THE UNSPOKEN

Real Name: Unrevealed

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

Occupation: Criminal;
    former king

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Alpha Primitives, Banyan, Kludge, Lineage, Maw Queen, Seeker (Kadlec)

Enemies: Avengers (Amadeus Cho, Hercules/Heracles, Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff, Stature/Cassie Lang, USAgent/John Walker, Wasp/Hank Pym), Avengers Resistance (Gauntlet/Joseph Green, Justice/Vance Astrovik, Rage/Elvin Halliday, Tigra/Greer Nelson, Vision/Jonas), Ban-Luck, Devil Dinosaur, Dkamas, Elisha, Forey the dog, Human Torch (Johnny Storm), Inhumans (Black Bolt/Blackagar Boltagon, Captain Swain/Jovana, Crystal/Crystalia Amaquelin, Flint, Glass Girl, Gorgon/Gorgon Petragon, Grid/Dinesh Deol, Inferno/Dante Pertuz, Iso/Xiaoyi Chen, Karnak, Lockjaw, Maximus the Mad/Maximus Boltagon, Frank McGee, Medusa/Medusalith Amaquelin, Moon Girl/Lunella Lafayette, Mosaic/Morris Sacket, Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan, Naja, Panacea/Ash Minnick, Quake/Daisy Johnson, Reader, Sterilon, Triton, Vinatos), People's Defense Force (Collective Man/Han, Chang, Lin, Sun & Ho Tao-Yu, Lady of Ten Suns, Most Perfect Hero, Ninth Immortal, Princess of Clouds, Radioactive Man/Chen Lu, Scientific Beast), Rinzen, Young Avengers (Hawkeye/Kate Bishop, Hulkling/Dorrek VIII, Patriot/Eli Bradley, Speed/Tommy Shepherd, Wiccan/Billy Kaplan)

Known Relatives: Black Bolt (Blackagar Boltagon, cousin), Maximus (cousin), extended members of the Inhumans Royal Family

Aliases: "Farty," the Living Terrigenesis

Base of Operations: Attilan;
    formerly Mongolia, formerly Tibet

First Appearance: Mighty Avengers I#27 (September, 2009)

Powers/Abilities: After undergoing Terrigenesis, the Unspoken developed the ability to manipulate Terrigen to give him whatever powers he sees fit so long as he has continual access to Terrigen, which he has grown addicted to. Without Terrigen, the Unspoken was unnaturally long-lived until chronal particles advanced him to the age of an old man.

When in possession of Terrigen, the Unspoken often assumes a giant form with superhuman strength (lifting over 100 tons) and enhanced durability (making him virtual invulnerable to physical attack except when not powered by Terrigen). Other powers have included taking the form of a monstrous beast, cosmic energy manipulation, geokinesis, creation of hard light blades and gale-force winds.

The Unspoken has been a gifted, if cruel, leader and once rose to power through rigorous means. The Unspoken also had access to the Slave Engine, which could transform humans into Alpha Primitives. For many years, the Unspoken had access to the technology and military of the Inhumans.

For a time, the king had advanced armor.

Height: (normal): 7'6''; (in powered form): variable
Weight: 298 lbs.
Eyes: Gray
Hair: Gray

History: (Inhumans: Once & Future Kings I#1 (fb) – BTS) – After the deaths of Agon and Rynda, an Inhuman, whose name was later banned from the Inhuman records, took over as king, leading through insurrection and uprising. The king created more Alpha Primitives with the Slave Engine and tasked them with creating a mountain sculpture of his own visage.

(Mighty Avengers I#27 (fb) – BTS) – For years, the king was respected and loved by all, even adored by the Alpha Primitives, as he showed them kindness and preferred their company to that of others. The king was also feared due to his vast powers of manipulating Terrigenesis to his own needs.

(Inhumans: Once & Future Kings I#1 (fb)) – The king took Blackagar and Maximus Boltagon, the sons of Agon and Rynda (and the true heirs to the throne) and they saw Inhuman overseers beating some of the Alpha Primitives. When Blackagar asked about the welfare of the Primitives, the king emphasized that the Alpha Primitives were born into their station and they were taken care of then ended the discussion. They were then attacked by Alpha Primitives and the king took a spear through his abdomen that was equipped with a neural inhibitor that blocked his powers. Dkamas, the leader, sought to kill the Unspoken but Blackagar killed Dkamas with a scream, though it also destroyed the monument. The king revived and embraced Blackagar.

(Inhumans: Once & Future Kings I#1 (fb) – BTS) – As Kadlec the Seeker punished and imprisoned the Alpha Primitives, the king had his surgeons upgrade his armor to ward off against further neural inhibitor attacks. The king was revived by Terrigen Crystals and, humiliated for having needed rescue from the heir to the throne of Agon, he planned ways to get revenge on the Boltagons.

(Inhumans: Once & Future Kings I#1 (fb)) – The king sat in the bath while Seeker updated him on the Primitives and the king realized he would need to both show strength and compassion. He ordered Seeker to summon Medusa while he attended the funeral ceremony that the Alpha Primitives held for Dkamas. When Medusa came as the king summoned, he asked her about her thoughts on the ethics of the use of the Slave Engine but she held her opinions back. The king ordered her to speak her mind more plainly the next time he saw her.

(Inhumans: Once & Future Kings I#2) – When Kadlec reported that Medusa, Blackagar and Maximus had fled Attilan for no reason, the king did not believe the Seeker's story and he ordered Kadlec to find the trio and take young Karnak with him. After watching Gorgon in combat, the king appointed the boy as his new viceroy temporarily and gave him advice to have shrewd judgment.

(Inhumans: Once & Future Kings I#3) – When Gorgon reported rumors from Crystal that the king had summoned Medusa, the king asked Gorgon about his loyalties. Gorgon assumed that Kadlec had his own agenda.

(Inhumans: Once & Future Kings I#4) – The king and Gorgon summoned Crystal and he assured her that Medusa was allowed to come home.

(Inhumans: Once & Future Kings I#5) – Elisha returned to Attilan, using the technology of the Wizard, and he led the Alpha Primitives in a revolt, seeking to reclaim the Slave Engine for themselves. The king and Gorgon fought back but soon Blackagar, Maximus, Triton, Karnak, Crystal, Medusa and Lockjaw intervened and they learned of Elisha's plan to use the Slave Engine to devolve all Inhumans. Maximus defeated Elisha then the king offered to bow before Blackagar and surrender the throne. Blackagar, hoping that the king would revisit the problem of having a slave race in Attilan, refused the throne, leaving instead to walk alone for a time.

(Mighty Avengers I#29 (fb) – BTS) – The king learned of the Slave Engine, a powerful device left by the Kree that, in conjunction with Xerogen Crystals, could be used in a war with humans to turn them into Alpha Primitives. Considered too dangerous to use, the Slave Engine was buried deep and well protected. Ignoring thousands of years of tradition, the king entered the chamber protecting the passage to the Slave Engine and the guards turned their backs to him. The king lifted the barrier blocking the passage then jumped inside, landing somewhere near the center of the Earth, where the Slave Engine was kept. He picked it up and moved it through caverns and lakes of magma and stone to relocate the engine to a deep chasm in Tibet that he later buried.

(Mighty Avengers I#27 (fb)) – The young royals (Black Bolt, Medusa, Karnak, Gorgon), just a week after their Terrigenesis, burst their way into the king's chambers, forcing themselves past the palace guards. The teens confronted the king on his choice to move the Slave Engine and threatened that he could be removed as king if necessary. The king grew furious and Karnak, able to see the weak spot in anything, told him that he was the weakest point in Attilan. The king, weak from moving the Slave Engine, held back Gorgon, Medusa and Karnak but Black Bolt defeated him, knocking off his crown.

(Avengers Assemble - BTS) - The former king was held for months after Black Bolt became the new king and Attilan was moved to the Himalayas.

(Mighty Avengers I#27 (fb)) - When the king refused to reveal the location of the Engine, Black Bolt banished him and had his name stricken from the records of their history. Several Alpha Primitives followed the king, continuing to serve him.

(Mighty Avengers I#28 (fb) – BTS) – The Unspoken took refuge in a set of caves in Tibet, where he grew more Xerogen Crystals. Over the years, whenever the Chinese military entered the caves, the Unspoken would see them killed. In time, they knew to avoid the caves and put up warning signs. The Unspoken planned, in time, to return to Attilan and apologize for his transgressions then he would use the Xerogen Crystals to prove his worth to his people.

(Mighty Avengers I#28 (fb)) – A child, Rinzen, entered the caves and saw the Unspoken and his Alpha Primitives tending to the Xerogen. The Unspoken changed Rinzen into an Alpha Primitive then he sensed the walls shaking and realized that somewhere, Black Bolt was using his voice. He exited the caves, preparing to return to his people, and he let another mortal child flee but then the Unspoken saw Attilan taking off for space. In despair, the Unspoken realized the Inhumans had utilized "Agon's Contingency," deeming humans too great a threat and taking their homeland into space. The Unspoken felt despair, feeling he'd be alone forever now.

(Mighty Avengers I#31 (fb) – BTS) – After remaining in isolation for more years, the Unspoken heard about a silent war between the humans and the Inhumans, and he realized he'd been wasting his compassion on the humans all those years by not using the Slave Engine on them.

(Mighty Avengers I#27) – In China, the People's Defense Force (Collective Man, Lady of Ten Suns, Most Perfect Hero, Ninth Immortal, Princess of Clouds, Radioactive Man, Scientific Beast) confronted the Unspoken, ordering him out of their country, but the Unspoken attacked, defeating them all with one punch.

(Mighty Avengers I#28) – Sensing more heroes watching him, the Unspoken activated a pillar of rock then he escaped on it with a group of Alpha Primitives.

(Mighty Avengers I#29) – The military opened fire on the Unspoken so he turned the Xerogen Crystals on them, transforming them painfully into Alpha Primitives. As the Unspoken unearthed the buried Slave Engine, the People's Defense Force, Ban-Luck, Quicksilver and USAgent closed in, many of them becoming transformed into Alpha Primitives by the Xerogen Mists.

(Mighty Avengers I#30) – The Unspoken activated the Slave Engine and prepared to enslave all of humanity but just then, many more heroes showed up to fight him including the Young Avengers, "New" Avengers and Avengers Resistance. The Unspoken grew to giant size and began smashing the heroes as more of the heroes began changing to Alpha Primitive forms.

(Mighty Avengers I#31) – As the heroes battled amongst themselves, the ones affected by Xerogenesis fighting the ones who remained free, the Unspoken argued that he was showing compassion to the humans by giving them all a common cause as Alpha Primitives. Wasp (Hank Pym) arrived and shrank down within the Slave Engine, defeating Kree robots inside before battling the Unspoken at giant size. He explained "I embody the genetic changes, the endless array of abilities that define my people. Whatever power I choose is mine, any feat you are capable of, I can match and surpass!" Wasp countered by arguing that the Unspoken, despite all his power, had chosen to dwell on his pain for decades instead of trying to improve himself. As Quicksilver hit the Unspoken with a rock in the eye, the heroes swarmed the Slave Engine, where Pym had realized chronal rays were being used to age the Xerogen Crystals. Pym used the rays on the Unspoken, advancing him to an elderly man with memory problems, long past his prime. After restoring those who had been changed to Alpha Primitives, the heroes turned the Unspoken over to the Chinese government and they chose to return him to his caves, where the Alpha Primitives could tend to him, not wanting to incur further animosity with the Inhumans.

(Heroic Age: Villains – BTS) – Captain America wrote about the Unspoken in a report on the world's villains.

(Inhuman I#5 (fb) – BTS) – The Unspoken went on to Mongolia, developing a power base. When the Terrigen Clouds passed over, many civilians were changed into Inhumans and the Unspoken recruited them.

(Inhumanity I#2) – In an Asian country, the Unspoken led his team of Inhumans (including a six-armed woman in pink, a teleporting woman and a crab man) in killing a dictator and his Inhuman guards then they stole a group of cocoons.

(Inhuman I#4) – The Unspoken brought several Inhumans to New Attilan, where he sought out Medusa and asked for her hand in marriage.

(Inhuman I#5) – The Unspoken tried convincing Medusa to marry him, saying he still wielded influence, but she refused him. He then asked to see the remaining Terrigen but Medusa, flanked by Gorgon and Triton, said she would let him nowhere near it. Presenting Medusa with three Mongolian Inhumans who he had brought with him, the Unspoken then told her that he had seen Black Bolt alive and he would give her more information if she let him spend one night in the city. Medusa ordered Gorgon to find lodging for the Unspoken for the night. Alone, the Unspoken easily accessed Attilan's secret passages then he led himself to a secret store of Terrigen. Medusa, Gorgon and Triton followed him but the Unspoken had his followers attack them then accessed the Terrigen, transforming himself into a youthful more powerful version of himself. He ordered his troops be brought in from outside the city.

(Inhuman I#6 (fb) – BTS) – The Unspoken took over the city, keeping Medusa as a captive nearby. He lorded his new power over the populace, keeping Terrigen at hand to power himself up.

(Inhuman I#6) – The Unspoken bragged to Medusa about how he planned for the Inhumans to rule the world. Vinatos entered the throne room to protest the Unspoken but he simply disintegrated Vinatos with a blast. Inferno and Flint entered and Flint quickly dispersed the Terrigen Mists. The Unspoken spent the rest of his energy defending himself from a fiery cloud from Inferno and though the Unspoken triumphed, he was knocked out by a punch from Naja. The Unspoken was placed in a cell, where Medusa, flanked by Lineage and Gorgon, told him he would rot. Lineage stayed behind, showing the Unspoken through the bars that he had a vial of Terrigen. Lineage then revealed that Black Bolt was still alive.

(Inhuman I Annual#1) – The Unspoken sat in his cell while Lineage sent out a telepathic broadcast to the Inhuman populace, announcing his intent to seize power.

(Uncanny Inhumans I#8 (fb)) – Medusa and the Human Torch walked past the Unspoken's cell and Medusa didn't acknowledge the former king.

(Uncanny Inhumans I#13) – Maximus and Triton saw the Unspoken and Lineage in their cells.

(Uncanny Inhumans I#14) – Maximus broke the Unspoken and Lineage out of jail and took them away from New Attilan in a boat.

(Uncanny Inhumans I#18 (fb)) – Maximus took the Unspoken and Lineage to a beach party in Miami, where he mentally manipulated the guests into being peaceful. Maximus, continually taunting the Unspoken for his advanced age, helped the three of them escape when the F.B.I. showed up to arrest him by threatening to make those at the party kill themselves. Maximus told the two men that he thought they might still have value.

(Uncanny Inhumans I#18 (fb) – BTS) – The Unspoken, Lineage and Maximus spent months living in a hotel room wasting time, interacting with humans, gambling and eating.

(Uncanny Inhumans I#18) – Months after their original arrival in Miami, Maximus heard on the news that Medusa's Inhumans were in war against the X-Men and he asked Lineage to channel his adviser Monan, who worked with Randac ages ago. Monan revealed a plan secretly to Maximus to create Terrigen. Maximus took them to a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility in New Mexico, where he presented a Terrigen Crystal to the Unspoken, giving it to him, and he instructed the now super-strong Unspoken to break in and release Triton. The Unspoken did so then collapsed in grief when the Terrigen wore off. Triton reluctantly agreed to help them rebuild Terrigen, realizing it could help end the war.

(Uncanny Inhumans I#19) – Maximus led the Unspoken, Lineage and Triton to Vietnam, where he forced the team to jump off a cliff into the ocean. Inside protected air bubbles, they swam down into the mouth of a beast, where the Unspoken and Lineage were forced to grab spears to help Triton fight off a crab warrior. The Unspoken was furious, yelling at Maximus for his disrespect, but Maximus helped him realize he had no choice but to continue his mission to rebuild the Terrigen. Lineage held back with the Unspoken and they made a plan to betray Maximus at the first opportunity. Deep in the cavernous body, they found the Maw Queen, a hideous aquatic creature, and Maximus promised her the hand of the Unspoken in marriage if she would surrender some of her valuable Deep Eggs to them. Shocked and furious, the Unspoken refused to stay with the king so Maximus mentally forced him to. Maximus, Lineage and Triton departed, leaving the Unspoken behind.

(Uncanny Inhumans I#20 (fb) – BTS) – After Maximus' mind control wore off, the Unspoken, over a period of weeks, convinced the Maw Queen and her army to help him go after Maximus for revenge and he promised to "spawn" with her afterwards. The Maw Queen rose the giant crab monster they inhabited.

(Uncanny Inhumans I#19) – The crab monster jumped to the surface and began tracking Maximus.

(Uncanny Inhumans I#20) – The Unspoken, controlling the crab monster with the Maw Queen, found Maximus in India with Triton, Lineage, Banyan and Kludge, and he attacked but Maximus fought back in a giant suit of armor and used a Terrigen-powered sword to kill the creature. The Unspoken sensed the Terrigen and absorbed it, changing into a super-strong giant and tearing the armor in half. The Unspoken yelled about his plans for world domination but Maximus took control of his brain and made him release all of his Terrigen energy into the atmosphere, leaving the Unspoken an old man again. Maximus stated that he realized the Inhumans needed to learn to move on without more Terrigen.

(Inhumans Prime I#1 (fb) – BTS) – Maximus manipulated the Unspoken, Lineage and Triton into going to the Grand Canyon with him.

(Inhumans Prime I#1) – Maximus continued to insult the Unspoken, calling him "Farty" as Karnak and Lockjaw teleported in to return them to New Attilan. Maximus mentally forced Triton to fight Karnak then he gave a small shard of Terrigen to the Unspoken, who assumed a giant, energy-wielding, buffalo-like form, but then a large group of Inhumans teleported in (Medusa, Black Bolt, Ms. Marvel, Moon Girl with Devil Dinosaur, Reader with Forey, Flint, Naja, Iso, Grid, Quake, Sterilon, Crystal, Glass Girl, Captain Swain, Panacea, Mosaic, Inferno, others) and the Unspoken, realizing he had only minutes of Terrigen left, lashed out at Black Bolt then toppled the giant Ms. Marvel. Reader used his reality-altering reads to speed the expiration of the Terrigen up, leaving the Unspoken powerless and old again. Maximus briefly made the Inhumans fight each other but Captain Swain canceled his powers out. Soon, Maximus was imprisoned back in New Attilan and it can be presumed that Lineage and the Unspoken were imprisoned as well.

Comments: Created by Dan Slott, Christos Gage, Khoi Pham and Allen Martinez.

There is clearly a lot of Inhuman history to rummage through and expand on. The Unspoken is a relatively recent addition to Inhuman history but one with a profound place in the mythos. The series "Once & Future Kings" doesn't fit quite comfortably into continuity. The Slave Engine was supposed to be buried in the Earth but the Unspoken had access to it for at least that storyline. It is also possible that "Once & Future Kings" took place after the flashback in the Mighty Avengers storyline. The king was also supposed to have been banished from Attilan for decades but Spider-Man, the Wizard and the Trapster all show up in "Once & Future Kings" so it may not even be in-continuity. I'll let a future writer figure this out.

Profile by Chadman.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Unspoken has no known connections to:

images:
Avengers Assemble, p56, pan1 (main)
Mighty Avengers I#27, p1, pan3 (face)
Mighty Avengers I#30, p13, pan3 (giant-size)
Inhuman I#4, p22, pan1 (bald, old man)
Uncanny Inhumans I#18, p18, pan1 (Terrigen-strength)
Inhumans Prime I#1, p9, pan1 (in buffalo form, etc.)

Appearances:
Mighty Avengers I#27-29 (September-November, 2009) – Dan Slott, Christos Gage (writers), Khoi Pham (penciler), Allen Martinez (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Mighty Avengers I#30 (December, 2009) – Dan Slott, Christos Gage (writers), Sean Chen (penciler), Mark Morales (inker), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Mighty Avengers I#31 (January, 2010) – Dan Slott, Christos Gage (writers), Sean Chen (penciler), Craig Yeung, Mark Morales (inkers), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Avengers Assemble (July, 2010) – Jeff Christiansen, Sean McQuaid (head writers/coordinators), Rob London, Michael Hoskin, Ronald Byrd, Markus Raymond, Madison Carter, Gabriel Shechter, Kevin Garcia, Mike O'Sullivan, Chris Biggs, Jacob Rougemont (writers), Gus Vasquez (Unspoken entry art), Jeff Youngquist (editor)
Heroic Age: Villains (January, 2011) – Michael Hoskin (head writer/coordinator), Chad Anderson, Anthony Flamini, Rob London, Sean McQuaid, Kevin Garcia, Markus Raymond, Gabriel Shechter, David Wiltfong, Peter Sanderson, Stuart Vandal, Madison Carter (writers), Khoi Pham (Unspoken entry art), Jeff Youngquist (editor)
Inhumanity I#2 (March, 2014) – Matt Fraction (writer), Nick Bradshaw, Todd Nauck (pencilers), Scott Hanna, Tom Palmer, Todd Nauck (inkers), Nick Lowe (editor)
Inhuman I#4-6 (October-December, 2014) – Charles Soule (writer), Ryan Stegman (artist), Nick Lowe (editor)
Inhuman I Annual#1 (July, 2015) – Charles Soule (writer), Ryan Stegman (penciler), Jay Leisten (inker), Nick Lowe (editor)
Uncanny Inhumans I#8 (July, 2016) – Charles Soule (writer), Kevin Walker (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Nick Lowe (editor)
Uncanny Inhumans I#13 (November, 2016) – Charles Soule (writer), Carlos Pacheco, Kim Jacinto (pencilers), Andy Owens (inker), Wil Moss (editor)
Uncanny Inhumans I#14 (December, 2016) – Charles Soule (writer), Kim Jacinto (artist), Wil Moss (editor)
Uncanny Inhumans I#18 (March, 2017) – Charles Soule (writer), Kim Jacinto (artist), Wil Moss (editor)
Uncanny Inhumans I#19 (April, 2017) – Charles Soule (writer), Kim Jacinto, Ario Anindito (artists), Wil Moss (editor)
Uncanny Inhumans I#20 (May, 2017) – Charles Soule (writer), Ario Anindito (artist), Wil Moss (editor)
Inhumans Prime I#1 (May, 2017) – Al Ewing (Writer), Ryan Sook, Christopher Allen (pencilers), Walden Wong, Keith Champagne (inkers), Wil Moss (editor)
Inhumans: Once & Future Kings I#1-5 (October, 2017-February, 2018) – Christopher Priest (writer), Phil Noto (artist), Wil Moss (editor)

First Posted: 05/10/2020
Last updated: 05/12/2020

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are TM and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

Back to Characters