andrew Hennessy (inks), Nick Lowe, Andy Schmidt (editors)

First Posted: 08/11/2013
Last updated 09/05/2013

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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