Fictional character biography
The Rise of Apocalypse
The story of Apocalypse begins with his birth in 3000 BC (approximately 5000 years ago) Egypt during the First Dynasty. He was born gray-skinned and with his characteristic disfigured lips, a sign of doom, in the settlement of Akkaba and abandoned by his original parents. The child was left to die in the harsh desert sun. However, a roving band of feared nomad raiders, the Sandstormers, slaughtered the population. Their ruthless leader, Baal, found the child crying in rage, and believed him to have the potential to be a god. He raised the child as his own, naming him En Sabah Nur (translates into "The First One") in anticipation of others like him.
The tribe lived and died by the philosophy of survival of the fittest, with "fittest" being the toughest, most ruthless and pitiless. As En Sabah Nur grew, he surpassed the other tribesmen in intelligence and strength. Everyone in the tribe except for Baal hated and feared him for his inhuman looks and abilities. Nur did not understand their fear, but hardened his heart against it. Moreover, he believed in the principle that Baal and the tribe lived by, that only the fittest, tested by hardship, would, and should, survive. En Sabah Nur earned the right to adulthood at seventeen by surviving an endurance test in the desert: Nur killed three armed warriors of the tribe using only his bare hands. He and Baal were the only Sandstormers to survive when General Ozymandias attacked their camp.
They found refuge in a sacred cave before it collapsed. After a week of wandering without food or water, they found the remnants of a timeship inside an underground Egyptian tomb. Baal told En Sabah Nur to continue, spreading the Sandstormers' doctrine, with the ultimate goal being the removal of Rama-Tut, a man from the future who had arrived in a fantastic ship and had become the Pharaoh of Egypt. Baal told Nur that he believed him to be a conqueror whose coming was foretold in ancient prophecies, and that Nur was in fact destined to overthrow Rama-Tut. When Baal died from lack of nourishment, Nur, whose mutant physiology kept him alive, vowed to take revenge on Rama-Tut and claim his destiny. When Nur reached the surface, he was quickly enslaved. While a slave, he kept his disfigured lips constantly covered, and Ozymandias' sister, Nephri, became attracted to the mysterious slave. Eventually he experienced a vision of the Egyptian death god Set, who urged him to become a conqueror.
En Sabah Nur caught the attention of the Pharaoh, in actuality a time-travelling earlier incarnation of Kang the Conqueror, who had come back in time to locate the young Apocalypse and take him under his wing. Kang knew that Apocalypse, one of the most powerful mutants who ever lived, was destined to rule the world, and had been born in ancient Egypt. Hence, Rama-Tut had gone back in time to find Apocalypse as a child, raise him, and thereby become his master. Since Rama-Tut's mission failed, he decided to keep Apocalypse as a slave. En Sabah Nur was thrown into a pit of snakes, but survived when his powers activated. He revealed his face to Nephri, who rejected him for his appearance, and refused to bow to Rama-Tut, who by this time had captured the likewise time-traveling Fantastic Four by using a futuristic weapon. The pharaoh shot Nur with the same gun, and the latter was once more left to die, but survived with the sudden emergence of his prodigious mutant abilities, he renamed himself Apocalypse. Rama-Tut fled the former slave's rampage, as the Fantastic Four went back to their own era. Nur also enslaved his former tormentor Ozymandias by using Rama-Tut's advanced technology to turn him into a blind seer made of living stone, and would take advantage of the latter's ability to chronicle his future destinies. Years later, Apocalypse revisited Nephri, now an ancient Egyptian Queen, he mocked her dying beauty, as he was still as he had been years before. He walked away, leaving Egypt. [6]
Early centuries
As the millennia passed, he traveled around the world, appearing throughout history and encouraging civilizations to worship him as a death god in several ancient mythologies, and testing their strength by manipulating them into fighting wars of conquest. He also frequently acted as a conqueror, raising armies to do his bidding. Nur begin to beget progeny, who faithfully followed him as the Clan Akkaba. Offspring of Apocalypse receive a portion of his power; those closest related having near identical abilities. En Sabah Nur would discover a starship created by the god-like Celestials. Apocalypse makes contact with it, and transforms and enhances himself with it's advanced technology. Apocalypse now enters long states of hibernation to re-energize his body, while he waits for mutants to become more common, leaving Clan Akkaba and Ozymandias to act in his stead while he sleeps.
In 1495, an early Horseman of War, leading Apocalypse's armies (Riders of the Dark), bests the man who would later become Dracula in single combat. Apocalypse ruthlessly delivers the final blow to him, but Vlad refuses to die. Apocalypse would encounter crusader Bennet du Paris and awakens his latent mutant powers. Bennet almost immediately rebels but is soundly defeated by Apocalypse, who places him in suspended animation, where he remains until centuries later when Magneto revives him as his leading Acolyte, Exodus.
In 1859, Apocalypse is stumbled upon, and awaken by the Marauders, a group of criminals hired by a British scientist named Nathaniel Essex. Once introduced, Apocalypse learned the scientific term for beings like himself – mutants. Coercing Essex and members of the Hellfire Club into working as his agents, Apocalypse plotted the first steps in his quest for global conflict on an unprecedented scale. He used his advanced technology to mutate Nathaniel into a being now called Mister Sinister, and commanded him to create a plague to ravage and transmute the population of the world. The mutant heroes Cyclops and Phoenix had been sent back through time by the Clan Askani, a sisterhood dedicated to opposing Apocalypse from a distant future. Close to victory, Apocalypse is suddenly greatly weakened, and Cyclops and Phoenix manage to defeat him. It is revealed that Sinister had betrayed his new master, seeing Apocalypse's vision of the future as madness, he had instead created a plague that attacked only him. Upon re-entering his hibernation sanctuary, and teleporting away, Apocalypse forgave Sinister for his treachery, seeing strength in Sinister's defiance, although, but with the understanding that it would not be tolerated again.
In 1897, Apocalypse is once more woken, this time by his followers, in order to deal with Dracula, who is turning members of Clan Akkaba into vampires to battle Apocalypse, as revenge for his earlier defeat and the way the Dark Lord previously shamed him. Apocalypse, with Abraham Van Helsing, kills Dracula, although the master vampire would frequently return and suffer many more deaths. The continuation of the Akkaba line is secured by Ozymandias through a disabled but powerful teleporter named Frederick Slade mating with a woman.
At the cusp of the 20th century, Apocalypse emerges and again enlisted the aid of Mister Sinister, only to be betrayed by Sinister yet again, this time infecting his master with a virus. Apocalypse however was aware of this second betrayal from the start and had hoped that Sinister would still join his cause nevertheless. Returning to his regenerative hibernation, he instructs his now former servant that they should never see each other again. Apocalypse also leaves one man to incubate for 100 years to emerge as his herald.
Modern Age
Apocalypse had spent many years hidden, but awoke from his slumber by the arrival of the mysterious time-traveling mutant Cable (ironically, Cable had come to the present to prevent the ancient mutant's awakening). Awakened almost a century earlier than he had planned, Apocalypse decided to examine the world and determine its conditions for testing. He would grant superhuman powers to the terrorist known as Moses Magnum,[7] who did his bidding by testing the strong and winnowing the weak. Apocalypse planned to use a mutant named Michael Nowlan's ability of augmenting mutant powers to provide mutant-kind with unlimited power. He employed a group of mutants, the Alliance of Evil, to capture the power-amplifying mutant. This plan was foiled by the interferences of X-Factor.[8] Finding an interest in this group of mutants, Apocalypse monitored the X-Factor activities and researched into their background learning of Professor Xavier and the X-Men.
Apocalypse had begun recruiting mutants to serve as his Four Horsemen. During the "Mutant Massacre", he recruited the Morlock Plague to be his Horseman Pestilence[9], then recruited War[10] and Famine.[11] He saved Angel from an exploding plane and granted him artificial wings (after he had lost his own natural wings) in exchange for his servitude, and the X-Factor member was reborn as the Horseman Death.[12] Apocalypse planned to use his Horsemen to destroy New York, but they were defeated by X-Factor, thanks to the help of both the reformed Angel as well as Power Pack. Apocalypse left his Celestial Ship for them and in return, took the willing Morlock Caliban (whom Apocalypse would genetically alter into his servant).[13] to one of his bases at Mount Everest. During the Evolutionary War, Apocalypse opposed the High Evolutionary's ideals and fought him.[14] Apocalypse himself would later be confronted by the Norse god Loki, who wanted him to join in his "Acts of Vengeance".[15] After a while, Apocalypse eventually freed Caliban from his control, and the mutant returned to the Morlock tunnels.
Over a few months later, Apocalypse had conquered the city of Attilan, home of the Inhumans, and enslaved part of its population. He selected and mutated six Inhumans to form a group he called the Riders of the Storm (named after his earliest army). Apocalypse at this time had learned of Sinister's intentions behind the son of Scott Summers and, more or less, Jean Grey; Nathan Christopher Charles Summers. Apocalypse sensed the child would grow up to be a powerful mutant and possible threat one day. He also detected that the infant's energy signature was the same as the one that awakened him all those years ago. He sent his Riders to Earth to abduct the child. Through the help of Black Bolt and the Inhuman Royal Family, the X-Factor attacked Apocalypse's lunar stronghold, where he was ultimately defeated. However, the young Nathan had been infected with a deadly techno-organic virus. He was sent to the future with Askani for a cure, where he became the time-traveling mutant warrior known as Cable. It was also not the end of the immortal mutant, as the Riders of the Storm took Apocalypse back to Earth to one of his revjunation chambers for revivement. [16]
Sins of the Future
Apocalypse is prematurely awoken from his his hibernation process by his minions, the Riders (now calling themselves The Dark Riders). Enraged, he demanded to know why he was revived. The Riders informed their master of recent events: his horsemen had kidnapped Cyclops and Jean Grey, supposedly under his instructions (in actuality, Mister Sinister, who was posing as Apocalypse). Further, Charles Xavier, mentor and founder of the X-Men, had been the victim of an assassination, reportedly perpetrated by the man called Cable, the leader of the recently formed X-Force. These incidents, added by Apocalypse's burning need to determine their meaning, began the conflict that would be referred to as the X-Cutioner’s Song.
Apocalypse goes to his Horsemen's base but finds them defeated by the X-Men. After defeating them, Apocalypse finds a safe house of Cable, where he immediately realize that his weaponry are based on his work and his technology. It took him but a moment to come to the correct conclusion that Cable was in fact a time traveler from the future and that he himself ruled this future. Desperately needing another regeneration cycle, his hibernation is once again interrupted, but this time by the mutant terrorist known as Stryfe (whom he recognizes as Cable). Using his vast telekinetic powers, Stryfe easily bested the incredibly weakened Apocalypse, who escapes. In his departure, however, he lost his Riders, as they changed their allegiances to Stryfe. Apocalypse confronted Xavier's students of joining forces to defeat Stryfe, and cures Professor Xavier of the techno-organic virus as payment for sanctuary.
The conflict came to an apex at Apocalypse's own former base on the moon. Due to his two recent attempts at regeneration interrupted (and after a last fight with the Dark Riders), the ancient mutant lay dying during the battle, and it seemed, Apocalypse was no more.
Despite his apparent death, (including Stryfe's) the Dark Riders would soon find a new mutant to follow, Cable's son, Tyler, who had travelled to the present to ensure Apocalypse's rise and exact revenge on his father. Adopting the name of Genesis, he considered himself the new heir of Apocalypse. He recovered Apocalypse's dead body to resurrect him back to life by sacrificing the lives of many people in villages neighboring Akkaba. During this time, Wolverine was held captive by Genesis, who attempted to restore Wolverine's lost adamantium skeleton and claws and turn him into a Horseman as a gift for Apocalypse. However, Wolverine broke free and mutated into a feral state, and then killed Genesis and nearly all of the Dark Riders. During the fight, Cannonball opened the coffin containing Apocalypse's body, but found it empty. Meanwhile, a dark figure stirred in the shadows of the destroyed fortress, and it is apparent that is Apocalypse.
Onslaught and Hulk
Apocalypse was reborn with Ozymandias at his side, and swiftly learned of the present danger; Onslaught. [17] Observing the conflict between the psionic entity and Earth's heroes with Uatu the Watcher, who suggested to Apocalypse a course of action, an alliance with the one who hated him the most, Cable. [18] Upon convincing his eternal enemy of a short alliance, Apocalypse surmised, that Onslaught would be most vulnerable through the astral plane, and that he needed Cable for actual physical transportation to this realm. Once on the astral plane, Apocalypse would remove the captive Franklin Richards, greatly weakening Onslaught. The plan succeeded, but was interrupted by the Invisible Woman, who had invisibly accompanied the pair, having suspected Apocalypse's motive in wanting to actually kill her son. Unfortunately, the reprieve in battle gave Onslaught the time to escape, prolonging the conflict. [19] Despite the failure of Apocalypse's plan, Onslaught was eventually defeated. [20]
After the Onslaught saga, Apocalypse would recruit the Hulk to become the third incarnation of War, by being supplied with weaponry (and a helmet shielding Hulk from his father's abusive and severely distractive spirit). Apocalypse wanted to use the Hulk's nexus-energy, derived from imminent Celestial Franklin Richards' pocket universe to overcome the Celestials. To test this newest recruit, Apocalypse set War against the New World Order, a shadow cabinet organization, with intentions to conquer the world. The New World Order set the Juggernaut and the Absorbing Man against War, and both were easily defeated. However, Hulk came to his senses after having injured his friend, Rick Jones. Despite this apparent setback, the incident was still a victory for Apocalypse as it was a successful testing of newly understood Celestial technology. The test completed and the Hulk having left, Apocalypse ended the only loose end left, the New World Order. Activating the self-destruct mechanism on the sword of War, which they had obtained, Apocalypse destroyed their headquarters, ending their attempt at global puppetry. [21]
Intending to re-start the human-Deviant war, as part of his plan to test the strong, Apocalypse set off nuclear warheads at Lemuria, causing the Deviants to further mutate (which also restored Ikaris's father Virako to return to life). Apocalypse launches an obelisk into San Francisco, and from it emerges a mentally controlled Karkas, now a gigantic monster, that the Eternals battle. Apocalypse is confronted by Prime Eternal Ikaris. Although Ikaris is defeated by Apocalypse, Ikaris still manages to destroy his ship and thwart Apocalypse's plan. [22]
The Twelve
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Main article: The Twelve (X-Men) |
After centuries of plotting, planning, and waiting, Apocalypse put his master plan into action. He had been gathering new Horsemen. He had kidnapped Wolverine and set up a contest between the X-Men member and an adamantium-bonded Sabretooth to determine who would become the new leader of his Four Horsemen. Emerging victorious, Apocalypse strips the adamantium from Sabretooth and bonds it to Wolverine's skeleton once more. Supposedly lost diaries of the mutant seer Destiny surfaced, telling of twelve beings of fantastic power that could defeat Apocalypse once and for all. Before the X-Men could discern a course of action, various mutants, all listed in Destiny's prophecies, were abducted by the Four Horsemen. The Twelve legend was revealed to be in fact a ruse orchestrated by Apocalypse himself; once the Twelve were assembled, he planned to use them to transform himself into a godlike entity beyond the Celestials.
Having assembled his selected subjects, Apocalypse inserted them into a gigantic device of Celestial design. Apocalypse planned to funnel the powers of the eleven mutants into The Living Monolith, and 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.
Unbeknownst to Apocalypse, Magneto had recently lost his powers, leaving his part unfulfilled. Deciding to make do with only eleven, Apocalypse continued his merger with Nate Grey. The failure of the machine to function properly however allowed the eleven to escape, confronting Apocalypse as he was preparing to transfer his essence into Nate. Unfortunately they are defeated by Apocalypse. Seeing no alternative, Cyclops lunged at Nate, pushing him out of the energy vortex containing he and Apocalypse, fulfilling the merger process. Although he did not achieve the godhood he wished, Apocalypse's power was expanded to an incredible degree. While the merge was successful, the aim for unlimited power was not, and Apocalypse attempted to complete the transformation, by warping reality into various scenarios (known as the Ages of Apocalypse), Apocalypse hoped to prompt the Twelve into using their powers and charge the Celestial machine. But eventually the mutants realized their true predicament, and “Cyclopalypse” unsuccessful, teleported away.
In Egypt, an amnesiac and powerless Cyclops regained control of the merged form. But 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. Apocalypse's time with Cyclops left its mark, making the X-Man more ruthless after his return and partially being the cause of his marital problems with Phoenix.
Post-M-Day
Due to the events of M-Day, in which most of the mutants lost their powers, Apocalypse was revealed to be alive and well. The techno-organic virus, with which he long ago infected Cable, was also revealed to be the means by which Apocalypse's spirit reconstituted itself. With only a drop of his blood into a vat of organs and blood, the virus would rewrite the genetic code of the material within to form a body for Apocalypse. He awoke from a 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".
Apocalypse finds himself in a world with its mutant population reduced to a tenth of what it had been, out of the millions who populated earth prior to his demise at Cable's hands. Bent on becoming the new messiah for mutant-kind, Apocalypse approached the world leaders assembled at the United Nations in New York and issued an ultimatum; humanity would destroy ninety per cent of its own population, putting man and mutant on level ground in anticipation of the final conflict when the worthy alone would survive - or Apocalypse would unleash his meta-plague on the world and obliterate all humanity.
He had assembled a new cadre of Horsemen: Gazer (War), Sunfire (Famine) and Polaris (Pestilence). Gazer was saved from death and forced to battle an archaeologist for the mantle of War, which he won with the aid of Apocalypse's majordomo and scribe, Ozymandias. Both Sunfire, who had lost his legs at the hands of Lady Deathstrike and his powers to Rogue, and Polaris, an M-Day victim, were captured, and reluctantly altered into Famine and Pestilence, respectively. Reappearing inside a Sphinx-shaped ship, Apocalypse confronted the X-Men on the front lawn of the X-Mansion. One of the X-Men switched sides and submitted himself willingly to be transformed into a Horseman Death: Gambit, as he had come to believe Apocalypse could be helpful to the mutant cause though he would require to be watched, although his mind was frayed as a result. Apocalypse also swayed some of the 198 to his side, including Skids, Scalphunter and Fever Pitch. Sunfire was able to break free of Apocalypse's control with the help of Emma Frost. Polaris was de-brainwashed by the X-Men. Gazer died defending Apocalypse, stabbed in the back by Ozymandias. Gambit was taken into seclusion by Sunfire and deprogrammed.
Despite recruiting several refugees to his cause, Apocalypse was forced to retreat by the X-Men and the Avengers. Ultimately, it was discovered that the Celestials lent their technology to him, requiring as payment greater sufferings later. Apocalypse attempted to embrace death as an escape from his lifelong pact, only to find himself instantly resurrected by the Celestials who took him away.