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Black Bishop

Black Bishop

22 appearances · Bronze Age · 1980–2023 · 3 key issues
Who is Black Bishop?

The Black Bishop is a ranking title within the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle, a secretive society of wealthy and powerful mutant manipulators who oppose the X-Men. The role has been held by several individuals across the Club's scheming history.

Few characters carry such a loaded title into the Marvel Universe as Black Bishop, who made their entrance in the landmark X-Men #129 in 1980 — a Bronze Age debut courtesy of the legendary creative partnership of Chris Claremont and John Byrne, right at the height of one of comics' most celebrated runs. Affiliated across their history with the shadowy Hellfire Club, the underground Morlocks, and the X-Men themselves, Black Bishop occupies a fascinatingly complex corner of the Marvel tapestry, sharing pages with titans like Sebastian Shaw, Storm, and Wolverine. Three of their appearances carry key-issue status, a testament to the significance of the moments they've inhabited, and their presence across The X-Men, The Uncanny X-Men, and Classic X-Men spans an impressive four-plus decades. For collectors drawn to the intrigue and moral complexity that made the X-Men corner of Marvel so irresistible, Black Bishop is a name well worth seeking out.

Teams & affiliations
X-MenHellfire ClubMorlocks
★ First appearance
The X-Men #129
Jan 1980

Top series

Covers through the years — 1980–2021

The X-Men #129 1980
The X-Men #129
The Uncanny X-Men #[nn] 1984
The Uncanny X-Men #[nn]
The New Mutants #61 1988
The New Mutants #61
What If...? #59 1994
What If...? #59
X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga #[nn] 2006
X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga #[nn]
X-Necrosha #[nn] 2010
X-Necrosha #[nn]
Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men #13 2021
Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men #13

Appearances

The X-Men (1963)
The Uncanny X-Men (1984)
The New Mutants (1983)
#61
Excalibur (1988)
#1
Classic X-Men (1986)
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Master Edition (1990)
#28
What If...? (1989)
#59
Marvels: Portraits (1995)
#3
X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga (2006)
Mystic Arcana: The Book of Marvel Magic (2007)
X-Necrosha (2010)
Marvel Masterworks: The Uncanny X-Men (2003)
#13
The Uncanny X-Men Omnibus (2006)
#5