Development The puppet was sculpted by
Christine Glanville. Originally Black was to have been
killed off at the end of "
The Mysterons", but this idea was abandoned after Glanville altered the puppet to show that the character was under Mysteron control. According to Glanville: "Once I'd painted him up to look gaunt and pallid, Gerry [Anderson] took one look and decided to keep him on as a regular." In a 1986 interview in which he discussed his approach to writing for the series,
Captain Scarlet script editor
Tony Barwick drew parallels between the premise and characters of
Captain Scarlet and those of
Thunderbirds – suggesting, for example, that the Spectrum Organisation could be compared to International Rescue and that Black was similar to the
Hood, the main recurring villain in
Thunderbirds. Prior to
Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons official premiere in September 1967, Black had been referenced several times by the Century 21 comic
TV Century 21 in strips documenting the aftermath of the fateful
Zero-X mission and the structure of the Spectrum Organisation. The exact nature of Black compared to other Mysteron agents is never explicitly stated in the series. Interpretations differ: Chris Bentley states that Black is killed on Mars and replaced with an indestructible Mysteron doppelganger, while according to Chris Drake and Graeme Bassett, the unique manner of his corruption suggests that unlike the Mysterons' other victims, he was not killed and duplicated but remains alive, albeit under Mysteron control. Through Black, the Mysterons relay instructions to their reconstructed intermediaries, while compelling him to undertake acts of murder and terrorism through their deep, disembodied voice (in which Black now also speaks). Black's unique position is of clear importance to the Mysteron cause and thus elevates him above any of their other agents. This is evident in the episode "
Manhunt"; after becoming a radiation hotspot through accidental exposure, he can then be tracked by Spectrum. Capturing Symphony Angel while evading their ground forces, he deliberately subjects her to radiation inside an atomic centre, but does not kill her and allows her to escape. Spectrum officers give chase to the
Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle that they believe contains Black, but is in fact being driven (badly) by Symphony. His ruse a success, Black decontaminates himself and makes his escape. Captain Blue's surprised remark of "So he
is alive!" when he sees security camera footage of Captain Black implies that until then they thought he was dead. In various episodes, like "
The Mysterons" and "
Point 783", he demonstrates the ability to filter out his voice while speaking so only other Mysteron agents can hear him. According to text features in the comic
TV Century 21 and related publications, Black was born Conrad Turner in Manchester, England (though until his corruption at the start of "The Mysterons", he speaks with a North American accent) and was orphaned at seven months as a result of a brief nuclear war. He was raised by distant relatives who provided little emotional support, causing him to be cold and reclusive during his adolescence. At 15, he entered Manchester Technical Academy (a chapter of the Northern University), and graduated with diplomas in physics, space navigation and international law; he then went into the Northern University and received diplomas in science and technology, all this done in three years. He joined the
Royal Air Force and served in the British Civil War at the age of 18. After the country was admitted to the World Government, he achieved renown for his work in the World Army and Air Force, and later as a
Fireball XL3 pilot in the World Space Patrol. He was Spectrum's first agent, and oversaw the construction of
Cloudbase during the 2060s. In the episode "
Treble Cross", an air force test pilot unexpectedly survives an assassination attempt by the Mysterons and aids Spectrum in another effort to apprehend Black. However, he is not deceived when the human pilot poses as his own Mysteron duplicate and evades Spectrum for a second time;
Captain Blue infers that the Mysterons have equipped him with a "
sixth sense" to warn him of danger. If under threat of imminent capture, Black is able to teleport away from danger – an action demonstrated in the episodes "
The Heart of New York", "
Model Spy" and "
Inferno". The character is seen to wear his Spectrum uniform only in the pilot episode and in the secondary opening sequence for all episodes thereafter (in which he is shown to be standing symbolically in a moonlit graveyard). On all other occasions, he is wearing civilian clothing – typically black trousers, a black zip-up jacket and an orange sweater. This is presumably so the other Spectrum personnel cannot contact him therefore making him more inconspicuous, harder to pinpoint and aid in his elusiveness. However, he is shown wearing his uniform in various comic stories where there is no immediate demand for secrecy or when his mission would benefit from it, such as when the Mysterons took control of a robot production facility or when Black tried to manipulate an amnesic Scarlet into helping in an attack on a major conference being held to justify Spectrum's funding. ==Depiction in
New Captain Scarlet==