Apocalypse (comics)
From Free net encyclopedia
Palendrom (Talk | contribs)
/* External links */ added category link
Next diff →
Current revision
Template:Superherobox Apocalypse (En Sabah Nur) is a fictional comic book supervillain in the Marvel Comics' universe. He is a virtually immortal mutant bonded with extra-terrestrial technology.
A powerful foe of the X-Men, Apocalypse is often accompanied by four servants, the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse, named after the Four Hoursemen of the Book of Revelation.
Apocalypse has empowered a number of servants besides his horsemen. These include Ozymandias, Exodus, Sinister, the Harbinger of Apocalypse and Moses Magnum. He is also served for a time by a treacherous team of Inhumans and mutants known as the Dark Riders. The Dark Riders later declare their loyalty to Stryfe. Apocalypse is also worshipped by a number of cults and individuals, such as the feline mutant Anais, who still roam the world.
Apocalypse often claims to be the first mutant. It is unclear whether this is true. Selene is much older than he, as she dating back to the times of Conan and Kulan Gath. Saul and Azazel are also older, although it is unclear at which point their mutations manifest. With Saul now dead and Azazel trapped in another dimension, the title of oldest mutant on Earth is still disputed by Selene and Nur.
He was thought to be one of the Externals for some time. Recently, Selene claims that it is not possible, as Apocalypse is not a true immortal because he depends on technology to enhance his powers. Many claim that her argument is irrational. Apocalypse was alive for several centuries before enhancing himself with technology.
Apocalypse first appeared in shadow in X-Factor #5 (June 1986), though he was not fully shown until X-Factor #6 (July 1986). He was created by Louise Simonson and Jackson Guice.
Contents |
Character biography
Times past
Image:RiseOfApocalypse3.pngApocalypse's story begins with his birth in mid-30th century BC ancient Egypt during the First Dynasty. He is born disfigured in the settlement of Akkaba and abandoned in the desert to die. He is the last child born in the settlement before the nomadic Sandstormers slaughter the area's population. Their leader, Baal, finds the child and considers it to have the potential to be a god. He raises the child as his own.
He named the child En Sabah Nur ("The First One") in anticipation of others like him. The tribe lives and dies by the philosophy of survival of the fittest. En Sabah Nur earns the right to adulthood at seventeen. He and Baal are the only Sandstormers fit to survive when General Ozymandias attacks their camp. They find refuge in nearby caves, but Baal is killed when the cave he is in collapses. En Sabah Nur, however, escapes to the surface, only to be enslaved.
There, he catches the attention of the Pharaoh Rama-Tut, truly the time traveling Kang the Conqueror. After refusing to bow to Rama-Tut, En Sabah Nur is shot by the Pharoah with the same weapon he used to depower the Fantastic Four as Kang the Conqueror for daring to rebel. He is left to die but survives with the sudden emergence of his mutant immortality. He then comes to a position of power once Rama-Tut is forced to depart by the time-traveling Fantastic Four. These events were revealed in the 1996 Rise of Apocalypse miniseries.
For centuries, he travels around the world worshipped as a god wherever he goes. He is worshipped as Aten, Set, Kali and Huitzilopochtli, among others. In the Marvel Universe, it is important to note, these beings also exist as separate entities. Apocalypse was most likely confused for them.
Image:Sinisapoc.pngCenturies later, En Sabah Nur discovers a starship created by the alien Celestials in Mongolia. Apocalypse strikes down the ship's guardian, the immortal Saul, and enters the Ship. Inside he is transformed and enhanced by Celestial technology, becoming one of the most powerful mutants who will ever live.
During the 12th century Apocalypse encounters Bennet du Paris and awakens his latent mutant powers. Bennet almost immediately rebels but is soundly defeated. Apocalypse places him in suspended animation to remain until the late 20th century when Magneto revives him.
In 1459, Apocalypse leads an army to fight Vlad the Impaler. He personally bests the man who would later become Dracula in single combat. At this time he has already created his enforcers, the Four Horsemen.
At some point, Apocalypse enters a state of suspended animation until mutants like him are populous enough to rule the Earth. He emerges briefly during Victorian England after being disturbed by the Marauders (as told in the Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix miniseries). During this time, he turns Nathaniel Essex into the being known as Mister Sinister, and turns some of his Marauders into techno-organic hybrids. He leaves one man to incubate for 100 years to emerge as his herald. However, Sinister rebels and infects Apocalypse with a super virus he had created. Apocalypse was forced to re-enter his slumber.
In 1897, Apocalypse is woken by some followers in order to deal once more with Dracula, who is causing problems for Apocalypse's cult, presumably in revenge for his earlier defeat. Whether this took place during the time Apocalypse met Essex, or whether Apocalypse awoke twice in the Victorian era, is so far unknown.
Modern day
Apocalypse awoke from his slumber by the arrival of the time-travelling mutant Cable, but spent many years hidden. He gave weapons dealer Moses Magnum superhuman powers. Image:X-factor25.jpg Eventually Apocalypse came into conflict with the original X-Men (then organized as the superhero team X-Factor) on repeated occasions. He first opposed X-Factor as the employer of the Alliance of Evil. When one of them, the Angel, lost his wings, Apocalypse granted him an artificial pair in exchange for his servitude; Angel accepted, becoming Apocalypse's Angel of Death, but eventually he rebelled. Apocalypse left, leaving his Celestial Ship with X-factor. Later, Apocalypse infected Cyclops' son Nathan with a "techno-organic virus" derived from the alien technology that gave him his powers; as a result, Nathan was sent to the future for a cure, where he became the time-traveling mutant warrior known as Cable.
Apocalypse again came into conflict with the X-Men, X-Factor, and X-Force when Cable's clone, Stryfe, traveled to the present and attempted to assassinate Professor X and frame Cable for the crime. At the end of this conflict, Apocalypse was presumed deceased after a battle on the moon with his former servants, the Dark Riders, and being left for dead by Archangel.
How he survived and returned to Earth is unclear; it is most likely that this was the point at which he began to use host bodies within a robotic armor resembling his prior self, as his future self had done in Cable's time. It is unlikely that he began to use host bodies earlier, as he was shown to be fully organic before he "died" in this story.
The Twelve
Image:Cyclopocalypse.pngImage:Deathapoc.png Later, the storyline of The Twelve unfolded (in January & February 2000). Supposedly lost diaries of the mutant seer Destiny surfaced, telling of twelve beings of fantastic power that could defeat Apocalypse once and for all. These diaries, however, were forgeries created by Apocalypse himself; once the Twelve were assembled, he planned to use them to transform himself into a godlike entity beyond the Celestials. The Twelve—chosen not only for their mutant powers but also for the Jungian quasi-archetypes they represented—consisted of:
- Magneto and Polaris, representing opposing magnetic poles;
- Storm, Sunfire and Iceman, representing elementals;
- Cyclops, Phoenix and Cable, representing family as Father, Mother and Son and chosen because of the power of the Summers-Grey bloodline;
- Bishop and Mikhail Rasputin, representing time and space, respectively
- Professor X, representing the mind;
- with the Living Monolith as the core.
Apocalypse planned to funnel the powers of the rest of the Twelve into The Living Monolith, then from the Monolith into Nate Grey. As the power flowed into Nate, Apocalypse would possess Nate's body, which he had determined was the only physical body able to withstand such primal energies. Magneto had been weakened in some previous battles, however, so he could not supply enough energy to "complete the circuit," thus shorting it out.
The Twelve escaped and confronted Apocalypse as he was preparing to transfer his essence into Nate. Cyclops jumped in the way of the transfer, saving Nate, but Apocalypse merged with Cyclops instead, giving birth to a whole new horror (unofficially dubbed by some fans as "Cyclopalypse"). Although he did not achieve the godhood he wished, Apocalypse's power was expanded to an incredible degree and he managed to escape in Cyclops' body, with Jean Grey the only one who believed her husband still survived within the form.
After teleporting away, an amnesiac and powerless Cyclops regained control of the merged form. As Apocalypse began to re-emerge, however, Jean and Cable were alerted to his location, and she finally managed to free Cyclops by telepathically forcing Apocalypse's spirit out of her husband's body. Apocalypse was rendered an incorporeal astral form, and Cable took advantage of the opportunity to apparently destroy him, sundering his spirit with his Psimitar.
Return
Due to the events of M-Day, in which most of the mutants lost their powers, Apocalypse awoke from his slumber in a tomb in Akkaba, recalling:
- "Across the world-- helpless mutants slaughtered. Pogroms. Horror. ...Something has woken me from my slumber. Once, a sudden surge in worldwide mutant power stirred me from a similar sleep. Now-- a plummet in global mutant capacity-- has opened my eyes".
Mike Marts said of the character's return:
- "Apocalypse, at his core, has always been about ensuring that the mutant race is strong enough to survive whatever hardships it might encounter. Now, after the events of M-Day, the mutant race is at its all-time low…so if there was ever a time where the mutant race needed a savior, it’s now. And En Sabah Nur intends to be that savior."
He recently made his reappearance, landing a Sphinx shaped ship on the front lawn of the X-Mansion and having recruited three new horsemen: War, Famine and Pestilence, though only War and Famine were alongside him. He also swayed some of the 198 to side, including Skids, Scalphunter and Fever Pitch.
In Cable & Deadpool #27 it is revealed that a younger time traveling Cable (Then known as "The Traveler") Was accidentaly responsible for infecting En Sabah Nur with the same Techno-organic Virus (that Apocalypse would one day infect Nathan Summers with), during a battle thousands of years ago, this is what led Apocalypse to be able to interface with the cellestial ship in mongolia. The Techno-organic Virus was also revealed to be means by which Apocalypse was once again revived. With only a drop of his blood into a vat of organs, blood, etc. the virus would rewrite the genetic code of the material within to again form a body for Apocalypse.
Cable also revealed that he was the one responsible for Apocalypse post House of M revival, stating that the Mutant community needed a powerful threat to Rally against. Believing that The X-men would inevitably defeat Apocalypse yet again bringing the remaining Mutant community together, Cable judged "the risks worth the rewards".
The issue ended with Apocalypse Reminding Cable that even if he is defeated, he will always return stronger than before to which Cable responded. "Good, The World needs you to be Stronger Apocalypse....It's always helped us be Stronger"
Powers and abilities
Apocalypse is one of the most powerful mutants who ever lived. Apocalypse can alter the molecular structure of his body at will in order to change his form. After exposure to Ship (Celestial technology left behind on earth by a race of space gods) this ability, and all of Apocalypse's other powers, have been enhanced far beyond their original limits.. He can alter his appearance or the size of his body; he can, for example, transform his arms and fists into various melee weapons and grant himself superhuman strength and grow to enormous sizes. He also can generate energy, thanks to a combination of his mutant power and the Celestial technology in his body. He has also demonstrated telekinesis, telepathy, the ability to create force fields, project bursts of concussive force, and can augment himself further by drawing on various outside energy sources. Apocalypse also demonstrated the ability to teleport himself and other beings.
Apocalypse's original body was immortal. Even before being modified by the Celestial ship, he lived for thousands of years and was highly resistant to injury. With the Celestial modifications, this resistance to harm was amplified, although it is still possible to cause him injury that would not be immediately regenerated by his power. Should he suffer massive injuries that prove potentially fatal, he can enter a coma-like state of suspended animation during which he may recover from his wounds with the assistance of his Celestial technology.
In the future timeline from which Cable hails, Apocalypse's physical form was no longer able to contain his vast superhuman energies resulting in his original body burning out. Hence, he transferred his consciousness and powers into a succession of host bodies, abandoning each one when it too grew too old to contain his power. This alternate future version of Apocalypse was ultimately defeated in transit from a depreciated body into a potential host body.
Shortly before he transferred himself into Cyclops, he revealed that he was in a host body in the present day. It is not entirely clear when this happened, but the most likely time is when he appeared to die on the moon.
Aside from his superhuman powers, Apocalypse is also extraordinarily intelligent, a genius with knowledge of science and technology centuries ahead of conventional science. This was not merely a result of his exposure to alien technology, as he was able to make significant new advances beyond the alien materials to which he was exposed.
In other Marvel Comics continuities
The Age of Apocalypse
Image:Ageofapoc.jpg When Professor X's son Legion traveled back in time to kill Magneto before he would become a supervillain, he instead killed his own father. This resulted in an alternate timeline in which Magneto, not Professor X, founded the X-Men, and in which Jean Grey never became the Phoenix. In this timeline, the Age of Apocalypse, Apocalypse arose ten years before he was awoken by Cable and set out to conquer most of North America with the aid of thousands of mutants at his command. He succeeded, but was ultimately killed by Magneto and his X-Men.
Ultimate X-Men
In Ultimate X-Men, set in the Ultimate Marvel continuity, Apocalypse appears as an entity worshipped by Sinister. It is not clear whether Apocalypse is real or just a piece of fiction in the insane mind of his believer. In Sinister's apartment, he spoke to an Apocalypse which was a stuffed effigy, but while Sinister was in jail, Apocalypse appeared to him (though whether or not this was just a hallucination is unknown). He commands Mr. Sinister to "Choke Himself." In "Magnetic North", Sinister mentions that a child must be born, a possible reference to Cable.
Appearances in other media
Animation
X-Men, the animated series
Apocalypse made several appearances in the X-Men animated television series. He was voiced by John Colicos and then by Robert Bockstael.
This Apocalypse wants to pit humans and mutants in a war and rule the stronger race.
He first apears when Doctor Adler is said to have found a way to reverse mutation.
X-Men: Evolution
In the animated series X-Men: Evolution, Apocalypse was first mentioned in a single episode of the second season. The last half of the third season focused on the battle to stop Apocalypse from waking, and he became the main villain for the fourth and final season of the series. He is played by David Kaye.
The origin of this version of Apocalypse is largely the same as the one created in the comics. In the series, Apocalypse had discovered a device left by Rama-Tut (never explicitly said to be Kang) called the Eye of Ages that would turn all humans on Earth into mutants (similar to the device used by Magneto in the X-Men movie, but on a global scale). When Apocalypse tried to power the device, he was weakened, and his high priests, afraid of his power, imprisoned him inside the Eye of Ages and then took him to the top of the Himalayan Mountains and imprisoned him behind three doors.
Centuries later, Apocalypse would be able to use telepathy to reach the world outside his prison and used the hypnotist Mesmero to help unlock the doors. The final door required Mesmero to enlist the aid of Rogue and Mystique—Rogue would use her energy-absorbing power to absorb enough energy from other mutants to revive Apocalypse, and Mystique would use her shape-shifting abilities to unlock the door (turning her to stone in the process). The X-Men and Magneto worked together to stop Mesmero, but they were too late. The awakened Apocalypse defeated them all in an instant and vanished.
Apocalypse's master plan included uncovering pyramids in Mexico, China, and Egypt that would help to relay the Eye of Ages' mutating effect across the globe. To help protect these pyramids, Apocalypse enslaved Magneto, Professor X, Storm, and Mystique to guard the three pyramids and the base hidden under the Sphinx. The X-Men gathered their allies (including modified Sentinels under the command of S.H.I.E.L.D.) and launched an offensive against the pyramids. In the end, Rogue stopped Apocalypse by using the power she absorbed from Leech to shut off his mutant abilities and trap him in the Eye of Ages. Wolverine then sent Apocalypse through time using the vessel that Rama-Tut had used to arrive in ancient Egypt. Apocalypse was not killed, but his destination was unknown.
In the series, Apocalypse was depicted as a god-like pharaoh with an ethereal white glow. Unlike his comic book counterpart, this version of Apocalypse never spoke, and his powers were never defined. In the final episodes of the series, Apocalypse used Rama-Tut's technology to become a cybernetic being closer to the comic book version, and he began to speak in the grand, self-important tone with which older fans were familiar. Some critics felt the producers had done this to pander to traditionalist fans, feeling that the silent, god-like Apocalypse felt more like a real menace than the talkative, cyborg version he reverted to.
Video games
Image:Apoc gif.gifImage:Apocalypselegends.png
VS series
Apocalypse appears as one of the boss characters in "X-Men vs. Street Fighter" and "Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter" arcade games. He appears initially as in the picture at left, but then grows to an enormous size, far too big to fit on a single screen. His main weapon and weak point is his gigantic fist, which can turn into various weapons that do major damage when it strikes the player's character. Although he was the main boss in X-Men vs. Street Fighter, he was downgraded to a mini-boss in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter with a cyborg clone of Akuma called "Cyber-Akuma" taking his former spot.
X2: Wolverine's Revenge
Apocalypse also made a minor appearance in an ending to X2: Wolverine's Revenge and was voiced by Chris Smith.
X-Men Legends
Apocalypse makes a cameo appearance in the ending to X-Men Legends and he was voiced by Dan Hay. He is also the main villain in the sequel, X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse.
Trivia
- According to the writers at Marvel, "En Sabah Nur" translates to "The First One" in Arabic. However, the phrase actually translates into something more akin to "Good Morning." It can also mean "The Seven Lights"; with “Sabah” literally meaning “seven” and “Nur” meaning “light” in Arabic. Since Apocalypse was born thousands of years before modern Arabic existed, this must either be a translation of his true name, or it is a name in Proto-Semitic that simply coincidentally resembles Arabic words. See the talk page for an analysis of what Apocalypse's name might be in Ancient Egyptian.
- A little known fact is that Apocalypse was created as a last minute replacement for the Owl, a Daredevil villain who original X-Factor writer Bob Layton wanted to use as X-Factor's main villain. When Layton was removed from the book and replaced with Louise Simonson, she requested that the last page of X-Factor #5 be changed to a shadowy figured named Apocalypse, as Simonson wanted a new character to be the main villain for the book.
- The Twelve could also be taken as another religious reference to the twelve minor prophets of the Old Testament.
- Apocalypse was once planned to be the mastermind behind the Weapon X project that gave Wolverine his adamantium skeleton.