AGON

Real Name: Agon

Identity/Class: Sub-species of humanity (Inhuman) mutate

Occupation: Geneticist, king

Group Membership: House of Agon/Royal Family

Affiliations: Lockjaw

Enemies: The Kree, Phaeder

Known Relatives: Rynda (wife), Blackagar Boltagon (Black Bolt, son), Maximus Boltagon (Maximus the Mad, son), Symak (father), Tanith (mother), Milena (sister-in-law), Mander (brother-in-law), Magnar (father-in-law), Zeta (mother-in-law), Gorgon Petragon (nephew), Azur (sister-in-law), Karnak Mander-Azur (nephew), Triton (nephew), Medusalith Amaquelin (Medusa, daughter-in-law), Ahura Boltagon (grandson), Alecto (great-niece), Petras (great-nephew)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Attilan

First Appearance: Thor I#148 (January, 1968)

Powers/Abilities: Agon underwent Terrigenesis but it has not been revealed what his powers were. Agon was a talented geneticist who used Terrigen Mists, cellular experimentation and other resources to genetically manipulate his own sons in utero and after their birth. Agon had the full might of Attilan's resources and military at his command for many years. Agon was very long-lived, his reign over the Inhumans lasting around 110 years.

Height: 5'11"
Weight: 160 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black (with white temples)

History:
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#5 – Inhumans entry (fb) - BTS) - Agon grew up in Attilan with his parents, Symak and Tanith, and his brother Korath.

(Inhumans III#1 (fb) - BTS) - Agon regularly dined with his friend Vel in his youth.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#5 – Inhumans entry (fb) - BTS) - Eventually, he married Rynda (daughter of Magnar and Zeta, and sister of Mander) and they both dedicated themselves to science.

(Fantastic Four Annual I#18 (fb) - BTS) - Agon and Rynda were married in a lavish ceremony in the public square of Attilan. The festive celebration was talked about for generations.(84 years later, Black Bolt and Medusa would be married in the same place).

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition I#6 – Inhumans entry (fb) – BTS) – Around 110 years ago, the skilled geneticist Agon was elected to the Genetics Council, serving with eleven others in ruling and guiding Attilan. Agon soon took over ruling the Inhumans as their king. A popular ruler, Agon began experimenting with the Terrigen Mists, allowing scientists to begin predicting the effects of Terrigen on Inhuman genes. Known as a decisive ruler, Agon caught Council member Phaeder experimenting with clones and Agon sought to have him expelled. Agon won his arguments with the Council and Phaeder faked his own suicide then left Attilan in secret.

(Mighty Avengers I#28 (fb) – BTS) – Agon came up with protocol to remove the city of Attilan from Earth completely if the threat of the humans became too great. It became known as "Agon's Contingency."

(Secret Invasion: Inhumans#3 (fb) ) – After Rynda discovered she was pregnant, she and Agon began experimenting with Terrigen on the fetus.

(Black Bolt I#12 (fb) ) – After Agon and Rynda exposed the fetus to the Terrigen, they were impressed by the remarkable readings and realized this could impact all future Terrigen exposures. When their son Blackagar was born, after nine months of steadily increasing doses of Terrigen, he didn't cry at all, making Agon and Rynda worry, yet when he did cry, his voice was destructive and they realized isolation may be necessary.

(Thor I#148/2 (fb)) – Rynda informed Agon that it was time for them to go see what influence their genetic manipulations had had on their newborn son. They observed that the baby could manipulate electrons in the air, hover and fire force blasts, which Agon realized when he drew a stun blaster gun to make the baby feel threatened, causing Blackagar to shoot the blaster out of his hand. When the baby cried, they realized his voice was in a sonic range that they could not perceive with their ears but they soon realized the sonic scream was destroying the lab and then the surrounding area. As Agon and Rynda got to safety, Blackagar was buried in the rubble and the Inhumans dug for hours to find him, learning Blackagar had saved himself by creating a force field. Agon held his child with wonder and awe.

(Black Bolt I#5 (fb) – BTS) – When Lockjaw was born, Agon and Rynda introduced him to the baby Blackagar and he refused to leave the infant's side.

(Inhumans: Once & Future Kings#5 (fb) – BTS) – When Blackagar was one year old, he screamed and destroyed a room. Soon Agon designed a stasis room for the boy to exist in where he couldn't hurt others, though that meant the child would be raised in isolation.

(Black Bolt I#11 (fb)) – Watching Blackagar as a child in his stasis cell, Agon continually caused Blackagar to see nightmares so he could learn to control his scream. When Rynda showed sadness at the way they treated their son, Agon scolded her.

(Black Bolt I#5 (fb) – BTS) – When Blackagar was old enough to understand, Agon and Rynda left him a message, explaining that he had to stay in isolation while they studied his powers. Lockjaw remained Blackagar's sole companion.

(Black Bolt I#12 (fb) ) – After the child Blackagar had his playtime with Lockjaw, Agon angrily told the boy to send the dog away, with Agon threatening to use the pain whistle if Blackagar didn't obey. He then used gasses to make Blackagar sleep and measured the results of the experiments.

(Royals I#3 (fb) – BTS) – As Rynda prepared to expose her second child to in-utero Terrigenesis, Agon suggested the name Maximus for a child. Rynda wondered if the name might be a little grandiose but Agon argued that the child would need to compete with his all-powerful brother, though he hoped they could raise this one outside of stasis. Rynda told Agon of Azur's complaints and he wondered that if he didn't experiment on his own children, whose would he experiment on. In the chamber, Rynda used her own power to filter the Terrigen Mists, both to avoid her own secondary Terrigenesis and to purify the Terrigen, accessing the Prima Materia and focusing it in on the fetus' brain, which Agon hoped would result in genius intelligence. Both Agon and Rynda expected great things for their second child. Agon and Rynda made sure their experiments resulted in Maximus and Blackagar's powers being attuned toward one another. As the children grew, they realized that Maximus had developed mental abilities and in time, they realized that Blackagar was able to resist Maximus' mind control except in times of injury, illness or self-doubt, and in turn, they discovered that Black Bolt's voice had the potential to expand and unlock Maximus' powers under the right circumstances.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Fantastic Four 2005 – Inhumans entry - BTS) – Agon and Rynda convinced their siblings and spouses in the Royal Family (Korath and Milena, Mander and Azur, and Quelin and Ambur) to also experiment on their own children, resulting in a generation of royal offspring with fantastic abilities, including Medusa and Crystal, Gorgon and Triton, though Karnak chose not to undergo Terrigenesis.

(Royals I#3 (fb) ) – Agon and Rynda told Maximus when he was 16 about their discoveries, detailing how Blackagar and Maximus' powers worked but they asked Maximus not to tell his brother. They told Maximus he was meant to be a scientist while Blackagar was meant to be a king.

(Inhumans: Once & Future Kings#5) – Agon gave Blackagar a neural inhibitor to help suppress his son's sonic powers. The inhibitor also allowed Blackagar to send text to Agon, allowing Blackagar to communicate with him. Blackagar immediately asked for release from stasis but Agon refused, saying Blackagar needed to learn to accept his fate as king without complaint. As Maximus looked in on his brother, Agon walked away, calling Blackagar immature.

(Thor I#149/2) – On Black Bolt's nineteenth birthday, Agon finally let him out of stasis, trusting he could keep silent on his own now. Black Bolt was then reunited with his cousins and brother.

(Avengers I#95 (fb) – BTS/Marvel Graphic Novel I#39 (fb)/Royals I#3 (fb) ) – Black Bolt caught his brother meeting with the Kree. When the Kree took off, Black Bolt tried to stop them but it caused the ship to crash into a nearby tower, where Agon and Rynda were working, and they were both killed. For years afterward, Black Bolt believed his actions caused Maximus to go mad.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#5 - Inhumans entry (fb) – BTS) – In total, Agon's reign as king lasted approximately 110 years.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#1 – Attilan entry – BTS) – At some point, the Inhuman built a tower on Attilan that was named Agon's Tower in Agon's name. Agon's Tower stood on the edges of the city.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott.

Agon is a character that shows up in flashbacks about Black Bolt and Maximus once every ten years or so, emphasizing the narrative that he and Rynda experimented on their sons in utero, that Black Bolt was cruelly raised in isolation and that they were killed by the crashing Kree ship. There is a lot left to reveal about his reign and life. Agon is frequently mentioned in appearances by the Inhumans, his name often being used as a curse or an exclamation. The Agon-Sequencer device, in Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Comic Magazine I#8, neutralizes out the Terrigen Mists.