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Nemesis (Earth-295) from X-Men Chronicles Vol 1 1 0001

Human

Origin[]

Nemesis was supposedly the son of Apocalypse although his mother is unknown. As an adult, Nemesis was one of his father's Horsemen of Apocalypse. In his earliest recorded mission, Nemesis was sent to Wundagore Mountain, the secret headquarters of Magneto's X-Men. He destroyed the compound, causing many casualties, including Magneto's daughter, the Scarlet Witch.[1]

During Apocalypse's blitzkrieg launched against Europe and Asia, Nemesis joined Apocalypse in Japan. They murdered thousands of humans and captured Sunfire, forcibly submerging him in the blood of his own people.[2]

Holocaust[]

Magneto eventually tracked Nemesis down and destroyed his physical body in revenge for what happened to Wanda. Nemesis awoke in the labs of the Dark Beast and was fitted with a transparent armor that would not only channel his energy but also contain him and keep him from dissipating. He took the name Holocaust.[3] Because they were rivals at the time, McCoy chose not to reveal the full potential of his armor to Holocaust.[4]

Holocaust proved himself a survivor during Apocalypse's battles for succession, killing the benefactress Candra in New Orleans.[5]

When culling the state of California, Holocaust was annoyed to find his fellow Horseman Sabretooth defecting, no longer wishing to participate in genocide. Holocaust defeated Sabretooth in battle and sent him to a prison especially made for those who turned against Apocalypse.[6]

Holocaust learned of the departure of Weapon X and Jean Grey from the X-Men and sent his operative Wolverine to eliminate the remaining members. However, Wolverine failed in his mission.[3]

Sometime later, Holocaust clashed with Blastaar and his Baluurians, invaders from the Negative Zone who sought to take over the Earth. Holocaust managed to fight them into fleeing.[7]

In recent times, Holocaust became a mainstay of Apocalypse's Horsemen. The world was locked in a cold war between Apocalypse and the surviving humans. With the signing of the Kelly Pact, Apocalypse was to cease his ghastly experiments and genetic cullings; however Apocalypse had no desire to do so. When his fellow Horseman Sinister defected, Apocalypse and Holocaust searched for him but could not find him.[8]

Holocaust was later dispatched to Chicago to initiate a culling of the humans that were living there. Learning about this, the X-Men sent a squad to stop him.[9] Sabretooth, now an X-Man, sought to defeat Holocaust on his own and had his teammate Blink teleport him closer to the site of the culling. In a one-on-one battle, Sabretooth smashed Holocaust's armor, however he failed to stop him. Holocaust defeated Victor in battle, but not before his comrade Wild Child could escape to tell the other X-Men where Holocaust was located.[2] Holocaust savagely maimed Sabretooth, and left him for dead before resuming his operations.[10] Coming across Sabretooth's seemingly dead body, Blink went after Holocaust by herself and held her own until the other X-Men arrived to help her out. Holocaust was overpowered by the X-Men, and forced to retreat by teleporting back to his father's citadel, but not before telling Rogue that Apocalypse had her husband Magneto as his prisoner.[11]

When the X-Men stormed Apocalypse's citadel, Holocaust attempted to slay Magneto but was stopped when Nate Grey intervened. In their battle, Nate impaled Holocaust with a shard of the M'kraan Crystal, causing both of them to be transported to the Earth-616 universe.[12]

Earth-616[]

The transport to Earth-616 destroyed Holocausts armor, and he was in suspended animation trapped in a large chunk of M'kraan Crystal in space. His body was discovered by the Acolytes who took him aboard their space station Avalon.[13] Revived, and thinking that he was still in his own reality, Holocaust went on a rampage aboard Avalon, killing the Acolytes Milan and Rusty Collins before clashing with Exodus.[14] The two's battle destroyed Avalon, causing the space station to break apart on entry through Earth's atmosphere. Holocaust easily defeated Exodus in battle.[15]

He was contacted by Sebastian Shaw. In exchange for a new armored containment suit, Holocaust agreed to help Shaw capture the X-Force, which he did with frightful ease. Shaw then had Tessa reprogram X-Force to hunt down Cable, but Cable used his fledgling telepathy to break the conditioning and free his team. Shaw's association with Holocaust ended soon after.[16]

Holocaust was then offered power beyond his wildest imagination by the psychic entity known as Onslaught who restored his armor and sent him after his old nemesis Nate Grey.[17] Tracking Nate to Greece, the two clashed, however Holocaust attempted to convince the young mutant to join his master Onslaught instead of fighting him. Nate refused, and Holocaust captured Nate's lover Threnody, forcing Nate to surrender.[18] Nate freed Threnody, and battled Holocaust. When his psychic powers proved useless, Nate damaged Holocaust's armor, causing him to flee. However, he warned Nate that his master Onslaught would soon be the victor.[19]

When Onslaught finally launched his massive assault on the city of Manhattan, Holocaust was dispatched to cause chaos in the streets along with fellow Onslaught minion Post. He clashed with the Avengers who tricked the two into knocking each other out with their powers.[20]

Holocaust still had a portion of the M'kraan Crystal stuck inside him, and he became a target of the Shi'ar who saw this as an affront to their beliefs. This led to a clash between the Shi'ar and refugees from Earth-295, which included Holocaust, Sugar Man, Dark Beast, and Nate Grey.[21] Holocaust clashed with the X-Man once more in Dublin when Nate was trying to find a killer who was consuming parts of his victims.[22]

Following this encounter, Holocaust disappeared for some time.

Exiles[]

Nemesis (Earth-295) and Mark Milton (Earth-4023) from Exiles Vol 1 62 001

Death

Holocaust became the pawn of Hyperion of Earth-4023, who at the time had enslaved the Timebreakers to get revenge on their Exiles, a group of reality hopping mutants that fixed damaged realities who had defeated Hyperion in the past. Incidentally, the Exiles consisted of Earth-295 natives Blink and Sabretooth. When the Exiles refused to kill their teammate Mimic, Hyperion teleported them to Earth-295 and forced Holocaust into their team.

Holocaust, Sabretooth, and Blink were surprised to find that their native reality still existed but a clash began nonetheless. Holocaust fled from the scene and located the M'kraan Crystal that was then in the possession of the US military.[23] Learning that the crystal had some tie to the Exile's Tallus, Holocaust worked with the Exiles in utilizing the Crystal to travel to the Timebreakers' headquarters, the Panoptichron.[24] Holocaust rashly clashed with Hyperion, only to have his armor smashed. Hyperion then killed him by literally inhaling Holocaust's bio-energy.[25]

Attributes

Power Grid[30]
:Category:Power Grid/Fighting Skills/Some Training:Category:Power Grid/Energy Projection/Single Type: Long Range:Category:Power Grid/Durability/Bulletproof:Category:Power Grid/Speed/Speed of Sound:Category:Power Grid/Strength/Superhuman (800 lbs-25 ton):Category:Power Grid/Intelligence/Normal

Powers

Life-force Absorption: Holocaust's primary mutant power was an ability to absorb various forms of ambient energy, including the life energy of other beings, into himself. He could use this drained energy to augment his other mutant attributes and was fully sustained by these energies. As a result, he required no food, water, air or even sleep to sustain his physical and mental health.[26]

  • Superhuman Strength: By purposely channeling the energy he had absorbed, Holocaust could grant himself sufficient superhuman strength to lift up to 2 tons.[26]
  • Superhuman Stamina: As a result of using his absorbed energy to enhance his strength, his musculature was far more efficient than that of an ordinary human. His muscles produced less fatigue toxins during physical activity than that of normal humans and he could potentially exert himself almost indefinitely, provided he could continue to absorb energy as needed.[26]
  • Superhuman Durability: Outside of his armor, Holocaust's body is in an almost intangible state. As a result, he is virtually impervious to all forms of physical injury. However, he must continuously absorb the life energies of others in order to maintain his form outside of his armor.[26]
  • Superhuman Reflexes: Holocaust's reflexes were heightened to levels that are beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete.[26]
  • Plasma Blasts: Holocaust could generate concentrated beams of plasma, which he often used in combat situations. At his peak, he could generate plasma blasts reaching a temperature of about 1,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit.[26]
  • Flight: Holocaust could propel himself through the air, under his own power, at great speeds. He did so by creating super heated air currents that propelled him. While at his peak, he was able to reach speeds up to MACH-1, approximately 760 miles per hour.[26]
  • Psionic Resistance: Onslaught was able to alter Holocaust's brain engrams that rendered him resistant to most forms of telepathic assault. His engrams were altered to such a degree that he was rendered undetectable telepathically.[26]

Abilities

Holocaust was a good hand to hand combatant, though he relied more on his powers than actual skill. The fact that he could absorb the life energies from most other beings was primarily responsible for his success in combat situations as it made him extremely difficult to fight.

Weaknesses

Holocaust relied on his armor to stay substantive. Outside of his shell, what was left of Holocaust's body was mostly intangible energy.[2] Absorbing life energy from others could recreate his physical form, but required constant replenishment.[27] The armor gave Holocaust a constant physical form that was not reliant on his powers and outside lifeforce to maintain.

Paraphernalia

Equipment

  • Crystalline Armor: Holocaust usually wore a high impact, crystalline suit of armor that essentially acted as a highly durable containment suit. Wearing this suit allowed him to remain in a cohesive form without having to constantly absorb ambient energies around him. When charged with life-force energies, the unique shapeshifting abilities of the armor allowed him to take on virtually any type of humanoid form.[4] However, he had to constantly absorb life-force energies in order to maintain the feature of whatever form he had taken.[28]

Trivia

  • His name was, for a time in the late 90s, changed back to Nemesis after pressure from Jewish groups. His action figure was even called Dark Nemesis. It reverted to Holocaust for his Exiles #60 appearance.
  • A Holocaust was mentioned in Stryfe's Strike File #1 years before the initial appearance of Holocaust. This Holocaust's relation to Age of Apocalypse Nemesis/Holocaust is unknown. The later introduction of Genocide, who more closely resembles Nemesis/Holocaust than the Holocaust from Stryfe's Strike File, makes the matter even more confusing.

See Also

Links and References

References

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