COUNCIL OF THE CHOSEN
Membership: White King (Edward "Ned" Buckman), White Queen (Paris Seville), Black Bishop (Sebastian Shaw) and five other unidentified members
Purpose: World domination
Affiliations: Centurion (Geoffrey Ballard), DRC (Sakura), Hellfire Club (John Braddock, Lourdes Chantel, Emma Frost, Harold Leland, Donald Pierce, Sebastian Shaw, Howard Stark, Tessa, Warren Worthington Jr., others), Steven Lang, Michael Rossi;
possibly Raven Darkholme (see comments)
Enemies: Emma Frost, Moses Magnum, Sebastian Shaw, Samantha Sheridan
Base of Operations: Hellfire Club Mansion, New York City, New York
First Appearance: (Behind the scenes) X-Men I#96 (December, 1975); (hooded) X-Men I#100 (August, 1976); (identified) Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#5 (May, 1983); (fully seen) Classic X-Men#7 (March, 1987)
History:
(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#5 - BTS) - Influential businessman Edward Buckman joined the New York chapter of the Hellfire Club. He quickly rose through the ranks to join the club's elite Inner Circle as its White King. Now in charge of the club, he renamed the Inner Circle the "Council of the Chosen" and introduced new, mandatory hooded uniforms much to the chagrin of various members.
(X-Men: Hellfire Club#4 (fb) ) - The Council of the Chosen was present during the August assembly of the Hellfire Club, the White King inducted several new members: Warren Worthington Jr., Howard Stark, Sebastian Shaw and John Braddock.
(Uncanny X-Men I#129 - BTS) - Sebastian Shaw quickly rose to the position of Black King and was inducted into the Council of the Chosen.
(New X-Men I#139 (fb) ) - The Council of the Chosen attended the Hellfire Club's auditions for new exotic dancers for their various functions. One of the girls they saw perform was the ambitious mutant telepath Emma Frost. Even though she was a barely competent dancer, she used her telepathy to mesmerize the White King and the others, assuring her a job at the Club.
(X-Men I#100 (fb) ) - The Council of the Chosen became involved with Steven Lang. The anti-mutant radical had taken over Larry Trask's old base where he obtained notes on the Sentinels. Lang approached the Hellfire Club with a proposal to use this knowledge to deal with the mutant threat. Aware Shaw was a mutant, Buckman sold the idea to the Council claiming he wanted to bring mutants under the control of the Hellfire Club even though he actually agreed with Lang and wanted all mutants dead as well. As a result, the Council offered Lang all the financial and practical support needed to get Project Armageddon off the ground.
(X-Men I#96 - BTS) - The Council of the Chosen contacted Colonel Rossi to give them a final report on Project Armageddon. Lang however, wasn't too pleased when he heard Rossi say he wanted to shut down the project. Lang planned to kill Rossi and had the Sentinels shoot his plane down.
(Power Man Annual I#1 - BTS) - Buckman's agents had infiltrated the organization of mutant terrorist Moses Magnum, frequently reporting to him about the seismic criminal's activities. He learned Magnum had kidnapped renowned geophysicist Samantha Sheridan as part of his plan to exploit the Katsyu fault near Japan. Magnum planned to hit the fault with his laser drills to cause gigantic seismic upheavals. Not wanting his business threatened, Buckman ordered Sakura, one of the men within the DRC to kill Sheridan before Magnum could carry out his plan. However, Power Man (Luke Cage) rescued her.
(Ms. Marvel I#9 - BTS) - Ballard informed "Alpha" of the Council about the success of the mission and that the documents had been probably sent to the police by Carol Danvers.
(Classic X-Men#7/2) - A few days after Christmas, several Council members attended the Hellfire Club's annual gala to celebrate the past year. As Paris Seville, the White Queen sat on a throne next to Buckman, overseeing the proceedings. Buckman later introduced her to the newly appointed Black King Sebastian Shaw and his ladyfriend Lourdes Chantel, exchanging some pleasantries before asking Seville to dance.
(Classic X-Men#7/2 - BTS) - While Seville and Buckman waltzed away, Shaw was telepathically contacted by Emma Frost, who was staying at his beach house. Frost had learned the true purpose of the Buckman backed Project Armageddon. Already outraged, Shaw grew even more furious when he sensed Frost was being attacked by a Sentinel. Shaw had his lover Lourdes teleport them to Emma's side. Shaw, with some help from his mutant attorney Harry Leland, who was also at the beach house, was able to defeat the robot but not before it killed Lourdes Chantel. Out for revenge, he returned to the Hellfire Club with Emma Frost and disabled the telepathy inhibiting circuitry installed in the council room. He then had Frost take subtle control of Buckman's mind.
(Classic X-Men#7/2) - The Council members attended the midnight meeting of the Council of the Chosen where Buckman had planned to tell the others of Project Armageddon's success. Instead, as he was talking about the mutant threat, he grabbed one of the Hellfire guards automatic weapons and casually shot all of the council members, including Seville who pleaded Ned not to do it. After slaughtering the entire council, Buckman regained his senses long enough for Shaw to explain he was responsible right before snapping his neck. With Buckman, Seville and the others gone, Shaw was free to take control of both the Hellfire Club and the Inner Circle. His first official act: renaming it the Lords Cardinal.
Comments: Created by Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum, John Bolton (art)
It's been suggested "Alpha" that received information from Geoffrey Ballard was one of Raven Darkholme's identities. If that was a fact she was working for the Council of the Chosen. X-Men: Hellfire Club#4 revealed Donald Pierce had already joined the Hellfire Club by the time the Council was murdered, therefore they would have been aware of each others existence.
Profile by MarvellousLuke
CLARIFICATIONS:
Council of the Chosen has no known connections to
images: (without ads)
X-Men: Hellfire Club#4, p11, pan2 (main image)
X-Men I#100, p10, pan5 (hooded)
Classic X-Men#7, p31, pan7 (death)
Appearances:
X-Men I#96 (December, 1975) - Chris Claremont, Bill Mantlo (writers), Dave Cockrum (pencils), Sam Grainger (inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
X-Men I#100 (August, 1976) - Chris Claremont (writer), Dave Cockrum (pencils, inks), Marv Wolfman (editor)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe I#5 (May, 1983) - Mark Gruenwald, Peter Sanderson, Mark Lerer, Roger Stern, Tom DeFalco (writers)
Power Man Annual I#1 (October, 1976) - Chris Claremont (writer), Lee Elias (pencils), Dave Hunt (inks), Archie Goodwin (editor)
Ms. Marvel I#9 (September, 1977) - Chris Claremont (writer), Keith Pollard (pencils), Joe Sinnott & Sam Grainger (inks), Archie Goodwin editor)
Classic X-Men#7 (March, 1987) - Chris Claremont (writer), John Bolton (pencils, inks), Ann Nocenti, Terry Kavanagh (editor)
X-Men: Hellfire Club#4 (April, 2000) - Ben Raab (writer), Charlie Adlard (pencils, inks), Mark Powers (editor)
New X-Men I#139 (June, 2003) - Grant Morrison (writer), Phil Jimenez (pencils), Andy Lanning (inks), Mike Marts, Mike Raicht, Nova Ren Suma (editors)
First Posted: 04/24/2016
Last updated: 04/24/2016
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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