BLACK KING
REAL NAME: Thaddeus Pugh
AGE: 55
POWERS: No supernatural powers; Pugh instead uses a highly advanced battle suit as well as
high extensive technical skill. The Black King suit contains on board life support, flight systems, a
small force-field unit, and plasma-based blasters.
APPEARANCE: As Pugh, he stands 5'6", about 100 lbs, with grey hair. The Black King suit is
7'6", 500 lbs, and humanoid in appearance with large spikes ringing both shoulders, as well as on
the elbows and knees.
FIRST APPEARANCE: As chessmaster, Guardians #1; as Black King, Guardians #4
BACKGROUND: Thaddeus Pugh was one of those kids whose much smarter than anyone
around him, and knew it all too well. An overachiever in school, Pugh graduated from MIT with
doctorates in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, and promptly went to work for the US
government, since they would give him access to the kinds of resources that high profile weapons
research gets. His genius made him an excellent designer, but his arrogance and snobbishness
made him a poor manager. Despite the results that the advanced espionage equipment project
produced, it soon became obvious that it was the Longstreets and Brian Carpenter, not Pugh,
who were the driving forces behind the projects success. When the Advanced Research Projects
Agency threatened to demote Pugh back to a researcher, he decided that his country had betrayed
him and it was time to leave. Murdering the Longstreets and the other researchers, Pugh took the
design notes and prototypes of the most successful projects and disappeared.
Pugh had not lived an expensive lifestyle while working, so he had a significant amount of money
saved up when he ran. He began supplementing that income with the sale of the prototypes, as
well as new creations, to the highest bidder. At some point along the line, Pugh decided that the
best way to get revenge on the nation that turned its back on him (as he saw it) was to take it over
and remake it. So, he got plastic surgery and used his wealth to create a new identity for himself:
James Parker. As Parker, he used his money and influence to become a financial player. As the
Black King, he began assembling the resources and personnel that would become the Shadow
Empire. It took him three years and millions of dollars, but the plan fell into place. The only
exception was the Guardians, the team that Carpenter raised to oppose him. He tried to be a
better leader as the Black King than he was as Pugh, but he failed, in the end, because he assumed
that his followers were absolutely loyal.