Art by Jim Cheung
- Name: En Sabah Nur
- Code Names: Apocalypse
- First Appearance: X-Factor #5 (June 1986)
- Powers: Total Molecular Control
- Teams Affiliation: The Clan Akkaba, The Horsemen, The Dark Riders
About
In his Principals of Biology Herbert Spencer wrote, “This survival of the fittest, which I have here sought to express in mechanical terms, is that which Mr. Darwin has called ‘natural selection’, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life.” This summarized the hard truth that Darwin was advocating, the weak will be culled, but the strong will thrive. The interpretation of that truth, however, can strip us of our basic humanity. Should we help the weak survive when they aren’t the best humanity has to offer? The deformed, the ill, the queer, if they are not the best chance for the progression of the human race, why keep them around? Are they not life unworthy of life? When one takes this attitude it becomes easy for horrors to occur, the Nazi eugenics program was based on that attitude, cull the weak and raise the strong. For mutants it raises a serious question, do you associate with lesser species, do you control them, or do you destroy them? En Sabah Nur, the mutant known as Apocalypse, believed that only the strongest should survive and has sought the test the Earth, and the X-Men, time and time again.
Portrayed by Oscar Isaac in X-Men: Apocalypse
It’s fitting then that Apocalypse’s existence was birthed from one of the largest tests of strength in the X-Men line, the beginning of X-Factor. The genesis of the book, which we won’t get into here, nearly caused Chris Claremont to leave Marvel and the early issues showed little promise of quality. To help build cooperation in the line, writer Bob Layton was replaced with former X-Men editor, and Claremont’s friend, Louis Simonson. Weezy, as she was affectionately known, was unhappy with the big twist that Layton had planned and asked for a change as he was leaving the book. Instead of Daredevil villain The Owl being the mastermind of the Alliance of Evil, she and artist Jackson Guise created a new foe, one they intended to become the Magneto to X-Factor. Cloaked in shadow, Apocalypse made his first appearance in X-Factor #5.
Art by Jackson Guise, Josef Rubinstein, and Petra Scotese
It wasn’t clear how interesting this villain would become from the start. Guise gave the character a beautiful, Kirby inspired, design but Simonson had trouble welding the character into the plot she inherited. He had assembled his Alliance of Evil and captured a mutant named Michael Nowland, who had the ability to enhance other mutant’s abilities. X-Factor had often battled the Alliance and found themselves engaged in battled against Apocalypse. His molecular control was used mostly to make his arms into large, cartoony, hammers and he was soundly defeated by X-Factor.
Art by Jackson Guise, Bob McLeod, and Petra Scotese
Still Apocalypse was relentless and had larger plans. During the mutant massacre he began recruiting, first a Morlock with the ability to spread deadly contagions with just a touch, then a disabled, disillusioned war veteran, and an anorexic teenage girl would could destroy organic material. Using the technology on his home base known as Ship, he baptized them and gave them greater power. They would be Pestilence, War, and Famine. He set them upon New York City and they were stopped only by Iceman totally freezing a large portion of Central Park. This was only a test for En Sabah Nur and he had a weapon that X-Factor could not combat. Their friend Angel was assumed dead, but in reality Apocalypse used him, transformed him, into his fourth horseman, his name was Death and hell followed with him.
Art by Walter Simonson, Bob Wiacek, and Petra Scotese
The die had been cast and Apocalypse put his plan into motion. He teleported X-Factor onto Ship and sought to test his newest creation against Death’s old friends. Warren soundly defeated X-Factor and Apocalypse offered them the same power he had given to his Horsemen. While most of X-Factor refused, the former Morlock Caliban was tired of being the weakest one he knew and joined with Apocalypse. He sent his Horsemen to spread chaos, testing the world to separate the weak from the strong. X-Factor broke free from their captivity and were able to defeat Apocalypse and his Horsemen. In the battle, Ship was heavily damaged and crashed into the old headquarters of X-Factor. They would use the Celestial freighter as their new base of operations and, for a short while, Apocalypse faded into the background.
Art by Walter Simonson, Bob Wiacek, and Petra Scotese
Apocalypse had machinations in place and relocated to the Blue Area of the Moon. He sowed dissent within the Inhuman population there and continued to recruit those he felt were worthy to his cause. This group of mutants and Inhumans became known as his Dark Riders, and he had a sinister task for them. There was a child, Nathan Summers, and Apocalypse had discovered that the boy was genetically engineered to destroy him, something En Sabah Nur could not allow. They entered Ship, captured the child, and brought him to their master. X-Factor aligned themselves with Black Bolt and the remaining Inhumans to attacks Apocalypse’s fortress and rescues Cyclops’ son. When it looked as if they would win, Apocalypse played his trump card, it didn’t matter if they rescued young Nathan because he had become infected with a techno-organic virus that would quickly kill him. Cyclops was enraged by this and blasted Apocalypse into nearly nothing. Fate had a funny way of working that day, the techno-organic virus forced X-Factor to send Nathan into the future to survive. There the boy would grow in strength and skill, becoming the warrior Cable, Apocalypse’s fiercest foe.
Art by Whilce Portacio, Art Thibert, and Dana Moreshead
Apocalypse went into a state of regeneration similar to hibernation before he was awoken by his Dark Riders. They captured Cyclops and Phoenix per his request, but Apocalypse knew nothing of that matter. The clone of Cable, Strife, came upon the weakened Apocalypse and defeated the mutant as revenge for actions Apocalypse had yet to commit. He attempted to fight Strife at his moon base but was defeated by his former Dark Riders and Archangel. His body regenerated, he awoke at the start of the Onslaught and teamed up with Cable to take down the monstrosity. He committed other schemes across the 90’s, trying to enlist Hulk as his new War, and trying to test the humans against the Deviants, and even turning Wolverine into his new Death, but mostly he bid his time until his greatest plan would unfold.
At this time, we learned about the true history of Apocalypse. He was born to the Clan Akkaba in Egypt and they were terrified of the boy. His grey skin and deformed lips caused them to cast him out as an infant but he was rescued by Baal, leader of the raiders known as The Sand Stormers. He sensed great power in the boy and raised his as his own son for the mission of defeating the pharaoh Rama-Tut. Tut, it turned out, was a time traveling aspect of Kang the Conquer who had come to Egypt to control the most powerful mutant in history. Rama-Tut and En Sabah Nur eventually met face to face, each man with great plans for the others life. Tut offered En Sabah Nur greatness if he would swear fealty to him, and when he refused, shot En Sabah Nur with a Celestial weapon.
Art by Adam Pollina, Mark Morales, and, Christian Lichtner
But En Sabah Nur did not die, he was reborn as Apocalypse. His mutant powers in full swing he attacked and defeated Rama-Tut, who fled into the time stream. Apocalypse saw himself as the strongest and began to travel the world to test it based on The Sand Stormer’s creed “only the strong survive”. He formed a cult around him called the Clan Akkaba, battled rulers, inspired myths, and tested the Earth. He gained control of a Celestial craft and armor and used the technology to empower his followers. He eventually rested, biding his strength until one strong enough would awaken him and he could test humanity again. He awoke at the birth of Nathan Summers and began his mighty work to challenge this new world.
Art by Adam Pollina, Mark Morales, and, Christian Lichtner
Apocalypse’s body was burning out, his recent defeats had sapped all the life out of him and it was time for him to unleash his master stroke. Using his horsemen Death as a distraction, Apocalypse captured twelve mutants, Magneto, Polaris, Storm, Sunfire, Iceman, Cyclops, Phoenix, Cable, Bishop, Mikhail Rasputin, Charles Xavier, and the Living Monolith. He placed them in a Celestial machine and intended to use their power to grant him a truly godlike state, but his frail form would not be able to withstand such power so he sought a new host in the form of Nate Grey (who is not Nathan Summers and you can read about here). Cyclops couldn’t stand to see his potential son transformed into a shell for Apocalypse and merged with the now omnipotent En Sabah Nur. The X-Men were able to defeat the mangled combination of Cyclops and Apocalypse but it came at great cost as Scott Summers was seemingly killed alongside Apocalypse.
Art by Alan Davis, Mark Farmer, and Steve Oliff
A drop of his blood survived and eventually reformed into En Sabah Nur who awoke in a world of his nightmares. The Scarlet Witch had decimated the mutant population and the weak were dominating the strong. He enlisted new horsemen, Gazer, Polaris, Sunfire, and Gambit, and took his Sphinx to the mutant refugee camp at the X-Mansion. He held the world hostage, threatening to use his new Famine to destroy all food sources on the planet unless humanity would do what had been done to the mutants, decimate themselves. In his new world the strong and only the strong would thrive, but the combined efforts of the X-Men and Avengers pushed to retreat. In his escape the Celestials called upon him to repay them for his use of their technologies, Apocalypse looked to suicide to escape this pact but the Celestials spirited him away for a greater purpose.
Art by Salvador Larroca, and Jason Keith
The Clan Akkaba worked to return their lord and managed to bring him back as a child. The boy was raised by the clan and protected by the Final Horsemen. Wolverine led X-Force on a mission to kill the reborn Apocalypse but the team was torn when they found he was just a boy. They argued amongst one another before Fantomex decided to take matters into his own hands and shot the child in the head. The rebirth of En Sabah Nur was prevented but Fantomex had his own agenda (which spoiler for the end of this article, we will talk about next week).
Art by Jerome Opena, and Dean White
Now I normally avoid alternate reality stories in these posts but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t talk about Age of Apocalypse for just a bit. In a world where Charles Xavier sacrificed himself to save Magneto’s life before the formation of the X-Men, Apocalypse came to power. He quickly gained control of North America and ruled with an iron fist. Nuclear war between Apocalypse and the European Human High Counsel left most of the world destroyed and the strong ruled over the ashes. Magneto could not stand the horrors of this world and led a rebellion against Apocalypse eventually ripping the monster in two. This reality became one of the most popular in Marvel history and has been often revisited. More than anything else it showed the horrors of the world Apocalypse wanted to create and has defined the character more than anything else. (For more information the podcast MultiversalQ just finished a 5 part Ken Burns style documentary about the Age of Apocalypse with vocal talents of X-Men ’92 writer Chris Sims and Jay Edidin from Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men. Go check it out here!)
Art by Gerardo Sandoval
Must Read
If you are looking here for something to read before you watch X-Men: Apocalypse you need to pick up the X-Factor portion of fall of the mutants (collected in X-Men Fall of the Mutants Vol 2 and frustratingly not on Marvel Unlimited totally just added to Marvel Unlimited yesterday). It’s a great arc that gives you a great overview about what Apocalypse wants for the world and has some fantastic character drama between X-Factor. And shout out to the people behind Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men for confirming this recommendation since they are living the dream of press passes. If you like this blog and don’t listen to that podcast, you need to fix something ASAP.
For my pick this week it has to be Age of Apocalypse. This crossover was probably the most 90’s thing in the history of the world but it is kind of a perfect encapsulation of what makes Apocalypse great. The character is engaging, not because what he does, but what he wants to do. Seeing that vision come to life enhances every other Apocalypse story. The crossover can be found on Marvel Unlimited or a variety of collected editions.
Ranking
Out of all the villains on this list, Apocalypse is the easy winner and can go above Exodus no questions asked. I’d rather read an Apocalypse story than a Pete Wisdom story so he can move into the top half of the list. In the battle of big blue mutants I am going to be bold and say that Maggott is a more enjoyable character for me to read and has less of the baggage that Apocalypse does so he is going to rank below Japeth, but not far. I think En Sabah Nur is a deeper, more interesting character than Strong Guy so he will jump above Guido and that just leaves Boom Boom. These two character were both developed in X-Factor, I’ve been rereading that run in preparation for this article and let me tell you, Boom Boom is fantastic in it where Apocalypse feels like a good idea that isn’t fully developed. Stories with Apocalypse are better for characters reactions to him than his actual actions and for that he will rank right under Boom Boom as the new number 9 in the Xavier Files.
Apocalypse was a shameless tie-in to the movie. If YOU have a character you want me to do, leave a comment and I’ll get it added to the list. If you want to cut to the front of the line we just started a Patreon if you want to support it and get a line cutting reward. Our first goal is only $15 and it gets rid of those ads and makes the hosting for Xavier Files entirely reader supported.
This week is a big celebration for us here at Xavier Files since, you know, a movie is coming out. We will have daily content that you can see below:
Monday: Debut of the new Xavier Files webcomic
Tuesday: This
Wednesday: The 2nd installment of the webcomic
Thursday: X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse article
Friday: Review of X-Men: Apocalypse
If you liked what you read be sure to subscribe to the tumblr so you never miss an update. You can also follow me on twitter @Xavierfiles where I throw out my thoughts about general X-Men stuff or like the Facebook page!
Art by Jae Lee and Photoshop
Zachary Jenkins co-hosts the podcast Battle of the Atom and is the former editor-in-chief of ComicsXF. Shocking everyone, he has a full and vibrant life outside all this.
