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Age of Apocalypse
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The "Age of Apocalypse" is a popular X-Men story arc. Although occurring in the alternate universe of Earth-295, it has often had ramifications in the universe of Earth-616, the universe most commonly used in Marvel Comics.
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Legion (David Haller), an extremely powerful psionic mutant and son of Professor Charles Xavier and Israeli diplomat Gabrielle Haller, travels back in time with the intention of killing Magneto, Xavier's former best friend and current arch-nemesis. When David is on the verge of ending Magneto's life, Xavier places himself between the two, and Legion inadvertently kills Xavier instead. Due to a "Grandfather paradox", Legion then ceases to exist. Xavier has now died before Legion was even fathered.
Because of Xavier's sacrifice, Magneto comes to believe in his late friend's dream of peaceful co-existence between humans and mutants. Apocalypse, an immortal mutant who has been alive for centuries, was monitoring the fight. In this reality, he chooses this moment as the perfect time to begin his "survival of the fittest" genetic war, which doesn't happen in the regular Marvel Universe until ten years later.
In this timeline, Magneto establishes the X-Men, but not until after Apocalypse establishes himself as a major power. Apocalypse comes to rule all of North America, and initiates a worldwide genocidal campaign of "cullings" in which millions of humans die. The few that survive live in parts of Europe and Africa which were not devastated by nuclear weapons. Fleets of Sentinels are their only defense.
Meanwhile, the disturbance of the timeline leads to a crystallization wave of the M'Kraan Crystal that is heading toward Earth.
| Team | Leader | Members | Notes |
| Generation Next (Generation X) | Colossus and Shadowcat | Chamber, Husk, Know-It-All (M), Mondo, Skin, Vincente | |
| The Outcasts | Forge | Brute (Sunder in normal continuity), Mastermind, Soaron (Sauron in normal continuity), Sonique (Siryn in normal continuity), Toad, X-Man | X-Man is the son of Jean Grey and Scott Summers, created from their DNA by Mr. Sinister. |
| X-Calibre (Excalibur) | Nightcrawler | Damask (the Black Queen of London's Hellfire Club), Mystique, Switchback | |
| X-Men | Magneto |
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Led out of the ruined Xavier mansion, which never became a school in this universe. |
| X-Ternals (X-Force) | Gambit | Lila Cheney, Jubilee, Strong Guy, Sunspot |
The only major mutant character missing in the original Age of Apocalypse is Psylocke. Fans speculated that she was likely either killed in one of Apocalypse's cullings or that she is one of the members of the Brain Trust keeping control over the pens. However, when the Age of Apocalypse was revisited a decade later, she appeared in X-Men: Age of Apocalypse #4. Her origin remains unknown. There has been no explanation of what exactly she was doing during the original Age of Apocalypse, other than the fact she had some kind of past connection with Wolverine.
Besides the X-Men and its many offshoots, the Human High Council remains as the other power opposing Apocalypse. Unlike the X-Men, however, the Human High Council considers the extermination of mutants as a viable option. Bolivar and Moira Trask, as well as Brian Braddock, are the major proponents for a mutant holocaust.
Secretly, the Human High Council supports a Human Underground Resistance.
| Team | Members | Notes |
| Human High Council | Brian Braddock (Captain Britain), Emma Frost, Moira MacTaggert-Trask, Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, Bolivar Trask, Mariko Yashida, | |
| Human High Council agents | Clint Barton (Hawkeye), Blake (Thor), Carol Danvers, Gateway, Ben Grimm (Thing), Gwen Stacy, Tony Stark (Iron Man), Susan Storm (Invisible Woman), Victor von Doom (Doctor Doom) | |
| Sentinels | Programmed to protect humans above anything else for which they are capable of not attacking mutants if it aids in the accomplishment of their Prime Directive. | |
| The Underground | Valerie Cooper | An underground resistance group that aids refugees escape from North America to Europe. |
| Henry Peter Gyrich | A human supremacist suicide bomber that threatens Heaven. | |
| Robert Kelly | An activist of mutant-human peaceful coexistence, for which Apocalypse imprisoned him. Rescued by Magneto, Nightcrawler, and Rogue. Later brokered the Kelly Pact, a non-aggression treaty between the Human High Council and Apocalypse. | |
| Joseph Robertson | Maintains the clandestine newspaper Daily Bugle with the purpose of informing humans of the news kept in secret by Apocalypse's regime. |
| Team | Members | Notes |
| The Brotherhood of Chaos (Brotherhood of Mutants) | Arclight, Box (Madison Jeffries), Copycat, Spyne, Yeti | |
| Death's Inhuman Strike Force | Black Bolt, Crystal, Gorgon, Karnak, Lockjaw, Medusa, Rhino, Triton | Genetically altered clones of the murdered Inhuman Royal Family. |
| Domino's Bounty Hunters | Caliban, Domino, Grizzly | |
| Elite Mutant Force | Amazon, Aurora, Beast, the Bedlam brothers Jesse Aaronson and his brother Christopher (known as King Bedlam of the second incarnation of the Hellions in normal continuity), Cannonball, Cyclops, Emplate, Havok, the Monets, Northstar | Sinister's EMF is composed of paired mutant siblings, except for Emplate and his two sisters. |
| Enslavers of Seattle Core | Quietus, Sugar Man | |
| Four Horsemen of Apocalypse |
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| The Infinites | Mudir Rictor, Prelate Delgado, Prelate Gallo, Prelate Unus, the Vanisher. | Genetically engineered army created by Sinister and the Beast. Squadrons of Infinites are led by a Prelate or Mudir. |
| The Madri | Duplicates of Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man of Earth-616 | |
| Marauders | Arcade, Dirigible (Kingpin/Wilson Fisk), the Owl, Red (Norman Osborn) | Human terrorists that have betrayed mankind. |
| The Pale Riders | Damask (AOA version of the Black Queen of London's Hellfire Club), Dead Man Wade (Deadpool), Danielle Moonstar | |
| Reavers | Clegg, Dead-Eye, Mangle, Donald Pierce, Slocum, Vultura. | Humans enhanced by Apocalypse's techno-organic virus. |
| Stryfe Force | Mikhail's Rasputin personal army. Formed by the best from his Upscale Program. | |
| Absorbing Man and Diablo | Two wardens in Apocalypse's prisoner camps in Mexico. | |
| Bruce Banner/The Thing (The Incredible Hulk in Earth-616) | A scientist of the Human High Council, secretly "bought" by Mikhail Rasputin, who supplies him with mutants for experiments in which Banner seeks to mutate himself. | |
| Magma | ||
| Keeper Murdock (Daredevil) | Mikhail's personal warden. Responsible for watching over Empath, Mikhail's prisoner. | |
| Rex | Apocalypse's majordomo. | |
| Shadow King & Strong Guy | ||
| Sebastian Shaw | ||
| Wolverine (not the same as Wolverine in normal continuity). | A mutant altered by the Dark Beast and who serves Holocaust as his leading hunter |
| Team | Members | Notes |
| Avalon (the Savage Land) | Cain (Juggernaut), Destiny, Douglas Ramsey (Cypher), and Wendy | |
| The Brood | Misty Knight, Christopher Summers, Colleen Wing | Humans transformed into Brood following the escape of Christopher Summers, who had been infected by a Brood Queen. |
| Heaven | Angel, Karma, and Scarlett MacKenzie | Nightclub run by Angel and its employees. |
| Prisoners in Sinister's Breeding Pens | Artemis, Avalanche, Blob, Newt, Phantazia, Polaris, Pyro | |
| Scavengers | Cobra and Mister Hyde | Cannibal mutates who plague graveyards and attack anyone, regardless of their allegiance. |
| Bullseye | One of the many human prisoners aboard Mikhail Rasputin's ships. | |
| Callisto | Leader of a band of pirates | |
| Peter Corbeau | A scientist and astronomer captured by Apocalypse and forced to serve him as his librarian. | |
| Newell (Stingray) | Captain of the Submarine Excalibur that transports refugees to Avalon. | |
| John Proudstar (Thunderbird) | Leader of Ghost Dance, an anti-Apocalypse cult and the first stage in the Infernal Gallop to Avalon. | |
| Rossovich (Omega Red) | An information broker | |
| Wolfsbane | In her wild wolf form. |
After the Age of Apocalypse story arc, Bishop travels back in time to prevent the timeline from ever occurring. This occurs simultaneously with a nuclear exchange between the Human High Council and Apocalypse. Most characters were seemingly killed by the nukes, but the fate of the remaining survivors remained unclear. It is presumed that they were erased from existence.
Some characters escape the Age of Apocalypse into the Earth-616 continuity. These include Beast, Nate Grey (the AOA version of Cable), Holocaust (one of Apocalypse's horsemen), and Sugar Man. Nate Grey allies himself with the X-Men a few times, but later "dies" by disseminating into every life form in the universe. Holocaust remains at large in the main Marvel Universe until he joins the Exiles and is killed by another universe's evil version of Hyperion (in Exiles #62). Sugar Man seemingly died at the hands of the 616 Callisto, but has recently been revealed to be still alive in X-Men #200. Beast and Sugar Man are sent 20 years into Earth-616's past. This allows for major retconning that explains that the Age of Apocalypse's Beast (now known as Dark Beast) has a hand in the creation of the Morlocks. It also explains why Mister Sinister initiated the "Mutant Massacre": he recognized his stolen handiwork, and ordered it exterminated, as a debasement of his art or as a potential rival to it. Furthermore, Sugar Man gave genetic technology secrets to the Genegineer of Genosha, allowing this small nation to become powerful by enslaving mutants.
Blink escapes into the multiverse itself: she joins and leads the reality-hopping team of heroes known as the Exiles. Her counterpart on Earth-616 has been dead since the "Phalanx Covenant" story arc.
Sabretooth also survives along the same means as Blink. He joins a team of reality-hopping super beings known as Weapon X. During one mission, he opts to stay behind on a world to raise David Richards. Eventually, he is brought back into action and joins the Exiles.
The original Age of Apocalypse storyline (not including later released miniseries and one-shots) should be read in the following order:
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In 2005, Marvel published an Age of Apocalypse one-shot and miniseries to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the popular event.
The one-shot features stories set before the events depicted in the original "Age of Apocalypse" event, similar in focus to the Chronicles of the Age of Apocalypse issues: the one-shot contains the story of how Colossus and Shadowcat left the X-Men to train Generation Next, how Sabretooth met Wild Child, the first appearance of the Silver Samurai and that the world survived the Human High Council's nuclear attack.
In the miniseries, which takes place after the nuclear attack in X-Men: Omega, we are introduced to several characters who weren't in the original storyline. Long time characters Cloak, Dagger, Psylocke, and the Morlocks (including Feral, Leech, Marrow, Skids, and Thornn), who where survivors of Mister Sinister's experiments, are introduced. Newer characters Beak, Icarus, and X-23 are seen along with the concept of Xorn. Jean Grey is also revealed to have saved everyone from the nuclear attack, and is revived from death by Sinister. She is also now displaying Phoenix Force level powers.
The Exiles, two of which are from the Age of Apocalypse universe, visited the world as well during this time, the survival of which comes as a surprise to Blink and Sabretooth.
It seems however that due to the event known as House of M, the Age of Apocalypse has been erased from existence as it was revealed by the 616 Forge during the event known as "Endangered Species".
In What If? vol. 2, #77, Legion manages to kill Magneto just as he escapes from the concentration camp he was being held in. Due to Magneto's death, mutants become accepted by the public and the X-Men are mutant celebrities, although Xavier senses that something is wrong.
Apocalypse attacks a press conference in Washington D.C with an army of mutants and the X-Men are easily defeated. Xavier is forced to bring the now married Jean and Scott out of retirement. Xavier confronts Apocalypse directly while Jean and Scott take on his army. After being taunted that his dream was weak, Xavier kills Apocalypse with a psychic blast that kills him as well.
After sensing Xavier's death, Jean becomes angry and becomes the Phoenix again, causing the area to burn to the ground. Apocalypse's army retreats saying that his dream will live on, even though he is dead.
In the aftermath, hatred and persecution of mutants begins to take place, due to the events in D.C. Scott reopens the Xavier Institute and carries on Xavier's dream. Apocalypse's forces challenge Scott, saying that only the best dream will survive.
In What If? vol. 2, #81, Tony Stark, head of the human resistance, joins up with Magneto to figure out a way to save Earth from the coming of Galactus. Among Tony’s fellow human freedom fighters are the Hulk, Sue Storm and Gwen Stacy. Galactus is ultimately defeated by the AoA survivors.
In 2006, Marvel published a What If? Age of Apocalypse one-shot which reveals what would have happened if both Xavier and Magneto were killed by Legion, leaving no-one to form the X-Men. As explained by Uatu the Watcher, the governments of the world respond to the hundreds of deaths caused by Legion's attack by capturing mutants and sending them into concentration camps, causing non-mutant superhumans to flourish. Some mutants, such as Cyclops (who tore out his own eyes to pass as human) flee to the Savage Land. After Apocalypse conquers the world, he gains hundreds of mutant and superhuman followers including the Absorbing Man, Banshee, Cannonball, the Hulk, Holocaust, Juggernaut, Lady Deathstrike, Namor, the Scarlet Witch, Sebastian Shaw, clones of Spider-Man, Storm, and Sunspot. Apocalypse's Horsemen are Hulk, Juggernaut, Namor, and Storm.
Apocalypse's followers destroy the mutant sanctuary in the Savage Land and only Sauron and Nate Summers escape. They join the Defenders, a group of heroes consisting of Brother Voodoo (the new Sorcerer Supreme), Captain America (wielding Mjolnir), Captain Britain (who uses Iron Man's armour), Colossus, the Molecule Man, the Thing (who uses a prosthetic arm), and Wolverine (who isn't bonded to any adamantium), who have learned the truth about their reality from the sacrifice of Doctor Strange. They have pledged not to change the past but to overthrow Apocalypse in the present. As they fight back Nate puts his own plans in motion to change the past, with tragic consequences.
The majority of the Defenders are killed in the struggle against Apocalypse. Nate succeeds in killing Apocalypse with the help of the Molecule Man. Nate then garbs himself in Apocalypse's armour and uses the stolen Eye of Agamotto to open a time portal into the past to stop Legion's actions. Captain America unleashes a bolt from Mjolnir that kills Nate and he and Wolverine walk off. Uatu reveals that by trying to change the past, Nate merely caused events to repeat themselves in yet another reality, as the lightning bolt destroyed Legion, Xavier, Magneto, and hundreds of others. He mentions that this problem is spreading like a cancer across the multiverse, as reality after reality turns into an Age of Apocalypse.
An Age of Apocalypse-like timeline was also shown in an episode of the X-Men animated series in which Trevor Fitzroy and Bantam go back in time and kill Professor X. In this reality, Magneto creates a mutant resistance to fight in the mutant-human war which has laid waste to the world. Later, Bishop and Shard, along with the alternate Storm and Wolverine, travel back in time and stop them from killing the Professor.
X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, released the same year as the Age of Apocalypse (limited series), was heavily influenced by the AoA storyline, including several characters and concepts from the storyline.
In the VS System Trading Card Game, a series of exclusive cards were recently released as prizes and participation awards in various tournaments. These cards were themed around the Age of Apocalypse, and notably there are a number of cards in the set that are the first cards in the game with the printed Horsemen of Apocalypse team affiliation. [1]
- UncannyXmen.Net's look at the Age of Apocalypse
- Age of Apocalypse summary
- It Only Hurts When I Sing: The Age of Apocalypse Resource Center