Shaw was born into an impoverished family, they didn't have much and they didn't spend hardly any time with Shaw which in turn made Shaw despise his parents. As is normal with people, Shaw got older, he no longer lived with his parents and didn't care if he never saw them again. With a little stolen money and his superb business skill, Shaw became a millionaire by the age of twenty. He took over a company and renamed it Shaw Industries, a multinational corporation. Shaw Industries was heavily involved with the US defense contracts and the production of munitions. After a time, Shaw was invited to join the Hellfire Club and soon after joining, Shaw learned of the Inner Circle.
After a time of being the Black Bishop, Shaw saw his opportunity to strike at the current White King. The coupe was successful and Shaw took up the mantle of Black King. He then began construction of the Mutant Hunting Sentinels, payed for by the government. What was really ironic was they were contracting a mutant to build mutant hunting robots. Shaw built into all Sentinels he built a failsafe so they would never attack him or anyone of his choosing. Over the years, Shaw has squelched numerous plots to de-throne him, killing all conspirators. Shaw is now a multi-billionaire and is looking onto new and better things. Maybe wanting a new challenge or even something else unknown even to him.
The events surrounding the Phoenix Force were set into motion. Shaw directed the White and Black Queens to carry out a plot to set the Phoenix free and then obtain it for their own personal gain. This plan was carried out to fruition, however, with the betrayal of the White Queen, the Hellfire Club lost the opportunity and lost the force of the Phoenix.
With that plot ruined, Shaw returned to his business focii in New York city. He continues to this day working on the next great plan to obtain power and wealth.
Manipulative
Shaw has his hands dipped into many a thing. Either playing enemies against one another or just being plain crafty. He uses his enemies and his minions as pawns, almost like he was a player in a chess game and the other side is his goal. He'll play people against one another, staying in the background at all times unless he is forced to show himself, with most people not even knowing he's there and using them.
Machiavellian
Quite simply, the end justify the means to Shaw. He will sacrifice people, destroy whole cities to achieve a goal. However, this usually is not the case because Shaw likes a quiet and efficient mission if at all possible.
Calculating
Before sending people out on a mission, Shaw will have everything in place. From the entry point, to anything place or installation that needs to be hit. Every fall back position and defense would be in place beforehand. In short, Shaw makes a perfect general, he leaves no avenue or possibility untouched if he can at all help it.
Level Headed
Shaw is ice, Shaw is cool. He just doesn't lose his cool or get anxious (at least in outwards appearance) in the battlefield or off it. This gives Shaw a few advantages. For one, whoever is trying to face Shaw down won't know if he's anxious or impatient for the conversation to end, etc. Regardless though, it takes a whole lot to break his cool. Being calm during a protracted fight does help, since his decisions won't be clouded by heat of the battle. Basically, Shaw has one of the ultimate poker faces.
Cunning
To be where he is today, Shaw has to have a high degree of cunning. Knowing when to strike at an opponent, to cause the maximum amount of damage possible. With the ability to quickly change a strategy to get the most out of a situation. Shaw can also be as slippery as an eel, evading either capture or detection.
Secretive
Holding to his mind how a mother holds an infant to her chest, Shaw treats his knowledge as the deciding factor. Most people know better than to push Shaw for anything he might know, since Shaw is prone to obliterate anyone that pushes him /too/ far. What he knows, he keeps to himself, plain and simple unless the ends justify him giving out his knowledge.
SPEED/STAMINA/STRENGTH: The power Shaw absorbs has to go somewhere. There's a few ways Shaw can get rid of the built up energy. He can use it to run faster than normal humans, up to 100 mph in fact, this he can keep up for a decent amount of time (about 3 hours) until his power runs out.
Another way is through his stamina, this comes in handy particularly in battles. Shaw can use his power to always keep him fresh in battle, for example; Shaw will never be out of breath unless he has no power to fuel him and you'll rarely see him even sweat. These little tricks happen automatically, Shaw has no control over them except for his speed, that Shaw has perfect control over.
The main thing his power gives him is super strength. In accordance with his current strength level, Shaw can hit as hard as he wishes. However, Shaw doesn't have to use all his stored power in one big punch, he can just punch a whole in a steel wall five times or so instead of one shattering blow to the wall. When he's at his max, Shaw can unleash a punch that's above Colossus's strongest punch but not as strong as the Juggernaut's. Roughly he has a maximum strength increase of 100 ton lift.
ENERGY ABSORPTION: Shaw is a mutant with the ability to absorb kinetic energy and to use it in an unknown manner to enhance his own physical strength, speed, and stamina. Shaw must be in contact with the energy in order to absorb it. If Shaw strikes a blow to someone or something, or is himself struck, he will absorb the energy of that blow.
He has also been observed to be able to absorb other forms of energy directed at him. One such energy form is electrical (IE: Storm's lightning bolts). Shaw's power to absorb and convert energy renders him invulnerable to various forms of attack.
There is an upper limit to the amount of energy Shaw can absorb and convert: once he was "overloaded" by an electrical energy discharge from the X-Man Storm, and fell into a temporary coma. However, the exact extent of this limit remains unknown.
BUSINESS: Shaw is a pro when it comes to business. He's been at it for quite some time now and knows all the tricks of the trade, heck, he's even invented half of them, most of them dirty though. He can sense when people aren't being totally forthcoming and deals and bring them down on it. You have to work pretty hard to pull one over Shaw.
WEAPONS: Because of Shaw Industries, Shaw has a unlimited supply to weapons and he puts that supply to good use. He's competent enough to use any firearm and not kill himself, while he's the best with a simple handgun he could use something bigger if he needed it. However, Shaw prefers to use his powers instead of a gun, only using a weapon as a last resort most times.
TECHNOLOGY: Shaw keeps up with the latest technology and also tries to know how each new fad works. He'd buy a DVD, take it apart to see what's in side of it, then put it back together. This applies to computers too, he's very computer literate in both hardware and software. Give him Java or C++ and he can make a simple program.
FIGHTING: Since becoming a successful businessman, Shaw has been training in the martial arts. He loves the physical contact, the feel of fists striking bone or flesh. In a way he's almost addicted to it but something he keeps carefully in check because of his power. Even though he's been practicing for a while, he still isn't the best out there, relying on his powers when he actually gets into a fight. All in all, he's on par with black belts who rarely street fight.
ENGINEERING: Shaw is highly skilled in mechanical and electrical engineering. Over the years he has used this skill to design various components and devices that he's sold to the United Stated Defense Department.
WEAPONS: Weapons, weapons, and more weapons. Shaw has people creating new ones, manufacturing the normal ones even the exotic ones at the wave of his hand. He can even get any weapon his business doesn't make from the Hellfire club and the inner circle. Shaw even supplies the Inner Circle with a big amount of guns he makes. In short, any weapon be it chemical or a gun, Shaw can get his hands on it. Heck, given time he could buy a nuclear bomb or have one stolen for him.
HELLFIRE CLUB: Because of his access to the inner circle, Shaw can get anything anyone else has within the circle. That includes scanners, even a power suppression device, which he often uses when he believes there's a telepath near him. It would take too long to list everything that Shaw has so just assume he has it if it's high tech and has a valuable use.
MONEY: Shaw's overall wealth is that of a mutli billionaire. With this resource, he can typically purchase just about anything material he wants. This includes people.
SHAW INDUSTRIES: You guessed it, Shaw is the sole owner of Shaw Industries, he decides where the company is going, who is has the capability of firing someone on the spot and to just plain do anything he wants. Of course he wouldn't do most of that, since he is a businessman above all else. Shaw uses the company as a way of creating weapons, most the government doesn't know about but pays for anyways. He even supplies a lot of technology towards the Inner Circles members, mostly defensive technology though.
BUSINESS CONTRACTS: For years now, Shaw Industries has had a contract with the US government for defense and the production of munitions. This opens up avenues that Shaw normally wouldn't have and gives him a certain power over the government since they don't want to treat Shaw badly and have him pull out of the contract.
HELLFIRE CLUB: Shaw is the Black King, plain and simple, he overthrew the old White King and took the opposite color in accordance with the Inner Circle rules. He has the resources of said Inner Circle and of the other members, just as he has to help others of the Inner Circle if they so require it.
ARROGANT: Shaw believes himself the ultimate man. Either in business, battle or in the mind. He believes that nothing can beat him and to even try is pure folly. Because of this, the X-Men have defeated him in the past and can possibly beat him in the future.
SUSCEPTIBLE TO COLD: Because of an anomaly created with his power, Shaw is more vulnerable to cold than he should be with his power. While his tolerance is not worse than a normal humans, it's not as good as it could with his power. Any freezing weather or attack will have the same effect on Shaw as on any human
ENEMIES: Over the years, Shaw has made MANY enemies through business exploits, mutant struggles, and social environments. He's not well liked when someone gets to know him for who he truly is.
