BLACK KING

Real Name: Quentin Templeton

Identity/Class: Human (British)

Occupation: Hellfire Club branch leader

Group Membership: Hellfire Club (Black Bishop/Brian Braddock, Black Queen/Emma Steed, Red Bishop/Conrad Strathdee, Red King/Alan Wilson, Red Queen/Margali Szardos, Red Rook/Scribe/Jane Hampshire)

Affiliations: Black Air (Michele Scicluna, Threadgold, others)

Enemies: Black Queen (Emma Steed), Douglock (Warlock), the Red King (Alan Wilson), the Red Queen (Margali Szardos)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: The Hellfire Club, London, England

First Appearance: Excalibur I#96 (April, 1996)

Powers/Abilities: The Black King possessed no superhuman powers but he had numerous contacts due to his rich status and often carried a handgun for his own defense.

Height: 6'0" (by approximation)
Weight: 162 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Dirty blonde

History: (Excalibur I#96 (fb) - BTS) - The rich and ambitious Quentin Templeton joined the London branch of the Hellfire Club, eventually becoming its Black King.

(Excalibur I#99 (fb) - BTS) - After becoming the Black King, the ruthless Templeton claimed to have hung men up by their entrails on the Tower Bridge for even considering talking down to him.

(Excalibur I#96 (fb) - BTS) - Despite the London Hellfire Club having two sets of royalty (red and black), Templeton agreed to work with the red royalty in a complex plan involving the Black Air organization's Dream Nails facility.

(Excalibur I#98 (fb) - BTS) - Continuing to work with the Red King, the Black King planned to harm London before moving on to all of England.

(Excalibur I#96 (fb) - BTS) - When events at Dream Nails began to turn against Black Air, the Black King prevented the Red King from acting to silence Black Air agent Ed Culley.

(Excalibur I#96) - During a meeting of the Hellfire Club, the Black King warned the Red King against being too hasty in their complex plan, remarking that too much haste would break apart the Club itself. The Red King insisted that if the Black King had not been prevented from acting, Ed Culley would not have escaped Dream Nails to expose Black Air's alien experimentation there. The Red King then asked who could have known former Black Air agent Pete Wisdom had a conscience but the Black King reminded the Red King that was not the point he was trying to make. Insisting that the final steps of the Hellfire Club's plan were delicate and any rush could destroy all the Club had built, the Black King ordered the Red King to communicate with his contact in Black Air to inform Black Air of the Black King's wishes. The Red King then asked Scribe if she had recorded the Black King's orders and when Scribe replied that she had, the Red King commended her, drawing his sword towards the Black King and warning that he would hate to have to make his point more forcefully. The Black King pulled a gun in retaliation but the mystic Red Queen interrupted the argument by asking the Black King when they would begin the next phase of their plans involving her magic.

(Excalibur I#97) - The Black King was present at a Hellfire Club when a secretly undercover Brian Braddock arrived to claim his father's former seat in the London Hellfire Club. Brian then approached the Black and Red Kings to ask if they would hear him and while the Red King agreed, the Black King bemused the idea of having a Braddock in the Inner Circle again as a good thing. The Black King then witnessed the Red Bishop challenge Brian to a duel for bishop status in the Club and Brian's subsequent swatting aside of the Red Bishop to claim his title of Black Bishop.

(Excalibur I#98 - BTS) - Scribe met with Brian Braddock and informed him that the Black and Red Kings were planning to do something terrible to London and all of England. When Brian asked what the two Kings planned to do, fire shot out of the ground outside Brian's window and Scribe referred to the fire as what the Kings had planned for England for a start.






(Excalibur I#99) - Following the Red King's test of the Hellfire Club's plan, which had resulted in the earlier column of fire erupting from the London underground, the Black King angrily berated the Red King, exclaiming how they had previously agreed to work together on the Hellfire Club's project. Asking if the Red King had gone insane by testing the project without the rest of the Hellfire Club's knowledge, the Black King was incensed when the Red King replied that he did not have time to patrol the local bars looking for the Black King. When the Black King made a veiled threat in response to the Red King's harsh words, the Red King suggested the Black King posture later and revealed that he had arranged a new development that would guide their hellfire project via computer. The Red King then led the Black King and the other Hellfire Club members to Black Air's Blackwall facility, where they were greeted by Black Air's Michele Scicluna and Threadgold, who led them into the Blackwall's Necromanteion area. Once inside, the Red King revealed to Black King and the others the severed head of techno-organic Excalibur member Douglock, whom Black Air had connected to the Hellfire Club project's power source beneath London.

(Excalibur I#100 (fb) - BTS) - After the Red King aided the Red Queen in activating the Hellfire Club's plan, summoning a giant demon into London, the Black King was driven mad by the failed control effect and the Black Queen murdered him.

(Excalibur I#100) - Donning his Captain Britain costume, Brian Braddock found the Black Queen, who was standing over the Black King's corpse. When Captain Britain asked what had happened to the Black King, the Black Queen explained how he had been driven mad and claimed she had been forced to kill him.

Comments: Created by Warren Ellis, Carlos Pacheco and Bob Wiacek.

Quentin Templeton's hair color seemed to change with every appearance, ranging from light brown to straight up blonde to red. I chose to list his hair as "dirty blonde" to incorporate the changes.

The Black King's real name was first revealed in Marvel Atlas I#1 (2007).
Alan Templeton and Quentin Wilson were two of my friends at school, hence the mix-and-match real names. - Loki

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Black King has no known connections to:

images: (without ads)
Excalibur I#96, p7, splash page (Black King, standing amongst other Hellfire Club members)
Excalibur I#96, p8, pan2 (Black King, headshot)
Excalibur I#97, p14, pan1 (Black King, standing with cigarette, face shadowed)
Excalibur I#97, p14, pan2 (Black King, headshot with cigarette)
Excalibur I#99, p11, pan2 (Black King walking)
Excalibur I#100, p12, pan3 (Black King's death)

Appearances:
Excalibur I#96 (April, 1996) - Warren Ellis (writer), Carlos Pacheco (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Suzanne Gaffney (editor)
Excalibur I#97 (May, 1996) - Warren Ellis (writer), Casey Jones (pencils), Tom Simmons (inks), Suzanne Gaffney (editor)
Excalibur I#98 (June, 1996) - Warren Ellis (writer), Carlos Pacheco (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Suzanne Gaffney (editor)
Excalibur I#99 (July, 1996) - Warren Ellis (writer), Casey Jones (pencils), Tom Simmons (inks), Suzanne Gaffney (editor)
Excalibur I#100 (August, 1996) - Warren Ellis (writer), Casey Jones, Randy Green (pencils), Rob Haynes (pencils, inks), Tom Simmons, Jason Martin, Rick Ketcham (inks), Suzanne Gaffney (editor)

First Posted: 04/04/2019
Last updated: 04/04/2019

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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