Unspoken (Marvel)
The Unspoken is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
The Unspoken was a member of the Inhumans of Attilan where he was part of the Royal Family who became King of his people. Due to the circumstances of his rule, his true name had been forever stricken from records. This period in their history was known as the Forgotten Reign where Attilan had thrived under the reign of the Unspoken who was respected by the Inhumans and even the Alpha Primitives. (Mighty Avengers v1 #27) He came to power after the death of Agon after sensing an opportunity to advance and began to rule as king. The King was said to had taken the position to ensure that the young Black Bolt would ascend to the throne in the future. However, in reality, it was said that he sought to ensure his own powerbase remained untouched. He commanded the Alpha Primitives to build a monument to him but an attempt by them on his life was thwarted by the young Black Bolt and Maximus. Though thankful to them, the King then began to rewrite the events stating he himself had slain his attackers and began to worry about possible threats to his throne. The King was said to had engineered events for Black Bolt to fall and had plans to marry Lady Medusa. 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. 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 and Future Kings v1 #1)
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 and Future Kings v1 #2) 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 and Future Kings v1 #3) The king and Gorgon summoned Crystal and he assured her that Medusa was allowed to come home. (Inhumans: Once and Future Kings v1 #4) 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. (Inhumans: Once and Future Kings v1 #5)
In this era, he concluded that the Slave Engine beneath Attilan was a power too great for a single individual and thus needed to be removed. This act drew the attention of his cousins in the Royal Family which saw the recently transformed by Terrigenesis Prince Black Bolt and Lady Medusa confront the Palace Guard. Black Bolt believed that the Slave Engine was a holy relic of their people and part of their birthright that needed to be shared with all Inhumans which meant its removal was a serious act. In addition, they felt that the Engine was essential in protecting the Inhumans from the much more numerous humans around Earth. After defeating the Palace Guard, they made the Challenge of Royal Succession leading to the Unspoken battling them for the throne. Initially, he managed to overpower the other members of the Royal Family and fought Prince Black Bolt himself where he seemed assured of his victory. However, Black Bolt prevailed and thus deposed the Inhuman King from his throne whereupon he was taken to the wastelands outside Attilan. In recognition of his reign, the Royal Family afforded the former King the last opportunity to redeem himself by revealing the location of the Slave Engine. However, he refused and stated that he would rather be curse for all history then reveal its location. Thus, it was decided to banish the deposed king where his name would be stricken from all records thus leading to him becoming known as the Unspoken. His name was last spoken by newly christened King Black Bolt with the power of his voice throwing the Unspoken deep into the cold wastelands of Attilan where he was expected to die. Unknown to the Royal Family, the next morning a group of Alpha Primitives arrived and found the fallen monarch where they took him to safety. In the aftermath, the name of the Unspoken was stricken from records such as the Proscribed Volume of the Royal History of the Inhumans. (Mighty Avengers v1 #27)
The Unspoken
By the modern age, he would come to believe his actions in hiding the Slave Engine and the Xerogen Mist crystals were wrong on his part. Thus, he sought to return them which would lead to his acceptance by the Inhumans. To accomplish this feat, he had his Alpha Primitives cultivate the Xerogen Crystals and bringing them to Attilan. This he had done in the mountains of the Tibet Autonomous Region where he remained hidden until a group of humans stumbled into the caverns of the crystals. Despite his actions, the Unspoken was too late as he would witness Attilan journeying the star under the power of Black Bolt's voice. (Mighty Avengers v1 #28) he would later head deeper into the People's Republic China with his Alpha Primitives where his presence was detected by the USAgent who registered his Terrigen particles thus leading to the conclusion that he was an Inhuman. It was Quicksilver who identified the Unspoken and cautioned his comrades about the power of the fallen monarch. This saw the Unspoken being confronted by the Chinese superhero team known as the People's Defense Force where he effortlessly defeated them. (Mighty Avengers v1 #27) He continued with the Alpha Primitives in order to make the land useful to his needs so that he could bring about his salvation. (Mighty Avengers v1 #28) This involve going to the site of where he buried the Slave Engine that he intended to unearth and use against mankind. This saw him come into conflict with U.S.Agent and Quicksilver who were working with G.R.A.M.P.A and allied with the Chinese heroes to defeat the Unspoken. (Mighty Avengers v1 #29) Once the Slave Engine was uncovered, he had the gas deployed and intended to turn mankind into a new race of Alpha-Primitives. (Mighty Avengers v1 #30) The Avengers, Mighty Avengers and the Young Avengers entered into the battle to stop the Unspoken from releasing the Xerogen on a global scale. The heroes were unable to overpower the mighty Inhuman with them instead largely being exposed to the gas thus turning them into Alpha-Primitives where they attacked their teammates. Whilst battling Hank Pym, Amadeus Cho and Hercules snuck onto the Slave Engine itself where they discovered a chronal ray that they turned against the Inhuman monarch. This caused him to age to the point where he lost most of his powers and memories where he was no longer a threat to the world. (Mighty Avengers v1 #31)
During Thanos's invasion of Earth, Black Bolt seemingly sacrificed himself to defeat the Mad Titan and destroyed Attilan by detonating the Terrigen Bomb that spread across Earth where it began activating the Inhuman genes in those Humans that were descended from the Inhumans. Some of these new Inhumans were conscripted by Human military tyrants and at one such site the Unspoken arrived with those newborn Inhumans he had recruited. He would have the conscripted ones killed as traitors and took the cocoons with him where he claimed that his people would be the future of the world. (Inhumanity v1 #2) He would later arrive at New Attilan in a different thinner form where he was claiming that he came in peace by offering Queen Medusa five Inhumans that emerged from the Terrigen Cloud. However, he also claimed that he would offer New Attilan a King now that Black Bolt was missing and asked Medusa's hand in marriage to rule alongside her. (Inhuman v1 #4) Medusa would refuse him and would banished him from New Attilan had he not claimed that he had seen Black Bolt. As a result, he was allowed to stay temporarily for a night though this proved to be a ruse as he used secret passages that he knew of to access a hidden cache of Terrigen. However, Queen Medusa was aware of this deception and had followed him to find this cache as New Attilan's Terrigen Crystals had been depleted by the Terrigen Bomb. Despite this plan, her guards were unprepared for the Unspoken's Inhumans that he had gifted New Attilan earlier who provided him the time to access the Terrigen which restored his power. With his power restored, the Unspoken took control of New Attilan after deposing of Queen Medusa. (Inhuman v1 #5) During this time, he kept Medusa in chains until he was opposed by the Chief Medical Regent Vinatos who was aided by the nuHumans that managed to destroy the Unspoken's Terrigen supply leaving him depowered whereupon he was swiftly overthrown before he could accomplish his plan of conquering Earth with the nuHumans as his army. Queen Medusa would imprison him in New Attilan though the nuHuman advisor Lineage decided to forge a deal with the former king by knowing the location of Terrigen to help repower him. (Inhuman v1 #6)
The Unspoken sat in his cell while Lineage sent out a telepathic broadcast to the Inhuman populace, announcing his intent to seize power. (Inhuman Annual v1 #1) Queen Medusa and the Human Torch would walk past the Unspoken's cell where the monarch of New Attilan did not acknowledge the former king. (Uncanny Inhumans v1 #8) Maximus and Triton saw the Unspoken and Lineage in their cells. (Uncanny Inhumans v1 #13) Maximus then broke the Unspoken and Lineage out of jail and took them away from New Attilan in a boat. (Uncanny Inhumans v1 #14) 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. The Unspoken, Lineage and Maximus spent months living in a hotel room wasting time, interacting with humans, gambling and eating. 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 v1 #8) 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 v1 #19)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Due to his powers, he was referred to as the Living Terrigenesis. (Inhumans: Once and Future Kings v1 #1)
When he was King during the Forgotten Reign, he was noted to had treated the Alpha Primitives with kindness that was an act that few others had shown. Thus, he was adored by the brutish creatures and came to prefer their stoic company over that of the courtiers gossip and intrigue. Despite his benevolent nature, he did not tolerate threats to his power and used his abilities to instill fear in his enemies. Such was his power that he considered himself the great weapon of the Inhumans leading to some accusing him of arrogance. (Mighty Avengers v1 #27) To the Inhumans, he was considered a king and a near god-like figure in Attilan. (Mighty Avengers v1 #31)
Originally, he believed that the Slave Engine was too dangerous a weapon to be held in the hands of a single individual and was in fact an abomination. However, his views came to change after his exile and he came to believe he was wrong. This view was only amplified after seeing humanity becoming more numerous and he deemed them a threat to his people. It was this reason that he sought to use the Slave Engine to release Xerogen Gas to turn all humans into Alpha-Primitives that the Inhumans could rule over. (Mighty Avengers v1 #30) His anger at humanity came as a result of learning about the Silent War and that despite his actions at sheltering humanity they responded by waging war against the Inhumans. (Mighty Avengers v1 #31) He believed that the Inhuman race were strong but disadvantaged by the fact that they were too few in number. As a result, they were too strong to be challenged yet too weak to rule. This changed with the large emergence of the nuHumans that he believed would have afforded him to turn the Earth into an Inhuman world. (Inhuman v1 #6)
Initially, the Unspoken was against the use of the Slave Engine and Xerogen Crystals as he saw the potential of abuse in them. However, this changed following his banishment and he claimed that he recognized that his earlier actions had been error. As such, he sought to reclaim his place among his fellow Inhumans by returning them but was too late to do so as Attilan left to the stars. Despite this development, he did not blame the inhabitants of Attilan but rather himself with him considering himself forever alone at that point. (Mighty Avengers v1 #28)
He held a deep and intimate knowledge of Attilan to the point that he knew of the locations of hidden passageways that accessed secret locations such as caches of Terrigen. (Inhuman v1 #5)
Powers and abilities
His power stemmed from the Terrigen Crystals used for transformation by the inhabitants of Attilan. However, unlike normal Terrigenesis that only occurred once, the Unspoken was able to go through it multiple times and even manipulate its effect. This allowed him to give himself any powers that he desired so long as there was a source of Terrigen. (Inhuman v1 #6) The Unspoken embodied the ultimate gift of the Inhuman race as he was said to be Living Terrigenesis thus change itself. This allowed im to take a variety of forms and display powerful energy attacks from the cosmos itself against his enemies. His incalculable power was such that he was first and foremost feared by his subjects. As was the case with Inhumans, Terrigen Crystals suffused his entire form. (Mighty Avengers v1 #27) He embodied genetic change and had an endless array of abilities that allowed him any power he could choose allowing him to match and surpass the feat of his enemy. (Mighty Avengers v1 #31) In addition, the Unspoken was shown to possess incredible strength as he was able to lift the titanic Slave Engine that was a feat that almost no one could accomplish in Attilan. (Mighty Avengers v1 #29) Excessive contact with Terrigen was capable of causing the Unspoken to grow to giant sized proportions. (Uncanny Inhumans v1 #20) The power he held led to him being considered an Omega-level threat. (Mighty Avengers v1 #30)
Without the crystals, his body reverted to that of an older person but exposure to Terrigen returned him to his full strength. (Inhuman v1 #5)
He was known to had cultivated a number of Xerogen Crystals that he used to disseminate Xerogen Gas. Humans exposed to it experienced a transformation that saw them being turned into mindless Alpha-Primitives that would follow his commands. (Mighty Avengers v1 #30) As an Inhuman, he was immune to the effects of Xerogenesis with the transformation of humans believed irreversible. (Mighty Avengers v1 #31)
Notes
- The Unspoken was created by Dan Slott, Christos N. Gage and Khoi Pham where he made his first appearance in Mighty Avengers v1 #27 (July, 2009).
- In an interview on CBR, writer Christopher Priest wrote, "“The Unspoken” was never a despotic king. He was, in fact, The Good King. The theme of “OAFK” is communication, as the plot revolves around a series of miscommunications and wrong impressions in an operatic if not quite Shakespearean comic tragedy construction. A young Black Bolt challenges the Good King’s thinking as regards to the semi-slavery imposed upon the Alpha Primitives. In so doing, and quite without realizing it, Black Bolt literally infects the Good King’s conscience to the point where The Good King begins to reevaluate his posture toward the Alphas if not the entirety of the Attilan caste system."
Appearances
- Mighty Avengers v1: (2009)
- Inhumanity v1:
- Inhuman v1:
- Uncanny Inhumans v1:
- Inhumans: Once and Future Kings v1:
External Links
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