A long-standing mystery in astrophysics — how supermassive black holes grew to billions of solar masses so quickly after the Big Bang — may finally be resolved. Observations from telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope have revealed these colossal objects existed remarkably early in the universe, posing a challenge to traditional models of black hole growth through slow accretion. New supercomputer simulations and theories suggest that these early behemoths might have formed from the direct collapse of rare, turbulent reservoirs of cold gas. These massive gas clouds, under the extreme conditions of the early universe, could have collapsed to form 'seed' black holes up to 100,000 times the mass of the Sun, bypassing the need for an initial stellar collapse. Another hypothesis posits that dark matter played a crucial role by preventing hydrogen gas from cooling too rapidly, thereby enabling the formation of larger, dense clouds capable of direct collapse into black holes. The article from BBC Sky at Night Magazine indicates that the 'catastrophic' answer refers to the violent cosmic events that facilitate the rapid growth of these black holes. While supermassive black holes typically reside quietly at galactic centers, their active phases, known as Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), are often fueled by dramatic events such as the merger of two galaxies or close galactic encounters. These gravitational interactions can destabilize gas and stars, funneling vast amounts of material towards the central black hole, leading to its rapid accretion and growth. The term 'catastrophic' accurately describes these powerful, galaxy-altering processes, rather than an imminent threat to Earth.