MARVEL'S INHUMANS Casts Anson Mount as Black Bolt

Mount, as you might expect, was silent on the announcement.

Marvel has revealed that the upcoming ABC television series Marvel's Inhumans has cast Anson Mount as the Inhumans' king, Black Bolt.  The 8-episode series will explore the never-before-told epic adventure of the Inhuman royal family.  Mount joins Iwan Rheon (Maximus the Mad) in the series.

Black Bolt is described in the article as "the enigmatic, commanding King of the Inhumans, with a voice so powerful that the slightest whisper can destroy a city."

Mount, 44, is best known as Cullen Bohannon on the AMC series Hell on Wheels.  His film work includes the movies Visions, Supremacy, Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden, Straw Dogs, The Battle of Shaker Heights, Crossroads, and Urban Legends: Final Cut.  He has also appeared on episodes of LOST, Dollhouse, Smallville, Red Widow, Law & Order, Conviction, CSI: Miami, Sex and the City, and Ally McBeal.

"Anson loves the challenge of playing a character who will only communicate silently," said Jeph Loeb, Head of Marvel Television and Executive Producer.  "His enthusiasm mixed with his imposing almost regal persona made it easy to see why he is our Black Bolt."

Executive producer and showrunner Scott Buck added, "Black Bolt is a character whose deep complexity must be conveyed without uttering a single word, and I’m very excited to have Anson on board to bring him to life."

Created in 1965 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Black Bolt first appeared in Fantastic Four (vol.1) #45 as Blackagar Boltagon, the son of two preeminent Inhumans.  Black Bolt was exposed to the mutagenic Terrigen Mist while still an embryo, and eventually demonstrated a destructive hypersonic voice. To protect the Inhuman community from his voice, Black Bolt was placed inside a soundproof chamber and was tutored in the use of his powers.  Reentering Inhuman society as a young man, having vowed never to speak, he was attacked by his younger brother Maximus, who attempted, unsuccessfully, to goad him into speaking.

Black Bolt later discovered his brother had secretly allied himself with the alien Kree, the race whose genetic experiments first created the Inhumans, and in trying to stop an escaping Kree vessel, he overextended his sonic powers and caused the vessel to crash.  Several members of the Council of Genetics, including his parents, were killed by the crash, and Maximus was driven insane by his proximity to Black Bolt's use of his voice.  Black Bolt assumed the title of King and married his cousin Medusa, but was haunted by the consequences of his actions.

In recent years, during the Secret Wars storyline, Black Bolt took part in the incursion between Earth-616 and Earth-1610.  Afterwards, Medusa sent the Inhumans Nur and Auran to find Black Bolt, who was forced by Maximus to use his voice against them, killing Auran. Black Bolt and Medusa ended up separating over his prolonged absence from Attilan, but teamed up to battle Kang the Conqueror for their son Ahura (Black Bolt had earlier given Ahura over to Kang for safe-keeping during the incursions).  Unwelcome in Attilan, Black Bolt currently runs "The Quiet Room", a night club that functions as a neutral zone for metahumans.

This will be the first time the character will appear in live-action, although he has been in several animated projects, including Fantastic Four (1978), Fantastic Four (1994), Planet Hulk, Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. (voiced by Clancy Brown), Ultimate Spider-Man and Avengers: Ultron Revolution (voiced by Fred Tatasciore), and Guardians of the Galaxy (voiced by Trevor Devall).

The first two episodes of Inhumans will first debut in IMAX theaters on September 4, 2017, followed by the ABC television series two weeks later.