The villains in the X-Men comics are some of the most colorful and interesting in Marvel’s long history. Some have proven to have real staying power, while others were very “of their time.” The first 20-ish years gave readers Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, the Hellfire Club, anti-Mutant hate groups and their Sentinels, and alien threats like the Brood. By the mid-’80s, with Chris Claremont writing the main series for over a decade, things began to change, with more and more evil Mutants of varying power levels. Of these, the first and arguably most important is the ancient Mutant En Sabah Nur, known the world over as Apocalypse.
Because Mr. Nur is the main baddie in season two of X-Men ’97, we thought we’d walk you through the most important events in his wild and wacky history from the pages of Marvel Comics.
X-Factor
Apocalypse became a major fixture of the nascent X-Factor comics in 1986. That series took the original five X-Men (Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Angel, and the newly resurrected Marvel Girl) and made them a government-sponsored Mutant-policing force. Original writer Bob Layton introduced baddies called the Alliance of Evil who had a shady and unseen benefactor for the first few issues. After issue number five, Layton left the series. Editor Bob Harras put longtime Marvel creative Louise Simonson on X-Factor and charged her with giving X-Factor a villain worthy of the original X-team. Someone up there with Magneto in heft and aura. Thus, Apocalypse was properly born.
Apocalypse is the “First Mutant,” an extrapolation of Magneto’s belief that Homo superior are the destined rulers of Earth. Apocalypse believes not only are Mutants the be-all, end-all, he believes fundamentally in Charles Darwin and survival of the fittest. For Mutants, or anyone, to live, they must earn that right. Fighting to the death, etc.
His primary Mutant ability is self-atomic manipulation, meaning he has total control over every atom in his body. He can therefore reshape, rewrite, and retool his physiognomy at will. And what a will it is. Over the years, Apocalypse has also had his powers enhanced through various external forces, including Celestials and techno-organic viruses. And speaking of external, Apocalypse is one of the Mutant subspecies called Externals. Externals are all but immortal, as Apocalypse can self-resurrect after dying.
The Horsemen
To continue Simonson’s Biblical reference with Apocalypse, in X-Factor #15, she and her husband, artist Walt Simonson, gave Apocalypse his Four Horsemen. These four individuals (many different ones over the years) are Mutants whom Apocalypse imbues with a massive power boost and form of genetic brainwashing. The Horsemen take on the embodiments of War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death.
When we first meet the Horsemen in X-Factor, Apocalypse only has three. Mutant soldier Abraham Kieros, who creates massive seismic waves when he claps, becomes War. Autumn Rolfson, whose power causes things to decay, becomes Famine. Morlock Plague, whose powers can give people illness, naturally became the Horseman Pestilence. But who, then, would assay the role of Death? This is perhaps one of Apocalypse’s most infamous acts. He chooses Warren Worthington III, aka Angel, one of the very first X-Men and a founding member of X-Factor. At the time, Warren was at his lowest point. Following an injury incurred during battle, Warren’s friend Cameron Hodge, secretly an anti-Mutant activist, arranged to have Warren’s wings amputated.
This is when Apocalypse entered to pick up the pieces of Warren’s life. Rewriting his genetics and bestowing him with techno-organic wings, Apocalypse turned Angel into Archangel, the embodiment of Death itself. Eventually Warren would regain his wits and leave Apocalypse’s thrall. However, he also didn’t return to X-Factor right away, instead embarking on a mission to find and murder his former friend Hodge. For the rest of his life, Warren would have to contend with his latent murderous intent thanks to Apocalypse’s influence.
At one point during all of this, Apocalypse also comes into conflict with the High Evolutionary. The H.E. wants to rid Earth of all beings that would thwart the evolutionary process. Apocalypse sees this as a direct opposition to his own plans and X-Factor has to watch as two big ol’ baddies fight.
X-Cutioner’s Song
While kicking around as X-Factor’s main antagonist for years, the character eventually (seemingly) died in X-Factor #68. But, the character was way too popular to be gone long. Within a year, Apocalypse returned as part of the crossover event story “X-Cutioner’s Song.” This title—which crossed over all four X titles. As with just about everything X-Men related in the 1990s, this 12-part story was ridiculously complicated. Essentially, it involves an assassination attempt on Professor X which appears to be the work of Cable, founder of X-Force and former headmaster of the New Mutants.
This pits the X-Men and X-Factor against X-Force. In the midst of this, Mister Sinister kidnaps Scott Summers and Jean Grey, but leaves clues which point to Apocalypse and his Horsemen. Yes, Apocalypse is still alive. The messiness of this plot goes off the rails and we eventually learn that the culprit isn’t Cable at all but is Stryfe, Cable’s clone and the head of the Mutant Liberation Front. Like Cable, Stryfe is militant about Mutant autonomy. Unlike Cable, Stryfe wants to wipe out everyone and anyone along the way.
So you’d think Apocalypse would be on board with this. Not so. Weirdly, at least for this story arc, Apocalypse isn’t quite the all-out villain he usually is. He’s not a “good” guy by any means, but he ultimately saves Professor X who is infected by the TO virus.
The Further Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix
In a lot of ways, the ’90s X-Men run is all about preventing the future, ensuring the future, and circumventing the future. Apocalypse serves as one prong of a pentagon of characters all embroiled in this. Mister Sinister attempts to create a living weapon to kill Apocalypse. This is, of course, Nathan Summers, the son of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor (whom we have learned was a clone of Jean Grey). Sinister infects Baby Nathan with the techno organic virus and so Cyclops and Jean send him to the future.
In the miniseries “The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix,” the pair head to the far future where Apocalypse rules supreme. His group, Clan Akkaba, go up against Clan Askani, whose leader is Mother Askani, the very old version of Rachel Summers. Rachel Summers is Scott and Jean’s daughter from the “Days of Future Past” timeline who ends up in the past in the main timeline for comic book reasons. She has raised Nathan into his youth.
By this point, Apocalypse has been enfeebled and has attempted to clone Nathan Summers and put his consciousness into it. However, the real Nathan manages to kill Apocalypse. Probably forever…
The Rise of Apocalypse
In the miniseries, “The Rise of Apocalypse,” we learn the history of En Sabah Nur. He was a baby foundling raised by a tribe of Nomads. The tribe’s leader, Baal, raised young Nur to believe in survival of the fittest. At the time, Egypt was under the control of the Pharoah Rama-Tut. It turns out, Rama-Tut was actually the time travelling villain, Kang the Conqueror. Kang’s ultimate goal was to recruit Nur to be his successor, knowing that in the future, Nur would become Apocalypse.
However, Rama-Tut badly underestimates Nur. The Pharoah destroys Nur’s tribe and the young Mutant wants revenge. He travels to Rama-Tut’s city pretending to be a slave. While there, Nur falls in love with Nephri, the sister of Rama-Tut’s second in command, Ozymandias. She rejects Nur because of his facial disfigurement and the anger and despair makes his mutant power kick in. While Kang scarpers, Nur, now calling himself Apocalypse, enslaves Ozymandias and begins his first reign.
Age of Apocalypse
Maybe the most famous Apocalypse storyline doesn’t really even feature him that much. The alternate universe line-wide takeover “Age of Apocalypse” begins when Legion, the psychotic Mutant with multiple personalities, decides to travel back in time to kill Magneto, blaming Magnus for all the ills of the present. However, Legion gets it wrong and goes back to a time when Magneto and Legion’s father, Charles Xavier, are already friends. Xavier saves Magneto and dies in the process. This rewrites history for the very worse. The only Mutant who knows this time tangent occurred is Lucas Bishop, who had chased Legion through time.
The “Age of Apocalypse” finds a world in which En Sabah Nur was able to take over Earth with impunity. Magneto ends up leading the X-Men. All the existing X-books receive new titles during this period and the characters all shift and change in myriad ways. Some good guys, like Beast, are evil in AoA, whereas some villains like Sabretooth are on the side of the angels.
The Twelve
For ages and ages in the comics, we’d heard something about “The Twelve,” a group of 12 Mutants whom Apocalypse sought to collect in order to harness their powers for him to ascend into Godhood. Though many of our main characters are candidates, we later learn the Twelve in question are: Magneto, Polaris, Storm, Sunfire, Iceman, Cyclops, Phoenix, Cable, Bishop, Mikhail Rasputin (evil older brother of Colossus and Magik), Professor X, and true wildcard, the Living Monolith.
The early 2000s in X-Men comics were very convoluted and this is perhaps the biggest offender. All you really need to know is that Apocalypse wants power unending because his body is breaking down. Because “Age of Apocalypse” had been so popular, this arc’s subseries, “Ages of Apocalypse,” showed different warped realities via Apocalypse having possessed Cyclops. It’s crazy and not very good.
Lots of Cable Shenanigans
So, the biggest continued throughline with Apocalypse from the ’90s onward is his relationship, of sorts, with Cable, aka Nathan Summers. Cable time shifts to various points in the past and future in an attempt to stop the seemingly inevitable Apocalypse-ruled future from whence he came.
In the course of these adventures, we get a very fun piece of lore. In the pages of the team-up book Cable & Deadpool which ran from 2004-2008, we learn that, at one point, Cable, under the guise of “Traveler,” went back in time to kill En Sabah Nur in Ancient Egypt. During the course of his battle, Apocalypse manages cut off Cable’s cybernetic arm. After Cable seemingly wins, shooting Apocalypse in the head, Ozymandias declares Cable the Dark Riders’ new leader. Cable declines, but in the course of his bidding farewell, he gets his own techno-organic-infused blood mixed with Apocalypse’s.
This effectively creates a Bootstrap Paradox. It was Apocalypse’s TO virus which Mister Sinister gave to baby Nathan Summers who then went back in time and infected Apocalypse. So where did the virus come from? Who had it first? Chicken, egg.
Apocalypse vs. Dracula
This is not at all important but it is very weird, which is why I want to mention it. Prior to becoming a vampire, Vlad Tepes lost in battle to Apocalypse’s Clan Akkaba. Centuries later, the vampire lord wants revenge via turning all the clan into his legion of the undead. To combat this, Apocalypse must awaken from his rejuvenating slumber to team up with—is this right?—Van Helsing to stop Dracula.
Uncanny X-Force
During a period of time when most of the world’s Mutants had lost their powers (thanks, Wanda), Apocalypse ended up losing his own life, seemingly for the last time. However, his followers in Clan Akkaba couldn’t stay down for long. They eventually revived their leader…somewhat. This is a child whom Akkaba intends to indoctrinate. Stopping this becomes the first mission of the now-even more clandestine Uncanny X-Force, consisting of leader Wolverine, Archangel, Psylocke, Deadpool, and Fantomex.
The “would you kill Baby ____” thought experiment pits various members of the team on opposite sides of the debate, with Deadpool acting as the most staunch voice of mercy. Who can kill a child? Well, Fantomex, turns out. This sends a ripple through the nascent team. However, Fantomex learns of a clone of Baby Apocalypse and, to make amends to himself, he decides to raise the boy to be good.
This young one, Evan Sabahnur, eventually helps X-Force battle against Archangel when Clan Akkaba awakens his latent and not-so-hidden evilness. After Dark Archangel’s defeat, Fantomex enrolls Evan into Jean Grey’s School for Higher Learning.
All New X-Men
Evan Sabahnur has a hard time fitting in amongst his new classmates. They fear him and what he may eventually become. Deadpool, during this period, becomes a mentor and older brother figure to Evan and helps the young clone resist the evils of Daken and the Brotherhood. Evan, wanting even more to prove he’s his own man, names himself Genesis and joins up with the time-displaced original X-Men.
At one point, Evan even travels back in time with Beast and befriends young En Sabah Nur. He tries in vain to prevent Nur from becoming Apocalypse. Evan Sabahnur dies in the 2019 story “Age of X-Man,” which is a riff on “Age of Apocalypse” where X-Man (alternate universe Cable) creates a totalitarian utopia.
Krakoan Age
Apocalypse has one of the most interesting storylines in the entirety of the Krakoan Age, which began in 2019 with House of X/Powers of X. After Professor X and Magneto hatched their plan with Moira MacTaggart to create a Mutant utopia on the living island Krakoa, all Mutants, regardless of level of villainy, were welcome. This included Apocalypse, who actually saw this as a wonderful and fitting moment, the culmination of all of his work.
One of the major facets of the Krakoan Age is effective immortality, through resurrection. Mutants who lost their powers after M-Day can regain them by dying and undergoing Krakoan resurrection. To prevent mass suicide by depowered mutants in order to regain their powers, the Quiet Council of Krakoa devised the Crucible, a trial by combat where a depowered mutant must endure grueling physical and psychological attacks from Apocalypse before they can die and be resurrected.
During this period, he also sits on the island’s Quiet Council, the governing body for Mutantkind as well as acting as the mentor figure to the magic-focused Excalibur team. During the massive crossover event X of Swords, we learn that Apocalypse’s original Horsemen were his biological children alongside his wife Genesis. Genesis and a whole host of Mutants raised in Apocalypse’s image arrive along with Krakoa’s sister entity, Arakko. In order to make room for all these newbies, Storm terraforms Mars and makes a second Mutant homeworld.
Eventually, Apocalypse realizes his ways are not the Krakoan way, Apocalypse attacks and fights the X-Men until Jean talks him down. Upon seeing through the eyes of the Mutants on Krakoa, Apocalypse leaves for Arakko.
X-Men ’97
So far in X-Men ’97 season two, we’ve seen elements of many of Apocalypse’s early stories played out onscreen. Presumably in the present, we’ll see him enlist new Horsemen and very likely one of those will be Gambit, and possibly Colossus. Oh what fun!
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.
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This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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