Warning: this article contains spoilers for New Mutants #14!
Marvel has finally revealed the origin story of the Shadow King, a classic X-Men villain and Charles Xavier's nemesis. Created by Marvel legends Chris Claremont and John Byrne, the Shadow King is a powerful psychic who first crossed paths with Charles Xavier when the Professor was visiting Egypt. Xavier's pocket was picked by a child, but he used his psychic powers to pursue the girl - actually a young Storm - to her master. There, Xavier found himself face-to-face with crime lord Amahl Farouk for the first time.
The Shadow King's origin story has grown rather confused over time, however. Some comics have treated him as a mutant who grew up in Egypt and used his immense psychic power for evil; others have suggested he is actually an interdimensional entity, the avatar of the dark side of the human consciousness, spawned by the first nightmare. Most comic book readers have long assumed the truth is that he is somehow both - and New Mutants #14 finally reveals the truth.
New Mutants #14, by Vita Ayala and Rod Reis, begins with a prologue set in Egypt Eyalet in the sixteenth century. It tells the story of Amahl Farouk, son of a merchant trader, who used his telepathic powers to protect the market from thieves. Tragically, the young Amahl was orphaned when the plague came to the market. Amahl sat with his dying father, X-Men lore suggesting that his telepathic powers likely allowed him to "feel" that death as partly his own, before being tempted into darkness. "With the plague came bigger predators," the comic reveals. "Predators with sweet promises of adventure... and never being alone again. With his father dead and the market gone, the boy had nothing to tether him to the city. And so it was that Amahl Farouk came to know the Shadow King."
It's a fascinating account, confirming that Amahl Farouk was a young mutant who became bonded to the Multiversal being known as the Shadow King, until the two became one. Ayala's script adds a note of tragedy to Farouk, with the teenager initially using his mutant powers responsibly, but ultimately falling to the darkness because of his experience of tragedy. There are odd parallels between Amahl Farouk and Jean Grey, with Jean's powers first triggered by her experience of death; it's possible Jean herself could have found herself vulnerable to psychic predators like the Shadow King had Charles Xavier not found her.
While New Mutants #14 makes the Shadow King's dual nature official, the big reveal is that Amahl Farouk is older than anyone had previously guessed. He has been alive for somewhere around 400 years, whether by virtue of his power or the Shadow King's, and he has presumably been immersed in darkness for almost all that time. The Shadow King lives on the mutant island Krakoa now, though, and he's clearly attempting to make a play for power. It's entirely possible Xavier and the mutants of Krakoa will find a way to separate Farouk and the Shadow King entity at last, transforming the X-Men villain forever.