For years only one man was ever able to keep him in check. Now, that man is dead. Its taken years of scheming and pushing his pawns in the right direction, of taking control of HYDRA and assembling his Shadow X-Men, but Amahl Farouk is finally ready to engage the world in one final battle...  

A telepath of the highest order, Amahl Farouk engaged Professor Xavier in a telepathic battle over a young Storm years ago in Cairo. Farouk lost, and his body was destroyed. However, he survived on the Astral Plane. Now, the Shadow King is only able to attain physical form by possessing others. He was recently thought killed on the Astral Plane by Phoenix. However, he was really biding his time, gathering his forces, and growing in power...

Shadow King