Boltagon, Blackagar (person)

Blackagar Boltagon, or Black Bolt, is king of the Inhumans and brother to Maximus the Mad.

## Blackagar Boltagon

### Aliases

Black Bolt, Black Bolt The Cruel, The Merciless, 'Blagbult', BB, Celestial Avatar, Celestial Messiah, Celestial Redeemer, Lord Blackagar/Lord Black Bolt, Midnight King, Prince Black Bolt, Wishbone

### Relatives

Maximus (brother), Agon (father, dead), Rynda (mother, dead), Symak (paternal grandfather, dead), Magnar (maternal grandfather, dead), Tanith (paternal grandmother, dead), Zeta (maternal grandmother, dead), Madusa (cousin, wife), Crystal (cousin, sister-in-law), Korath (paternal uncle), Mander (maternal uncle), Gorgon (paternal cousin), Karnak (maternal cousin), Triton (maternal cousin, deceased)

### Occupation

Former owner of the Quiet Room, Monarch of the Inhumans of Attilan, King of New Attilan

## History

### Early Years

Blackagar Boltagon, or simply Black Bolt, is a member of the Inhumans an offshoot of humanity that was genetically altered by the Kree centuries ago. The Inhumans kept themselves hidden from humanity in their city known as Attilan (also known as the Great Refuge) out of fear for centuries, developing a high technological society with a focus on genetics. With the discovery of the Terrigen Mist, the Inhumans would expose themselves to it in order to gain fantastic abilities. He was one of two children of Agon and Rynda. Black Bolt was born over 100 years ago, and while most Inhumans are typically exposed to the Terrigen Mists after obtaining a degree of merit, Black Bolt was exposed to the mists while still in his mother's womb. After Black Bolt was born, Agon began to run experiments on his son in order to learn how the mists effected him. They were surprised to find that he had an incredibly destructive voice that could not be controlled. When Bolt first cried, he caused an entire building collapsed, but saved himself from being crushed to death thanks to his control over electrons creating a shield. Agon realized that his son had to be isolated until such a time that he could control his powerful voice. This decision was also further decreed by the Genetics Council who governed over the Inhumans.

His brother was born to the name Maximus. Maximus's gifts were attuned to those of Black Bolt, so that Black Bolt could in normal circumstances resist his control, and conversely, Black Bolt's voice in certain circumstances could unlock and expand Maximus's mind. This was kept secret from Black Bolt. Agon was the head of the House of Agon, who later became the royal family of the Inhumans. Black Bolt was cousins to Medusa and her younger sister Crystal as well as Gorgon, Karnak, and Triton. Medusa was betrothed to marry Black Bolt, who was slated to succeed the Inhuman throne, but due to Black Bolt's powerfully destructive voice, he was isolated from society for many years.

### Adolescence

Black Bolt remained in isolation until he reached the age of 19 and mastered the ability to remain silent. It was then he was physically introduced to his extended family. Jealous of his brother from the start, Maximus used a device to try and force Black Bolt to speak, hoping that the destructive power of his voice would eliminate any chance of Blackagar succeeding as ruler of the Inhumans. However Bolt's cousins came to his aid, stopping Maximus before he could succeed.

As they grow older, Black Bolt and his brother Maximus shared a brotherly bond that slowly got soured with age, particularly with the awakening of Maximus' mental powers, giving him rudimentary mind control abilities. Later, Bolt discovered his brother attempting to ally himself with the Kree in order to take control of the Inhuman throne. Confronting his brother, Black Bolt was forced to unleash his destructive voice to stop the Kree ship from escaping. This was a two fold tragedy, as the sound of Black Bolt's voice drove Maximus mad, and the crashing Kree ship slew their parents.

Black Bolt befriended an Alpha Primitive named Elisha, who helped him and his cousins escape to New York when their king, the Unspoken, mistakenly believed them guilty of plotting treason. It was actually the Alpha Primitives in revolt, led by Elisha who was a human turned into an Alpha Primitive by the Slave Engine. Returning to Attilan, Black Bolt pledged to free the Alphas when he became king. Elisha nonetheless went forward with his plan to use the Slave Engine against the Inhumans, but was defeated with the help of Maximus. The king offered his crown to Black Bolt, who refused. However, later, when the young Inhuman royals learned that their cousin and ruler had hidden the Slave Engine, the Inhumans most powerful weapon, in order to usher in an age of peace, they boldly confronted him. This led to a battle between the king and Black Bolt. Because he was weakened from hiding the engine the king was easily defeated in combat by Black Bolt. Medusa then witnessed as Black Bolt took him to the Himalayan Mountains. Black Bolt disposed the king by uttering his name, devastating him in a powerful sonic blast and leaving him for dead. This shameful chapter in Inhuman history was then covered up, with Black Bolt's father apparently taking up leadership of the Inhumans. The former ruler referred to only as the "Unspoken". However this event would have far reaching consequences many years in the future.

Subsequently, Black Bolt found himself in line for the Inhuman throne, and ruled over the Inhumans for years.

### Exile

For years Attilan resided in the Northern Atlantic Ocean, but by the 1950s the increasingly xenophobic Inhumans began to fear that regular humans would eventually encroach on their home. Black Bolt then ventured out from the Hidden Land to try and find a new location for their secret society. Bolt ended up crossing paths Ikaris, a member of the Eternals, another offshoot of humanity. Intrigued by Black Bolt's similarities to himself, Ikaris took the Inhuman ruler to the Eternals home of Olympia to meet their ruler Zuras. There Black Bolt was able to communicate his plight and Zuras agreed to offer the Eternals to help. Zuras then recommended that the Inhumans relocate to a remote region of the Himalayan Mountains, clearing a path for the Inhumans to build. Black Bolt returned to his people with this news, which was met with mixed response. Initially Black Bolt intended to rebuild Attilan, but upon hearing the cries of a young child agreed to move the entire city. Although the Inhuman scientists balked at this idea, they eventually pulled the feat off and were assisted by the Eternals who ensured that Attilan was delivered to its new location undetected.

Due to his crimes against society, Maximus was locked away for years but he eventually used his mental powers to coerce three of the Alpha Primitives slave class. He compelled them to expose themselves to the Terrigen Mists transforming them into an entity known as the Trikon. The Trikon then compelled the Alpha Primitives to revolt against their suppressors. During the ensuing uprising, Medusa attempted to confront the Trikon on a sky sled, but it blasted her ship causing her to crash somewhere outside of the Great Refuge. The crash had stricken Medusa with amnesia and she wandered away from the ensuing battle which was eventually ended, but with Maximus taking control of the Inhuman throne and exiling his cousins. Black Bolt and his family were forced out of Attilan and spent the ensuing years searching for sign that Medusa might be alive.

A differing account states that the danger posed to Attilan came from a conflict between the Chinese government and the people of Tibet. While trying to develop a means to hide their society from outsiders, Black Bolt was injured while testing out one of the devices created by Maximus. This account states that Crystal was already aware of the existence of the Fantastic Four prompted Medusa to leave the Great Refuge to seek them out for assistance while Black Bolt recovered from his injuries. Left to the tyranny of Maximus, the Royal Family later fled to find Medusa after Black Bolt was well enough and after hearing that Medusa had joined the ranks of the Frightful Four.

## Attributes

### Powers

**Ambient Particle & Electron Harnessing:** Black Bolt's primary superhuman ability is the power to harness electrons. The speech center of his brain contains a unique organic mechanism that's able to generate an unknown particle that interacts with the electrons he absorbs to create certain phenomena that are determined by his mental control. After the detonation of the Terrigen Bomb, Black Bolt's powers were greatly diminished. He has since recovered thanks to a bath in exogenetically charged waters.

* **Particle & Electron Channeling:** Black Bolt wears a metallic, fork-shaped antenna upon his brow that allows him to focus and channel his powers in more directed and less destructive ways. This antenna monitors the speech center of his brain and allows him to direct quantities of the unknown particles to create controlled phenomena, such as enhancing his physical strength beyond his normal limits. He can also channel all the available energy he has into one arm for a single, massively powerful punch called the Master Blow. The exertion from this, however, taxes his ability to employ the energy to its full power for a short time.
* **Particle & Electron Manipulation:** Black Bolt can also direct the unknown particle outwards without the use of his vocal chords. He can route the particles through his antennae or his arms and hands to create small yet vastly powerful blasts of concussive force, absorb and redirect vast quantities of energy. He can also form a field of highly active electrons around his body with a wave of his hand, this field can deflect projectiles with the mass of a meteor. Black Bolt can also create enough iteration between the electron and particle energies to generate fields solid enough for him to travel over.
* **Matter & Energy Manipulation:** Through an unknown method, Black Bolt has shown numerous times that he has the ability to manipulate matter and energy to an unknown degree. He has shown the ability to transmute the elements, turn water into ice, create multiple toys out of thin air by rearranging molecular if not particle structure. He has destroyed a Solar Flare powerful enough to annihilate the Earth, and was able to block the powers of others through his abilities in turn denying them access to their abilities.
* **Telepathy & Telepathic Immunity:** Black Bolt has strong psychic resistance, as was evident when he was able to easily resist the mental abilities of his powerful brother, Maximus, and overwhelm him in psychic ability. Often using it as a means to communicate with his wife Medusa as well.
* **Anti-Gravitational Flight:** Black Bolt can also harness the unknown particles his brain generates to interact with electrons to create anti-gravitons that enable him to defy gravity. By emitting a jet of rapidly moving particle / electron interaction by-product while enveloped by anti-gravitons, Black Bolt has been shown to fly faster than hypersonic speeds for a period of 10 hours, and to fly beyond escape velocity. The anti-graviton field also serves to protect Black Bolt from the detrimental effects of rapid movement through the atmosphere although it's not needed.

**Inhuman Physiology:** Like all Inhumans, Black Bolt's natural physiology grants him a number of superhuman physical attributes but because of the genetic tampering at birth, Black Bolt's physical abilities are significantly superior to most other members of his race.

* **Superhuman Strength:** Black Bolt, like all Inhumans, is superhumanly strong. Physically superior to the finest human specimen and to some inhumans, under normal circumstances he's able to lift a couple of tons. However he can augment his physical strength by channeling the necessary particle energy through his body. His base strength level while under these conditions is at best undetermined, for while at his peak he is listed at class 60, Black Bolt has been observed fighting opponents dynamically superior matching them blow for blow such as Namor, Thor, Gladiator, The Thing, and even The Incredible Hulk in hand-to-hand combat. The latter acknowledging him to be very close to him in strength.
* **Superhuman Speed:** Black Bolt can run and move at speeds that are beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete, as he has been able to catch directed miniature missiles even when attacked from below and unaware with ease, move at a speed so great he is invisible to the human eye, move at such a speed he can travel vast distances before a human can finish processing a thought, and has been able to catch Quicksilver.
* **Superhuman Stamina:** Black Bolt's Inhuman musculature generates less fatigue toxins than the musculature of a normal human, even the finest human athlete. At his peak, he can exert himself for several days before the buildup of fatigue toxins in his blood begins to impair him.
* **Invulnerability:** Black Bolt's body is incredibly resistant to all forms of physical damage. Black Bolt is resistant to great impact forces, such as falling from a height of several stories that would severely injure or kill a human being unharmed. He has survived blows by beings with vast superhuman strength such as Namor, Thor, Gladiator, The Thing, Hulk, and Thanos; taken to extremes when Black Bolt weathered a blast from his own T-Bomb which had killed Emperor Vulcan, destroyed a Shi'ar space fleet and ruptured the fabric of reality. He's capable of withstanding extreme temperatures, such as the cold in space, or the heat from re-entry. Black Bolt can further bolster his durability by generating a force field to further increase considerably his invulnerability.
* **Superhuman Agility:** Black Bolt's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels that are far beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete.
* **Superhuman Reflexes:** Black Bolt's reflexes are far beyond those of the finest human athlete.
* **Superhuman Longevity:** Like all Inhumans, Black Bolt has a natural lifespan that is at least twice the average lifespan of a human being.

### Abilities

**Non-Verbal Communication:** Black Bolt is able to communicate non-verbally, although Medusa often will act as a translator for him.

**Master Combatant:** Black Bolt is also a master of hand-to-hand combat, although even the smallest sigh directed towards most individuals, even those possessing great physical attributes, is enough to destroy them. It is reputed that he once defeated Ikaris the Eternal in one on one hand-to-hand combat with ease.

**Diplomatic Immunity:** As the leader of a sovereign nation, he often visits the United States or the United Nations for political reasons. He enjoys diplomatic immunity during these trips.

**Stress Point Detection:** Black Bolt was trained by Karnak in using his superhuman senses to detect weaknesses. Through this method, Black Bolt was able to find the weak link of a chain he was being held with.