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Historical References: Black Bolt was born to two of Attilan's top geneticists, Agon, head of the ruling Council of Genetics, and Rynda, director of the Prenatal Care Center (see Attilan). Subjected to the mutagenic Terrigen Mist while still an embryo, Bolt was born with strange powers surpassing even the Inhumans' norm (see Inhumans). 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. To protect the community, he was placed inside a sound-proofed chamber and given an energy-harnessing suit 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 (see Kree, Maximus). Attempting to stop the Kree ship before it escaped, Bolt used the forbidden power of his quasisonic voice to knock the ship out of the sky. When the ship crashed to Earth, it landed on the parliament building, 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 lnhumans at the age of twenty.
Overview: Exposed to the Terrigen Mists, a powerful meta-mutagen, while within the womb, Black Bolt has a wide array of powers, far greater than most Inhumans. Black Bolt has really two sets of powers. The "electron manipulation" and the sonic disruption powers. The electron gathering and manipulation powers allow him to increase any aspect of his physical nature, including his strength, speed and stamina and resistance. Black Bolt can harness this "electron" energy for flight and the controlled projection of energy. This makes him a most formidable opponent, possibly the most powerful Inhuman to ever live. If Black Bolt were to use his voice at a shout, he has the damage capacity of a 10 megaton nuclear warhead. This effect is not just a shockwave, but a wave of transformative energy, destroying everything that it touches. As a result, Black Bolt has learned to practice rigorous mental training that prevents him from uttering a sound, even in his sleep. This meditation has been honed with years of practice and he has rarely made a sound since.
Strength level: Black Bolt possesses superhuman strength, enabling him to lift (press) approximately 1 ton. He is stronger than the average Inhuman due to the particular way in which the mutagenic Terrigen Mist affected his genetic and physical structure. By augmenting his body with his electron power, Black Bolt becomes capable of lifting approximately 60 tons under optimal conditions.
Abilities: Like all Inhumans, Black Bolt is physically superior to normal human beings due to the generations of eugenics. Attributes in which Inhumans excel over humans include reaction time, stamina, strength, resistence to injury, and speed. Humans are superior to Inhumans, however, in immunity to disease.
 Known superhuman powers: Black Bolt possesses various superhuman powers stemming from his ability to harness free-floating electrons. The speech center of Black Bolt's brain contains an organic mechanism able to generate an as yet unknown type of particle which interacts with ambient electrons to create certain phenomena determined by mental control. The most devastating of the effects is Black Bolt's quasi-sonic scream. Because his electron-harnessing ability is linked to the speech center of his brain, any attempt to use his vocal cords--from the merest whisper to a full scream--triggers an uncontrollable disturbance of the particle electron interaction field. This results in a shock wave equivalent, at maximum force, to that caused by the detonation of a nuclear weapon. A whisper has generated sufficient force to rock a battleship, while a scream can reduce a mountain to rubble. Unfortunately, Attilan has been destroyed at least once due to the power of Black Bolt's voice.
The fork-shaped antenna that Black Bolt has worn upon his brow since childhood enables him to channel his power in more directed, less destructive ways. The antenna moniters his brain's speech center activity and allows him to direct limited quantities of the unknown particle to create a number of controlled phenomena. He can channel this energy inwardly to enhance his own body's speed and strength. Black Bolt is capable of channeling all available energy into one arm for one powerful punch called the Master Blow. The exertion taxes his body's ability to employ the particle/electron energy to its limit and renders him extremely vulnerable following its use. It has been suggested that Black Bolt has continued in his mutation and his powers have grown even greater with time.
 Black Bolt is also able to direct the unknown particle outwards in ways other than by means of his vocal cords. He can rapidly route particle/electron energy through his arms to create relatively small concussive blasts. He can form a field of highly-active electrons around himself with the wave of his hand, and said field is capable of deflecting projectiles up to the mass of an MX missle traveling at its maximum speed. He has most recently caught a round from a Soviet tank with his bare hands. He can create particle/electron interaction fields solid enough to be traversed upon, though this phenomenon is a particularly difficult and exhausting one. He can use these electron fields as extrasensory probes which are highly sensitive to other electromagnetic energy phenomena. He can even manipulate his electron field to jam certain electrical mechanisms. He can also affect things at the molecular level with this power since he can modify electrons either free standing or bound within a substance. Black Bolt's has the ability to transform matter with this power. The amount of mass that he can transform has not been determined. This power has been seen mostly in its destructive aspect as the Master Blow, Black Bolt's most explosive display of his power.
Flight Speed: 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-products while enveloped by antigravitons, Black Bolt can fly up to 500 miles per hour for a period of 6 hours before his brain begins to tire appreciably from the effort. The anti-graviton field also serves to protect Black Bolt from the detrimental effects of rapid movement through the atmosphere.
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