Contributed by Mike McDermott

Shinobi Shaw is a mutant with the power to control his own molecular density, allowing him to phase through solid objects or to become diamond hard and virtually impervious to injury.

Shinobi’s mother was romantically involved with both Sebastian Shaw and Harry Leland of the Hellfire Club when she became pregnant. She informed Sebastian of the pregnancy and assuming that the child was his, Shinobi was raised as his illegitimate son. It eventually turned out that Leland was the biological father. Sebastian considered Shinobi to be weak and an unworthy heir, and tended to be abusive towards him.

Shinobi joined the Upstarts, a group of young mutants organized by the Gamesmaster in a competition to see who could kill more mutants. Shinobi took an early lead in the contest by murdering his own father (or so he thought at the time), inheriting both Sebastian’s business empire as well as his leadership of the Hellfire Club. While he can be very cunning and his powers make him potentially very dangerous, Shinobi is also a hedonist and likes to live a very decadent lifestyle. His own laziness and frequent drunkenness have often undermined his threat level and prevented him from being as successful as his father.

Shinobi has had a few brushes with death over the years. He was killed by his father when Sebastian Shaw turned out to be alive and sought revenge against him for the earlier murder attempt. This death was undone when the mutant sorceress Selene resurrected him along with many other deceased mutants. Years later Shinobi died by his own hand during a confrontation with the X-Men. Refusing to surrender, Shinobi instead took his own life by phasing his hand into his own skull and then solidifying it!

Shinobi was later resurrected on the mutant nation of Krakoa, by request of Sebastian Shaw, and the two finally reconciled. Shinobi served under Sebastian as the new Black Bishop of the Hellfire Club. He took his duties seriously and didn’t appear to lapse into any of his old lazy behaviour. He also developed a personal and professional relationship with fellow Hellfire member Christian Frost, and the two spent a great deal of time together.

Since the fall of Krakoa, Shinobi has returned to his decadent playboy lifestyle.

Shinobi was first revealed to be bisexual in a scene where he is being attended to by various scantily clad men and women. The butler asks Shinobi whether he will be having the oysters or the snails, which is a reference to a scene in Stanley Kubrick’s “Spartacus” film which used a discussion between Sir Lawrence Olivier and Tony Curtis’ characters as a metaphor about sexuality.

Shinobi first appeared in X-Factor vol.1 #67 by Chris Claremont, Jim Lee and Whilce Portacio.

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