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Quote1 As we purged the country, so now do we cleanse the globe. Quote2
Apocalypse

History

History Takes a Turn for the Worse[]

The past history of En Sabah Nur was very much similar to his mainstream counterpart, until the day David Haller traveled back in time. Haller/Legion wished to murder Erik Lehnsherr, in the hopes of changing history so that his father, Charles Xavier, could succeed in his goal of creating peace between humans and mutants. David was opposed by the X-Men of the mainstream reality, who succeeded in halting the assassination of Lehnsherr, but resulted in the death of Xavier. Their battle in Israel, years before super heroes such as the Fantastic Four and the Avengers would come to be, inspired Apocalypse to begin his conquest of the Earth and execute his belief in survival of the fittest decades before he had done so in the mainstream reality. In the end, David accidentally killed his father, changing the timeline and erasing David and the X-Men (with the exception of the time displaced Bishop) from existence. Lehnsherr went on to become Magneto and vowed to continue Charles's dream and form his own team of X-Men. During this time, Apocalypse sired a son named Nemesis.

En Sabah Nur (Earth-295) from X-Men Vol 2 41 001

Apocalypse awakens

Early Days of the Age of Apocalypse[]

Apocalypse's first attempt at conquest was an attack on Cape Citadel, sending his Horsemen to take control of the nuclear missile facility for the intent to launch the nuclear weapons to decimate the human population. This plot was foiled by Magneto and his team of X-Men, when Apocalypse attempted to kill the X-Men with his ship's weapons, Magneto stepped in and drove him and his Horsemen away. Apocalypse gained a victory that day however, by dispatching his son to destroy Magneto's school and killing his daughter Wanda.[1]

En Sabah Nur (Earth-295) from X-Men Chronicles Vol 1 1 001

Apocalypse during his attack on Cape Citadel

While this was a minor setback, Apocalypse eventually took over all of North America, making New York City his primary domain. He sent armies of genetically modified Infinites to cull humans all over the country, and focused much of his resources on attempting to eliminate the X-Men, but to no avail. His Horsemen changed to include his son (now calling himself Holocaust following having most of his flesh stripped away by Magneto and having to live in specialized armor), Sinister, Abyss, and Mikhail Rasputin. Apocalypse and his son decimated much of Japan horribly, maiming the Japanese hero Sunfire and taking him prisoner to be experimented on.[2] During a period when Apocalypse was injured in battle, he was taken to the Moon to recover under the care of his allies, the Inhumans, however when Magneto traveled there with a team of X-Men to attempt to kill him, Apocalypse was sent back to Earth.[3]

Although the Human High Council in Europe amassed a large cache of nuclear weapons sufficient to destroy North America, Apocalypse constructed a sea wall defense grid that could in turn destroy Europe. Apocalypse eventually agreed to sign the Kelly Pact, agreeing to end his genetic culling of human beings, however Apocalypse had no interest in following the pact and his reign of genocide continued.

Twilight of the Age of the Apocalypse[]

Apocalypse grew even more determined to wipe out every human living on the planet to suit his goals, prompting Sinister to defect so that he could continue his eugenics work. While at the same time, Magneto and his X-Men found the time displaced Bishop and Magneto split up his team into groups to help with human rescue efforts as well as gather the needed people and items to restore the fractured timeline.[4] When one of the Madri looked through Apocalypse's files to see if they were considered among the chosen or the forgotten, Apocalypse caught the minion in the process and eliminated him.[5]

When Blink was forced to teleport herself and Sunfire to safety directly to the X-Men's headquarters in the ruins of the Xavier estate, Apocalypse's minion Rex reported to him that they would soon pinpoint the X-Men's location. This caused Apocalypse to do something alarming: smile.[6] Apocalypse soon also learned of Nightcrawler's attempts to reach Avalon, a human/mutant sanctuary, and sent his Pale Riders to follow him and eliminate everyone they found.[7] When Weapon X and Jean Grey attacked one of Apocalypse's sea wall defense towers to assist the Sentinel evacuation of humans in North America, Apocalypse was alerted to this by prelate Cyclops of the failure of his brother Havok in stopping them. He sent Magma to attempt to assassinate the Human High Council. The attempt failed and prompted the Council to retaliate by plotting a nuclear strike on North America.[8] When the Sentinel Evac arrived in North America, Apocalypse sent his Brotherhood of Chaos to attempt to stop it.[9] Around this time, Apocalypse was also alerted by his minion the Shadow King of the powerful psi-talented youth known as the X-Man, unknown to Apocalypse Nate was a mutant engineered by Sinister to be his ultimate weapon in destroying Apocalypse who had recently escaped the slave pens. He sent his minion Domino to either recruit or kill the X-Man.[10]

Apocalypse was soon brought Karma by Sebastian Shaw as she was seen giving the location of Magneto's hideout to the mutant thief Gambit. Apocalypse learned through torture that Magneto was camped out in Xavier's old home and would see to him personally.[11] However, he stayed his plans when reports of someone smuggling people out of slave pens became known. He sent Cyclops and Havok to investigate and interrogate Polaris, the only person who had seen the one responsible. Apocalypse was unaware that it was Cyclops himself that was responsible.[12] Meanwhile, his Brotherhood failed at stopping the Sentinel Evac,[11] but succeeded in smuggling the cyborg Donald Pierce and his Reavers into Europe.[13] Apocalypse became furious upon learning that a team of X-Men were in Boston to wreck Holocaust's culling there, however a reminder of the location of the X-Men's headquarters brightened Apocalypse's mood and he resumed preparations for his attack on his old enemy.[2] He became angry once again after learning of Cyclops' freeing of slaves and then ordered that all those in the slave pits should be eliminated.[14]

Apocalypse lead an assault team to the old Xavier estate, easily defeating Magneto and Bishop in battle. Interested in knowing why Magneto would dispatch his X-Men on various missions based on Bishop's insane rantings, Apocalypse had the time displaced mutant sent to his stronghold in Quebec to have his mind probed by the Shadow King and took Magneto back to his citadel to be tortured.[15] There he tormented Magneto with a combination of physical and psychological pain, including showing him images of his wife Rogue's battle against Holocaust's forces.[16] Apocalypse soon learned of Domino's failure in stopping X-Man and went into a fury before turning his attentions back to torturing Magneto.[17]

Apocalypse's greatest victory came with his spy Strong Guy among Gambit's X-Ternals, who not only captured Magneto's son Charles but also took the shard of the M'kraan Crystal that Gambit and his allies stole from the Shi'ar galaxy. This was almost ruined by the intervention of Madri Rictor whom Apocalypse killed for his interference.[18]

However, with Apocalypse's victories also came losses: While his forces succeeded in destroying Avalon, they were either killed or joined Magneto's side and helped Nightcrawler collect the mutant precog known as Destiny,[19] Rogue's team of X-Men foiled Holocaust's cull of Boston,[20] Colossus succeeded in liberating his sister Illyana from the slave pens,[21] and the X-Men succeeded in saving Bishop.[22] Lastly, the Reavers failed to prevent the Human High Council from launching their nuclear strike against him. However, Apocalypse began to see the benefit of Pierce's cyborg technology and considered using it in his continued quest to see the fit survive.[23]

Death and Legacy[]

En Sabah Nur (Earth-295) and Erik Lehnsherr (Earth-295) from X-Men Omega Vol 1 1 002

The Death of Apocalypse

With the M'kraan Crystal shard growing in size, Apocalypse sought to use it to rule all existence, unaware that unless the imbalance in the past was corrected, all existence would be wiped out. Knowing the X-Men were coming to rescue Magneto, Apocalypse prepared a trap for them and had Magneto watch as all those he love got slaughtered. As X-Men battled with Apocalypse's forces, he attempted to kill Magneto only to be stopped by X-Man. Fleeing the scene he initiated his sea wall perimeter to destroy Europe for launching their nuclear weapons on him. With the destruction of his empire imminent, Apocalypse attempted to to escape into the past with a chunk of the M'kraan Crystal but was once more attacked by Magneto and X-Man. In the final battle, Magneto used his magnetic powers to rip Apocalypse in half, killing him instantly.[24]

Following Apocalypse's death, Bishop traveled into the past and prevented Legion from killing Charles Xavier, restoring the Earth-616 universe and stabilizing the time-stream. The Earth-295 universe was stabilized and the nuclear weapons aimed at America were be stopped by Jean Grey with the power of the Phoenix Force as well.[25]

Magneto went on to rebuild society and restore America to its former glory, almost completely reversing all the damage done during Apocalypse's reign. He and his X-Men worked as mutant police, tracking down those who willingly aided Apocalypse as war criminals.[26] Apocalypse was survived by his son, who, after spending time on Earth-616, was recruited into the Exiles before being killed by the Hyperion of Earth-4023.[27]

Later Apocalypse was resurrected as a child just as he was on Earth-616. However, Weapon X killed this incarnation and, due to an infection by a Death Seed, he become the heir of Apocalypse and picked up where Apocalypse left off, continuing the culling of humanity.[28]

Attributes

Power Grid[30]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Experienced Fighter:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/None:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Virtually Indestructible:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Normal:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Superhuman (75-100 ton):Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Genius

Powers

Seemingly those of the En Sabah Nur of Earth-616.

Abilities

Seemingly those of the En Sabah Nur of Earth-616.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Seemingly those of the En Sabah Nur of Earth-616.

Weapons

Seemingly those of the En Sabah Nur of Earth-616.

Transportation

Seemingly those of the En Sabah Nur of Earth-616.

See Also

Links and References

References

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