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Quote1 It's a brave new world, Shaw. And I finally get to be the queen you trained me to be. Quote2
Emma Frost

Appearing in "White Queen, Dark Reign"

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Synopsis for "White Queen, Dark Reign"

Years ago:

Cloaked figures enter the old Hellfire Club as guards in masks and tri-corner hats check invitations. Inside, the Black King, Sebastian Shaw, stands on a landing watching over the festivities - well-dressed men drinking and canoodling with scantily clad women. Shaw is flanked by the White Queen (Emma Frost) and Tessa. The three are communicating telepathically. Shaw is frustrated that though he’s successfully taken over the Hellfire Club, they still have not found their White King. Emma notes that the party is full of contenders, but Shaw scoffs and offers to introduce them to some of these “spoiled brats”.

Unimpressed with both Tony Stark and Norman Osborn - who nearly get into a brawl before Shaw breaks Osborn’s finger and tells him to leave - Shaw turns his attention to the newest arrival: Namor. Shaw asks the Atlantean king to hear out his offer; Namor, dripping with condescension, accepts, provided that Emma Frost is present too.

In the basement, Shaw makes his pitch. He is forming a new Inner Circle made up entirely of mutants, and seeing as Namor is the first mutant, Shaw wants him to be the new White King. Namor is offended at the paltry offer - he is already king the seven seas, after all - and walks out. Shaw, furious, orders Emma to recruit Namor “no matter what the cost”, and reminds her that he is the one with all the power here.

Emma takes a boat to the middle of the South China Sea. She calls out to Namor telepathically and jumps into the water with a 50-pound weight chained to her ankle. As she plummets, Namor dives after her and catches her with an oxygen-replenishing kiss.

Two weeks later, Shaw has not heard a word from Emma. Fuming at either her incompetence or her betrayal, he takes a hair from her brush down to the lab of Donald Pierce. Pierce tracks the DNA signature and sends a group of Sentinels to the location.

As Emma lies in Namor’s bed in Atlantis, a Sentinel crashes through the ceiling above. Namor destroys the robot, but two more are attacking the city. Namor flies into a rage, accusing Emma of setting him up. But Emma, unaware Shaw sent them, convinces Namor that the Hellfire Club intends to protect mutantkind from such a threat.

Namor has his scientists determine where the Sentinels were sending their data and he and Emma fly off to confront their attackers. There, to Emma’s shock, they find Pierce, Shaw, and Tessa. Shaw reveals that he owns the contract to produce Sentinels for the government. Namor attacks, but Shaw absorbs the energy and hits Namor back twice as hard. Namor continues the fight, but Pierce activates two Sentinels and forces him to stand down. Shaw then orders Tessa to wipe Emma’s mind and tells Namor the Club’s telepaths will protect him from Namor for the rest of his life. Namor leaves, realizing Shaw has won.

Now:

Namor and Dr. Doom are leaving the first meeting of the Cabal when Emma Frost calls Namor aside for a psychic chat. She asks why he pretended not to know her, and he says he was protecting her.

Emma returns to her hotel room and calls Scott Summers. Lost in her reflection in the mirror, she abruptly ends their conversation and decides to go out. Sometime later, a limousine pulls up outside the hotel and she gets in, crossing her legs seductively. Sitting across from her is Namor. Over drinks, Emma offers to give Namor Sebastian Shaw’s head on a platter. In exchange, she wants Namor to protect the remaining mutant population when Norman Osborn inevitably comes for them.

At the abandoned Hellfire Club, Emma explains that when she had to rebuild her mind after fighting the Phoenix, she also recovered the memories Tessa had blocked of their experience with Shaw’s Sentinels. She reaches out telepathically to Shaw, who says he will be there in ten minutes. Namor takes his place out of sight behind a two-way mirror.

When Shaw arrives, Emma tells him to sit and seductively walks behind his chair. She casually produces a sword and when Namor emerges from his hiding spot, presents him with Shaw’s severed head on a silver platter. Satisfied, Namor pledges his allegiance to mutantkind and leaves, with plenty of sexual tension remaining in the air.

With Namor gone, Emma lets the illusion dissipate. On the platter is, in fact, a pumpkin, and Shaw’s head is still attached to his body, though Emma has psychically convinced him he cannot see, move, or speak. She tells Shaw he’ll be going away for a while and contacts Cyclops telepathically. She tells Scott to prepare the brig, for she has captured Sebastian Shaw.

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References

  1. The issue depicts Black Queen (Selene) as a telepath working for Shaw, but she wasn't part of the Hellfire Club back then. The Official Index to the Marvel Universe #13 corrects this by stating the character is, in fact, Tessa
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