Sebastian Shaw's History
In 1944, Sebastian Shaw (under the alias Dr. Klaus Schmidt) was a scientist working for the Nazis. He was present at the Auschwitz concentration camp, where a young Erik Lehnsherr's mutant powers first manifested. Shaw attempted to get Erik to show his power by pretending to be his friend and giving him some chocolate. When Erik refused, Shaw urged him to move a coin that was on the table, but to no avail. He then threatened to shoot Erik's mother if he did not move the coin by the time he counted to three. When Erik failed to do so, Shaw killed his mother. This enraged him greatly, causing him to lash out with his powers, killing two guards and destroying the room, to the delight of Shaw. He then congratulated the traumatized young mutant, and promised to bring out his power using anger and rage.
During the 1950s, Shaw operated a small gambling establishment on Las Vegas strip called the "Hellfire Club", which served as a front for his ambitions for mutant superiority. Three years later, Sebastian is firmly established as the leader of the Hellfire Club, a group of mutants with aspirations of world domination. He was observed in Las Vegas by CIA agent Moira MacTaggert meeting with U.S. Army Colonel Hendry, where he threatens him into supporting the placement of American Jupiter missiles in Turkey, near the Russian border. When MacTaggert witnesses Shaw's henchmen Azazel and Riptide using their powers, she attempts to warn her superiors; but Shaw has Azazel teleport Hendry to a Joint Chiefs meeting where he voices his support of the plan.
Later, when Hendry came aboard Shaw's yacht to collect his payment, he attempts to have him killed. However, Hendry pulls out a grenade and threatens to blow them all up with him if they refuse to let him go. Shaw soon takes the grenade and pulls the pin himself with confidence, displaying his mutant power by absorbing the energy from the blast and killing Hendry himself by a single touch. That night, a now adult and vengeful Erik Lehnsherr, who had been hunting Shaw, sneaks aboard the yacht and attempts to murder the man who had tortured him, only to be overwhelmed by Emma Frost's telepathy. At the same time, the U.S. Coast Guard arrived along with MacTaggert and mutant telepath Charles Xavier to capture him. Emma used her powers to shield Shaw from him, and they all made their way to his submarine and narrowly escaped capture. On their way to meet with General Armivolkoff, Emma senses Xavier's enhanced telepathy (through use of Cerebro) and informs Shaw that he is recruiting his own team of mutants, consisting of Dr. Hank McCoy (Beast), Angel Salvadore (Angel), Sean Cassidy (Banshee), Alex Summers (Havok), Raven Darkholme (Mystique) and Armando Muñoz (Darwin). Shaw reveals a helmet he had built by the Russians that shields him from telepathic influence. He asks Emma if she can read his mind, but is shocked and says she can't. He then orders Frost to meet with the general in his place where he, Azazel and Riptide track Charles and his team to a secret CIA facility called Division X, where they proceed to kill everyone, leaving the young mutants as the only ones left. He then offers them a chance to join him in the upcoming war with humankind, an offer that only Angel accepts. When the others attempt to stop her, Darwin says he will join before he suddenly yells out to Havok. Havok shoots Shaw, but he absorbs his energy blast and kills Darwin with it.
Shaw proceeds to Russia, where he meets with Armivolkoff, as emma had attempted to do, during which she was captured by Lehnsherr and Xavier. He and the Hellfire Club force Armivolkoff to send Soviet missiles to Cuba. It is his plan to goad the U.S. and Soviet Union to use nuclear weapons against each other, which would cause WWIII and cripple human civilization, allowing mutants to rise up and rule. He accompanies the Russian fleet in his submarine to assure that the missiles reach their destination, but is tracked by Xavier and his team. Lehnsherr uses his powers to lift the submarine from the water before they both crash on a nearby beach. Shaw attempts to absorb the energy from the sub's nuclear reactor (becoming a human atom bomb) but is foiled by Lehnsherr. The two fight, Shaw then tells Erik that without him, he would never have unlocked his true power, adding up that mutants are the future. Erik then admits that Shaw was right. Suddenly Erik manages to remove his helmet, allowing Xavier to mentally freeze his body. Lehnsherr then takes Shaw's helmet for himself and says that Shaw was right about mutants being the future, however, he does not forgive him for killing his mother or even the other innocent lives. He then uses his ability to force the Nazi coin he still kept and puts it through Shaw's brain, killing him slowly. His body was then used by Erik as a means of showing he was now in charge to Shaw's former comrades - Azazel, Riptide and Angel.
