He is the leader of the New York branch of the Hellfire Club, an exclusive secret society composed of mutants bent on world domination, although to the public, he is a legitimate businessman and ordinary human.

Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist/co-writer John Byrne, Sebastian Shaw first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #129 (Jan. 1980), during the "Dark Phoenix Saga" storyline.

Shaw proclaims himself Black King, remakes the Council of the Chosen into his Inner Circle and gathers Emma Frost, Harry Leland and the non-mutant cyborg Donald Pierce as the Lords Cardinal of Hellfire Club.

His connections to top officials of corporations and government, acquired via the Club and through his position as CEO of Shaw Industries, make him a powerful enemy.

This activity brings him into frequent contact with the major players of Project Wideawake, Senator Robert Kelly and Henry Peter Gyrich, to whom he appears to be an anti-mutant bigot.

[7] Shaw sets his eyes on the X-Men, scheming to capture and study them for use in breeding an army of powerful mutants for the Hellfire Club.

He employs the superpowered assassin Warhawk to plant a bug in Cerebro, ensuring the Hellfire Club would be aware of newly manifested mutants at the same moment as the X-Men themselves, as well as giving them access to secret details of their powers and fighting techniques.

[12] The Hellfire Club is forced to battle alongside the X-Men against Nimrod, a Sentinel from the future, and though victorious, two key members perish in the fight.

[volume & issue needed] Shaw's later exploits included vying for control of the Elixir Vitae, thought to be a cure for the Legacy Virus;[18] associations with the British intelligence agency Black Air and an unnamed time-manipulator; and hunting down X-51, the Machine Man.

[volume & issue needed] He attempted to use Lady Mastermind to control Tessa (now called "Sage") and Storm's team of X-Men, who were searching for Destiny's prophetic diaries.

[volume & issue needed][20] After a few months, though, Shaw made a play to become the new Lord Imperial of the entire Club worldwide, and invited Sage to help him.

As the story arc continued to unfold, the Hellfire Club made their attack as they each targeted an individual member of Cyclops' team of X-Men.

In the end however, it is revealed that the entire Hellfire Club was not real, and all were mental images created by Emma Frost's mind, which was infected with a special "programming" by Cassandra Nova in an attempt to revive her.

The explosion in the Hellfire Club was caused by the activation of a machine developed beneath the Alamogordo genetics plant in Las Cruces, New Mexico by Mister Sinister.

[26] Together they manipulate Wolverine into defeating the new members of the Inner Circle, try to take control of Logan's son, Daken, and set up a trap against Xavier.

The ending of the fight takes place off panel and Wolverine appears with his body and claws soaked with blood, which he soon confirms belongs to Shaw.

[28] During her early days as the White Queen as seen during the "Dark Reign" storyline, Sebastian Shaw sends Emma to convince Namor to join the Hellfire Club.

"[29] Approaching him later in his cell, Emma reveals that she has captured Shaw for Namor and on the basis that the Sentinels he commissioned were ones later used by Cassandra Nova to destroy Genosha.

[35] Before a battle between both parties can become serious, X-23 and Finesse warn their friends that Shaw's body language indicates that he doesn't mean to hurt anyone, but to help the mutant children to escape.

After both sides agree that the mutant children shouldn't be confined against their will, they fake a battle to justify their escape in front of the cameras at the Academy.

[36] In All-New, All-Different Marvel, Sebastian Shaw represents Shaw Industries during a meeting at the Universal Bank with Tiberius Stone of Alchemax, Wilson Fisk of Fisk Industries, Darren Cross of Cross Technological Enterprises, Zeke Stane of Stane International, Shingen Harada of the Yashida Corporation, Frr'dox of Shi'ar Solutions Consolidated, and Wilhelmina Kensington of Kilgore Arms.

[37] In the new phase of the X-Men, beginning with the dual miniseries House of X and Powers of X, Shaw joins the Quiet Council of Krakoa, a ruling body consisting of 14 mutants.

He even accepted a demand to sacrifice his mutant powers to associate with Orchis, believing that he could profit from claiming Krakoa's natural resources for himself.

Shaw is a mutant with the unique ability to absorb all kinetic and thermal energy directed at him and use it to augment his strength, speed, stamina and recuperation capabilities to superhuman levels.

[41][42] Without any absorbed energy, Shaw is merely a strong ordinary human in excellent physical condition, but regularly works to keep his strength at a superhuman level.

[44] After the death of Apocalypse and the rise of his successor Weapon Omega, Shaw managed to acquire Warren Worthington III's nightclub "Haven" and remade it into his image and renamed it as Hellfire Club.

[49] The Ultimate Marvel version of Sebastian Shaw is also the leader of the Hellfire Club, a secret society that worships the Phoenix God.

Additionally, he is fluent in English, German, French, and Russian and previously operated as Nazi scientist Klaus Schmidt during World War II, during which he attempted to experiment on a young Erik Lehnsherr to tease out his mutant abilities.

Ultimately, he is foiled by Moira MacTaggert's Division X and killed by Lehnsherr, who takes the helmet for himself and unites the Hellfire Club's remnants under his leadership.

He forms a reluctant alliance with the X-Men to face various menaces while waiting for an opportunity to seize control of a possible cure for the Legacy Virus.