Age of Apocalypse
"Age of Apocalypse" is a 1995 comic book crossover storyline mostly published in the X-Men franchise of books by Marvel Comics. The Age of Apocalypse briefly replaced the universe of Earth-616 and had ramifications in the main Marvel Comics universe when the original timeline was restored. It was later retconned as having occurred in the alternate universe of Earth-295.
During the entirety of the Age of Apocalypse event the regularly published X-Men comics were replaced by new X-Men related mini series, focusing on various teams and individuals in the Age of Apocalypse world including X-Calibre, Gambit and the X-Ternals, Generation Next, Astonishing X-Men, Amazing X-Men, Weapon X, Factor X, X-Man and X-Universe. The event was bookended by two one shots, X-Men Alpha and X-Men Omega.
The storyline starts with Legion, a psychotic mutant who traveled back in time to kill Magneto before he can commit various crimes against humanity. Legion accidentally kills Professor Charles Xavier, his father, leading to a major change in the timeline. The death of Professor Xavier leads Apocalypse to attack 10 years sooner than he did in the original timeline, taking control of Earth and altering everything that happened from that point forward. Apocalypse is opposed by several factions of mutant resistance, including a group led by Magneto. The group manages to send the mutant Bishop back in time to prevent the murder of Professor Xavier, undoing the entire timeline.
In 2005, Marvel published an Age of Apocalypse one-shot and miniseries to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the fan favorite event. The book looks at what happened after the end of the original story, revealing that the timeline became in fact an alternate earth, designated "Earth-295". The "Dark Angel Saga" in 2011 revisited the alternate reality once more, leading to an Age of Apocalypse ongoing series launched in 2012 that ran for 14 issues. The world was also featured as part of Marvel's 2015 Secret Wars.
Storyline
, a psychotic mutant on Earth and son of Professor Charles Xavier, travels back in time with the intention of killing Magneto. However, Legion travels to a time when Magneto and Xavier are still friends while in Israel. As Xavier dies trying to protect Magneto, Legion vanishes, and a new timeline is created. The only person aware of how history has changed is Lucas Bishop, a time traveling mutant who followed Legion.Because of Xavier's sacrifice, Magneto comes to believe in his late friend's dream of a peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants. Apocalypse an immortal mutant villain, was monitoring the fight. He chooses this moment as the perfect time to begin his world conquest, which did not happen in the mainstream Marvel universe for another ten years.
Magneto assembles the X-Men just as Apocalypse begins his war. Despite the X-Men's resistance, Apocalypse conquers all of North America and eventually mutants are considered the ruling class. Apocalypse initiates a genocidal campaign called "cullings," killing millions of humans. To further ensure that no one is left to challenge him or undo the circumstances that led to his reign, he has everyone with telepathic or chronal abilities hunted down. Meanwhile, the changes in the timeline result in a destructive crystallization wave created by the M'Kraan Crystal.
''X-Men: Alpha''
X-Men: Alpha was published in January, 1995, and launched the "Age of Apocalypse" crossover story. It briefly shows readers how many popular X-Men characters have changed in this new world. Bishop is reunited with Magneto while retaining fragmented memories of the true timeline. Magneto assigns his X-Men and their allies different missions. Some are to gather the forces needed to change history while others will continue resisting Apocalypse. The story continues in eight interlocking miniseries, each focusing on a different team of X-Men or other mutant forces. Each miniseries temporarily replaced one of the monthly X-Men titles being published at the time.''X-Calibre''
X-Calibre is a team built around Nightcrawler, who is sent by Magneto to locate Destiny, a mutant capable of seeing into the future, so that she can verify Bishop's story. Nightcrawler must travel to Avalon, a secret refuge where mutants and humans live together in peace. Along his journey, he encounters John Proudstar, the monk Cain, the pirate Callisto, and his mother Mystique. The chief antagonists for Nightcrawler's journey consist of the Pale Riders, a trio of Apocalypse's servants made up of Moonstar Damask, Dead Man Wade and the Shadow King. Nightcrawler's team consists of Mystique, Switchback, and later Damask, who joins Nightcrawler after realizing the beauty Avalon has to offer. The X-Calibre series gets its name from an in-joke between Nightcrawler and his mother, Mystique, because of the caliber of bullets she uses, simply stamped with an X. This title replaced Excalibur.''Gambit and the X-Ternals''
's X-Ternals consist of Sunspot, Jubilee, Strong Guy and Lila Cheney. They are sent deep into space using Lila's teleportation in order to retrieve a shard of the M'Kraan Crystal, essential to the verification of Bishop's alternate reality. The X-Ternals are pursued by Rictor, a henchman of Apocalypse desperate to earn his master's praise by killing Gambit. Upon reaching Shi'ar space, the X-ternals fight the Imperial Guard in order to retrieve the crystal shard. Upon their return to Earth, Strong Guy betrays the team, not only stealing the M'Kraan Crystal, but also kidnapping Magneto's son, Charles. This title replaced X-Force.''Generation Next''
Generation Next consists of a young group of mutant students trained by the husband and wife team of Colossus and Shadowcat They consist of Chamber, Husk, Mondo, Vincente Cimetta, and Skin. They are sent by Magneto into the Seattle Core to rescue Colossus' sister, Illyana Rasputin, who is the last surviving transdimensional teleporter. Illyana Rasputin is a slave of the Sugar Man, one of Apocalypse's prefects and ruler of the Seattle Core. Mondo finds Illyana Rasputin and hides her inside of his body, intending to smuggle her out at shift change. When Mondo is found out, the ensuing fight finds the Sugar Man killing Mondo with a blast from his tongue, exposing the rest of Generation Next. While fighting a near hopeless battle, Generation Next is left for dead by Colossus, who sacrifices them in order to save his sister. This title replaced Generation X.''Astonishing X-Men''
The Astonishing X-Men are led by Rogue and consist of Sabretooth, Blink, Wild Child, Morph and Sunfire. They are sent by Magneto to stop the cullings, which are being undertaken by Holocaust, Apocalypse's son and one of his horsemen. While helping with the evacuation and protection of humans, Sabretooth asks Blink to teleport him to Holocaust's location, which she reluctantly does. Sabretooth and Holocaust fight a vicious duel but Sabretooth is defeated and seemingly killed, horrifying Blink. The team then fights Holocaust and his Infinites, destroying his factory. However, Holocaust manages to escape and the team returns to Xavier's mansion, where Rogue learns that both her son and her husband have been captured. Sabretooth is revealed by Iceman to have survived the battle, to Blink's delight. This title replaced The Uncanny X-Men.''Amazing X-Men''
The Amazing X-Men consist of team leader Quicksilver and Storm, Dazzler, Banshee, Iceman, and Exodus. The team is sent to Maine by Magneto to aid in the evacuation of humanity to Europe. During this mission, the team fights Apocalypse's Brotherhood of Chaos, as well as the Horseman Abyss, who is defeated by Quicksilver. During their absence from the Xavier Mansion, Magneto and Bishop are attacked by Apocalypse himself, who captures them both. Fulfilling their mission, Quicksilver splits up his team to help the other X-Men: sending Iceman to rendezvous with Rogue's team and Dazzler and Exodus to find Magneto's son, Charles. Finally, Quicksilver, Storm, and Banshee go to rescue Bishop, who is in the hands of the Madri, Apocalypse's priests. This title replaced X-Men.''Weapon X''
and his lover Jean Grey are depicted in this series carrying out missions for the Human High Council. Jean and Weapon X drift apart, as the Human High Council intends to launch a nuclear strike on the U.S. as Jean is appalled by the loss of life it would cause. After Weapon X concludes a battle with Donald Pierce, Jean leaves to help evacuate the U.S., bidding a tearful farewell to Logan. Weapon X is then sent to recruit Gateway, whose teleportation ability is necessary to bring the fleet to America. As the fleet leaves, Weapon X decides to join them, if only to find Jean somewhere in America before the bombs are dropped. This title replaced Wolverine.''Factor X''
Factor X consists of the Elite Mutant Force, who serve Apocalypse. They are split into five sibling groups: Cyclops and Havok, Emplate and the Twins, Cannonball and Amazon, the Bedlam Brothers, and Aurora and Northstar. The EMF is tasked with maintaining control of Apocalypse's breeding pens, where people are imprisoned, tortured, and experimented on by the Beast, also a member of the EMF. Havok, jealous of his brother's leadership role, discovers that Cyclops is a traitor who has been helping people escape the pens; and in one such escape attempt, both Aurora and Northstar are seriously injured. Havok then exposes Cyclops and attempts to kill him, but Cyclops escapes with the aid of Jean Grey, who has arrived to evacuate as many people as she can before the Human High Council's nuclear strike. The Bedlam Brothers also choose to side with Cyclops, and they successfully defeat both Amazon and Cannonball. Cyclops and Jean defeat Havok, and as they lead the freed prisoners out of the pens, Havok is determined to kill his brother. This title replaced X-Factor.''X-Man''
The protagonist of X-Man is Nate Grey, a mutant born of Cyclops' and Jean Grey's DNA, and the most powerful telekinetic in the world. He lives under the guidance of his father figure Forge, who leads a group of outcasts consisting of Mastermind, Toad, Brute, and Sauron, who attack trains and factories of Apocalypse while masquerading as a theatre troupe. This title replaced Cable.Characters and affiliations
Mutant heroes
The only then-existing major mutant character missing in the original Age of Apocalypse is Psylocke. When the "Age of Apocalypse" storyline was revisited a decade later, she appeared in X-Men: Age of Apocalypse #4 in Asian form. Her origin remains unknown. There has been no explanation of what she was doing during the original Age of Apocalypse, other than the fact that she had some kind of past connection with Weapon X.| Team | Leader | Members | Notes |
| Generation Next | Colossus, Shadowcat | Chamber, Xorn, Know-It-All , Mondo, Skin, Vincente Cimetta | |
| The Outcasts | Forge | Brute, Mastermind, Soaron, Sonique, Toad, X-Man | X-Man is the "son" of Jean Grey and Scott Summers, created from their DNA by Mr. Sinister, and as such is a "spiritual twin" of Cable. |
| X-Calibre | Nightcrawler | Damask , Mystique, Switchback | Following the fall of Apocalypse the team disbanded. The current whereabouts of Damask & Switchback are unknown. |
| X-Men | Magneto, Jean Grey |
| Led out of Wundagore Mountain until the complex was destroyed by Nemesis. Later moved to the ruined Xavier mansion, which never became a school in this universe. After the fall of Apocalypse, Magneto moved his X-Men to Washington, D.C. where they took up residence in the newly constructed Xavier Institute. More recently they are now based in Atlantis. |
| X-Ternals | Gambit | Lila Cheney, Jubilee, Strong Guy, Sunspot | Following the fall of Apocalypse the team disbanded. The current whereabouts of Lila Cheney and Jubilee are unknown. |
| New Mutants | Beak, Kirika, Xorn, Silver Samurai, Wolfsbane, Psylocke | Mutants that joined Magneto's cause after the fall of Apocalypse. |
Other anti-Apocalypse forces
Besides the X-Men and its many offshoots, the Human High Council remains as the only 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 the Human Underground Resistance.X-Universe also reveals the fate of several other individuals. Peter Parker was executed because he was a potential contact for Gwen Stacy. T'Challa and Namor perished when Wakanda and Atlantis were attacked by Apocalypse. Frank Castle went missing following a mutant raid on a Buddhist temple where he had sought peace after the death of his family. Reed Richards and Johnny Storm sacrificed themselves in the evacuation of Manhattan Island.
| Team | Members | Notes |
| Human High Council | Brian Braddock , Emma Frost, Moira Trask, Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, Bolivar Trask, Mariko Yashida | |
| Human High Council agents | Clint Barton, Donald Blake, Carol Danvers, Gateway, Ben Grimm, Gwen Stacy, Tony Stark, Susan Storm , Victor von 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 the nightclub 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, the Daily Bugle, with the purpose of informing humans of the news kept in secret by Apocalypse's regime. | |
| Deceased Mentions | Frank Castle | Killed in action. |
| Deceased Mentions | Peter Parker | Deceased human boyfriend of Gwen Stacy who never became Spider-Man. |
| Deceased Mentions | Reed Richards | Died in the evacuation of Manhattan Island. |
| Deceased Mentions | Johnny Storm | Died in the evacuation of Manhattan Island. |
| Deceased Mentions | T'Challa | Died after Wakanda was attacked by Apocalypse's Horsemen. |
| Deceased Mentions | Namor | Died after Atlantis was attacked by Apocalypse's Horsemen. |
Apocalypse's agents
Neutrals
Timeline escapees
Some characters escape the Age of Apocalypse into the Earth-616 continuity. These include Dark Beast, Nate Grey, Holocaust and Sugar Man; others were later revealed to have also escaped the Age of Apocalypse at some point.- Nate Grey allied himself with the X-Men a few times and once with Spider-Man. He later "died" by disseminating into every life form on the Earth, but has since returned to the living and is now residing in San Francisco and is part of the New Mutants roster.
- Blink escaped into the multiverse and ended up leading the reality-hopping team of heroes known as the Exiles. Her counterpart on Earth-616 was thought to have died during the "Phalanx Covenant" storyline, but brought back from the dead by Selene during the "Necrosha" event.
- Prophet was taken at Jean Grey's request to the Earth-616 at the end of the crossover that would close the Age of Apocalypse timeline from the timestream.
Former timeline escapees
- Holocaust remained at large in the main Marvel Universe until he joined the Exiles and was killed by another universe's evil version of Hyperion.
- Sabretooth survived through the same means as Blink and joins a team of reality-hopping super beings known as Weapon X. During one mission, he opted to stay behind on a world to raise David Richards. Eventually, he was brought back into action and joined the Exiles. He has since returned to the Age of Apocalypse.
- Hatchet-9, the only surviving Mecha-Mutate officer of Assault-Regiment Delta, a regiment of traitor humans who traded limbs and more for the power and privilege of serving the High Lord Apocalypse.
- Rastus, one of many wardens of Apocalypse was also revealed to escape to Earth-616, where he joined forces with the Sugar Man and killed some magistrates on Genosha before being killed by Callisto.
- Wild Child has also left this timeline when a time-traveler, Quentin Quire, saved him from the Friends of Humanity and then used Wild Child to replace the latter's counterpart, who had recently died. Wild Child has since been returned to the Age of Apocalypse and was later killed in battle.
- Nightcrawler decided to stay on Earth-616 after the events of the Dark Angel Saga. He joined the X-Force team so he could search for Iceman, Blob, Dark Beast and Sugar Man. He then tracked and killed his former teammates Iceman and Blob. During the X-Termination crossover, Nightcrawler apparently gave his own life to close the Age of Apocalypse timeline from the Timestream.
- Blob left the Age of Apocalypse due to the events put in motion by Archangel. He later joins Daken's Brotherhood with the apparent goal of exacting revenge on X-Force. He was killed by the AoA Nightcrawler when Nightcrawler teleported a shark inside Blob's body.
- Iceman was revealed to have defected from the X-Men and was working for Weapon Omega. He also left the Age of Apocalypse through the same means as Blob and was tracked down by Wolverine, Deadpool and the AoA Nightcrawler. During the fight, Nightcrawler teleported to a factory and fought Iceman, defeating him without either man using their powers. Once Iceman was defeated, Nightcrawler threw his body into an incinerator.
- Beast was sent twenty years into Earth-616's past. This allowed for several retcons which were used to explain that he was responsible for the creation of the Morlocks and also explain why Mr. Sinister initiated the "Mutant Massacre" as he recognized his stolen handiwork and ordered it exterminated as a debasement of his art. He later came under the employment of Norman Osborn's Dark X-Men, with the responsibility of keeping his counterpart and Charles Xavier captive while Osborn carries out his plan. He would return to the Age of Apocalypse timeline and helped Weapon Omega on his quest to control America, but at the end Weapon Omega is defeated and Dark Beast would be taken back to Earth-616. He was thought to be deceased, after apparently dying in a bomb explosion after progressively suffering from fatal health problems due to his own further experimentations on himself. During the 2017 Secret Empire storyline, Dark Beast turns up alive and no longer having health problems but was eventually killed by Magik.
- Sugar Man was also sent twenty years into Earth-616's past, and it was through him the Genegineer received the advanced genetic research to allow the small nation of Genosha to become powerful by enslaving mutants. He remained at large in the main Marvel Universe and only a few knew about his existence. Sugar Man has since returned to the Age of Apocalypse timeline after being released from Steve Rogers' custody by Dark Beast and was believed to remain there at the end of the crossover that would close the Age of Apocalypse timeline from the timestream but it was revealed that he had returned to the main reality before the event and was thought to be deceased at the hands of Magneto only to reappear alive and planning to send six hundred of mutant embryos to the future. He was later killed by a mysterious assailant that was hunting down the former Age of Apocalypse residents.
Prequels
By the Light told the story of Blink transporting the X-Men to the moon where they faced Apocalypse's new horseman of Death, Maximus the Mad. Sinister Bloodlines followed the return of a Brood-infected Christopher Summers to Earth and his reunion, after escaping the experimentations of Sinister and Dark Beast, with Scott and Alex.
Blink was a four issue miniseries intended to reintroduce the Age of Apocalypse version of Blink as a teaser to the Exiles ongoing series. This story takes place prior to the "Age of Apocalypse" main events, but is largely set in the Negative Zone. Blink becomes lost in the Negative Zone after attempting to incite Blastaar towards war with Apocalypse and instead joins a rebellion against Blastaar alongside her lover, who turns out to be a de-evolved version of Annihilus. The last four pages of the final issue show Blink during the destruction of the Age of Apocalypse and becoming unhinged from time.
X-Man, during its run, occasionally re-visited the Age of Apocalypse, both through time travel and flashbacks. X-Man #-1 shows Mr. Sinister releasing Nate from his growth vat as a child to check on his progress. In the 1996 X-Man Annual, Sugar Man uses a variation on a time machine powered by Nate's psionic force to return to the early years of Apocalypse's rule where he hopes to take control himself. Nate follows and meets up with Forge, Magneto, Morph, and Mastermind, and is surprised to discover that Forge knew that he would be there because an older Nate Grey had time traveled and told Forge about his memories of this event. On the orders of this older Nate Grey, Forge forces the younger Nate to re-power the machine and return himself and Sugar Man to Earth-616. This leads to a rift between Forge and Magneto, who believed they should have allowed Nate to stay so that he could help them fight Apocalypse. Later, in X-Man #53 and #54, Nate, Jean Grey, and Cyclops run across a temporal rift that brings an infinite processing plant to Earth-616.
X-Men Age of Apocalypse One-Shot
X-Men Age of Apocalypse 1–6
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe X-Men Age of Apocalypse 2005
What If X-Men Age of Apocalypse 1
Age of Apocalypse 10th Anniversary
In 2005, Marvel published an Age of Apocalypse one-shot and miniseries to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the fan favorite event.The one-shot features stories set before the events depicted in the original "Age of Apocalypse" event, similar in focus to the Tales from 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 how the world survived the Human High Council's nuclear attack.
The limited series, which takes place after the nuclear attack in X-Men: Omega, introduced several characters who were not in the original storyline. Long time characters Cloak and Dagger, Psylocke, and the Morlocks, who were survivors of Mr. Sinister's experiments, are introduced. Newer characters Beak, Icarus, and X-23 are seen along with an alternate version of Xorn. Jean Grey is also revealed to have saved everyone from the nuclear attack by tapping into the Phoenix Force-level powers, and is revived from death by Sinister.
Dark Angel Saga
In 2011, the Age of Apocalypse was featured in a storyline in the ongoing series Uncanny X-Force 11–18 by Rick Remender.Seeking a Celestial 'Life Seed' in order to save Angel from becoming the new Apocalypse, The Uncanny X-Force, under the guidance of Dark Beast, journey to the Age of Apocalypse. X-Force arrives ten years after the X-Men had defeated Mister Sinister, yet it seems the X-Men still face enormous challenges in this harsh setting. The world, which during the previous appearance had seemed to be on the road to recovery, has once again fallen on hard times, similar to when Apocalypse was ruling, with Sentinels now roaming the streets. As they follow Dark Beast to one of his labs, they are unknowingly followed by Wildchild and Sabretooth. Dark Beast finds the life seed but before he could hand it over to the X-Force members, Nightcrawler teleports in and swipes the seed away, figuring that Dark Beast was up to some evil plot after decades of absence. After a brief quarrel which ended with the life seed destroyed by Sunfire, Psylocke recognizes Sabretooth from her time on the Exiles and convinces Wolverine that this version of Sabretooth isn't a bad guy, which ends their battle. With the life seed destroyed, Dark Beast sneaks over to the portal back to the 616 Marvel Universe and walks in, leaving X-Force stranded in the Age of Apocalypse world. Nightcrawler's team, realizing that the sentinels are descending on their position, evacuates along with X-Force, taking them to the X-Men's new base in Atlantis.
It was soon revealed that a new "Heir of Apocalypse" has risen and that's the reason why the world as fallen once again into a dark age that resulted on the apparent extinction of the human race. Using a version of M.O.D.O.K., they discover the body of the slain Celestial which apparently still contains life seeds. However, as X-Force also learn that the only way to return to the main reality is to seek the help of Gateway who in turn is kept prisoner in the mysterious floating city known as The Sky, the Sentinels soon arrives at Atlantis forcing the group to abandon the complex. As Fantomex leads a small team to the place where the Celestial is, the rest of the team invades The Sky to retrieve Gateway, however they are confronted by the Black Legion consisting of Earth-295 Blob, Earth-295 Manphibian, Demon Ock, Beta-Red, Grimm Chamber, Iron Ghost, Orange Hulk, White Cloak, and Zombie Sentry. During the fight, X-Force and the Earth-295 X-Men run into the long thought deceased Weapon X. He appears using Apocalypse armor and reveals himself to be the Heir of Apocalypse.
Meanwhile, unaware of the problems Wolverine and his team are facing in the fortress, Fantomex and his small crew dive into the heart of the deceased Celestial in order to get the life seed they need to free Warren. After battling some drones, they manage to find only one seed and flee with it, losing Gambit in the battle, while, back in the fortress, Wolverine and his crew try to battle Weapon X and the Black Legion. However, Weapon X proves too powerful, since he had been augmented by the Celestial technology, when the cosmic entities came to judge planet Earth, and while he had ascended in form and power, his mind had become so twisted to the point of creating genetic-powerful warriors to kill Charles Lehnsherr, the infant son of Magneto and Rogue. Weapon X easily manages to swat them all and take Jean Grey so he could transform her into Death, a horseman of Apocalypse. To perform the ritual he approaches Storm who was enslaved and transform into a blind seer made of living stone. After taking out the Black Legion and freeing Gateway, Wolverine ask Gateway to open a portal to bring forth Fantomex team. Using Fantomex, they manage to free Jean and open a gateway to their world. Wolverine wants Jean to come too but she refuses and forces them through the gateway with her powers. As X-Force returns to their world, they are greeted by Dark Beast, the Horsemen of Apocalypse, and Archangel, now wearing Apocalypse’s armor.
After a long fight, Fantomex retreats and gets Gateway to teleport the AOA X-Men to help X-Force, together they defeat Archangel, the AoA X-Men decide to go back to their timeline while Nightcrawler decides to stay in this timeline and vows to kill, Dark Beast, Iceman, Sugar Man, and any other villain that escaped the AOA timeline to this one.
Age of Apocalypse ongoing series
Publishing history
In the Marvel Point One one-shot, a new team of anti-mutant humans calling themselves the X-Terminated, pledged to combat the rule of the ascended Weapon X and his minions, after X-Force's attempt to stop the genocidal successor of Apocalypse. The group consisted of remaining members of the human race in the Age of Apocalypse who have been pushed to the edge of extinction by mutants. Members of that team were Prophet, Goodnight, Deadeye, Fiend, and Horror Show.Plot summary
As Jean Grey and Sabretooth returned from Earth-616, they meet the human coalition. It is also revealed that Jean had ordered much to Magneto's horror, the creation of clones of the Scarlet Witch, so they could use the spell Jean saw previously on Wolverine's mind that de-powered 99% of mutantkind. However Weapon X and his Black Legion attack the last human city where Weapon X himself slays both Magneto and Rogue, leaving Jean Grey and Sabretooth the last two X-Men alive. Jean telepathically nudges clones of the Scarlet Witch to recreate the Decimation and remove all mutants' powers across the globe. However, this was only successful within a radius of 12 feet, so Jean Grey and Sabretooth are both left de-powered while Weapon X and his forces remained powered. The human coalition distracts Weapon X with a bomb long enough for the group to escape as the city explodes behind them.As the human coalition continues to fight the forces of Weapon X, now renamed Weapon Omega, they find Harper Simmons, a human journalist from Earth-616 who was forced to come to the Age of Apocalypse while investigating the prison break of Sugar Man by Dark Beast on Earth-616. He creates a pamphlet that incites human and mutant riots against Weapon Omega, who is now bringing back deceased mutants like Emplate, Scott Summers and Alex Summers using energies siphoned from the celestial life seed. Harper Simons joins with the X-Terminated. Others who work with the X-Terminated are Doctor Moreau and Bolivar Trask.
After discovering the resurrected Penance, he ordered his servants Azazel, Cyclops and Colossus to bring her into the fold. She initially refused and undid Colossus' brainwashing causing him to abandon Weapon Omega and serve Penance. A fight broke out but Azazel agreed to leave. He returned with Weapon Omega who demanded that Penance kneel before him which she did. Unbeknownst to Weapon Omega however Penance was also making deals with the Human Resistance.
It was since been revealed that when the Celestials had come to Earth, they tried to resurrect Apocalypse by rewrite his genetic code to form a new body. After a small team of X-Men went investigate the ship they discovered that Apocalypse was already in the form of a child which Weapon X effectively kills despite Jean's pleas. With the death of the child, Weapon X took on the role of the Evolutionary Caretaker in an effort to spare his world from the Celestials wrath. Thus, he restarted the campaigns of extermination perpetrated by Apocalypse against the human race after being corrupted by the Seed.
The X-Terminated later travel to Latveria so they could get the information they need to defeat Weapon Omega, as Doom had apparently managed to create a device capable of storing the Death Seed's powers which they aptly referred to as the "Apocalypse Force" from its host body and empowering it within a new user, however they are approached by the Queen, actually Doom's wife and former member of the Human High Council, Emma Frost, who had her telepathic powers returned to her and was now in league with Weapon Omega. The X-Terminated eventually gained the information they needed by killing Doom and removed the intel literally from his head.
With the information they gained, the X-Terminated build the device, however, Weapon Omega after being alerted that Jean Grey was hiding out in the city, resolved to hunt his wife down himself, and vowed that if her humanity could not be cured, he would kill her himself. Jean Grey was ultimately responsible for removing the power of the Death Seed within her former lover and were absorbed by Jean as the next host. Thanks to her history with the Phoenix Force, though, Jean was strong enough to reject the power of the Death Seed and displaced it. After everything died down, Weapon Omega emerged from the rubble as Logan once again, his mind now clear of the corrupting force of the Death Seed. Unknown to him or Jean, however, the energies of the seed had in fact been contained by Bolivar Trask in a giant machine under the Nevada Desert.
"X-Termination"
In March 2013, the X-Treme X-Men, Age of Apocalypse, and Astonishing X-Men titles were part of the "X-Termination" crossover event, which focused on the AoA Nightcrawler's trip home. Age of Apocalypse #14, the final issue of the series, will be Part 3 of the event.Following the completion of his quest, Nightcrawler decided it was time to return home. Even though this world was in a much better state, he still missed his own and he wanted to return to fight Weapon Omega. After managing to avoid Wolverine, who was hunting him down, Nightcrawler eventually tracked down another exile from his world: Dark Beast, however, unbeknownst to them, due to the dimension-hopping activities of various superheroes and villains, the walls in the netherspace have become weak and began to crack.
The rift first became known on Earth-TRN262 in the head of the Sphinx. Lord Xavier, the Witch King, Nazi Xavier, and Xavier Head began sacrificing civilians to an interdimensional rift to gain power. The X-treme X-Men, who had been trying to stop this from happening by killing ten evil Xaviers across various realities before they could use their powers to trigger the event, were able to rescue their Xavier and narrowly defeated Lord Xavier and Nazi Xavier. Unfortunately, the X-treme X-Men did not act quickly enough to save that world, and were forced to make an interdimensional jump, leaving that reality and all its citizens being consumed by the vortex. Unbeknownst to them, an army of monsters were waiting on the other side of the portal.
Using a pair of modified goggles, which Dark Beast explains will allow them to enter the Dreaming Celestial safely in a bid to return home. Kurt teleports them inside, where McCoy attempts to open a portal to their home reality. However, before the portal stabilizes, the machine he was using begins to malfunction. Before he can fix it, the X-Men arrive and the two have to flee, with Nightcrawler teleporting them through the portal. However, once they arrive in their homeworld, the portal doesn't close behind them, which worries the Dark Beast. The situation is complicated first by Wolverine's team, which comes through the portal to take Kurt back to their reality, and then by Dazzler and her team of X-treme X-Men, who seem keen to close the portal. As Xavier of the X-treme X-Men uses his powers to try and close the portal three huge monsters emerge from it. Xavier tries to tell them they mean no harm but one of the monsters kills him and dissolves his body to absorb its energy. As it does so, it grows slightly bigger.
In response, Dazzler blasts one with her light beams, but it absorbs her energy and grows in size. After trying various methods of attack, the teams realize that the monsters are nearly invulnerable. Karma tries possessing one but it ends up possessing her. They find out that the monsters were trapped between dimensions by the Celestials and that the constant travelling between worlds has weakened the barriers and freed them. Karma is dying but Iceman freezes the monsters and saves Karma. As the teams regroup to try and figure out what to do, Sage picks up on some thought the monsters are projecting. She screams for someone to shut the portal down, but it’s too late and one of the monsters walks through it to the 616 universe. As Howlett, Wolverine, Northstar and Hercules go after it, the second monster heads off into New Apocalypse, whilst the third starts to drain energy from the portal itself. Prophet says that they could use the power of Apocalypse to defeat them but Jean Grey isn’t so keen. After some deliberation, the teams decide to split up with some staying on New Apocalypse and the other going to fight the creature through the portal. Sabretooth and Horror Show sacrifice themselves to provide a distraction whilst Kid Nightcrawler teleports a group of people through the portal. The remaining group in New Apocalypse heads off to formulate a plan of attack as the second monster tears through the city.
Northstar, Hercules, Howlett and Wolverine emerge in San Francisco of the 616 universe, where they find the monster draining the energy from the Dreaming Celestial’s chest. In the Age of Apocalypse reality, Jean and her group travel to the Apocalypse power. Fiend radios through from New Apocalypse, where one of the monsters is attacking. After a short conversation, the radio goes silent and Jean realizes her friend is dead. They make their way through some caverns to the room the Apocalypse power is being kept in. Dark Beast slips away as the others look at the canister the power resides in. Jean has Kurt teleport them both away as she doesn’t trust anyone else. In the 616 universe, Howlett and Wolverine try attacking the monster but it just continues attacking the Celestial. Northstar throws Hercules at it and the monster is finally ripped away from it. Wolverine and Howlett are severely injured, so Kid Nightcrawler starts to teleport them away as Hercules continues to fight the monster. The monster kills him before Kurt can get to him in time. The monster then advances on the Celestial again, which decides to leave. However, the monster uses a grappling hook to prevent it from doing so and, even though the rest of the team manages to separate the two, the monster begins to absorb the energy from the Celestial. The team can only watch as the monster kills the Dreaming Celestial and absorbs all of its energy, continuing to grow in size and power. In the AoA reality, Jean tells Kurt the plan is for her to use the Apocalypse power herself, as she managed to use the Phoenix Force and resist it. Before she can, though, Dark Beast snatches the canister off her just as one of the monsters finds them and attacks.
As Howlett mourns the death of Hercules, the monster in 616 becomes stronger, due to the Celestial it just destroyed. Northstar creates a vortex around it to stop it being empowered by more energy, whilst Prophet tries to figure out how to kill it. He finds out that billions more monsters are headed to where this one is and, if they don’t destroy this one, the whole world is doomed. In New Apocalypse on the other side of the portal, Jean is being chased by another monster. Dazzler and her team slow it down and Kurt teleports Prophet and Howlett through the portal. They see Dark Beast trying to take the power of the Apocalypse seed for himself. Nightcrawler and Jean try to take the seed off him but he fights back. Another monster enters and grabs the seed but is hurt by its touch. Dark Beast grabs the seed again and runs off with Jean and Nightcrawler chasing him. Prophet realizes that the monster was hurt by the seed. Kid Nightcrawler tells Dazzler her world is in danger too and Prophet says they have to close the portal and sacrifice one world. Dazzler refuses to do that and comes up with a plan. Whilst the others chase down Jean and the seed, Dazzler and Cyclops head to the portal. They use their powers to try and draw the monster through but it doesn’t go for it. Kid Nightcrawler finds them and decides he can do it. He teleports to the monster and then teleports it through the portal. The strain of doing it was too much for him, though, and he dies in Dazzler’s arms. Nightcrawler, Prophet, Howlett and Dark Beast teleport in. Dark Beast won’t let go of the seed, so Dazzler confronts him, beats him up and takes the seed. She then hands it over to Jean Grey, so they can have her use it on the three monsters at the same time.
Jean Grey has taken in the power of Apocalypse and has been transformed into an immensely powerful being. Though she still holds on to her personality, the death powers are already corrupting her. As the monsters feed off the energy from the portal, Jean engages them in combat, blasting them away and drawing their attention. Howlett mourns the death of Kid Nightcrawler, causing AoA Nightcrawler to face up to what he has done. Prophet tells him to stop pitying himself and says they need Sage and the Celestial black box from the other universe. Nightcrawler teleports through the portal and on his way he sees billions of other monsters descends upon the portal. In the 616 universe, Wolverine and Northstar are arguing about what to do. Sage manages to connect her mind to the black box and sees the origin of the monsters. The Celestials created life because they were lonely. They decided to create death as well, so they formed the monsters. However, the monsters turned against the Celestials who couldn't kill them so they separated the universe into the Multiverse and bond them in the walls that separated all realities. The constant traveling between universes weakened the walls and allowed the monsters to escape again. Suddenly, Nightcrawler appears and take Sage back with him. In New Apocalypse, Jean is fighting the monsters but more continue to come through the portal. Slowly, the death seed starts to take her over more and she begins to lose herself. As the carnage spreads, Sage and Nightcrawler appear and Sage tells Prophet she knows what to do. He already knows, though. The monsters need a prison and this universe is the best choice. Dazzler tries to tell him there must be another way but he says there isn’t. They need to get everyone they can back to her world and then close off the portal. Nightcrawler says he can do both.
As Jean continues to fight the monsters in New Apocalypse, Prophet orders everyone to evacuate to the 616 reality. Dazzler objects to leaving, but Prophet tells her sacrificing the AoA reality is the only way. Nightcrawler begins to teleport everyone back, first taking Harper Simmons and then Sage. However, when he goes to take Iceman, the Dark Beast breaks free of his shackles and goes with them. He is quickly knocked out by Gambit on the other side, but not before jamming a nugget of the Apocalypse seed within Iceman to keep it safe. As Nightcrawler next takes Howlett and Cyclops, Dazzler begs Prophet to come with her but he refuses, saying a captain goes down with the ship. However, the decision is made for him when Jean Grey knocks him out and instructs Dazzler to take him back to her world. Jean goes off to continue her fight as Nightcrawler teleports Dazzler and Prophet away. In the 616 reality, Nightcrawler realizes that if he grabs onto the black swirls in the portal, he can teleport the opening back in on itself. Sage confirms he could close the portal and, before anyone can stop him, he goes. He manages to close it at the cost of his own life. Afterwards, Howlett and Cyclops decide to travel to Greece to collect Hercules from the underworld. Wolverine offers Dazzler a job at the school but she declines, as she needs a bit of time to herself. A few weeks later, Harper meets Prophet on a beach, where they have a drink to remember their old team. Elsewhere, Dazzler creates a holographic image to make sure everyone remembers her fallen teammates.
''Secret Wars'' (2015)
The Age of Apocalypse is featured as one of the many domains of Battleworld in Secret Wars. It has its differences from the original storyline, with two of the main ones being the inclusion of Cypher as a prominent character and Magneto marrying Marvel Girl aka Emma Frost instead of Rogue. The Age of Apocalypse's location on Battleworld is known as the Domain of Apocalypse, the most ruthless domain of all.To escape the tyranny of Apocalypse, many humans and mutants had fled to the Savage Land, but others, in the likes of fugitives Mandarin, Pepper Potts, and Whiplash, prefer to fled to the neighbors domains, like Old Town. They did this by infiltrating the domain and killing their counterparts. Potts later killed that domain's Tony Stark with one of the Mandarin's daggers and stole a statue both men fought over to further help the incrimination. These fugitives were however eventually killed with Pepper Potts as the only survivor as she, before she could be caught, managed to escape yet to another domain.
Another citizen who left the domain was Iron Fist, who for unknown crimes, was sent to the Shield, where he along his fellow Hel-Ranger, the Punisher from Egyptia, discovered an Ultron in the north side of the Shield. Curious about how that Ultron ended up there, the Punisher went down from the Shield to investigate. Iron Fist was able to destroy the Ultron easily, which led the Punisher to believe it was modified. They decided to inspect a hole next to the Shield and discovered that the Mole Man of Technopolis had been modifying and using Ultrons to build his underground kingdom there. It was then that the Ultrons went rogue and started to attack them, but they were able to destroy them all. The Punisher allowed the Mole Man to go back to his kingdom, while he and Iron Fist returned to their post, watching over both sides of the Shield should something alike happen again.
Kitty Pryde also had left the Domain of Apocalypse and is now residing in Doomstadt, where she works for Valeria's Future Foundation, in the search for items that aren't from Battleworld.
Those who had fled to the Savage eventually build a sanctuary where they could coexist, yet they saw that dream die when Holocaust and Baron Nur's Infinite Soldiers invaded it while searching for Cypher. Holocaust burns down the Savage Land and kills Destiny to find the young mutant, but a team of X-Men consisting of Nightcrawler, Storm, Colossus, Dazzler, Iceman and Exodus also had converged in the Savage Land to search for the mutant. A fight erupts between the two factions with Storm, Colossus, Dazzler, Iceman and Exodus leading the charge against Holocaust while Nightcrawler and Cypher make a run for it. The X-Men manage to damage Holocaust's containment suit which allows Iceman to freeze Holocaust at the subatomic level, but by doing this instead of subduing Holocaust, the X-Men just made him detonated, blowing up the entire Savage Land forcing Nightcrawler to teleport way out of explosion's range to save Cypher, but the strain of such long teleportation nevertheless kills him instantly. Afterwards, Cypher was found barely alive by Apocalypse's servants on the outskirts of the blast perimeter and was taken to New Cairo, where he was healed and interrogated by Sinister's Prelates, the Summers Brothers. As the interrogation didn't prove to be successful, Cypher was taken to the Human Compound and, listening carefully to the conversation between the Summers Brothers and the humans representatives Dr. Peter Corbeau and Carol Danvers, discovered what the humans were hiding and the mutants afraid of: a virus that could wipe out all of mutantkind. The Elite Mutant Force were then attacked by Magneto and the rest of his X-Men
After rescuing Cypher and capturing Cyclops, Magneto and his X-Men fled from the battle site to their underground hideout. In their hideout, Magneto told Cypher that he needed him to convince the Horsemen to help them stop Apocalypse before he could destroy mutants and humans alike. Meanwhile, as Creed investigated the Friends of Humanity, the other Horsemen were summoned by Apocalypse to prepare to battle the humans before they could use their secret weapon against them.
As Danvers was interrogated by Apocalypse's men, Magneto told Cypher about how the situation in the Domain of Apocalypse went from bad to worse and that it was all his fault for not having acted sooner. Afterwards, Magneto turned his attention to Cyclops, who hadn't say anything valuable to them. Suddenly, Rogue showed up and said to Magneto that there was something wrong with his wife, Emma Frost. Emma, who had connected her mind with Jean Grey's while Doctor Nemesis tampered with it, discovered the existence of the virus and alerted her fellow X-Men. Then, the X-Men headed to the Human Communal Village to prevent the humans from using said virus, and take it so it couldn't end up in the wrong hands. When the X-Men arrived in the Human Communal Village, it was already being attacked by Apocalypse's forces. They tried to retrieve the virus from Dark Beast, even succeeding in knocking him out, but they were all easily beaten by the newcomer Apocalypse, who revealed his true intentions by releasing the virus in order to see who was fit to survive.
As some mutants started to die for being infected by the virus and Apocalypse confronted the X-Men, Iceman, the only X-Men who managed to survive Holocaust's explosion, showed up and used his powers to freeze the entire area to keep the airborne virus contained. Meanwhile, Weapon X, Burner and Cyclops went to the gene lab of Dark Beast in order to find and rescue Jean Grey, and were confronted by Cyclops' brother, Havok, but managed to convince him to help them in their mission. Back in the Human Communal Village, Apocalypse broke free from his ice imprisonment and the confront began anew. However, Apocalypse's cells began to crumble as the result of being infected by the Legacy Virus. The X-Men and the Horsemen then joined forces to finally kill Apocalypse, and they succeeded. After the battle, Magneto started to feel the effects of the virus in his body and, as the explosion of his powers would shred the magnetic field across the entire planet, was euthanized by his wife. Furious, Emma broke into Corbeau's mind and discovered who was the man responsible for the creation of the Legacy Virus: James Bradley a.k.a. Doctor Nemesis.
Nemesis, who had over the time genetically absorbing the powers of over three hundred mutants, tried to convince the X-Men and every inhabitant of the domain to aid in his quest to overthrown God Emperor Doom, but was attacked by them instead. Nemesis first act was to kill Dark Beast, as he was the only one who could defeat him, but before his demise, Frost was able to remove from his mind the intel necessary to defeat Nemesis. She and Blink then went to Dark Beast's lab as the X-Men fought Nemesis to try to find a cure for the virus, and found Weapon X and a lobotomized Jean Grey, as Sinister removed the portion of her brain which governed her mutant powers. Using her powers Emma discovered that being a powerful mutant, Jean still had the power to fix everything, but by unlocking them could do more harm than good as Jean was very angry for what had happened to her. Eventually Frost decided to transplant part of her own brain to reactivate Jean's power. As Sinister conducted the brain surgery, the rest of the X-Men attacked Nemesis, with Weapon X, Creed and Burner losing their lives to the omnipotent madman. After Jean Grey rose as the Phoenix, she destroyed Nemesis and used his liquified matter along with the Phoenix Force to cure everyone, not only from the virus but also from the mutant gene. From that day on, every mutant of the Domain of Apocalypse was now human and had been given a second chance at life.
God Emperor Doom would later use his powers to resurrect Apocalypse and Holocaust to help him against the riots in Doomstadt.
X-Men Disassembled
During a battle with Nate Grey, Legion tries to send him back to his universe, however, things don't go as Legion planned and instead he ended banishing not only X-Man, but Armor, Pixie, Glob, Rockslide and himself to the Age of Apocalypse universe that exists on Legion's mindscape.Collected editions
In other media
- The 2001 Game Boy Advance video game ' is based loosely on the Age of Apocalypse storyline. In this version, the X-Men accidentally travels to an alternate universe where Apocalypse has taken over the world and most of the X-Men have turned into his henchmen. It is later revealed that Apocalypse plans to travel to the regular timeline and take it over as well. In the end, the X-Men defeats Apocalypse and returns to their timeline.
- ' is heavily influenced by the Age of Apocalypse storyline, including several characters and concepts from the storyline.
- Wolverine and the X-Men season 2's main storyline and setting was originally supposed to be the Age of Apocalypse, but the series was cancelled before production of the second season could begin.
- In X-Men: The Animated Series, there is an episode, "ONE MAN'S WORTH" whose story line was directly inspired by that of the Age of Apocalypse.
- ' featured a special operations titled Apocalypse based on the Age of Apocalypse storyline.
- Marvel Future Fight features a level based off the Age of Apocalypse event.
- ' features an alternate costume for Colossus based on his Age of Apocalypse incarnation.