Spectacular new images of the supermassive black hole M87 that lies at the heart of the massive Messier 87 galaxy, first captured with the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) back in 2019, show this giant not as a static object but as a tumultuous evolutionary happening. The first image glimpsed a dark shadow edged by a glaring halo of hot gas, confirming Einstein’s general relativity. Later observations, including from 2018, revealed that the ring’s brightest spot had rotated about 30 degrees counterclockwise, propelled by turbulence in the accretion disk and affected by strong magnetic fields. These polarized-light studies from 2021 also indicated that these fields have powered M87’s relativistic jets, which have been observed since 1918. But although the shadow’s size is fixed—confirming predictions from Einstein's general theory of relativity—the variability of the ring provides clues to its extreme physics, accretion processes, and formation of jets. A retrospective on observations going back to the early 20th century helps place the work on M87 into context, while continued efforts from the EHT are already poised to reveal more about its evolution—cementing its place as a gateway to understanding both black holes and the universe itself. M87’s importance is underscored elsewhere through in-depth science, a historical narrative, and implications for discoveries yet to come.

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