The mutant Zorn has a black hole for a head that is capable of utter devastation. Kept in captivity for the majority of his life, it’s not until the X-Men free him that he finally leaves isolation and joins the merry mutants.
A Singular(ity) Origin
Twin brothers Shen Xorn and Kuan-Yin’s mutant abilities manifest two days after reaching puberty. Tiny stars inside their heads flared out of control, devastating their small village in China until villagers managed to encase the remains of their heads within metal masks. The anti-mutant Communist regime separated the brothers, keeping Shen shackled in isolation in the village, and incarcerating Kuan-Yin in the underground Feng Tu Facility prison, named for the Chinese underworld. Both remain imprisoned for several decades.
The Power of a Star
Like his twin brother, Kuan-Yin, Shen possesses a miniature star in his head. Shen’s star manifests as a black hole, while Kuan-Yin’s star manifests as a sun. Shen’s black hole emits an intense gravity field that not even light can escape. Both brothers can reverse the natural state of their stars, Shen’s becoming a sun, Kuan-Yin’s becoming a black hole.
Shen can feel the movement of energy and emotion on many levels. He possesses gravitational senses that allow him to manipulate energy for a variety of purposes. He can warp gravitational and magnetic fields, able to take his energy and project it defensively from his hands. He can sense when a death has occurred nearby, and by shaking gravitational particles in the air around him, he can comprehend and speak other languages. He can also use his abilities to heal injuries and make things float, ostensibly making him telekinetic.
Shen does not need oxygen, food, or water to survive. Since Shen’s power has such a devastating effect, it is encased in a metal helmet that contains his star and protects others from exposure.
Captors and Colleagues
After Charles Xavier, AKA Professor X’s X-Men liberate Shen from a Chinese prison and battle the Chinese Army and the Collective Man, Shen joins the X-Men at their mansion. While there, he helps them defeat Bennet du Paris, AKA Exodus, and his Brotherhood of Mutants, who attacked Xavier’s school.
Shen’s Story
When the X-Men traveled to China to investigate a powerful mutant signature, they found Shen Xorn, whose powers had once again flared out of control, killing his entire village. The X-Men prepared to take him back to the mansion for investigation. However, the super-powered Eight Immortals team (Chuan Chung Li, Chang Kuo-Lao, Lu Dong-Pin, Tsao Guao-chiu, Tieh Guai Li, Han Hsian Tzu, Lan Tsai Ho, Ho Hsien Ku) opposed them, claiming that responsibility for Shen fell under their jurisdiction as chosen protectors of the ancient Chinese homeland. His helmet damaged during a battle between the two groups, Shen’s black hole began sucking everything nearby into it, until the X-Man Alex Summers, AKA Havok, used his plasma energy to hold the event horizon at bay. Meanwhile, the X-Men and the Eight Immortals sought a containment helmet for Shen and battled the Chinese Army and the Collective Man. Lorna Dane, AKA Polaris defeated them and simultaneously found the containment helmet that stopped Shen’s power flare. They then took Shen back to the Xavier mansion for safekeeping.
Not long after, Exodus and his Brotherhood of Mutants attacked the school, killing at least one student. Shen removed his helmet, banishing the villains into his quantum singularity to stop their violence. Following this, Shen left the Institute to contemplate the immensity of his actions, and to rediscover peace through meditation.
Shen lost his powers after “M-Day” occurred—when the reality-warping mutant Wanda Maximoff, AKA Scarlet Witch, spelled away most mutants’ powers, but he gained them back later. After an Inhuman Terrigen Cloud caused M-Pox and killed many mutants, spurring a war between the X-Men and the Inhumans, Monet St. Croix, AKA M, from the X-Men traveled to Tibet to seek Shen’s help. She warned him about the Dark Riders, who hunted healers like him, but he refused to leave his sanctuary.
Later, Shen agreed to heal Max Eisenhardt, AKA Magneto and kept his Sleepers, weaponized mutants, safe. Shen and the Sleepers oversaw the Inhuman population on the Blue Area of the Moon, though when a fight broke out between the Sleepers and the Mutants, Shen got caught in the crossfire. Shen unleashes his power, and while the mutant Sebastian Shaw took the brunt of the blast, but two mutants and two Sleepers got caught in his energy torrent and killed. He gave up his post immediately and handed leadership of the Sleepers over to Warren Worthington III, AKA Angel, going by Archangel . When the conflict between the X-Men and the Inhumans concluded, Shen stayed on the moon.
After Hydra’s leader, an altered Captain America, spearheads a sovereign state for American mutants and relocated them, he ordered Emma Frost to mind-control Shen and make it look as though he led mutants.
When the New Marauders tried to recruit him, but Shen declined, they attempted to kill him. Jimmy Hudson and Bloodstorm saved him, and then Xorn joined a group of young X-Men. They fought Bastion and attempted to fight the leaders of the Mothervine virus, but lost. Emma Frost freed Xorn and the X-Men, but Xorn blamed himself for not being able to protect mutants. Sacrificing himself, he released his black hole, drawing Bastion and himself in it.
After Charles Xavier, AKA Professor X, Max Eisenhardt, AKA Magneto, and Moira MacTaggert, formed the mutant nation-state of Krakoa, they had their resurrectionist group, The Five, bring back fallen mutants. Shen, and his twin brother, who had previously perished, were among the mutants brought back to life.
