Sultan Magus

Origin

Dagan Shah was a terrorist leader of Sharzhad and was captured by the US Army when he used a last ditch attempt and spit a grenade from his mouth. Barely surviving, Shah escaped and heard the call of a Rigellian seeding pod which bonded with him and he became the Sultan Magus.

Creation

Sultan Magus was created by writer Jeff Parker and artist Patrick Zircher and first appeared in Hulk #42.

Major Story Arcs

Hulk of Arabia

For more information: Hulk of Arabia

Shah disguised himself as Arabian Knight and led Hulk and Machine Man back to his lair before revealing himself. He imprisons them and leaves them with his hybrid henchmen, Haya and Scorpion. Sultan Magus leaves to Cairo to punish the city for revealing information to Westeners about his country. Upon returning to Sharzhad, he finds that Hulk and Machine Man have escaped and discovered the source of his power. The Sultan Magus continues to overpower them until they take the fight away from the city. He begins to lose his powers the further away from the city he gets. However, General Fortean arrives and informs Hulk that Sharzhad is now a legitimate country and he must leave immediately.

Mayan Rule

For more information: Mayan Rule

When the Mayan Gods returned and sought to rule over Earth, their temple transported to various parts of the globe to re-establish a power base. When it teleported in Sharzhad, the Sultan Magus arrived and destroyed the Mayan Temple believing it was a weapon sent to his country by the US Government.

Cataclysm

The government assembled a new team of Thunderbolts, consisting of members Norman Osborn's former Avengers team, and sent them to Sharzhad to liberate an American citizen who has been caught by Sharzhadeen troops. Half the team accomplish that end after abandoning Luke Cage and Skaar and leaving them to battle against the Sultan Magus.

Magus makes short work of the two, quickly transforming Skaar back into his non-Hulked out form and easily beating Cage. The rest of the team put into effect their secret plan, to use Wender's superhuman power to transfer energy to use the Rigellian technology in Sharzhad.

Powers and Abilities

As Sultan Magus, Dagan Shah has displayed ill-defined and generally varied powers from super strength to optic blasts to changing his form to a giant rock creature. His powers are limited to a defined radius - mostly coinciding with the region of Sharzhad - the further he is away from it the less powerful he is. He has noted he has been working on extending his range and recently was seen displaying great power in Egypt. His powers come from a sub-space pocket in the Earth wherein crystal formations channel the energy that walls off the land and powers Sultan Magus.