Who is the X-Men's Apocalypse?

Apocalypse is the latest villain set to appear in the X-Men: Apocalypse movie. Originally known as En Sabah Nur, Apocalypse is allegedly the world’s oldest mutant, having first appeared in ancient Egypt. He has been a very powerful X-Men villain for years. He has complete control over his body, allowing him to become malleable, and also has energy manipulation abilities and some telekinesis. His main belief is “survival of the fittest,” which can be twisted in the Marvel Universe if you have that level of power.

The character first appeared in X-Factor (the series featuring the original five X-Men) back in the ‘80s. Apocalypse often has Four Horsemen who serve him and one of his first acts was brainwashing Angel into being the horseman Death, turning his skin blue and giving him metal wings in the process.

The most famous Apocalypse story was the Age of Apocalypse in 1995, during which all the Marvel mutant titles were cancelled and rebranded for four months (Uncanny X-Men became Astonishing X-Men, etc.). Legion, the powerful but unstable son of Charles Xavier, went back in time to kill Magneto so Magneto would not cause problems for the X-Men. Professor X took the bullet and died instead, resulting in a world where he never formed the X-Men. This allowed Apocalypse to rise and conquer North America, as the X-Men and other superheroes were not around to stop him.

Age of Apocalypse was a great story, a bright point in the ‘90s X-Men universe. In the alternate universe, Magneto was inspired by Xavier’s death to form the X-Men and later married Rogue. Cyclops, Havok and the Beast were never X-Men and were instead recruited by evil Mister Sinister. Jean Grey never became Phoenix and was in a relationship with Logan (called Weapon X and not Wolverine in this reality). Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch were founding X-Men, although Wanda died on their first mission. Colossus and Kitty Pryde were married. None of the Avengers or Fantastic Four received their powers due to Apocalypse’s rising and many of them opposed his rule as civilians. It was a fun look at what the Marvel Universe would be without Professor X’s influence, sort of an It’s a Wonderful Life for Marvel, and some of the alternate characters eventually bled into the mainstream reality.

Another notable Apocalypse story was The Twelve at the turn of the millennium. Apocalypse had gathered 12 mutants who represented primal forces: Professor X (the mind); Magneto and Polaris (magnetism); Storm, Iceman and Sunfire (the elements); Cyclops, Jean and Cable (the family); Bishop (time); Mikhail Rasputin (space) and the Living Monolith (the core) and trapped them in a machine to conquer the world. It backfired and Apocalypse was defeated, although Cyclops vanished. When he returned, Cyclops had absorbed a portion of Apocalypse’s darkness, which was a factor in his separation from Jean.

Since then, Apocalypse has been reincarnated as a child and the X-Men faced the dilemma of what to do with a powerful being who would eventually turn evil.

I don’t know if the movie will deal with the Age of Apocalypse or not but there is plenty of material to choose from.