Blackagar Boltagon (Earth-616)

This is an abridged version of Blackagar Boltagon's history. For a complete history see Blackagar Boltagon's Expanded History.

Origin[]

Black Bolt was born to two of Attilan's top geneticists, Agon, head of the ruling Council of Genetics, and Rynda, director of the Prenatal Care Center. Subjected to the mutagenic Terrigen Mist while still an embryo,^[16] Bolt was born with strange powers surpassing even the Inhumans' norm. As an infant, he demonstrated certain energy-manipulative abilities which he could not yet control, particularly that of producing quasi-sonic energy of great destructive potential through his voice. To protect the community, he was placed inside a soundproof chamber and given an energy-harnessing suit.^[16] There he was schooled in the art of controlling his powers until the age of nineteen, when he was permitted to enter society.

A month after being awarded his freedom, Black Bolt discovered his younger brother Maximus in the process of making a treacherous pact with emissaries of the alien Kree. Attempting to stop the Kree ship before it escaped, Bolt used the forbidden power of his quasi-sonic voice to knock the ship out of the sky. When the ship crashed to Earth, it landed on the parliament, killing several key members of the Council of Genetics, including his parents, Agon and Rynda. The reverberations of his brother's shout affected Maximus's sanity and suppressed his nascent mental powers. Despite his guilt and silent protests, Black Bolt was obligated to accept the mantle of leadership of the Inhumans at age twenty.

Black Bolt's first crisis in leadership came when his cousin Triton was briefly held captive by humans. Learning of Triton's encounter upon his escape, Black Bolt decided that the Inhuman' island of Attilan was in imminent danger of discovery by humanity. Black Bolt scouted out possible sites to which to move, and settled upon the remote Himalayan mountains. After the great migration, Black Bolt faced his second great crisis when his now mad brother Maximus unleashed the Trikon, three of the Inhumans' worker drones who were transformed into energy-beings. The Trikon enabled Maximus to wrest the rule of the Inhuman from his brother and send Black Bolt and the other members of the Royal Family into exile. For the next few years, Black Bolt and his kinsmen wandered Asia, Europe, and finally America, in search of Medusa, his betrothed mate, who had been separated from the others during the battle with the Trikon. Eventually Black Bolt was reunited with Medusa^[17] and the Royal Family returned to Attilan and resumed the crown.^[18]

Black Bolt led the Inhumans through some of the most turbulent times in their history, including several more attempts by Maximus to usurp the throne, revolts by the worker class, attacks by human renegades, the kidnapping of Medusa, the destruction and rebuilding of Attilan, the revelation of the Inhuman existence to humanity, and several more relocations of Attilans. Following the traditional lengthy period of betrothal, Black Bolt and Medusa were wed.^[19]

His role as king of the Inhumans had been tumultuous. The first major crisis occurred when he and Medusa conceived a child. Medusa bore the child in defiance of the Genetic Council who felt that Black Bolt's bloodline was too dangerous to pass on. The Council nonetheless took the child to examine, and forbade parental contact.^[20] Black Bolt was torn between his love of family and his duty to respect the Genetic Council, and it was only when the Council was revealed to be using his son in a plot against him that he finally turned against the Council. With that, he also gave up the crown as king of the Inhumans.^[21]

For a while, they lived away from Attilan, but returned in times of need to deal with the Kree,^[22] Maximus, and Morgan le Fay.^[23][24]

By the time the Avengers and the Fantastic Four returned from Counter Earth following the Onslaught crisis, Black Bolt was reinstated as monarch without much further explanation,^[25] but was subsequently exiled after Attilan's forced adventure with Ronan in space.^[26] He returned again to the moon with his Royal Family after being banned from most of Earth,^[27] and again it seemed that the rest of the Inhuman population soon rejoined them there and reaffirmed his role as king without much ado.^[28]

There was very little exploration of the ongoing inequities and injustices of the caste-bound Attilan society during this time, and Black Bolt seemed to turn a blind eye to much of it. It could be that as a product of that environment, he accepted the status quo as a given: this would make him a benevolent yet flawed ruler. Given his exposure to the outside world (and his own stand previously against the Genetic Council), this seems unlikely. Given his ever changing status as ruler, he likely saw limits to any further changes that he could realistically make to the social fabric at this point (after all, it was only not so long ago during his reign that the Alpha Primitives were emancipated). He was a great leader in ensuring the survival of Attilan against threats from outside and in; perhaps he was biding his time, awaiting a period of stability before again turning his considerable leadership skills to issues of social justice.

Silent War[]

After Quicksilver stole a cluster of Terrigen Crystals, Black Bolt and other Inhumans followed him to Earth in pursuit. Quicksilver evaded capture however, and the crystals fell into the possession of the O*N*E, a division of the US government, who refused to hand them over to the Inhumans. This led Black Bolt to declare war on the United States.^[29] He sent a strike force led by his cousin Gorgon to capture several high standing members of American society who were attending a charity opera. The operation went awry however and several civilians were killed and the team was captured by the Fantastic Four. The US government began experimenting with the crystals, exposing Gorgon to them once again, causing him to undergo a second terrigenesis.^[30]

Black Bolt met with his imprisoned brother Maximus who urged him to end the war by committing genocide against America. Black Bolt attempted to retrieve the Crystals from the Pentagon but Lockjaw was redirected to a confrontation with the Sentry who urged Black Bolt to give up on getting the Crystals back and end the war. Black Bolt and other members of the royal family then journeyed to Earth to find Quicksilver in Mutant Town in search of the Crystals he had managed to keep and found that he had embedded several of them in his flesh. Black Bolt lost his composure and began savagely beating Quicksilver until Medusa stopped him from killing him. Quicksilver revealed that using the powers the crystals had granted him, he had traveled into the future where he witnessed an explosion on the surface of the Moon visible from Earth, deducing that it was Attilan.^[31]

Matters were further complicated by the fact that Black Bolt's brother Maximus managed to exert control over Medusa and force her to kiss him, leading Black Bolt to believe she was having an affair. Maximus also manipulated Luna into freeing him and Black Bolt's son Ahura. Meanwhile, Black Bolt traveled to the Pentagon with other members of the Royal Family to free Gorgon and get the crystals. They defeated the facility's defenders and the Avengers who arrived to stop them and reclaimed the crystals. The United States retaliated by sending a marine squad that had been mutated by the crystals to Attilan. The Inhumans engaged them, and the squad surrendered. While inside the city, one of the squad members was ordered to use her powers to detonate herself as a suicide bomb in a giant blast that devastated Attilan.^[32]

Maximus confronted Black Bolt amidst the rubble, declaring himself king and telling his brother that he'd be taking care of everything now. Black Bolt was jailed, and while imprisoned was approached by Luna who told him that everyone except Black Bolt and herself were being manipulated by Maximus, and asked him what to do.^[33]

World War Hulk & Secret Invasion[]

Black Bolt was ambushed by the Skrull Empire at some point after losing his crown and being freed from imprisonment by Maximus, while on his way to an Illuminati meeting,^[16] and was then taken captive by the Skrulls and held prisoner aboard the Skrull Battleship Ryb'ik. The Skrulls planned to use his quasi-sonic scream as their deadliest and most powerful weapon.^[34] A Skrull began impersonating Black Bolt.^[35]

During this time, the Hulk, embittered over being placed into exile on the planet Sakaar, returned to this star system and attacked the Skrull impostor who he believed was Black Bolt because of his role in the Hulk's exile. Even though this "Black Bolt" was able to knock the Hulk back at first, the Hulk got back up and savagely beat him up. Hulk enslaved him with a slave disk and forced him to fight as a gladiator.^[36][37] Later, the Illuminati discovered the Skrull impostor among them.^[35] Black Bolt was rescued by Medusa and the Inhuman Royal Family, and returned to Attilan to co-rule with Maximus.^[38]

He then took aggressive counteraction against the Skrulls, and deployed Maximus-designed inventions to tap into his quasi-sonic powers for military purposes. The city of Attilan became a weaponized vessel that tracked down and destroyed the fleeing Skrull ships, as well as some Shi'ar vessels trying to intercept. He breached Kree defenses and forced Ronan and the Kree to pledge allegiance to him.^[39]

War of Kings[]

The Inhumans had plans to lead a benevolent future with the Kree. Crystal was promised to Ronan to further unite the Kree and the Inhumans even offered the Terrigen Mists to enhance the evolution of the Kree. However, the Shi'ar declared war on the Kree.

At the very climax of the War of Kings, both Black Bolt and Vulcan appeared to be killed and the Shi'ar surrendered to the Kree Empire, despite heavy losses on both sides, leading to the Realm of Kings.

The War of the Four Cities[]

Black Bolt in fact survived the explosion. It was revealed that he likely represented the anomaly of the Kree Inhuman genetics program that had been predicted hundreds of thousands of years ago. The genetic prophecy was that this anomaly would bring about the end of the Supreme Intelligence. To prevent this outcome, the Kree Supreme Intelligence had ordered the destruction of all the worlds where the genetic experiments took place. Only five colonies escaped, including Earth's: these were the Universal Inhumans. After his return to Attilan, Black Bolt joined the Universal Inhumans and was presented with four new brides, one from each of the other colonies.^[40]

They returned to Earth to help defeat the last four Reeds of the Interdimensional Council. They then faced the Kree Armada, who had been ordered by the resurrected Kree Supreme Intelligence to wipe out Earth and the Inhumans.^[41] After the Kree fled in defeat, the Inhumans followed in pursuit.^[42]

Franklin Richards brokered peace between the Kree and the Inhumans. Black Bolt faced the Supreme Intelligence, and they arrive at a truce after Black Bolt convinced it that the prophecy had unraveled and broken, and that he (the anomaly) was no longer a threat to them. Black Bolt agreed to the condition that Ronan be returned alone without Crystal back to the Supremor and the Inhumans travelled back to Earth.^[43]

Colliding Universes[]

Working as part of the Illuminati, Black Bolt (and later Maximus) had been trying to solve the problem of incursions from other universes.^[44]

Infinity[]

Black Bolt was visited by Thanos' Cull Obsidian who demanded a tribute, the heads of Inhuman younglings between the ages of sixteen and twenty-two, or the annihilation of Earth's inhabitants.

Using the Inhuman Codex, Black Bolt discovered Thanos used the tribute demand as a cover for his true mission, to kill his secret Inhuman-descendant son whose identity and location were unknown even by his father.^[45] After the Inhumans denied the tribute to Corvus Glaive, Thanos personally visited Black Bolt in Attilan. Finding the Inhuman city empty, with only Black Bolt left, Black Bolt unleashed a powerful scream which tore down Attilan itself and activated a Terrigen Bomb which spread the Mists across the Earth.^[46] The global distribution of the mists caused millions of humans who possessed a latent Inhuman gene to undergo Terrigenesis and develop powers.

The powerful scream had no physical effect on Thanos but shattered the Mad Titan's Armor, and Thanos found Black Bolt still alive in the rubble, and demanded to know the location of his son. Black Bolt refused, and continued attacking Thanos with his voice, until an enraged Thanos knocked him out.^[47] Black Bolt was held captive, for Thanos to use his power to activate the Illuminati's anti-matter bombs to destroy the Earth.^[48] When the Illuminati arrived in the Necropolis, they found Thanos' general Supergiant, with Black Bolt under her control, whom she used to defeat them. When Supergiant activated the bombs, Maximus appeared with the trigger. He triggered the bombs, but also used Lockjaw to transport the anti-matter bomb along with Supergiant to a distant uninhabited planet where she died in the explosion.

Black Bolt was liberated, and left the scene along with Maximus and Lockjaw. In the ancient location of Attilan in the Himalayas, Black Bolt hid the Inhuman Codex, and made Maximus understand his survival and that of his brother were to be kept a secret. Maximus also deduced that Black Bolt was always going to activate the Terrigen Bomb, irrespective of Thanos' arrival, to herald a new age of the Inhumans.^[49]

After being examined by Maximus, they discovered that the Terrigen Bomb had greatly diminished Black Bolt's powers. They agreed to keep it a secret.^[50] Using exogenetically charged waters, Maximus was soon able to help Black Bolt recover from this weakness.^[51]

Inhumanity[]

After going missing, Black Bolt was found by Auran and Nur, who were sent by Medusa. He was under the control of Maximus by means of an improved hypno-gun based on Wakandan tech. Maximus forced Black Bolt to use his voice to kill Auran. Nur found them again, and shot Maximus, freeing Black Bolt from his mind-control.^[52] Black Bolt then turned his voice on Maximus, maiming him.^[53] When Black Bolt finally returned to Attilan, he was met by a furious Medusa, who banished him from the throne. He left Attilan.^[54]

Secret Wars[]

The Illuminati continued dealing with the problem of incursions as the number of universes dwindled. Black Bolt objected to using the Antimatter Injector to destroy Earth-4290001, but Namor activated the bomb anyway.^[55][56] During the final incursion event of Earth 616 and 1610, Black Bolt was downed by a flying battleship from the City.^[57] All would be destroyed, but then restored again by Reed and Franklin Richards with the Molecule Man's power.^[58]

It turned out that Black Bolt had rescued Doctor Spectrum before the destruction of Earth-4290001. She later encountered Black Bolt while investigating an alien menace.^[59] He was there to rescue captured Inhumans. They joined forces, and Black Bolt destroyed the base after their victory. Doctor Spectrum went to New Attilan to understand why Black Bolt had saved her during the incursions.^[60] Black Bolt offered that perhaps because they had similar possibly Kree-related given powers, and perhaps just to save a life on a day of mass destruction.^[61]

Death of X[]

The mists released by Black Bolt during Thanos' invasion eventually settled in the form of two enormous clouds that roamed the planet, propelled by natural wind currents. Unfortunately, the molecular composition of the Terrigen Mists changed after being mixed with the atmosphere, turning them into a substance toxic for mutants.^[62]

The toxicity of the mists was discovered by Cyclops' X-Men, though too late, leading to Cyclops' death when he was exposed to residual mists found at Muir Island. Fueled by grief, Emma Frost called out the Inhumans for the mists' hazardousness, and used a mental projection of Cyclops to lead the destruction of one of the clouds. When Emma confronted the Inhumans, she used the projected image of Cyclops to push Black Bolt into "killing" him with his sonic scream. This event raised tensions between mutants and Inhumans.^[63]

Uncanny Inhumans[]

Black Bolt discovered Medusa's affair with Human Torch. They both still collaborated to rescue their son Ahura from Kang the Conqueror.^[64] There first attempt led them to an elderly Ahura who had become a ruthless conqueror, and Black Bolt killed him with his voice.^[65] They then travelled back in time to save the young Ahura, and Ahura used his ability to project himself psychically to defeat Kang.^[66]

After establishing himself as owner of the night club Quiet Room, Black Bolt was confronted by a resurrected Auran, who stole his destructive voice. He went to Medusa for aid, and was able to apologize out loud to her. They enlisted Sterilon, who would be able to reverse the situation. However, that would condemn Black Bolt again to silence. Black Bolt agreed to it, as a depowered Black Bolt would leave Attilan vulnerable to her enemies.^[67]

Inhumans vs. X-Men[]

When Beast discovered the remaining Terrigen Cloud was weeks from being completely assimilated into the atmosphere, thus making the Earth uninhabitable for mutants, the different factions of the X-Men joined forces to take down key Inhuman players so they could destroy the cloud with no interference, believing that the Inhumans would refuse to assist even at that moment. In order to neutralize Black Bolt, Emma Frost enlisted the help of Dazzler, a mutant who used her ability to absorb and repurpose energy from sound to dampen Black Bolt's sonic scream and use its power against him. Black Bolt was subsequently held captive in Limbo, though he was eventually rescued by the other royals. The attack had left Black Bolt unable to access his voice; however, he and the Royals joined the final battle against the X-Men. Black Bolt is impaled by Emma Frost's diamond arm, but is saved by Karnak and Lockjaw. The Inhumans continued fighting against the mutants until they realized the stakes of the conflict. After Medusa willingly destroyed the cloud, the X-Men and the Inhumans joined forces to take down Emma Frost, who, having been driven mad by Cyclops' death, tried to massacre the Inhumans in spite of the mists no longer being a threat. In an inspirational act, an injured Black Bolt flew Medusa up for her final confrontation with Emma Frost. In the aftermath of the conflict, Black Bolt and Medusa reunited to start their relationship anew.^[68] Unfortunately, they failed to re-spark their love, but decided to stay together so to project an image to inspire the rest of the Inhumans.^[69]

Imprisoned[]

Together with numerous Inhumans, Black Bolt tracked down Maximus and captured him. Before Maximus' trial, Black Bolt spoke privately with his brother.^[70] Maximus managed to knock down Blackagar, and switched places with him using image inducers. Thus, Black Bolt was sent to the deep space detention facility meant for Maximus.^[2] Once there, Black Bolt was subjected to psychological and physical torture by the Jailer, learning in the process that the prison's punishments were much more ruthless and unfair than he had anticipated. Not all hope was lost as Black Bolt found allies in the form of a group of prisoners comprised of the Absorbing Man, Blinky, Raava, and Molyb the Metal Master,^[71] with whom Black Bolt carried out a failed attempt to escape.^[72]

Lockjaw, having seen through Maximus' ruse, tracked down Black Bolt all the way to the prison and rescued him.^[73] Blackagar, however, decided to return in order to put an end to the horrors the Jailer's prisoners were put through.^[74] Black Bolt and his friends fought their way through the prison until they confronted the Jailer once again. Powered by Black Bolt's sonic scream, the Absorbing Man sacrificed himself to kill the Jailer. The villain's defeat also cost Black Bolt the use of his vocal chords. The remaining allies of Black Bolt bid farewell and parted ways, with the exception of young Blinky, who convinced Blackagar to take her with him back to Earth.^[75]

The Midnight King Returns to Earth[]

On their journey back, Black Bolt returned Monsteroso to his parents, and was forced to destroy upon Conclave ships in self-defense.^[76] Back on Earth, he was initially greeted with suspicion and resentment, but Blinky helped to clarify matters with her telepathic powers. He attempted to reconcile with his son Ahura, but was rebuffed.^[77] Together, they went to visit Titania, the wife of Crusher Creel, to inform her of his heroic death. After a brief skirmish, Blinky again helped clear things up. They held a funeral for Crusher, which was attended by Captain America and Thor. However, they were attacked by Lash and his crew, who kidnapped Blinky.^[78] Black Bolt and Titania pursued them and bested Lash's team in hand-to-hand combat. However, Black Bolt surrendered when Lash threatened to kill Blinky. Lash revealed his scheme to use Black Bolt's blood to make a Terrigen-type bomb to make new Inhumans (but would result in the death of millions of humans in the process).^[79]

As preparation, Black Bolt was infused with a powerful poison, and the extreme pain threw him into psychic encounter with his wife Medusa who was also in agony in the midst of battling the Progenitors. They reconnected, and Medusa's love for Gorgon was revealed. They reaffirmed their commitment to each other even if they could not go back to their marriage, and she promised to reunite with him as they were separated again.^[79][80] Back on Earth, Black Bolt freed himself, only to collapse from the poison. Blinky attempted to save him from Lash, but was taken over by the essence of the Jailer,^[79] who had implanted himself in her to escape death. While Black Bolt was being mentally assaulted by the Jailer and losing the fight, Blinky's astral form managed to seek out help from Ahura, and they were both transported inside the painful memories the Jailer was forcing Black Bolt relive.^[81] Their presence inspired Black Bolt and gave him enough strength to break out of the Jailer's grasp. Titania and the just-then recently reborn Absorbing Man joined the fight against the Jailer physically, giving Black Bolt the ability to break the Jailer's physical restraints. Having regained his lost powers due to his allies' invigoration, Black Bolt used his sonic scream to kill the Jailer once and for all and free Blinky's body. A week later, while spending time at Creel's apartment with his friends, Black Bolt was approached by Medusa, and they finally reunited.^[82]

Death of Inhumans[]

When the Kree Imperium began ordering all surviving Inhumans to join it or perish, Black Bolt accompanied the Inhuman Royal Family to a secret meeting place where they supposed to meet with the rest of the Universal Inhumans to discuss the situation. However, the leaders of the Universal Inhumans and their attendants were found dead, and a bomb was left behind as a trap. Lockjaw was able to teleport the Royal Family to safety but wasn't able to save Triton who seemingly died in the bomb blast. The Royal Family realized that while they were away, the Kree were attacking the Inhuman city of New Arctilan located on the Earth's Moon. The Royal Family hurried back to New Arctilan using Black Bolt's voice to increase their ship's speed. However, by the time they arrived, New Arctilan was in ruins, causing Black Bolt to shed a tear.^[83]

Karnak went ahead to Hala to let the Kree know that the Inhumans weren't going to surrender before Black Bolt arrived to avenge those the Kree killed. Black Bolt let loose his powerful voice while saying the names of everyone that the Kree killed. When Black Bolt arrived where Karnak was, he found Vox holding Karnak hostage. Before Black Bolt could do anything, Vox surprised Black Bolt by teleporting behind him and slitting his throat with a dagger.^[3]

Black Bolt survived and was held prisoner by the Kree. Despite the damage done to his throat, Black Bolt was still able to his sonic scream and used it to escape as well as kill his captors. During his escape, he discovered Ronan the Accuser who was being experimented on by his fellow Kree. Ronan apologized to Black Bolt for everything he had done, including Crystal, before Black Bolt put him out of his misery.^[84]

Black Bolt reunited with his family who had brought in the aid of Beta Ray Bill. When Vox unexpectedly died, Black Bolt and the others discovered that Vox was actually Maximus in disguise, which made them realized that the Inhumans the Kree didn't kill were converted into brainwashed cyborg soldier under their control.^[85]

Black Bolt, his family, and Beta Ray Bill launched a final assault on the Kree's stronghold and were confronted by a brainwashed Crystal and Lockjaw. Black Bolt let his family deal with Crystal and Lockjaw while he made his way to the location where the Kree asserted control over the brainwashed Inhumans. There, Black Bolt was met with Triton and other Inhumans turned into brainwashed soldiers of the Kree. In order to stop the Kree, Black Bolt was forced to use his powerful voice to kill everyone before him, including Triton, in order to stop the Kree's plans, freeing Crystal and Lockjaw from the Kree's control but also permanently losing the use of his powerful voice.^[86]

Herald Supreme[]

Along with Earth's other most powerful heroes, Black Bolt was recruited by Dr. Strange to help fight Galactus, who had been transformed into a hybrid of extreme science and extreme magic. Black Bolt managed to stagger Galactus with his scream (which was augmented by magic), but got crushed to death by the hand of Galactus. After Dr. Strange's victory, Black Bolt was resurrected along with the other heroes.^[87]

The Darkhold[]

Scarlet Witch and Dr. Doom recruited a reluctant Black Bolt as one of the Darkhold Defenders in their battle against Chthon. With the others, Black Bolt read from the Darkhold book to temper themselves with madness before entering the Outer-Realm, but they were all driven mad, becoming the Darkhold Defiled.^[88] (Black Bolt's madness came when the book showed him an alternate version of his life in which his identity became indistinguishable from that of his brother Maximus the Mad.)^[89] Scarlet Witch ultimately defeated Chthon by possessing him, and reversed the effects of the book on the team. At Black Bolt's request, she left flashes in their memories of their lives gone wrong.^[12]

Particle & Electron Manipulation: Black Bolt can also direct the unknown particle outwards without the use of his vocal chords. He can route the particles through his antennae or his arms and hands to create small yet vastly powerful blasts of concussive force, absorb and redirect vast quantities of energy.^[90] He can also form a field of highly active electrons around his body with a wave of his hand, this field can deflect projectiles with the mass of a meteor. Black Bolt can also create enough iteration between the electron and particle energies to generate fields solid enough for him to travel over.^[91]

• Ambient Particle & Electron Harnessing: Black Bolt's primary superhuman ability is the power to tap into, control and harness electrons. The speech center of his brain contains a unique organic mechanism that's able to generate an unknown particle that interacts with the electrons he absorbs to create certain phenomena that are determined by his mental control. After the detonation of the Terrigen Bomb, Black Bolt's powers were greatly diminished.^[50] His powers have since been recovered and enhanced thanks to a bath in exogenetically charged waters.^[51]
  • Quasi-Sonic Scream: Black Bolt's most powerful and devastating offensive weapon, and one of the phenomena based upon the particle interaction, was his actual voice. A whisper could level a city, cause distant dormant volcanoes to become active once more, shake entire continents apart and generate tremors on the far side of the planet. A hypersonic shout has been said to generate enough force to destroy planets, but ultimately it rises to a level able to affect Cosmic Beings such as Galactus. Due to the constant and extreme danger posed by his voice, he had undergone rigorous mental training to prevent himself from uttering even the smallest sound, even while asleep. Recently it had been shown that Black Bolt's scream was tied into his emotions, especially anger. This in turn would mean that the power of his scream would depend on his emotional state in at least some way. It would explain the somewhat significant difference of the power released by his quasi-sonic scream. His scream's raw destructive power is so massive that it was able to slightly stagger an amplified Galactus,^[92] and it even disintegrated multiple Celestials in an alternate reality.^[93] During Black Bolt's final confrontation against the Jailer, he lost use of his vocal chords, which included his quasi-sonic scream,^[75] but regained it not long afterwards.^[82]
  • Gravitational Flight: Black Bolt can also harness the unknown particles his brain generates to interact with electrons to create Anti-Gravitons that enable him to defy gravity. By emitting a jet of rapidly moving particle / electron interaction by-product while enveloped by anti-gravitons, Black Bolt has been shown to fly at a speed of 500 mph for a period of 6 hours, and to fly beyond escape velocity. The anti-graviton field also serves to protect Black Bolt from the detrimental effects of rapid movement through the atmosphere although it's not needed.
• Particle & Electron Channeling: Black Bolt wears a metallic, fork-shaped antenna upon his brow that allows him to focus and channel his powers in more directed and less destructive ways. This antenna monitors the speech center of his brain and allows him to direct quantities of the unknown particles to create controlled phenomena, such as enhancing his physical strength beyond his normal limits. He can also channel all the available energy he has into one arm for a single, massively powerful punch called the Master Blow. The exertion from this, however, taxes his ability to employ the energy to its full power for a short time.^[91]
  • Matter & Energy Manipulation: Through an unknown method, Black Bolt has shown numerous times that he has the ability to manipulate matter and energy to an unknown degree. He has shown the ability to transmute the elements, turn water into ice, create multiple toys out of thin air^[94] by rearranging molecular if not particle structure. He has destroyed a Solar Flare powerful enough to annihilate the Earth, and was able to block the powers of others through his abilities in turn denying them access to their abilities.
• Telepathy & Telepathic Immunity: Black Bolt has strong psychic resistance, as was evident when he was able to easily resist the mental abilities of his powerful brother, Maximus, and overwhelm him in psychic ability. Often using it as a means to communicate with his wife Medusa as well.^[95]

Inhuman Physiology: Like all Inhumans, Black Bolt's natural physiology grants him a number of superhuman physical attributes but because of the genetic tampering at birth, Black Bolt's physical abilities are significantly superior to most other members of his race.

• Inhuman Strength: Black Bolt, like all Inhumans, is superhumanly strong. Physically superior to the finest human specimen and to some inhumans, under normal circumstances he's able to lift one ton. However he can augment his physical strength by channeling the necessary particle energy through his body. His base strength level while under these conditions is at best undetermined, for while at his peak he is listed at class 60, Black Bolt has been observed fighting opponents dynamically superior matching them blow for blow such as Namor,^[96][97] Thor,^[98] Gladiator,^[99][100] The Thing,^[17][1][97] and even The Incredible Hulk in hand-to-hand combat. The latter acknowledging him to be very close to him in strength.^{[101][102][103]}
• Inhuman Speed: Black Bolt can run and move at speeds that are beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete, as he has been able to catch directed miniature missiles even when attacked from below and unaware with ease,^[104] move at a speed so great he is invisible to the human eye,^[104] move at such a speed he can travel vast distances before a human can finish processing a thought,^[104] and has been able to catch Quicksilver.^[105]
• Inhuman Stamina: Black Bolt's Inhuman musculature generates less fatigue toxins than the musculature of a normal human, even the finest human athlete. At his peak, he can exert himself for several days before the buildup of fatigue toxins in his blood begins to impair him.^[91]
• Inhuman Durability: Black Bolt's body is incredibly resistant to all forms of physical damage. Black Bolt is resistant to great impact forces, such as falling from a height of several stories that would severely injure or kill a human being unharmed. He has survived blows by beings with vast superhuman strength such as Namor,^[96][97] Thor,^[98] Gladiator,^[99][100] The Thing,^[17][1][97] Hulk,^{[101][102][103]} and Thanos;^[47] taken to extremes when Black Bolt weathered a blast from his own T-Bomb which had killed Emperor Vulcan, destroyed a Shi'ar space fleet and ruptured the fabric of reality.^[90] He's capable of withstanding extreme temperatures, such as the cold in space, or the heat from re-entry. Black Bolt can further bolster his durability by generating a nearly impenetrable force field around himself to further increase his resistance to damage.^[91]
• Inhuman Agility: Black Bolt's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels that are far beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete.^[91]
• Inhuman Reflexes: Black Bolt's reflexes are far beyond those of the finest human athlete.^[91]
• Inhuman Longevity: Like all Inhumans, Black Bolt has a natural lifespan that is at least twice the average lifespan of a human being.

Sign Language: Black Bolt and Medusa communicate with each other in a special sign language and thus she act as a translator for him.

Master Combatant: Black Bolt is also a master of hand-to-hand combat, although even the smallest sigh directed towards most individuals, even those possessing great physical attributes, is enough to destroy them. It is reputed that he once defeated Ikaris the Eternal in one on one hand-to-hand combat with ease.^[106]

Diplomatic Immunity: As the leader of a sovereign nation, he often visits the United States or the United Nations for political reasons. He enjoys diplomatic immunity during these trips.^[106]

Stress Point Detection: Black Bolt was trained by Karnak in using his superhuman senses to detect weaknesses. Through this method, Black Bolt was able to find the weak link of a chain he was being held with.^[73]

Formerly the Space Gem.

Flight under his own power, teleportation using Lockjaw or Eldrac.