Captain Black is the fictional nemesis of Captain Scarlet and the primary recurring Mysteron intermediary in the 1960s British Supermarionation television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and its 2005 computer-animated remake, Gerry Anderson's New Captain Scarlet. "Black" is a codename; in the original series, the character's real name is never revealed (although in tie-ins he is named as Conrad Turner), while in the remake the character's tombstone indicates that his real name is Conrad Lefkon. The character's transformation from human to Mysteron agent occurs on Mars in the first episode of each series ("The Mysterons" and "Instrument of Destruction, Part 1"). Conception Originally Black was to have been killed off at the end of "The Mysterons", but this idea was abandoned after sculptor Christine 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. Appearances Original series In 2068, Black is seconded to command the Zero-X spacecraft for a crewed mission to Mars, assigned with investigating anomalous radio signals detected by the Spectrum Organisation. Previously, Earth was aware only of the existence of rock snakes on the planet (as seen in Thunderbirds Are Go); consequently, Black is alarmed to discover a fully-developed alien city on the Martian plains. When the inhabitants – a collective, intangible, artificial intelligence calling itself "the Mysterons" – rotate scanning apparatus towards the Martian Exploration Vehicle (MEV), Black misinterprets the attempt at peaceful first contact as preparations for an attack; believing the Mysterons to be hostile, he orders his subordinates to fire on and destroy the settlement. After using their power of "reversing matter" to reconstruct their city, the