Black Box (comics)

Black Box
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	Deadpool: The Circle Chase #2
Created by	Fabian Nicieza Joe Madureira
In-story information
Alter ego	Garabed "Gareb" Bashur
Species	Human Mutant
Notable aliases	Commcast
Abilities	Technopathy

Black Box (Garabed Bashur), formerly known as Commcast, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a mutant and sometimes acts as a supervillain. He first appeared as Bashur in Deadpool: The Circle Chase #2, first appeared as Commcast in #3, and first appeared as Black Box in Cable & Deadpool #13.

Fictional character biography

Garabed Bashur, a native of India, is a technopath who possesses the mutant ability to psychically retrieve, interpret and store data from any form of electronic media (essentially a highly potent electronic form of telepathy). He was trained in this ability by Professor Charles Xavier, but Xavier rejected Bashur upon learning of his criminal tendencies.

Bashur used the knowledge gathered by his power to amass a small fortune and became the leader of a small mercenary outfit, the Executive Elite, under the alias of Commcast. The mercenaries were hired to retrieve data that was in Deadpool's possession, and although the other Elites were killed in the battle, Commcast survived, as only a clone body was killed. Some time later, Professor X contemplated using Bashur to restore data that had been lost from his files when the X-Mansion's systems were compromised by the Phalanx, although it is unknown if Bashur ever actually assisted Xavier. Bashur was later seen helping a target of one of Sabretooth's murder sprees find someone who could protect him; in this case, that someone was Maverick.

More recently, when his clone vats developed a problem preventing him from making additional clones of himself, Bashur created the Black Box identity, using the robot armour to prevent engaging directly, and began selling his information to the highest bidder. He crossed paths with Deadpool, attempting to convince him to kill his sometime ally Cable. Black Box, Cable, Deadpool, BAD Girls, Inc., the Cat, and Weasel searched for the mysterious Dominus Objective, a computer virus which would help Bashur sort through the massive amounts of data that his power let him access. After the Objective was released into the Rand Corporation, Rand CEO Iron Fist and his sometime partner Luke Cage fought Cable and Deadpool. Eventually Cable and Deadpool tracked the real Bashur down, but after a fight involving hundreds of clones of Makeshift and Rive, Bashur was eventually convinced by Cable to join him. He resided on Cable's island community of Providence acting as Head of Surveillance and a data archiver shortly after.

Garabed Bashur was brutally killed by Sabretooth in the wake of Providence's devastation after Rogue's team of X-Men fought and defeated the Hecatomb.

He was recently revealed to have survived, he still holds a grudge against a now powerless Deadpool.

Powers and abilities

Bashur possesses the ability to actively receive and store all forms of electronic data and transmissions in his mind. He does so passively, in a manner that does not interfere with the regular transmission, and can receive electronic signals over a great distance; even isolating himself in a rural area did not completely shut out the information. Black Box has an infinite storage capacity in his mind, containing every piece of information he has been exposed to. Unfortunately, this data is streamed into his mind far faster than he can accurately scan it all consciously. Though the information is present in his mind, it takes a combination of meditation, effort, and sheer willpower for him to locate and extract specific bits of info on command. Routing the Dominus Objective through his Black Box armor created an artificial "file search" capacity, enabling him to summon up information at will simply by focusing on it.

Other versions

Ultimate

Black Box is featured as a former mutant prisoner of Camp: Angel and joined Kitty Pryde's resistance in the Ultimate Marvel title, Ultimate Comics: X-Men.