The Shadow King ( Amahl Farouk ) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . The character is particularly associated with the X-Men family of comics. His nemesis is the X-Men's leader, Professor X , while he also figures into the backstory of the X-Man Storm . As originally introduced, Farouk was a human mutant from Egypt who used his vast telepathic abilities for evil, taking the alias Shadow King. Later writers established Farouk as only the modern incarnation of an ancient evil entity that has been around since the dawn of humanity, who became one with Farouk when he grew older.
158-595: The Shadow King has appeared in various adaptations of X-Men stories. The character's live-action debut is as the primary antagonist in the television series Legion , portrayed by Aubrey Plaza and Navid Negahban . Created by writer Chris Claremont and illustrator/co-writer John Byrne , the character the Shadow King first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #117 (January 1979) as the telepathic mutant Amahl Farouk. X-Treme X-Men and X-Men: True Friends reveal
316-513: A universe parallel to the X-Men films where "the US government is in the early days of being aware that something called mutants exist but the public is not". He felt it was unlikely that characters would cross over between the show and films, but noted that this could change between then and the premiere of the series. That July, an article on Marvel.com referred to Legion as one of several characters joining
474-420: A 90% approval rating for the first season, with an average rating of 8.45/10 based on 239 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Bold, intelligent, and visually arresting, Legion is a masterfully surreal and brilliantly daring departure from traditional superhero conceits." Metacritic , which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 82 out of 100 based on 40 reviews for the season, indicating what
632-636: A case at the Old Bailey made it clear that this was supposed to prevent people who had been robbed while they were drunk from prosecuting the defendant (in most of the cases that meant men who had been robbed by prostitutes): The victims of pickpockets who were drunk at the time of the theft were considered to be partially responsible for being robbed. Even though pickpockets were supposed to be hanged for their crime, this punishment, in fact, rarely happened: 61% of women accused of picking pockets were acquitted and those who were not acquitted often managed to escape
790-504: A chance to redeem himself, but he opted for the void and Legion was left in a coma. After the Onslaught incident in which Charles Xavier lost his powers, the Shadow King could return to the physical world since the psionic plane had lost its guardian. Posing as "Ananasi", the Shadow King took over the African tribe who worshiped Storm. After attacking one of her relatives, Psylocke took Storm to
948-482: A mental facility, his father locating and meeting Farouk, and how Farouk got into him in the first place, though this does bring both sides into conflict with the Time Eaters. After completing work on the first season of Fargo at FX in 2014, Noah Hawley was presented with the opportunity to develop the first live-action television series based on the X-Men comics, of which he was a fan when growing up. Hawley
1106-519: A pickpocket finds a person they want to steal from, often called a "mark" or a victim, the pickpocket will then create or look for an opportunity to steal. The most common methods used by modern-day pickpockets are: Famous fictional pickpockets include the Artful Dodger and Fagin , characters from the Charles Dickens ' 1838 novel Oliver Twist . Famous true-life historical pickpockets include
1264-467: A piece of clothing, and not "as opposed to pouches or bags hanging outside their clothes". These external pockets were still in fashion until the mid-19th century. Pickpocketing in the 18th century was committed by both men and women (looking at prosecuted cases of pickpocketing, it appears that there were more female defendants than male.) Along with shoplifting , pickpocketing was the only type of crime committed by more women than men. It seems that in
1422-558: A place as strong as David's character is and you have a storyteller like Noah, then it's Marvel. In that way, it is all connected." Set designer Michael Wylie had tried to put Roxxon Corporation and Stark Industries logos as Easter eggs in Legion but was not allowed to since Legion existed in a separate universe than Marvel Television's MCU-related series. Loeb and Donner stated in January 2017 that there were no plans to have Legion be
1580-420: A place for his cult as David gets a time-traveling mutant named Switch on his side. He plans to improve Switch's powers in order to protect the world. David kidnaps Cary Loudermilk to help him amplify Switch's powers. David then uses Switch to go back to when he was a child and witnesses various parts of his parents' past including his father Charles Xavier going to war and meeting his mother Gabrielle Haller at
1738-510: A present-day Xavier had been "seriously considered" by showrunner Noah Hawley , he elected the older character's presence to be unnecessary upon deciding to have the season revolve around time travel , casting Lloyd instead after finding James McAvoy to be unavailable for filming. Legion aired on FX in the United States, and on Fox channels in over 125 other countries, releasing using a "day-and-date" delivery system so that viewers around
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#17328547180821896-415: A score of 85 out of 100 based on 10 reviews for the season, indicating "universal acclaim". David Fear from Rolling Stone called Legion "the most mindblowing show on TV right now." He wrote that the show as a whole "keeps pushing the boundaries of the genre - then obliterates them entirely." Fear has heavy praise for season 2's uniqueness, and specifically praises a key scene in the first episode where
2054-457: A seed pod-type bomb that is vulnerable to psychic attacks, and it's revealed that Amahl and the Shadow King are actually two different individuals. Having been born in Egypt Eyalet, to a merchant trader, during the sixteenth century, Amahl Farouk is a mutant whose psychic powers emerged at a young age. Amahl then used them to protect the market from thieves, until tragedy would eventually arrive to
2212-576: A slightly different way and even with a slightly different tone" from the films, noting the differences in tone between the "operatic" X-Men films and the "irreverent and hysterical" Deadpool , and feeling that Legion gives "us an opportunity to go even further ... in some ways to sort of blow up the paradigm of comic book or superhero stories and almost do our Breaking Bad of superhero stories." Loeb noted that "the core" of all X-Men comic books has always been that "the X-Men were different ... We live in
2370-557: A spell which would annihilate the British monarchy, he was interrupted by Kitty and his crystal knife shattered. The demons entered Farouk's body, overpowering him. He began dispersing energy, killing all the Nazi soldiers; von Strucker accused him of treason and tried to shoot him. Farouk transformed into the Shadow King and tried to force Pryde and Kinross to fight, but they were saved by the young Logan . Phoenix unleashed her power on Farouk, but she
2528-403: A telepathic mutant second only to Professor X, the Shadow King is truly a multi-universal ethereal entity extending into each reality as a tendril of its larger self. It was spawned by the first nightmare, and preys on the bodies of powerful psychics. He uses captive psychics to enslave others, while feeding off their negative energy. He causes the captives to slowly merge with his own essence. In
2686-412: A total and utter sense of bliss. It's familiar, riddled with pastiche and shout-outs, and totally sui generis. It is, in a way, exactly how I feel about Legion as a whole." Allison Shoemaker from Consequence has a less positive review of the show. Shoemaker wrote that season 2 "looks great and not much else" and that it "ends on a note that's hollow and hard to accept." Shoemaker also criticizes
2844-435: A unique approach to the superhero genre. David Haller was diagnosed with schizophrenia at a young age and has been a patient in various psychiatric hospitals since the diagnosis. He was committed to the latest facility by his adoptive sister, Amy Haller. After Haller has an encounter with fellow patient Syd Barrett, he is confronted with the possibility that there may be more to him than mental illness where an incident led to
3002-506: A victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time. It may involve considerable dexterity and a knack for misdirection . A thief who works in this manner is known as a pickpocket . Pickpockets and other thieves, especially those working in teams, sometimes apply distraction , such as asking a question or bumping into the victim. These distractions sometimes require sleight of hand, speed, misdirection and other types of skills. Pickpockets may be found in any crowded place around
3160-464: A web in order to escape the Astral Plane and the first one was Psylocke, who fell prey to him and would have released him if not for the intervention of Rogue, Old Man Logan, Warren, Bishop, Gambit and Fantomex. Knowing now that others psychics can fall prey too, Psylocke sends to the Astral Plane her teammates in order to defeat the Shadow King, unaware that he had changed, now half-human half-spider and
3318-428: A weighted average, assigned a score of 72 out of 100 based on 6 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Tim Goodman from The Hollywood Reporter called the third season "weirdly told and wonderfully acted" but also cautioned viewers to not "get hung up on the plot." He gives this warning because he believes that viewers tend to get disappointed when TV shows do not line up with their exact expectations for
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#17328547180823476-402: A world right now where diversity and uniqueness and whether or not we fit in is something that's on our minds twenty-four hours a day." Hawley added, "The great thing about exploring this character is before he has an opinion about anyone else, he has to figure out his own shit. That's what we all have to do. This journey isn't necessarily racing toward a battle with an entity, so much as embracing
3634-524: Is an American superhero television series created by Noah Hawley for FX , based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name . It was produced by FX Productions in association with Marvel Television , and ran for three seasons from 2017 to 2019, with Hawley serving as showrunner . Dan Stevens starred as David Haller, a " mutant " diagnosed with schizophrenia at a young age. The series follows Haller as he tries to control his mutant powers and
3792-417: Is an ongoing, complex, and dynamic process—that made Legion ' s first season so strong", and hoped that it would be continued in the second season of the series. Tony Stallings from Hollywood Insider also discussed Legion's take on mental illness and mental health problems. He wrote that the show "is the first of its kind, as no other series in its genre has addressed the issue of mental health within
3950-413: Is connected to the 1996 film of the same name, at first "had to stand on its own feet" before exploring those connections more; "We have to earn the right to be part of this universe. My hope is we create something so strong that the people in the movie studio call and say they would be foolish enough not to connect these things." He did state that "you can't tell this story without" acknowledging that Legion
4108-412: Is for David to get the treatment he needs to keep everyone around him safe." In his opinion, the show's best take on mental health is that it shows that "treatment itself is more than just medicine or pills. The most important treatment is support." Dan Stevens expressed his interest in reprising his role as David Haller / Legion in future Marvel Cinematic Universe projects at CinemaCon in 2024. For
4266-403: Is getting nursed back to heath, Maester talks with some people he works for that he is one of the chosen and is a true homo superior. While recuperating, Kageyama encounters Akihiro who asks Kageyama if they are close to God. When asking Kageyama to put him out of his misery, Kageyama tells Akihiro that he is a fool to think that the world is ending. In Marvel's 2015 Secret Wars storyline,
4424-584: Is known is that he was living in Morocco until the 1800s before taking Farouk as a host. He claims to be a multiversal manifestation of the dark side of the human consciousnesses, spawned by the first nightmare, and has since been feeding on the shadows in their souls, transferring from host to host since the dawn of humanity. The Shadow King was known as Amahl Farouk in 1931, working for two of Adolf Hitler 's special agents ( Wolfgang von Strucker and Geist ). Von Strucker and Geist planned to dethrone King Edward of
4582-481: Is resurrected, and confronted by the senior New Mutants, Farouk draws them and Gabrielle's clique into the astral plane. The young mutants confront the Shadow King, encouraging Farouk to dissolve his connection with him, restoring his human mind and personality. Scarred by his connection with the Shadow King, Farouk leaves Krakoa, with the endorsement of the New Mutants, to undergo rehabilitation. Originally presented as
4740-402: Is striking, and Hawley's direction even more so: The pilot is rife with elaborately choreographed shots in which not a detail is out of place. It's truly cinematic stuff that deserves to be taken in on the biggest screen possible." However, he critiques the show for not being able to stick to one main message and having messily delivered themes, which makes the overall story weaker. He wrote that
4898-476: Is the son of Charles Xavier . In regards to the MCU, Loeb stated that his involvement in the series was a sign that "bridges are being made" between Marvel and Fox, "but I don't want to make any promises ... Marvel heroes at their core are people who are damaged and are trying to figure out who they are in life. It doesn't matter whether or not they're X-Men, Tony Stark , Matt Murdock or Peter Parker ... If you start at
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5056-468: Is to do something whimsical and imaginative and unexpected. Not just because I want to do something different, but because it feels like the right way to tell this story." Elaborating on structuring the series to reflect Haller's point of view, Hawley said, "I love the idea that even when you're in it on the journey, there is this Alice in Wonderland quality to it, of a story within a story ." Discussing
5214-415: Is top-tier TV, right off the bat." His final grade of the first season was an A. A 91% approval rating for the second season was reported by Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 7.75/10 based on 160 reviews, and a critical consensus reading, " Legion returns with a smart, strange second season that settles into a straighter narrative without sacrificing its unique sensibilities." Metacritic assigned
5372-486: Is waiting for them. He also reveals that he has imprisoned in his realm the astral form of Professor Xavier. As they arrive, they quickly fall into the Shadow King's illusions and if they don't break it their bodies and souls will fall under his control. Old Man Logan suddenly remembers everything and helps the other X-Men realize that the Shadow King is affecting their memories. As the room they are in transforms, they see three doors in front of them. Logan mentions that while
5530-582: The Age of Apocalypse storyline, the Shadow King story is essentially unchanged. He assumes the guise of crime lord Amahl Farouk and encounters Charles Xavier; they wage a psychic battle on the astral plane which kills Farouk's body, forcing his mind to move there. When Xavier died, the Shadow King became an agent of Apocalypse and appeared as a cloudy face in a bottle in his sanctum. Apocalypse used him to hunt down resisting mutants with powerful psionic powers, and train those that do agree to come aboard. The Shadow King
5688-698: The Ultimate X-Men series, Ultimate Amahl Farouk appeared as Storm 's lover and the leader of the group of thieves to which she and Lady Deathstrike belonged. After Storm discovered her powers, she sent him into a coma after accidentally electrocuting him. His mind went to another dimension, where he encountered the Brood and others and became the Shadow King. After returning in the present-day, he subtly manipulated Storm's dreams, causing Ororo to write down her inflicted visions in an online play called "The Shadow King". Soon, Farouk took direct action, dragging Ororo into
5846-529: The 1992 X-Men animated series was adapted into a limited series where this reality was made into the Battleworld domain of Westchester. In the series, Cassandra Nova runs a rehabilitation center for former villains, but is secretly possessed by the Shadow King. He planned on killing the Battlezone's baron, Senator Kelly , but is stopped when X-Force rescues the X-Men. Legion (TV series) Legion
6004-540: The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), suggesting that Legion would be set in that shared universe like Marvel Television's other series. The next month, Singer said that Legion had actually been designed to fit into the X-Men universe, but also to stand alone, so "you wouldn't have to label" the relationship between the series and the films. He teased plans to have the series "relate to future X-Men movies". At New York Comic Con 2016, Donner said that
6162-464: The Old Bailey between 1780 and 1808 show that male pickpockets were somewhat younger than female ones: 72% of men pickpockets convicted at the time were aged from under 20 to 30, while 72% of women convicted of picking pockets were aged between 20 and 40. One reason that may explain why women pickpockets were older is that most of women pickpockets were prostitutes (this explains why very few women under 20 years old were convicted for picking pockets). At
6320-550: The X-Men franchise— Jason Stryker in X2 , Jean Grey in X-Men: The Last Stand , and Charles Xavier in Logan —were all treated with drugs, and praised the alternative therapy explored in the series, as well as the fact that the removal of the Shadow King from Haller's mind was not an excuse to ignore the mental illness issues moving forward. He concluded, "It's that idea—that healing
6478-601: The X-Men . His psyche still on the Astral plane, Farouk awaited another chance to fight Xavier (whom he now feared). The Shadow King became aware of a young mutant, Karma , a member of the New Mutants with the psychic ability to possess other beings. In one of the team's earliest missions, Karma was apparently killed in an explosion at the Viper's hideout. However, the Shadow King used Karma's powers against her to possess her. As Karma,
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6636-494: The second season , Haller returns after a year spent trapped in a mysterious orb. In his absence, his Summerland allies have joined forces with Division 3 to stop Farouk's plan to find his real body and amass world-ending power. Farouk uses Oliver Bird and a device stolen from Division 3 to enable Lenny to be reborn in Amy's body. In the third season , due to Shadow King's evidence, David flees from Division 3 with Lenny where they set up
6794-408: The second season , see "Legion: Season Two Ratings" . TV Series Finale . June 13, 2018 . Retrieved December 1, 2021 . For the third season , see "Legion: Season Three Ratings" . TV Series Finale . August 13, 2019 . Retrieved December 1, 2021 . Pickpocketing Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or
6952-890: The third season . FX and Marvel Television announced a new collaboration to create a television series based on the Marvel Comics character Legion in October 2015, with Hawley signed on to write and direct the pilot. He wanted to show Haller as an " unreliable narrator ", including mixing 1960s design with modern-day elements, and filming the series through the title character's distorted view of reality. The eight-episode first season of Legion aired from February to March 2017. An eleven-episode second season aired from April to June 2018. The eight-episode third and final season premiered on June 24, 2019. A total of 27 episodes aired over three seasons. All three seasons received critical acclaim for their distinct narrative structure and visual style, as
7110-451: The "otherworldly" elements of the series. With the series' premiere, Russo reiterated that the "through-line" of the series is the relationship between Haller and Barrett, and said that a love story "lends itself to musical moments. It allows it to underscore the character." After his early meetings with Hawley, Russo developed some initial ideas for the score, and created three different themes to represent Haller. He adapted these ideas to fit
7268-411: The 17th century, pickpockets were sometimes referred to as "cut-purses", as can be seen in some 17th century ballads. At that time, pockets were not yet sewn to clothes, as they are today. This means that the pockets were a small purse that people wore close to their body. This was especially true for women, since men's pockets were sewn "into the linings of their coats". Women's pockets were worn beneath
7426-413: The 18th century, most pickpockets stole out of economic needs: they were often poor and did not have any economic support, and unemployment was "the single most important cause of poverty", leading the most needy ones to pick pockets. In most cases, pickpockets operated depending on the opportunities they got: if they saw someone wearing a silver watch or with a handkerchief bulging out of their pocket,
7584-518: The 1950s. For 60 years he was billed as "the King of Pickpockets" and encouraged his son, Charly, to follow in his cunning trade, his offspring being billed as "the Prince of Pickpockets". Henri Kassagi , a French-Tunisian illusionist, acted as technical advisor on Robert Bresson 's 1959 film Pickpocket and appeared as instructor and accomplice to the main character. British entertainer James Freedman created
7742-448: The Death persona with a little push from each of Logan's closest friends, but Archangel experienced a metamorphosis of his own from his close contact to Apocalypse 's handiwork. The Shadow King eventually managed to convince Psylocke to release him in order to help Archangel but before she reaches him, Archangel himself mysteriously appears on her mind and stop her from setting him free, sending
7900-569: The Eurasian High Council's radioactive bombs. After Weapon X betrayed the X-Men and become the heir of Apocalypse, the Shadow King became his agent and chief telepath, though there are some hierarchy issues between him and Weapon X. In an alternate universe, the Shadow King conquered the Hellfire Club . In the Mutant X dimension, he merged with Professor Xavier to form an evil being. In
8058-641: The Everlasting. Farouk gave Watkins the name of Marduk. Farouk became a crime lord in Egypt, controlling Cairo 's Thieves Quarter, where a young Charles Xavier 's pocket was picked by the child Ororo Munroe . After Xavier stopped her and retrieved his wallet, he was struck by a bolt of psionic energy. When he recovered, he discovered that the source of the attack was a nearby tavern, where he met Farouk. Sitting at separate tables, they conversed telepathically. Farouk told Xavier that he sensed another telepath nearby, and
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#17328547180828216-569: The Gladiators, Cannonball and Shadowcat recognized their obese antagonist as Karma (not realizing that she was controlled by the Shadow King). The team followed Karma to Madripoor , where they were subjected to Karma's mind control , except for Magik and Mirage . The remaining New Mutants and Storm fought their teammates in Cairo, where Karma took control of Storm and Mirage. Magik, realizing that Karma
8374-786: The Irish prostitute Chicago May , who was profiled in books; Mary Frith , nicknamed Moll Cutpurse; the Gubbins band of highwaymen; and Cutting Ball , a notorious Elizabethan thief. George Barrington 's escapades, arrests, and trials, were widely chronicled in the late 18th-century London press . The 17th and 18th centuries saw a significant number of men and women pickpockets, operating in public and/or private places and stealing different types of items. Some of those pickpockets were caught and prosecuted for their theft, however, in most cases, they managed to avoid punishment (whether they were skilful enough not to get caught or they were acquitted in court). In
8532-519: The Nanny and woke up with amnesia. On Muir Island , he also controlled Moira MacTaggert and Valerie Cooper , after which he sent Cooper to kill Mystique . Shadow King attacked and possessed the telepath Legion and used Cerebro to look for Storm. The Shadow King set a trap to capture Storm. When he tried to possess her mind she involuntarily hit him with a lightning bolt, and he soon found her with Gambit . They worked together to fight him, escaping with
8690-555: The Pirates and the X-Men, who were controlled by the Shadow King. He was defeated when Bess and Psylocke threw off his mind control and sent Nightcrawler against him armed with Psylocke's psi-blade, which stunned him long enough to be interred again in Omega Black's body. The Shadow King has since been revealed to be imprisoned in the Astral Plane, but still trying to force his way out to the physical world. He began targeting psychics to build
8848-537: The Psionic Plane, exposed as his body unravels to reach every mind. Psylocke uses her shadows to contain the nexus and the Shadow King is trapped, but only as long as Psylocke focuses her telepathy on him, which means she can never use her powers again or else he will be set free. Psylocke leaves the Psionic Plane for the last time and reveals what happened to Storm. Sometime later the Shadow King reached Psylocke's mind when she's forced to use Cerebro to cleansed Logan of
9006-490: The Shadow King back to his prison when Psylocke disconnected herself from Cerebro. The Shadow King was eventually released from his prison when Psylocke perished in combat with the mutant hunter, Vargas. Once again free, he possessed the Reavers and attempted to attack the X-Men. However, Rogue used her acquired memories as well as Sage's computer like mind and attacked the Shadow King, binding his core as Psylocke had done. Due to
9164-448: The Shadow King controlled the base. He told Psylocke that her mind is an open book to him, and releases Archangel from his psychic prison in Warren's memory in revenge; Archangel cuts off the Shadow King's "head", erasing Betsy's memory and enabling her to kill the man who was under the Shadow King's influence. The Shadow King gave a reporter photographs of Warren killing the military, forcing
9322-451: The Shadow King defeated the X-Men, X managed to recover and worked together with Psylocke to create a deeper psychic network to defeated him once and for all. X erased the memories of all of the X-Men involved in his return save for Psylocke so she could watch over him in case the Shadow King wasn't truly gone from his mind. During the " Empyre " storyline, Amahl Farouk is among the psychic mutants that are summoned to Genosha to help deal with
9480-435: The Shadow King from his mind. Finally, the Shadow King followed Nightcrawler to the sanctuary of Avalon by hiding in the mind of Dead Man Wade . There he took control of the minds of the many of Avalon's mutant and human refugees, causing great carnage. Nightcrawler, with the assistance of the psychic and Shadow King's former student Damask , the time-stopping Switchback and Mystique , was able to physically teleport into
9638-697: The Shadow King in Omega White's body and entrusted it to her brother, Captain Britain. Apparently Brian or someone at his command had sealed the Shadow King's host body in a tomb in the Gobi Desert where it was eventually found in stasis erroneously trapped inside Omega Black's body by the Crimson Pirates and unwittingly released by their telepath, Bloody Bess. He possessed the Pirates except for Bess, who appealed to Nightcrawler for help. Nightcrawler and Bess fought
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#17328547180829796-419: The Shadow King is controlling things there are two minds involved in whatever they are in, which is how he figured out the play was fake. In the battle's final moments, Shadow King spread a psychic infection on London before the X-Men ultimately defeated him with Fantomex donating his body to Professor X's astral form while his mind remained in the Astral Plane. Professor Xavier now using the alias of X, controlled
9954-437: The Shadow King overrode Cerebro's defenses and noticed that Jean had lost her telepathic powers and was helpless. He tried to turn her into his Shadow Queen, but Psylocke , unaware of who he was, threatened him with her psi-blade but ended using it on Jean instead, returning her to the physical world; however, they could not remember the details of the encounter and his identity was not yet compromised. His control over Muir Island
10112-439: The Shadow King rebuilt his worldwide empire while indulging his gluttony through her body. He used her to control the Gladiators, a group of mutants, by using a holographic image of leader Alexander Flynn. The Shadow King used the Gladiators to abduct Magma and Sunspot , forcing them to fight in an arena until teammates Cannonball and Magik , along with Shadowcat and Dazzler , tried to rescue them. In their battle to escape
10270-414: The Shadow King to be an entity of the astral plane which has existed since the dawn of humanity, an ethereal demon preferring to enslave the bodies of telepaths and psychics and use their capabilities to enslave others. As a side effect of its greed, hedonism and lack of self-control, the Shadow King's long-term telepathic hosts are often morbidly obese. The Shadow King's origins are unclear. All that
10428-480: The Shadow King to bring himself and his team to Earth-616 in order to gain revenge on those who had crossed him. He tried to kill Captain Britain with the controlled New Excalibur , but was again defeated by Psylocke (who was revived by her brother, Jamie Braddock ). The Dark X-Men tried to free Xavier from his prison with the help of Lionheart . Lionheart sealed the Shadow King in the Dark Xavier's body, releasing
10586-436: The Shadow King's astral form. Farouk's plan to cut Storm off from her relationships instead strengthened them. The Shadow King's nexus survived however and when he recuperated he took over a military base's nuclear facility to use its missiles, aiming them at Utopia and New York. The X-Force headed to the military base after losing contact with Deadpool (who was investigating the psychic emanations felt by Betsy), learning that
10744-464: The Shadow King's hounds in pursuit. Mystique defeated Valerie Cooper and impersonated her, appearing on television to report Mystique's death. Part of Carol Danvers separated from Rogue and traveled to Muir Island, where she was forced to fight Legion and Moira MacTaggert. Although she defeated them, she was possessed by the Shadow King. He compelled her to go to the Savage Land to find Rogue, but she
10902-448: The Shadow King, awaits them to listening intently to the young X-Men and doubtlessly planning something sinister for the youngest mutants. In time, the Shadow King sets his plans in motion and begins seducing several young mutants who are unsure of themselves, including Gabrielle Kinney and Rahne Sinclair . However, Gabrielle begins to suspect Farouk and is subsequently killed by Rahne, whom he had placed under his mind control. Gabrielle
11060-466: The Shadow Queen to distract him while Storm freed the other X-Men. However Farouk saw through the ruse; Psylocke sent the X-Men to the physical world and takes the fight directly to the Shadow King, who stretches his powers to the maximum to infect every mind on Earth. Psylocke is intoxicated by the power, but keeps her focus and discovers that the Shadow King has left his nexus, the soul of every person on
11218-516: The Shadow-X from his control and killed Dark Xavier therefore sending the Shadow King back to the Astral plane. The Shadow King reappeared in Wakanda , where he killed a Wakandan priest and framed former New X-Men member Gentle . He then controlled Black Panther to confront his longtime enemy (and T'Challa's wife) Storm. The Shadow King intended to break Storm psychologically, forcing her to choose between
11376-418: The U.K. and replace him with a fascist ruler sympathetic to Hitler. When Farouk conducted a mystical ceremony, he accidentally brought back Phoenix Force host Rachel Summers and her teammate Shadowcat (also known as Kitty Pryde). Von Strucker began to doubt Farouk's abilities. The Shadow King quickly possessed Rachel Summers and, as Shadowcat escaped, allied herself with Alasdhair Kinross. Farouk kidnapped
11534-458: The U.S, all 3 seasons of Legion are available to stream on Disney+ and can be found in the Star or Marvel hubs. Writing for Screen Rant, J.M. Brandt noted that FX extensively advertised the series, but was debuting the 90 minute (with commercials) premiere at 10:00 pm on a Wednesday night, later than other genre "monster hits" like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead . Brandt felt that
11692-563: The X-Men and her husband. He forced Cyclops to attack Emma Frost and the rest of the X-Men in California and forced the Black Panther to wreak havoc in Africa. While Storm raced to save the Black Panther and the X-Men, she recognized a third option: to take down the one responsible for making her choose. Storm defeated the Black Panther and flew with Gentle to San Francisco, taking down Gentle and
11850-879: The X-Men with the Brood was also revealed to be a ruse on Farouk's part, to trick Ororo into killing him. During the " Ultimate Invasion " storyline, Maker traveled to Earth-6160 and remade it into his own image. The Shadow King is a form of Shinobu Kageyama who had a dark aura that was exploited by the Children of the Atom enabling him to create shadows and visions. He has menaced Hisako Ichiki ever since giving her an onomori charm. When his shadowy form confront Hisako Ichiki, Mei Igarashi, and Nico Minoru , he can feel his shadow being grabbed by Hisako's powered up form. After Nico makes Kageyama's shadow disappear, Kageyama suffers some head pains as his mother plans to take him to see Maester. As Kageyama
12008-461: The X-Men. Xavier then used Jean as a psi-anchor to fight the Shadow King in the astral plane, but he was defeated; reveling in making Xavier suffer, he issued psychic attacks so intense that they manifested as physical damage, breaking Xavier's legs and crippling him in the process. Archangel , Colossus , Cyclops , and Storm joined Jean in the astral plane to help Xavier, unaware of Legion's body nearby. Although they gave Xavier willpower and energy,
12166-411: The astral plane after a tiring battle and confronting her about her past. Once he revealed the circumstances of his transformation into the Shadow King, he attacked the X-Men with his Brood army; however, Storm's willingness to let go of the past allowed her to once again attack Farouk, but intentionally, and his form disappeared from the plane, implying that he had died in the physical realm. His attack on
12324-469: The astral plane and defeat the Shadow King. The casualties caused by the Shadow King's attack were enough to convince Destiny to accompany Nightcrawler and the X-Men on a mission to Apocalypse's stronghold; Following his defeat on Avalon, the Shadow King was next seen reporting to Apocalypse about Domino's failure to capture Nate Grey and inform Apocalypse about the destruction of the Southwest Kingdom by
12482-468: The astral plane to fight "Ananasi" only to find the villagers’ minds set up in a distinct pattern. Before they can discern the reasoning, "Ananasi" attacks Psylocke and brings up her past failures and how she was always considered a redundant Jean Grey-wannabe. Ainet finds Storm and tells her the truth, but "Ananasi" buries Storm under bones of her dead friends before she can tell Psylocke the truth. Psylocke falls into Ananasi’s trap and accidentally hits one of
12640-539: The astral plane. Phoenix was going to kill him when Pryde struck them with the Sword of Scones, causing them to return to their bodies; Farouk's body was supposedly destroyed by an energy blast from the sword but later when questioned by Rachel if they had killed Farouk, Pryde reveals that they had for the moment only weakened him. In 1971, Farouk returned and met V-Battalion leader James Watkins Jr. Watkins offered him V-Battalion support if Farouk could obtain information about
12798-407: The attack was a warning to stay clear of the area. He unsuccessfully tried to persuade Xavier to join him in his criminal activities; Xavier believed that people with such gifts should use them to better the world. They assumed astral form, and Xavier defeated Farouk on the astral plane with a fatal psionic attack. Farouk was Xavier's first encounter with an evil mutant, which led to the formation of
12956-610: The authority of an adult who trained them to steal. The children involved in these gangs were orphans (either because of having been abandoned or because their parents had died), and the whole relationship they had with the adult ruling the gang and the other children was that of a "surrogate family". Charles Dickens ' Oliver Twist provides a good example of how orphans were recruited and turned into street criminals. Male and female pickpockets tended to operate in different locations: 80% of men operated in public areas while 78% of women operated in private places. This can be explained by
13114-433: The battle within." In May 2016, Hawley described his take on the series as being inspired by the works of David Lynch , and said that "the structure of a story should reflect the content of the story. If the story, as in this case, is about a guy who is either schizophrenic or he has these abilities, i.e., he doesn't know what's real and what's not real, then the audience should have the same experience ... my goal with this
13272-432: The boy a chance to never be alone again. From that moment on, Amahl was immersed in darkness as he joined with the Shadow King. Also while Amahl Farouk himself has already been seen on Krakoa, it wasn't clear if the Shadow King was still a part of the mutant's life, until a group of young mutants finishes their training and head for the caves on Krakoa, far from their instructors. There, Amahl Farouk, clearly still possessed by
13430-472: The capital sentence, as only 6% of defendants accused of pickpocketing between 1780 and 1808 were hanged. In the cases of prostitutes being accused of having pickpocketed male prosecutors, the jury's verdict was very often more favourable to the woman defendant than to the man prosecuting her. Men who had been laying with prostitutes were frowned upon by the court. One of the reasons was that they had chosen to take off their clothes, they were also drunk most of
13588-424: The character development of some of the side characters, and thought that they were very underdeveloped. She wrote "when you fall in love with a show, you sometimes make excuses for awhile and hope it gets its shit together. 'Well, Lenny is fascinating,' you say, justifying the paper-thin characterizations (and not just of women; Ptonomy, Oliver, and Clark are also all underdeveloped.)." Shoemaker's overall verdict of
13746-421: The character interesting because of his mental illness, and for the potential of the series to depict his unique mindset. He pitched the series as "a deconstruction of a villain ... and a love story". In October 2015, FX ordered a pilot for Legion , with Marvel Television and FX Productions producing, with the latter handling the physical production. Hawley was set to write the pilot, and executive produce
13904-430: The character to the screen, and Hawley wanted the series to have "its own visual aesthetic to it, and part of that is being a story kind of out of time and out of place". He stated that "the design of a show has to have its own internal logic", and compared this sensibility to the series Hannibal , which he said was "a great example of something that had this almost fetishistic beauty to everything that you saw, whether it
14062-429: The comics, feeling that "you're bound to offend somebody, no matter what you do" in that situation. Instead, he wanted to take the character of Legion and basic set-up around him, and "play" with that, which he described in relation to Fargo —"my job was not to remake the movie , to sort of retell a story that had already been told, but to try to tell a different story with the same effect, the same impact." Concerning
14220-424: The death of his friend Lenore "Lenny" Busker. Hunted by the government agency Division 3 in the first season , Haller is saved by Syd and a group of mutants at a facility called Summerland, who explain that he is also a psychic mutant. Haller eventually discovers that his mind is infected by a parasitic mutant, another psychic named Amahl Farouk / Shadow King , and is able to force the villain from his mind. In
14378-512: The ease of defeating the warrior who caged him. Farouk was with the Brotherhood as they watched the apparent death of the X-Force. He, Creed and Daken showed Evan that his life was a computer-generated illusion and he was a clone of Apocalypse. The Brotherhood unsuccessfully planned to compel Evan to put on Apocalypse armor, make the Shadow King control him and destroy Jean Grey's school. Psylocke locked
14536-402: The easiest items to take from someone without them noticing it. Women tended to steal watches (some pickpockets also stole watches in public places, but it was more difficult) and bags with money in them. When defending themselves in court, prostitutes often argued that the money had been a gift from the victim and managed to be acquitted, as the men prosecuting them were often drunk at the time of
14694-786: The end of the 18th century, 76% of women defendants were prostitutes, and as a result, the victims of pickpockets were more often men than women. In most cases, these prostitutes would lay with men (who were frequently drunk), and take advantage of the situation to steal from these clients. Men who were robbed by prostitutes often chose not to prosecute the pickpockets, since they would have had to acknowledge their "immoral behaviour". The few men who decided to prosecute prostitutes for picking their pockets were often mocked in Court, and very few prostitutes ended up being declared fully guilty. The men who were prosecuted for picking pockets and who were under 20 years old were often children working in gangs, under
14852-424: The end of the first season, Hawley said, "I like this idea of having to face our demons", with the first season seeing Haller go through an internal struggle with the malevolent Shadow King occupying his mind, and then the second season seeing that character possess someone else "making it an exterior agent. And there's going to be something very complicated about going to war with himself. It's been with him since he
15010-426: The episodes once they had been edited. A soundtrack album for the first season was released digitally on February 24, 2017, on Amazon.com . In March 2017, FX ordered a second season of the series. With the end of the first season, Hawley said that the second season would consist of ten episodes, and explained that he was unsure at that time how long he would like the series to run: "I think there were things about
15168-472: The events of House of M, the Shadow King was released from his prison and was able to escape to an alternate reality, Earth-6141. Once there, he possessed their version of Professor X and then corrupted the original X-Men (whom he called the Dark X-Men ). He maintained constant telepathic contact and control over them and forced them to kill all the heroes of their world. The Scarlet Witch's Decimation Wave enabled
15326-429: The fact that most female pickpockets were prostitutes, robbing their victims in their lodging after having lain with them. Male pickpockets, on the other hand, tended to operate in public places because they did not have the opportunity that prostitutes had. The fact that men and women did not operate in the same places led to them stealing different types of items: men stole mostly handkerchiefs, because they were one of
15484-479: The film series. They settled on the version from X-Men: Apocalypse , with the prop used in that film being brought out of storage for the show. Prior to Harry Lloyd 's casting as a young Charles Xavier in the third season , in March 2017, Patrick Stewart was approached about reprising his role as Xavier from the film series, saying he was "Absolutely 100%" willing to reprise the role; while having Stewart return as
15642-431: The films. Therefore, "the cinematic universe will not worry about Legion . They will not worry about these TV worlds at all. They will just continue in the way that they have been continuing." For the onscreen confirmation that Xavier is Haller's father in " Chapter 7 ", with Xavier's signature wheelchair shown in a brief flashback, the series' production was able to choose from any of the variant wheelchairs used throughout
15800-480: The final season of the series, which he said had always been his intent. On May 2, 2019, FX said the final season would premiere on June 24, 2019. For the second season, the series relocated its production to California to take advantage of tax incentives provided by the California Film Commission under its "Program 2.0" initiative. Landgraf stated, in January 2016, that the series would be set in
15958-424: The first in a series of connected shows on FX, like Marvel Television's group of interconnected Defenders series on Netflix , and that Legion and the X-Men series being developed for Fox are "not going to get in each other's way." Donner stated that the series was just a chance to bring an X-Men character to the screen who was not going to be used by the films. The producers hoped that audiences would watch
16116-545: The first season as Oliver Bird, the husband of Melanie, and the "Interrogator" Clark Debussy, respectively. Season 3 added relative newcomer Lauren Tsai as Switch, "a young mutant whose secret ability serves as the key to executing David Haller's plan". She is loosely based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. In February, it was announced that the characters Gabrielle Haller and Charles Xavier would appear, played by Stephanie Corneliussen and Harry Lloyd , respectively; Prior to Lloyd's casting, Patrick Stewart
16274-404: The first season that [I felt] would unfold faster than they did, and things that I thought would take longer that I dealt with more quickly. I think by the end of the second year I'll have a better sense of how many more years there are to go." Singer was removed as an executive producer on the series in January 2018, and his name was removed from the credits of the series' episodes beginning with
16432-441: The heir to the throne, Lilibet , and fled to Edinburgh. When Shadowcat tried to reach Summers telepathically, she found Farouk in control. Pryde surprised Farouk by calling him "Shadow King", enabling her to escape. Farouk took control of Kinross and tried to kill them both, but Pryde used her phasing powers to disrupt Kinross's nervous system and knock him out. Although Farouk was going to sacrifice Kinross to demons in return for
16590-400: The increasing popularity of unreliable narrators in television, Hawley said that he wanted to avoid making the audience think that the series is a puzzle that needs to be solved by solving the mysteries for them upfront—"We're going to take a character out of confusion into clarity and an audience out of mystery into clarity." Hawley deliberately chose not to directly adapt any storylines from
16748-502: The lack of a better word. He eventually bids her farewell forever as he teleports away and Psylocke turns to stone and then falls apart. Yet the Crimson Dawn saves Psylocke once again and resurrects her, this time with an all black psi-form and the ability to command the shadows of the Psionic Plane, which allow her to go undetected by the Shadow King. She eventually confronts the Shadow King and pretends to be tempted by his offer to become
16906-453: The latter every time." His main thoughts on the first half of season 3 are that "Hawley is once again having a blast reimagining a Marvel superhero show and that "he is tripling down on the visual gymnastics and mind-altering aspects." In a less favorable review with a similar critique to Shoemaker's review of Season 2, David Sims from The Atlantic called the third season "visually dazzling, but little else." He writes that "The set design
17064-401: The links. Mystique revealed herself and shot Jacob Reisz in the head, destroying his brain and killing the Shadow King's human host. X-Factor discovered that his nexus was Polaris, but the Shadow King took possession of Legion. He ordered the slaves to hide underground because he was going to use Legion's power to destroy the surface of Muir Island. Jean Grey's telekinesis protected X-Factor and
17222-551: The makeup of a superhero show quite like it has before or since." He thought that the show's choice to connect "David's power with his mental instability raises the stakes" and that "it makes David as much of a danger to his friends as he is to his enemies despite noble intentions." Stallings thought that Hawley provided an accurate and closer look at mental illness with the show's writing and that "he demonstrates how severely it can impact people's lives by weaponizing David's disorder into potentially lethal powers and shows how important it
17380-402: The market in the form of a plague. The young Amahl sat with his dying father and tried to use his telepathic powers to prevent the inevitable, suggesting that his telepathic powers likely allowed him to "feel" his father's death as partly his own. With his father dead and the market gone, the young mutant had nothing to tether him to the city until he was approached by the Shadow King, who promised
17538-418: The mental illness aspects of the character, Hawley said, "It's a tragic condition that people have, and so I don't want to use it for entertainment purposes ... if we can ground that [aspect] for the audience, then the idea that he's fallen in love and that he's not ill, there's a hope to that that the audience is gonna grab onto." In January 2017, Hawley explained that he was willing to use different tropes from
17696-411: The next stop leaving the victim unable to figure out who robbed them and when. Pickpocketing skills are employed by some magicians as a form of entertainment, either by taking an item from a spectator or by returning it without them knowing they had lost it. Borra [ de ] , arguably the most famous stage pickpocket of all time, became the highest-paid European performer in circuses during
17854-461: The one that we really address in the first season." Also at that time, Singer explained the executive producers' roles in the series, saying that he, Donner, and Kinberg brought their experience from making the X-Men films, but their involvement generally consisted of giving small notes on scripts and early cuts of episodes. Kinberg teased in November 2015 that the series would tell "X-Men stories in
18012-519: The pickpocket sequences for the 2005 film Oliver Twist directed by Roman Polanski . American illusionist David Avadon featured pickpocketing as his trademark act for more than 30 years and promoted himself as "a daring pickpocket with dashing finesse" and "the country's premier exhibition pickpocket, one of the few masters in the world of this underground art." According to Thomas Blacke, an American illusionist who holds several world records, it has become more difficult nowadays to pickpocket both in
18170-441: The pickpockets took the item. This means that the theft was, in such cases, not premeditated. However, some pickpockets did work as a gang, in which cases they planned thefts, even though they could not be sure of what they would get ( Defoe 's Moll Flanders gives several examples of how pickpockets worked as a team or on their own, when the eponymous character becomes a thief out of need). The prosecutions against pickpockets at
18328-420: The plot and writes that "if you were expecting something predictable or literal, well, you weren't paying attention from the very first frame ." Goodman reviewed the first four episodes of the third season and wrote that he was "loving the direction the third and final season of Legion is going in because it has been less about Marvel and more about Hawley and, given the television track record of each, I'll take
18486-413: The possessed Legion destroyed a large swath of Muir island; upon awakening, Xavier acknowledges that his physical damage has returned him to a paraplegic state. Forge uses Psylocke's psi-blade on Polaris, breaking the Shadow King's link to the nexus, after which his energy dissipated overcoming the X-Men. Xavier and Jean tried to absorb whatever they could and shield the others. Xavier offered the Shadow King
18644-463: The psychic infection which was soon afterwards revealed to be actually Proteus which X unwittingly reconstituted back. X then convinced Psylocke to form a psychic network and draw its power to push back Proteus' influence, however the Shadow King had planted a portion of himself in Xavier's mind and took advantage of this strategy and accessed the network to escape from the Astral Plane through X's body. After
18802-528: The rest of the active X-Men (controlled by the Shadow King). She struck Cyclops (the Shadow King's host) with a bolt of lightning, stopping his heart and forcing the Shadow King to possess Storm. This was a trap; when he entered Storm's mind, the Shadow King found the panther god Bast waiting for him. Storm revealed that she allowed the Wakanda panther god to hide in her mind to avenge the Shadow King for violating T'Challa's mind. Bast essentially and literally devoured
18960-612: The rest of the first season were set to also film in Vancouver, with Craig Wrobleski also working as a cinematographer. Both Gonzales and Wrobleski previously worked with Hawley on Fargo . The pilot featured a large amount of in-camera effects, which Hawley admitted would be a challenge for the series' directors to maintain, given he had 21 days to film the pilot, but the subsequent episodes were only scheduled 8 days of filming each. Some of these shoots ultimately had to be extended to 10 or 11 days filming to meet Hawley's vision. Jeff Russo
19118-463: The season was that "There's so much mess and emptiness. Looks great. Less filling." She gave the finale a D+ grade and the overall season a C+. Rotten Tomatoes reported a 93% approval rating for the third season, with an average rating of 7.9/10 based on 71 reviews. and a critical consensus reading, "In its final season, Legion remains a singular piece of visually arresting, mind-bending television that never fails to surprise." Metacritic, which uses
19276-456: The second season, with Aselton making a guest appearance in the season before Amy's body is transformed into a new one for Busker. They are joined by Navid Negahban , cast as the true form of the Shadow King , a character that appeared in several different forms throughout the first season. Jemaine Clement and Hamish Linklater also star in the second season, after having guest roles during
19434-407: The second season, due to sexual abuse allegations against him being made. Hawley said that it had been Singer who had asked for his name to be removed, and that Singer had only had limited involvement with the series anyway; he had initially expressed interest in directing the pilot of the series, but had not been directly involved since Hawley took over. Also in January 2018, Hawley stated that he
19592-442: The series alongside X-Men film producers Lauren Shuler Donner , Bryan Singer , and Kinberg, Marvel Television executives Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory, and Hawley's Fargo collaborator John Cameron. Steve Blackman , Alan Fine , Stan Lee , Joe Quesada , and Karim Zreik also executive produce. Hawley's initial script for the series was described as "less fractured", "cohesive [and] much more regular." However, he quickly reconceived
19750-523: The series and decided "more Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , Terrence Malick , more whimsy, more impressionistic.". By January 2016, FX President John Landgraf was confident that the series would be picked up by the network, saying that "the vast majority of things that we pilot do go forward to series" and "the scripts [for Legion ] are extraordinary." That May, FX ordered an eight-episode first season of Legion . In June, Landgraf said that
19908-411: The series is "far from the X-Men movies, but still lives in that universe. The only way for X-Men to keep moving forward is to be original and to surprise. And this is a surprise. It is very, very different." Hawley explained that because the series is depicting the title character's "subjective reality", it would not have to address any connections to the films straight away, noting that Fargo , which
20066-417: The series' success would heavily depend on DVR viewing "to bolster what might be a likely smallish live audience". Following the series premiere, Legion ' s debut ratings were described as "OK, not great", in line with other cable series debuts, but lower than other high-profile FX debuts such as American Crime Story and Hawley's own Fargo . The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported
20224-443: The series, if successful, could run for as many seasons as Hawley feels it needs to tell the story. Discussing future seasons, Hawley said in January 2017 that he was open to continuing the story past the first season, but didn't want the audience to get to the end of the first run and have "no resolution of any kind at the end of it." Star Dan Stevens said, "I know for a fact that there are more issues that David has to deal with than
20382-404: The show "isn't sure if it wants to be a show about David's abilities, or about mental illness" and that "it tries so hard to dazzle that it forgets to tell a meaningful story." Discussing the series' exploration of mental illness, Charles Pulliam-Moore of io9 stated that schizophrenia is widely featured in popular culture and is generally misrepresented and noted that giving Haller schizophrenia
20540-433: The show because of its character-focus and the talents of Hawley and the cast, rather than to "see a Marvel franchise show." Donner also noted that having Hawley focus on Haller's perspective of reality rather than connections to the X-Men films allowed the series to avoid the convoluted continuity of the films, "because we play with so many different timelines, and we rebooted and not really rebooted and all that" throughout
20698-432: The sinister forces trying to control them while evading a government agency. Rachel Keller , Aubrey Plaza , Bill Irwin , Jeremie Harris , Amber Midthunder , and Jean Smart also starred, along with Katie Aselton during the first season . For the second season , Jemaine Clement and Hamish Linklater were promoted to main cast after having recurring roles and Navid Negahban joined the cast. Lauren Tsai joined for
20856-611: The squad to apprehend their teammate and seek help from Dark Beast . As Farouk, the Shadow King appeared as a member of Daken 's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (consisting of Sabretooth , Mystique , Skinless Man, the Blob from Earth-295 , and the Omega Clan ) in a plot to attack the X-Force . He created an illusion of the Professor and Angel to catch Psylocke off-guard, expressing disappointment at
21014-930: The streets and on the stage because the general population wears less, or lighter, clothing. In 2015 an artist hired a pickpocket to distribute sculptures at Frieze Art Fair in New York. Pickpocketing often requires different levels of skill, relying on a mixture of sleight of hand and misdirection. To get the proper misdirect or distraction, pickpockets will normally use the distracting environment that crowds offer or create situations using accomplices. Pickpocketing still thrives in Europe and other countries that are high in tourism. It's most common in areas with large crowds. Sometimes pickpockets put signs up that warn tourists to watch for pickpockets. This causes people to worry and quickly check if their valuables are still on them, thereby showing pickpockets exactly where their valuables are. Once
21172-420: The superhero genre in the series, such as superhero costumes with capes, if necessary, but did want to avoid "sending a message that all conflict can only be resolved through battle. There is a sense in a lot of these stories that everything always builds to a big fight ... I wanted to find a story that was just as exciting and interesting but doesn't send the message that in the end that 'might makes right'." At
21330-453: The theft and were not taken seriously by the court. In the eyes of British law, pickpocketing was considered a capital offence from 1565 on: this meant that it was punishable by hanging. However, for the crime to be considered as a capital offence, the stolen item had to be worth more than 12 pennies, otherwise it was considered to be petty larceny , which meant that the thief would not be hanged. The 18th century law also stated that only
21488-436: The thief could be prosecuted—any accomplice or receiver of the stolen item could not be found guilty of the crime: "This meant that, if two people were indicted together, and there was not clear proof as to which one made the final act of taking, neither should be found guilty". Moreover, in order to be able to prosecute someone for pickpocketing, the victim of the theft had to not be aware that they were being robbed. In 1782,
21646-422: The time, so they were considered responsible for being robbed. The other reason is that it was considered bad for a man to mix with a prostitute, which is why in many cases there was no prosecution: the victim was too ashamed of admitting that he had been with a prostitute. In those cases, since the jury was often inclined to despise the prosecutor and to side with the defendant, when they did not completely acquit
21804-508: The titular character Legion and his arch nemesis the Shadow King have a dance battle and relates it back to how he enjoys the show as a whole. He writes "Since Legion' s sophomore season started airing in April, I have watched this Bob-Fosse-meets-Maori-tribal-dance scene several dozen times. Every time I see it, I think: It makes no sense. It makes complete sense. It is self-indulgent, and utterly insane, and 19 different kinds of perfect. It inspires
21962-573: The villagers with her psi-blade. This caused a chain reaction that cripples the entire psionic plan itself, damaging the collective subconscious of every being on Earth (the basis of the psi-plane) as well as all psi-sensitive in the corporeal world. Humans experienced déjà vu , nightmares, migraines or nosebleeds, and those born with psionic, telepathic or intuitive abilities were maimed; Jean and Nate Grey , Cable , Emma Frost , Chamber and Bianca LaNiege were devastated. "Maddie" Pryor (Nate Grey's psionic construct from Madelyne Pryor's psionic remnants)
22120-515: The website considers to be "universal acclaim". Ben Travers from IndieWire called the first season "the most intricate, intimate superhero story to date." Travers praised the relatability and uniqueness of the show and how it never lost his interest. He wrote that "David's story is one quickly identifiable to anyone who's questioned themselves, and yet wholly unique to his one-of-a-kind point of view. The combination of character and presentation makes for constantly fascinating television." Travers
22278-408: The world get the series on the same day as the U.S.; Fox Networks Group's sales division handles distribution of the series to third parties. The first season was released on Blu-ray and DVD in region 1 on March 27, 2018, in region 2 on October 2, 2017, and in region 4 on November 22, 2017. The second season was released as a manufacture on demand DVD in region 1 on October 30, 2018. Outside
22436-407: The world. However, Barcelona and Rome have been noted as being particularly dangerous pickpocket havens. Thieves have been known to operate in high traffic areas such as mass transit stations, even boarding subway trains so they can use the distractions of crowds and sudden stop-and-go movements from the train to steal from others. As soon as the thieves have what they want, they simply get off at
22594-647: Was a baby, it's like a phantom limb now, it's part of him." Hawley said he preferred this idea of a villain "worthy of creating a whole story around", rather than a villain-of-the year. He was unsure at the time how long that storyline would continue throughout the show, but said "it's a fascinating setup to follow." In January 2016, Rachel Keller was cast as the female lead of the series, after her breakout role in Fargo . In early February, Stevens, Aubrey Plaza , and Jean Smart were cast as Haller, his friend Lenny Busker, and therapist Melanie Bird, respectively. Keller's role
22752-457: Was a change from the comics where the character had dissociative identity disorder . He felt that the series takes advantage of this change both to show "mind-bending, trippy moments meant to convey to viewers how fractured and disorienting David's perceptions of reality can be" and by having characters like Melanie Bird insist that Haller can improve with treatment and counselling. Pulliam-Moore explained that other telepaths with mental illnesses in
22910-457: Was approached about reprising his role as Xavier from the film series. Clement and Smart return as Oliver and Melanie Bird, respectively, as guest stars. Though he put little thought into the aesthetics of the series when writing the pilot, as a director Hawley wanted the series to be highly stylized, describing his vision for it as "a 1964 Terence Stamp movie". It was not feasible to literally translate Bill Sienkiewicz 's iconic artwork of
23068-410: Was defeated on arrival by Magneto . The Shadow King, with his ambitious schemes, was afraid of being identified by other telepaths. He needed a nexus between the astral and psionic planes to generate a disturbance which would affect other telepaths. Polaris ' powers had been recently altered by Zaladane , and he chose Polaris as his nexus. Jean Grey tried to access the astral plane with Cerebro, but
23226-482: Was especially impressed with the quality of Legion's set pieces and the performances of the main cast. He writes "the sets could be admired independent of the show if they didn't add so much to it, and the entire production raises its artistry to a level atypical of superhero stories (and at least on par with the best design on TV)" and "toss in dynamite performances (Jean Smart, we owe you a rave) matched by sizzling editing most Marvel movies would envy, and boom — 'Legion'
23384-467: Was food or violence." Hawley elaborated that the design choice of 60s British films came about because "this whole show is not the world, it's David's experience of the world. He's piecing his world together from nostalgia and memory and the world becomes that." Filming for the pilot took place in Vancouver , with Hawley directing and Dana Gonzales serving as cinematographer. With the series order,
23542-440: Was initially pitched two different ideas for the potential series, including an adaptation of the comics' Hellfire Club , but the ideas did not interest him. Instead, he worked with X-Men film series writer and producer Simon Kinberg to reverse-engineer an idea for the series. After discussing an "interesting show in this genre ... that isn't being done", the two settled on the character of David Haller / Legion . Hawley found
23700-532: Was obliterated, and Dr. Strange and Spider-Man were also affected while Psylocke is left as a discombobulated mess, as "Ananasi" reveals himself to be the Shadow King, now free of any opposition on the Psionic Plane. With the world's telepaths crippled, the Shadow King ascends to dominance and, one by one, begins to corrupt mankind. He explains to Psylocke that although he was defeated and thought dead by Charles Xavier at Muir Island, as long as one dark thought exists in man , he can live. He went into hibernation, for
23858-419: Was only uncovered when Professor X probed Colossus ' mind after the latter tried to kill him. The X-Men sent a task force which included Storm, Forge, Gambit, Banshee , Wolverine , and Jubilee to remove his influence. The Shadow King sent his slaves to defend the island, and they defeated the invaders. Xavier understood that he needed a human host and a nexus to continue his exploits, and planned to cut both
24016-410: Was planning for a third season of the series, and soon elaborated that the second season would clearly lead in to the third, and that "it's not a show where each year there's a new villain and the end of the table. It's a three or four or five act story where each season is another chapter in that story." In March 2018, he discussed the proposed acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney , saying that he
24174-437: Was possessed by the Shadow King, released her teammates from Karma's control and Karma from the Shadow King. After losing his host, the Shadow King transferred to Cypher . Karma challenges him to a psychic duel. She wins and Shadow King flees to the astral plane. The Shadow King resurfaced during the " Muir Island Saga " many years later in the body of deceased FBI agent Jacob Reisz when Storm had been sent back to childhood by
24332-485: Was revealed to be Syd Barrett. Later that month, Jeremie Harris was cast in the regular role of Ptonomy Wallace, and Amber Midthunder was cast as the savant Kerry Loudermilk. In March, Katie Aselton was cast as Haller's older sister Amy. With the full series order in May 2016, Bill Irwin was added to the cast, in the role of Cary Loudermilk. Stevens, Keller, Plaza, Irwin, Harris, Midthunder, and Smart returned for
24490-617: Was revealed to be composing the series' score in October 2016. Hawley stated that when first meeting with Russo about the series, he told the latter that he wanted the series to sound like Pink Floyd 's The Dark Side of the Moon , explaining "that album more than anything is really the soundscape of mental illness to some degree". Russo felt that "the important part is allowing the humanity of these characters to really shine through", and in addition to an orchestra he used "a bunch of old synthesizers" and "a lot of interesting sound design" to represent
24648-587: Was subdued and possessed. Lilibet escaped, fleeing to Holyrood House . Farouk possessed the house's servants and sent them and Phoenix in pursuit. Logan ambushed Farouk, von Strucker and Geist, but Farouk had Summers and the servants attack him. Farouk then possessed Pryde and Lilibet. Pryde began talking about the future and the fall of Hitler; Lilibet attacked Farouk, disabling him enough for Pryde to disrupt his nervous system (stunning them both and giving Summers time to regain control of herself). Farouk recovered and tried to retake his prisoners, but Phoenix fought on
24806-414: Was the first to sense the presence of Nate Grey , forcing Apocalypse to send Domino and her Bounty Hunters to capture or kill him. When Angel's assistant Karma was captured by Apocalypse's servants, the Shadow King psychically tortured her into revealing the location of Magneto's X-Men. He later attempted to read the mind of Bishop, but Bishop's memory of the original reality (Earth-616) was enough to expel
24964-493: Was unsure how it would affect the series and that he had not discussed the issue with either studio, but that he believed "as long as the show is making noise and is watched by people, I won't be worried that they're going to cancel Legion because it doesn't fit in with their larger brand." In June 2018, FX renewed Legion for a third season. In February 2019, Hawley said that the third season would premiere in June 2019, and would be
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