Apocalypse

This article is about the character. You may be looking for movie of the same name.

Apocalypse
Real Name	En Sabah Nur
Alias(es)	The First One Apocalypse Elohim Shem Ra Krishna Yahweh
Species	Mutant (Homo superior)
Gender	Male
Age	5000+
Date of Death	1983 (Revised Timeline)
Status	Unknown (Original Timeline) Deceased (Revised Timeline)
Appearances
Movie	X-Men: Days of Future Past X-Men: Apocalypse
Actors/Actresses
Portrayed by	Brendan Pedder (Young Adult) Oscar Isaac (Adult) Berdj Garabedian (Old)

"You are all my children, and you are lost because you follow blind leaders, but I am here now... I'm here for you.."

―Apocalypse

"I've been called many things over many lifetimes: Ra, Krishna, Yahweh. I was there to spark and fan the flame of man's awakening, to spin the wheel of civilization."

―Apocalypse

Apocalypse (born under the name En Sabah Nur) is an immensely powerful and ancient mutant. He is believed to be the very first mutant, having lived for several millennia.

Biography

X-Men: Days of Future Past

In Ancient Egypt, a young En Sabah Nur is seen in using his powers to construct the Great Pyramid of Giza while a vast crowd of people bow before him, chanting his name while his Horsemen look on.

X-Men: Apocalypse

En Sabah Nur, known by others as "Apocalypse", the firstborn of the mutant race was born prior to 3600 BC (claiming to have been worshiped by several ancient civilizations over his many lives, being called Elohim, Shem, Ra, Krishna, and Yahweh, among other names), as he rules the world in Akkaba of ancient Egypt. Moira MacTaggert's research puts it as if he lived some millenia before the incident where he went missing: while performing a transferral of his consciousness to a newer body, his worshippers betray him and set for the destruction of his pyramid. The Four Horsemen ensure Apocalypse still survives the ordeal even as the monument is collapsed, killing the followers while keeping En Sabah Nur entombed for millenia.

Following the 1973 incidents that revealed mutantkind to the world, a group of Egyptians started the Cult of En Sabah Nur and discovered where his resting place lied in Cairo. As Moira investigated them in 1983, she saw En Sabah Nur awaken at the ruins, killing the cultists.

En Sabah Nur decides to explore the modern day world, and while roaming Cairo, he sees street thief Ororo Munroe use her weather control powers to steal food. The shopkeepers go threaten Ororo, being interrupted by the intervention of Apocalypse. After miscommunication due to En Sabah Nur speaking outdated dialects, he eventually kills the men chasing Ororo by using sand to punch through the sides of their necks and literally melting the last into a wall.

Ororo takes En Sabah Nur to his house. Once he sees a television, touching it enables Apocalypse's powers to connect to all broadcasts in the world, making him learn modern languages and how mankind evolved the previous millenia. Believing that without his presence, humanity has grown weaker, he decides to destroy it in order to rebuild society from his point of view. He enhances Ororo's powers to turn her into the first of the new Horsemen.

Apocalypse and Storm then go to Berlin seeking Caliban, a mutant broker who knows the location of other Homo superior. Caliban refuses to concede information without getting paid and draws a gun on En Sabah Nur, who proceeds to use his powers to desintegrate it. Caliban's enforcer Psylocke then extends a sword and her psi-katana upon Apocalypse to protect her boss. Impressed, En Sabah Nur goes on to enhance Psylocke and turn her into a Horseman, and she replies by taking her to a powerful mutant. Angel, a former cage fighter who went into drunk depression after injuring his wings fighting Nightcrawler, becomes the third Horseman as Apocalypse replaces his wings with metal ones, renaming him "Archangel", "my Angel of Death".

After recruiting the trio, Apocalypse arrives together with them to a steel plant factory in Poland, where Erik Lehnsherr, also known as "Magneto", wants to kill his former co-workers for causing the death of his wife and daughter. Apocalypse kills the workers by fusing them to the ground, and teleports with Magneto to Auschwitz Concentration Camp, where Erik had seen his powers awaken 40 years prior. After some encouragement from En Sabah Nur, who tells Erik that Earth's magnetic field and ground metals can be exploited by Magneto's powers, Erik proceeds to destroy the ruins, and promptly agrees to join forces with the ancient mutant (who further enhances Erik's already immense mutant powers), becoming his fourth and final Horseman of the Apocalypse

As Apocalypse gathers his Four Horsemen and gives them special armor, Erik is contacted telepathically by Charles Xavier through Cerebro. En Sabah Nur notices the communication and uses his powers to take over Xavier's mind, and by extension Cerebro. Apocalypse forces military around the world to launch Earth's entire nuclear arsenal into space so it cannot be used against him. After Havok destroys Cerebro with his powers, Apocalypse and the horsemen teleport to the X-Mansion to kidnap Xavier. Havok's attempt at attacking Apocalypse ends hitting a generator and causes a massive explosion that destroys the mansion, with everyone inside other than Havok only surviving due to Quicksilver's intervention.

Xavier is brought by En Sabah Nur to Cairo, and forced to broadcast a threatening message to all the human race on the behalf of Apocalypse. Without En Sabah Nur knowing, Xavier also revealed his location in a hidden telepathic message to his student Jean Grey. En Sabah Nur destroyed most of Cairo to rebuild his pyramid, and ordered Magneto to stand outside it using his powers to control Earth's magnetic poles, causing widespread destruction across the planet and mass casualties. Meanwhile, inside the pyramid En Sabah Nur would transfer his consciousness to Xavier's body, as the telepath's powers would allow him to "be everywhere, be everyone".

The X-Men arrive during the process, and Nightcrawler interrupts the transferral by teleporting Xavier out of the pyramid, but not before Professor X loses his hair. As Apocalypse steps outside the pyramid, he witnesses Angel defeated and is repeatedly punched in the face by Quicksilver, who uses his super speed to not be noticed, until En Sabah Nur catches on and traps one of the speedster's feet to the ground. As Psylocke comes closer, he requests for her to execute Peter. Instead she strikes En Sabah Nur on the neck, and seeing it is not his Horseman, he proceeds to attack and strangle the mutant, revealed as a disguised Mystique.

He orders Xavier to reveal his location, and the telepath goes on to attack Apocalypse at the Astral Plane. En Sabah Nur finds Xavier's hideout, but his attempt at getting there is interrupted by two Horsemen switching sides: Storm, who idolized Mystique, and Magneto, who did not like seeing his former friends attacked.

While the X-Men fight Apocalypse, Jean ventures into the astral plane and learns from Xavier that Apocalypse is weakened after centuries in the same body. Jean and Magneto join forces and dismantle Apocalypse's armor, with Jean tapping into the Phoenix Force. Once En Sabah Nur's frail true form is exposed, Magneto pierces him with a tremendous torrent of high-speed metal projectiles, after which Phoenix incinerates him, finally ending the threat of Apocalypse.

Personality

En Sabah Nur, or commonly known as "Apocalypse" is a god-like mutant as well as the world's first mutant. Because of his godly status in the world he had been worshiped as a deity over the years and ruled ancient Egypt. En Sabah Nur was born with numerous superhuman abilities, so much so that he proclaims himself as not only a god but a "savior" of sorts in order to establish a new world in the wake of the previous one.

He is a ruthless and manipulative mutant, as such he uses his manipulative streak to recruit many followers including new ones. While he is tremendously powerful, he is also shown to be psychopathic, having no care for the consequences of his actions, and exposes one's weakness on a psychological level for his own personal gains. Apocalypse even has no qualms about killing other mutants who would dare defy him.

Actor Oscar Isaac, who portrays Apocalypse in the movie, described his character as: "He is the creative/destructive force of Earth when things goes awry for him, or those things do not seem that they are moving forward evolution to him. So, Apocalypse destroys those civilizations."

Powers, Abilities, and Weaknesses

Powers

• Apocalypse's Armor - Apocalypse's mighty armor enhances his physical abilities to immense superhuman levels, making him seemingly unstoppable while wearing it.
  • Superhuman Strength - Apocalypse has immense superhuman strength, making him one of the physically strongest mutants (on par with Juggernaut and Colossus), able to effortlessly beat an immobilized Quicksilver to the ground (breaking his leg with a single kick) and easily strangle and lift Mystique above his head.
  • Superhuman Durability - Apocalypse is incredibly durable (further contributed to by his mighty armor), thus able to withstand several supersonic punches and kicks from Quicksilver and a blast from Phoenix. However, once Magneto and Jean Grey dismantled his armor, Apocalypse was pierced by the tremendous torrent of high-speed metal projectiles of Magneto, and incinerated by the flames of Phoenix.
• Regenerative Healing Factor - After he transferred his life essence into a new Mutant's body, who had instantaneous healing, he gained a rapid healing factor. He demonstrated this power, when Mystique (disguised as Psylocke) slit his throat or when Storm burned him with lightning. In both cases, he recovered immediately and his wounds healed instantly. Even with his Armor ripped off, he was still healing from disintegration caused by the Phoenix. However, when Phoenix was at full power, he started completely disintegrating.
• Adaptive Reflexes - Apocalypse is able to enhance his reflexes to superhuman levels, as when he did in his brief battle with the supersonically fast Quicksilver, to see through the latter's movements and react to them, though this ability took several seconds to activate.
• Essence Transference Ritual - Apocalypse is able to transfer his life essence into a younger body after his previous one grows old (though he requires an ancient Egyptian altar for this ritual), thereby starting another life. He also gains the powers of the new body whilst keeping all his previously-collected powers. This massive collection of powers have caused him to appear to be a seemingly omnipotent being. He intended to thus inhabit the body of Professor X through this same ritual (which is what causes the professor to lose his hair), but Nightcrawler interrupts it just in time.
  • Longevity - Apocalypse is able to live for millennia, being the first mutant of all, having been worshiped as Elohim, Shem, Ra, Krishna, Yahweh and others by several ancient civilizations during his many lives, transferring his life essence into a younger body after his previous one grows old. However, Apocalypse is still capable of being killed, seen when Phoenix incinerated his body after Magneto dismantled Apocalypse's mighty armor and pierced him with a torrent of metal projectiles. However, he has survived in the same body for centuries, possibly due to his enhanced healing.
  • Host Power Absorption - Every time Apocalypse's essence enters a new host body (which takes the appearance of sapphire-blue gaseous energy), not only retains all of his previous abilities, but also gains the abilities of his host, which he assimilates into his life essence. Thus, Apocalypse intended to absorb Professor X's telepathic abilities into himself this way, which would have amplified his telepathic abilities to Godly levels.
• Advanced Telekinesis - Apocalypse has such potent telekinetic abilities, which borders on Matter Manipulation. Apocalypse can levitate objects with his mind, which allowed him to pull fine stone particles from walls (instantly killing many men with them), levitate cars and other large objects, and to even telekinetically construct multiple massive Egyptian pyramids. He was able to manipulate matter (even the matter of his own body) on a molecular level, which allows him to greatly expand his physical size, though it is unknown whether this is an effect of mental manipulation only, as he is only seen doing this while battling Professor X in the astral plane. Apocalypse also utilized this power to fuse his opponents within walls or the ground (thus managing to immobilize both Cyclops and Quicksilver), and making Caliban's gun disintegrate.
  • Matter Disintegration - Apocalypse has the ability to disintegrate objects into dust, as seen when he effortlessly destroyed Caliban's gun, an entire city and the wall of a building, Professor X was hiding in.
  • Matter Transmutation - Apocalypse is able to transmutate matter into anything he wants, as seen when he created the shackles binding Professor X to his altar, the armors of his Horsemen of Apocalypse, new metallic wings for Archangel, a new helmet for Magneto, and even a massive new pyramid out of the disintegrated Cairo.
  • Ground Liquification - Apocalypse could liquefy the ground in the Polish factory, what caused the factory workers to fall in a matter of seconds through the ground, where they were permanently trapped.
• Telepathy - Apocalypse has the power to look into (thus instantly learning the names and characteristics of his allies and opponents) and dominate the minds of others, forcing them to do his bidding. This allowed him to make Magneto, Storm, Psylocke, andArchangel into his new incarnation of the four Horsemen of Apocalypse. His power is so great, that even Professor X (himself an extremely powerful telepath) is susceptible and displayed signs of great awe and fear of Apocalypse's power, claiming to have never felt anything like it before. Furthermore he was the only one, who could feel the telepathic presence of Professor X (while his powers where augmented by Cerebro), instantly connect with Cerebro and force the nations to destroy all nuclear weapons. Like the professor, Apocalypse can also cause people to instantly fall asleep and collapse, as well as make an entire room of people fall asleep, while leaving some select others unaffected. In fact, while engaging in a mental battle with Professor X on the astral plane, Apocalypse proved stronger, as he gained the upper hand relatively quickly, beating the professor's astral projection to the ground (leaving him bloodied and weak), and the fight only became evenly matched when Apocalypse was faced with the combined telepathic efforts of Professor X and Phoenix.
  • Knowledge Absorption - Apocalypse is able to learn vast amounts of information inhumanly quickly, as after awakening from his long slumber, he was able to look into the news and extract data, gaining an understanding of the modern world, and learning to speak fluently in modern English, all in a matter of seconds.
  • Mental Shielding - Apocalypse was able to shield the minds of his four Horsemen of Apocalypse from the telepathic power of Professor X, furthermore completly blocked the professors powers.
• Shielding - Apocalypse can generate an extremely durable yellow-hued energy shield around himself, thus able to withstand the combined attacks of Storm's lightning, Cyclops's optical blasts, and Magneto's tremendous torrent of high-speed metal projectiles.
• Teleportation - Apocalypse is able to teleport over tremendous distances at will, generating an immense sphere of violet light around himself in the process. He was thus able to instantly transport himself and his four Horsemen from Cairo to the X-Mansion and back.
• Horsemen Power Bestowal - Apocalypse can bestow others with mutant abilities, such as the four he chooses to be his Horsemen of Apocalypse.
• Mutant Power Augmentation - Apocalypse can enhance the mutant abilities of his four Horsemen of Apocalypse even further, thus making Psylocke capable of generating more powerful energy projections, granting Archangel bio-metallic wings (far more formidable than his previous living ones), increasing Storm's electrokinesis generation and granting her an early onset of flight (also turning her hair white in the process), and making Magneto capable of manipulating Earth's magnetic poles (to devastating effects). Apocalypse also once amplified Professor X's telepathy (much like how Cerebro usually does), making Charles able to deliver a telepathic message from Apocalypse to all the people of Earth.

Abilities

• Genius Intellect - Apocalypse is extremely intelligent (on par with Professor X and Magneto), due to him having lived many lifetimes, as well as him having the ability to absorb vast amounts of knowledge at inhuman rates.
  • Excellent Strategist - Apocalypse is an excellent strategist, tactician, and leader, having successfully taken advantage of Cerebro, quickly ridding Earth of nuclear weapons, and leading his four Horsemen of Apocalypse against the X-Men, and he would have most likely ultimately been victorious against them, had Magneto and Storm not unexpectedly turned against him, and with Jean Grey unexpectedly tapping into the Phoenix, all at the last moment.
  • Master Manipulator - Apocalypse, as the first mutant, is an expert at bending others to his will through both his persuasive words and charisma, with him notably swaying Storm, Psylocke, Archangel, and Magneto to his cause, making them his four Horsemen of Apocalypse, and it should be noted that only Magneto and Storm would later turn against him, and only after a great deal of persuasion.
• Multilingual - Apocalypse is fluent in his native Ancient Egyptian, as well as English (after absorbing a vast amount of knowledge of the modern world).

Weaknesses

• Armor Removal - Apocalypse's main weakness is the absence of his mighty armor, since when it is removed, Apocalypse's his true, frail body is exposed, leaving him far more vulnerable to physical attacks, despite his healing factor. Hence, an exposed Apocalypse is pierced by Magneto's metal projectiles, and incinerated by Phoenix's flames, thus finally getting killed.
• Arrogance - Apocalypse's other main weakness is his overconfidence in his abilities, which makes him see himself as a God. Hence, Professor X was able to exploit this when he told Jean Grey to "unleash her power", making Apocalypse arrogantly walk towards her, and being caught off-guard with the sheer magnitude of Phoenix's power. The professor even claimed that Apocalypse can never win because his arrogance indices him to stand alone against the X-Men, even after both Magneto and Storm have turned against him and the 2 remaining Horsemen of Apocalypse.
• Weakened Aging Body - After Apocalypse spends a massive amount of time in a single body, it becomes weaker, requiring him to transfer his essence in the Egyptian ritual, so as to avoid succumbing to old age.

Relationships

Allies

• Horsemen of Apocalypse
  • Magneto - Ally and lieutenant, turned Enemy
  • Storm - Ally turned Enemy
  • Archangel
  • Psylocke

Enemies

• X-Men
  • Professor X - Intended Host
  • Beast
  • Havok
  • Cyclops
  • Jean Grey/Phoenix - Killer
  • Nightcrawler
  • Jubilee
  • Mystique
  • Quicksilver

Trivia

• Apocalypse made himself stronger than he initially was when he merged with the advanced technology of an alien ship, as depicted in the comics, while a similar process is shown in the film.
• When using his powers, his eyes turn completely white while his voice can distort, becoming deeper and monstrous, and changing in tone and pitch repeatedly.
• Apocalypse's affect on the revised time line is yet unknown. It seems that his involvement had increased Magneto's power, able to control earths magnetic field, increased Storms power, ability of flight not seen in the originals first two movies, and Jeans Grey telekinetic ability as she was free to use her ability and not having it suppressed by mental blocks creating a dark persona explained in the Last stand. These factors close the gap of differences between the original trilogy and the comics.

External links

• Apocalypse on the Marvel Wiki
• Apocalypse on Wikipedia