The Hellfire Club Electromagnetic Spectrum

[MentalManipulator]

Black
King - Sebastian Shaw
Bishop - Shinobi
Rook - Daken

White
Queen - Emma Frost
Bishop - Christian Frost
Rooks - Cuckoos

Red
Queen - Kate Pryde
Bishop - Bishop
Rook - Rachel

Orange
Queen - M
Bishop - Husk
Rook - Jubilee

Gold
Queen - Storm
Bishop - Jean Grey
Rook - Forge

Green
King - Magneto
Bishop - Polaris
Rook - Nature Girl

Blue
King - Nightcrawler
Bishop - Cyclops
Rook - Rogue

Indigo
King - Archangel
Bishop - Beast
Rook - Iceman

Violet
Queen - Betsy Braddock
Bishop - Kwannon
Rook - Gambit

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

X-Men The Hellfire Club #3 Mar 2000
"For Want of a Soul"
When Irene Merryweather heads to England to continue her story, Union Jack saves
her from two would-be assassins and takes her to the home of Lady Jacqueline Crichton.
The former superhero known as Spitfire reads some of her father’s notes of the time he became involved with the Hellfire Club.

The year is 1915 and club member Sir Waltham Pierce recruits Esau Shaw to the Inner Circle.
Crichton’s father, Montgomery Falsworth, is secretly the first Union Jack and a friend of Esau’s.

He warns him about the club’s reputation, and is also concerned that Esau’s envious brother, Jacob, might do something stupid.

Jacob is out walking one night, when he is approached by a stranger, calling himself Nathaniel Essex.
Shaw follows him to his home, where Essex reveals he is actually Mister Sinister.
He injects Jacob with a liquid that allows him to shape-shift

and Jacob grins at the opportunities this opens up for him.

Soon, he shifts to make himself look like Sir Waltham Pierce
and he mercilessly kills his brother in order to take his place.

He also wants to get rid of Pierce and shifts into the form of a woman, to carry out his murder.
Before he can kill him, however, Union Jack appears and accuses Pierce of conspiracy to
undermine the crown, sedition against its governing bodies and the murder of Esau Shaw.
Before he answers the charges, Jacob shoots at Union Jack before fleeing.

As he sprints away into the woods, Union Jack is sure the woman he sees is really Jacob Shaw.
A trick of the light, he wonders?

Back in the present, Lady Crichton gives Irene the book and, as she leaves,
she thinks about how Jacob traded his soul to the devil for want of a better soul.
She wonders if she would do the same, were she in his shoes.

Writer Ben Raab. Artist Charlie Adlard.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Uncanny X-Men #132 Apr 1980
The Dark Phoenix Saga: Part 4 of 9 - "And Hellfire is Their Name!"
Following their near defeat by the White Queen and fearing that the mansion is no longer safe for them
Cyclops takes the team to the former X-Man Angel's aerie in New Mexico.
He asks to talk to Angel privately, who then flies him to the top of a butte out in the middle of the desert
much to the chagrin of Professor X who wanted them to return to the school immediately.
Cyclops recounts the X-Men's recent adventure and states that they were targeted by a group called the Hellfire Club.
Warren finds this hard to believe as he and his girlfriend Candy are members of the Hellfire Club.

Scott goes on to explain that he's worried about changes in Jean’s personality.
Before he can explain any further, Jean herself arrives and interrupts them to have a private picnic with Scott.
Warren leaves them alone and Jean gets Scott to take off his visor.
Much to his surprise, she telekinetically holds his optic blast in check.
The two embrace and make love on the butte as the sun sets.

A week later on a stormy night, the X-Men return to New York City to
infiltrate the Hellfire Club and learn why they are targeting the X-Men.
Wolverine and Nightcrawler travel through the sewers to sneak into the club from below.
As they are passing through the rapidly flooding tunnels, Wolverine slices open some electrical wiring
pointing out that they could use a distraction later if things get hairy, a move that Nightcrawler finds very sneaky.

Meanwhile, with invitations organized by Warren, Scott and Jean,
and Peter and Ororo attend a prestigious party within the club.
Before they go in, they radio back to the Professor and Angel in New Mexico
to advise them of their plan so that they can carry on if they fail.
As Scott and the others enter the party and try to blend in, they are
spotted on the club’s security monitors by the Hellfire Club's inner circle:
the cybernetic Donald Pierce and mutants Sebastian Shaw, Harry Leland and Jason Wyngarde.
Shaw tells Wyngarde this is his chance to prove that he has full control over Jean Grey and sends him out into the party.

Sure enough, as Scott and Jean are dancing, Wyngarde cuts in and sweeps Jean off into another one of his illusions.
She instantly believes she’s in the 18th century and that Wyngarde is the love of her life, ignoring the perplexed Scott.

Wyngarde takes Jean upstairs and Scott follows after them. Scott is shocked when Wyngarde drops
the illusion to reveal himself to be none other than the X-Men's old foe Mastermind. Chasing after them,
he is blasted by Jean who has now been transformed into the Black Queen and is under Mastermind's full control.

Hearing Scott's scream of pain over the crowd, Storm and Colossus change into costume
and charge after their friend. Running upstairs, they encounter Sebastian Shaw.

Colossus learns the hard way that Shaw can absorb any physical attack inflicted on him
and transform it into strength and invulnerability. Shaw easily defeats Colossus in
battle but Storm manages to escape by creating a thick fog to obscure his vision.

Down in the basement, Wolverine and Nightcrawler emerge from the sewers only to be attacked by Pierce and Leland.
Pierce locks Nightcrawler in a chokehold. But while Wolverine manages to damage Pierce's cybernetic arm,

Leland uses his mass-increasing powers to increase Wolverine's weight until he breaks through
the floor and lands in the sewers below, where he is swept away and presumed to have drowned.

Upstairs, Storm is tracked down by Sebastian Shaw who easily defeats her in hand-to-hand combat.
The X-Men have all been defeated and the inner circle members celebrate their victory.
Sebastian Shaw silently notes Jason Wyngarde's cockiness and suspects that he will attempt to replace him
as leader of the Hellfire Club. A toast is proposed to the newest member of their club -- the Black Queen!

Down below in the sewers, meanwhile, Wolverine emerges from the waters alive and well.
He is incredibly angry, having taken the Hellfire Club's best shot and he is ready to show them his own.

Story by Chris Claremont and John Byrne. Art by John Byrne and Terry Austin.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

X-Men The Hellfire Club #4 Apr 2000
"Also Sprach Sebastian"
Irene Merryweather finds herself waking up in China,
having being kidnapped by Tessa, Sebastian Shaw’s trusted assistant.
She has been entrusted with disclosing anything she requires
about Shaw and his involvement with the Hellfire Club.
Irene complains about being treated this way but is helpless,
as Tessa uses a little telepathic manipulation to relate Shaw’s background story to her.

Shaw began life as a poor steel worker but, after his father, Jacob, passed away,
he went to college and became something of an academic wunderkind.
He was in demand and became a respected engineer;
his expertise covering a range of topics such as technology and economics.

He began a relationship with Lourdes Chantel and proposed to her one night.
Soon after, Shaw was initiated into the Hellfire Club by the White King, Edward Buckman,

and began to surround himself with like-minded allies.

Although Lourdes loved him more than anything,
she was against his involvement in the Hellfire Club.
To her cost, and Shaw’s, she was killed by a Sentinel when asked
to teleport Shaw to assist Emma Frost and Harry Leland in battle.

Shaw soon had Ed Buckman and his White Queen, Paris Seville, eliminated

and his Inner Circle was born.
Donald Pierce was the fourth member, with Tessa becoming Shaw’s assistant.
From then on, his global influence continued to grow and remains powerful to this day, despite the many setbacks along the way.

Back in the present, Tessa releases Irene from her thrall and Sebastian Shaw shows himself.
Irene threatens to publish everything, but Shaw insists she’ll never get her story published.
He admires her, though, and believes she will be an asset to the Hellfire Club.
Tessa puts her to sleep and Irene awakens two days later, with an invitation to join the Hellfire Club in her hand.

Writer Ben Raab. Artist Charlie Adlard.