Age of Apocalypse

"Age of Apocalypse" is a 1995 - 1996 comic book crossover storyline published in the X-Men franchise of books by Marvel Comics. The Age of Apocalypse briefly replaced the universe of Earth-616 and had ramifications in the main Marvel Comics universe when the correct timeline was restored. It was later retconned as having occurred in the alternate universe of Earth-295.

Storyline
Legion (David Haller), a psionic mutant on Earth and son of Professor Charles Xavier, travels back in time with the intention of killing Magneto. However, Legion traveled to a time when Magneto and Xavier were still friends. As Xavier dies trying to protect Magneto, Legion vanishes, and a new time-line is created. The only person aware of how history has changed is Bishop, a time traveling mutant who followed Legion.

Because of Xavier's sacrifice, Magneto comes to believe in his late friend's dream of a peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants. Apocalypse, an immortal mutant villain, was monitoring the fight. He chooses this moment as the perfect time to begin his world conquest, which did not happen in the regular Marvel Universe for another ten years.

Magneto assembles the X-Men just as Apocalypse begins his war. Despite the X-Men's resistance, Apocalypse conquers all of North America and eventually mutants are considered the ruling class. Apocalypse also initiated a genocidal campaign called "cullings" killing millions of humans. To further ensure that no one was left to challenge him or undo the circumstances that led to his reign, he had everyone with telepathic or chronal abilities hunted down. Meanwhile, the changes in the time-line result in a destructive crystallization wave created by the M'Kraan Crystal.

X-Men: Alpha
X-Men: Alpha was published in January, 1995, and launched the "Age of Apocalypse" crossover story. It briefly shows readers how many popular X-Men characters have changed in this new world. Bishop is reunited with Magneto while retaining fragmented memories of the true time-line. Magneto then assigns his X-Men and their allies with different missions. Some are to gather the forces needed to change history; while others will continue resisting Apocalypse. The story continues in eight interlocking miniseries, each focusing on a different team of X-Men or other mutant forces. Each miniseries temporarily replaced one of the monthly X-Men titles being published at the time.

X-Calibre
X-Calibre is a team built around Nightcrawler, who is sent by Magneto to locate Destiny, a mutant capable of seeing into the future, so that she can verify Bishop's story. Nightcrawler must travel to Avalon, a secret refuge where mutants and humans live together in peace. Along his journey, he encounters John Proudstar, the pirate Callisto, and his mother Mystique. The chief antagonists for Nightcrawler's journey consist of the Pale Riders, a trio of Apocalypse's servants made up of Moonstar, Damask, Dead Man Wade and the Shadow King. Nightcrawler's team consists of Mystique, Switchback, and later Damask, who joins Nightcrawler after realizing the beauty Avalon has to offer. The X-Calibre series gets its name from an in-joke between Nightcrawler and his mother, Mystique, because of the caliber of bullets she uses, simply stamped with an X. This title replaced Excalibur.

Gambit and the X-Ternals
Gambit's X-Ternals consist of Sunspot, Jubilee, Strong Guy, and Lila Cheney. They are sent deep into space using Lila's teleportation in order to retrieve a shard of the M'Kraan Crystal, essential to the verification of Bishop's alternate reality. The X-Ternals are pursued by Rictor, a henchman of Apocalypse desperate to earn his master's praise by killing Gambit. Upon reaching Shi'ar space, the X-ternals fight the Imperial Guard in order to retrieve the crystal shard. Upon their return to Earth, Strong Guy betrays the team, not only stealing the M'Kraan Crystal, but also kidnapping Magneto's son, Charles. This title replaced X-Force.

Generation Next
Generation Next consists of a young group of mutant students trained by the husband and wife team of Colossus and Shadowcat. They consist of Chamber, Husk, Mondo, Vincente Cimetta, and Skin. They are sent by Magneto into the Seattle Core to rescue Colossus' sister, Illyana, who is the last surviving transdimensional teleporter. Illyana is a slave of the Sugar Man, one of Apocalypse's prefects and ruler of the Seattle Core. Mondo finds Illyana and secrets her inside of his body, intending to smuggle her out at shift change. When Mondo is found out, the ensuing fight finds the Sugar Man killing Mondo with a blast from his tongue, exposing the rest of Generation Next. While fighting a near hopeless battle, Generation Next is left for dead by Colossus, who sacrifices them in order to save his sister. This title replaced Generation X.

Astonishing X-Men
The Astonishing X-Men are led by Rogue (Magneto's wife) and consist of Sabretooth, Blink, Wild Child, Morph, and Sunfire. They are sent by Magneto to stop the cullings, which are being undertaken by Holocaust, Apocalypse's son and one of his horsemen. While helping with the evacuation and protection of humans, Sabretooth asks Blink to teleport him to Holocaust's location, which she reluctantly does. Sabretooth and Holocaust fight a vicious duel, but Sabretooth is defeated and seemingly killed, to Blink's horror. (Sabretooth had rescued Blink from Mr. Sinister, and she had come to see him as her dearest friend and mentor.) The team then fight Holocaust and his Infinites, destroying his factory. Holocaust manages to escape, however, and the team returns to Xavier's mansion, where Rogue learns that both her son and her husband have been captured. Sabretooth is revealed by Iceman to have survived the battle, to Blink's delight. This title replaced Uncanny X-Men.

Amazing X-Men
The Amazing X-Men consist of team leader Quicksilver and Storm, Dazzler, Banshee, Iceman, and Exodus. The team is sent to Maine by Magneto to aid in the evacuation of humanity to Europe. During this mission, the team fights Apocalypse's Brotherhood of Chaos, as well as the Horseman Abyss, who is defeated (but not killed) by Banshee. During their absence from the Xavier Mansion, Magneto and Bishop are attacked by Apocalypse himself, who captures them both. Fulfilling their mission, Quicksilver splits up his team to help the other X-Men: sending Iceman to rendezvous with Rogue's team (the Astonishing X-Men) and Dazzler and Exodus to find Magneto's son, Charles. Finally, Quicksilver, Storm, and Banshee go to rescue Bishop, who is in the hands of the Madri, Apocalypse's priests. This title replaced X-Men.

Weapon X
Weapon X (Logan) and his lover Jean Grey are depicted in this series carrying out missions for the Human High Council. Jean and Weapon X drift apart, as the Human High Council intends to launch a nuclear strike on the U.S. as Jean is appalled by the loss of life it would cause. After Weapon X concludes a battle with Donald Pierce, Jean leaves to help evacuate the U.S., bidding a tearful farewell to Logan. Weapon X is then sent to recruit Gateway, whose teleportation ability is necessary to bring the fleet to America. As the fleet leaves, Weapon X decides to join them, if only to find Jean somewhere in America before the bombs are dropped. This title replaced Wolverine.

Factor X
Factor X consists of the Elite Mutant Force (EMF), who serve Apocalypse. They are split into five sibling groups: Cyclops and Havok (Scott and Alex Summers), Emplate and the Twins (Marius and Nicole & Claudette St. Croix), Cannonball and Amazon (Sam and Elizabeth Guthrie), the Bedlam Brothers (Jesse and Terrence Aaronson), and Aurora and Northstar (Jean-Marie and Jean-Paul Beaubier). The EMF is tasked with maintaining control of Apocalypse's breeding pens, where people are imprisoned, tortured, and experimented on by the Beast, also a member of the EMF. Havok, jealous of his brother's leadership role, discovers that Cyclops is a traitor who has been helping people escape the pens; and in one such escape attempt, both Aurora and Northstar are seriously injured. Havok then exposes Cyclops and attempts to kill him, but Cyclops escapes with the aid of Jean Grey, who has arrived to evacuate as many people as she can before the Human High Council's nuclear strike. The Bedlam Brothers also choose to side with Cyclops, and they successfully defeat both Amazon and Cannonball. Cyclops and Jean defeat Havok, and as they lead the freed prisoners out of the pens, Havok is determined to kill his brother. This title replaced X-Factor.

X-Man
The protagonist of X-Man is Nate Grey, a mutant born of Cyclops' and Jean Grey's DNA, and the most powerful telekinetic in the world. He lives under the guidance of his father figure Forge, who leads a group of outcasts consisting of Mastermind, Toad, Brute, and Sauron, who attack trains and factories of Apocalypse while masquerading as a theatre troupe. During their missions, they rescue Sonique from imprisonment, who joins the team and becomes Nate's girlfriend. They also encounter the mysterious Essex, who encourages Nate to unleash his full potential, against Forge's advice. Realizing Essex is not what he seems, Brute is killed by Essex before he can warn the others. The troupe is then attacked by Apocalypse's Bounty Hunters which consist of Domino and her allies, Caliban and Grizzly, who have been sent by Apocalypse to either recruit or destroy Nate. During the battle, Toad and Mastermind are both killed, as are Domino and her teammates. Forge then realizes Essex is a traitor, and is attacked by him, dying in Nate's arms. Essex then reveals himself to be Mister Sinister, another of Apocalypse's horsemen, who created Nate in his lab. Defeating Sinister, Nate decides to leave Sauron and Sonique while he goes to confront Apocalypse personally and avenge Forge's death. This title replaced Cable.

X-Universe
The X-Universe two-issue limited series focuses on a group of agents of the Human High Council fighting Mikhail Rasputin, the fourth Horseman of Apocalypse, who has hypnotized masses of humans in Europe through a catatonic Empath. Mikhail is also served by "Keeper" Murdock, a blind human who takes care of Empath and keeps him alive. A group of humans (Tony Stark, Gwen Stacy, Don Blake, Susan Storm, Ben Grimm, and Victor von Doom) attempt to stop Mikhail by willingly being taken prisoner, only to be reawakened through a ruse undertaken by Stark. They then steal the weapons on board the ship and destroy Mikhail's tower that blocks the evacuation of the human survivors. During these events, the Thing, a monster resembling the Earth-616 Gray Hulk, fights against the human heroes. Once he reverts to Bruce Banner, however, the Thing aids the humans. Finally Don Blake kills Mikhail, dying in the process. Doom then rescues the surviving members of the Human High Council and the story ends with the humans successfully evacuating as Apocalypse launches a massive attack. This title replaces X-Men Unlimited.

X-Men: Omega
The final part of the event begins with Magneto, battling Apocalypse. The remaining X-Men invade Apocalypse's stronghold using Blink's teleportation and capture the Beast. Meanwhile, the Angel, no longer trusted by Apocalypse, decides to switch sides and, after fighting off the Infinites, sacrifices himself by flying into Apocalypse's force field generator and destroying it. This allows Nate Grey to enter Apocalypse's citadel. As the nuclear attack wipes out half of Apocalypse's western kingdom, he decides to kill Magneto. However Nate arrives and, along with Magneto, prepares to battle Apocalypse and Holocaust.

Magneto is freed during the X-Men's attack and orders Destiny to enter the M'Kraan Crystal with Illyana in order to send Bishop to the past, preventing the Age of Apocalypse from ever occurring. Colossus is furious with this decision, as he fears losing Illyana again, but she wants to do as Magneto wishes. Destiny, Illyana, and Bishop carry out their plan while Magneto resumes his fight with Apocalypse, Nate battles Holocaust and the X-Men continue their battle against Apocalypse's minions.

Meanwhile, Jean and Cyclops are leading the prisoners of the breeding pens to safety. She then uses her telekinetic powers to keep the Human High Council's bombs from dropping on the area. However Havok arrives, kills Jean Grey and shoots Cyclops, before Logan, arriving via parachute, kills Havok. As Jean dies, Logan sadly realizes that Jean Grey "is no Phoenix."

Illyana and Destiny successfully send Bishop to the past where he kills Legion. Colossus, insane and fearing for Illyana, rushes to reach her, destroying everything in his path, including Iceman and killing Shadowcat. Gambit then injures him from behind. As Colossus realises what he had done, reverts to his human self and dies just as Illyana returns to tell her brother that she has succeeded. Nate and Holocaust continue their fight, and Nate stabs him with a shard of the M'Kraan Crystal. Magneto kills Apocalypse by magnetically ripping him in half.

The comic ends with Magneto standing over the ruins of the citadel, watching as the world around them ends. He hopes that Bishop's success makes their world mere memories before the bombs reach them. He stands with Rogue and his son and thanks Charles Xavier for being in his life, as the nuclear destruction eventually engulfs them in a bright light. The Age of Apocalypse, and all memory of it, was seemingly erased with the prevention of Xavier's assassination and the restoration of the Earth-616 timeline.

Mutant heroes
The only major mutant character missing in the original Age of Apocalypse is Psylocke. When the "Age of Apocalypse" storyline was revisited a decade later, she appeared in X-Men: Age of Apocalypse #4 in Asian form. Her origin remains unknown. There has been no explanation of what exactly she was doing during the original Age of Apocalypse, other than the fact that she had some kind of past connection with Weapon X.

Other anti-Apocalypse forces
Besides the X-Men and its many offshoots, the Human High Council remains as the only other power opposing Apocalypse. Unlike the X-Men, however, the Human High Council considers the extermination of mutants as a viable option. Bolivar and Moira Trask, as well as Brian Braddock, are the major proponents for a mutant holocaust. Secretly, the Human High Council supports the Human Underground Resistance.

X-Universe also reveals the fate of several other individuals: Peter Parker was executed because he was a potential contact for Gwen Stacy, T'Challa and Namor perished when Wakanda and Atlantis, respectively, were attacked by Apocalypse, Frank Castle went MIA following a mutant raid on a Buddhist temple where he had sought peace after the deaths of his family, while Reed Richards and Johnny Storm sacrificed themselves in the evacuation of Manhattan Island.

Time-line escapees
Some characters escape the Age of Apocalypse into the Earth-616 continuity. These include Dark Beast, Nate Grey (the Age of Apocalypse version of Cable), Holocaust and Sugar Man; others were later revealed to have also escaped the Age of Apocalypse at some point.


 * Nate Grey allied himself with the X-Men a few times and once with Spider-Man, he later "died" by disseminating into every life form on the Earth, but has since returned to the living and is now residing in San Francisco and is part of the New Mutants roster.


 * Blink escaped into the multiverse and ended up leading the reality-hopping team of heroes known as the Exiles. Her counterpart on Earth-616 was thought to have died during the "Phalanx Covenant" storyline, but brought back from the dead by Selene during the "Necrosha" event.


 * Beast was sent twenty years into Earth-616's past. This allowed for several retcons which were used to explain that he (now known as Dark Beast) was responsible for the creation of the Morlocks and also explain why Mr. Sinister initiated the "Mutant Massacre" as he recognized his stolen handiwork and ordered it exterminated as a debasement of his art. He later came under the employment of Norman Osborn's Dark X-Men, with the responsibility of keeping his counterpart and Charles Xavier captive while Osborn carries out his plan. He would returned to the Age of Apocalypse timeline and helped Weapon Omega on his quest to control America, but at the end Weapon Omega is defeated and Dark Beast would be taken back to Earth-616.


 * Prophet was taken at Jean Grey's request to the Earth-616 at the end of the crossover that would close the Age of Apocalypse timeline from the timestream.

Former Time-line escapees

 * Holocaust remained at large in the main Marvel Universe until he joined the Exiles and was killed by another universe's evil version of Hyperion.


 * Sugar Man was also sent twenty years into Earth-616's past, and it was through him the Genegineer received the advanced genetic research to allow the small nation of Genosha to become powerful by enslaving mutants. He remained at large in the main Marvel Universe and only a few knew about his existence. Sugar Man has since returned to the Age of Apocalypse timeline after been released from Steve Rogers custody by Dark Beast.


 * Sabretooth survived through the same means as Blink and joins a team of reality-hopping super beings known as Weapon X. During one mission, he opted to stay behind on a world to raise David Richards. Eventually, he was brought back into action and joined the Exiles. He has since returned to the Age of Apocalypse.


 * Rastus, one of many wardens of Apocalypse was also revealed to escape to Earth-616, where he joined forces with the Sugar Man and killed some magistrates on Genosha before being killed by Callisto.


 * Wild Child has also left this timeline when a time-traveler, Quentin Quire, saved him from the Friends of Humanity and then used Wild Child to replace the latter's counterpart, who had recently died. Wild Child has since been returned to the Age of Apocalypse and was later killed in battle.


 * Nightcrawler decided to stay on Earth-616 after the events of the Dark Angel Saga. He joined the X-Force team so he could search for Iceman, Blob, Dark Beast and Sugar Man. Currently he already had tracked and killed his former teammate Iceman and Blob. During the X-Termination crossover, Nightcrawler has apparently given his own life to close the Age of Apocalypse timeline from the Timestreame.


 * Blob left the Age of Apocalypse due to the events put in motion by Archangel. He later joins Daken's Brotherhood with the apparent goal of exacting revenge on X-Force. He was killed by the AoA Nightcrawler when Nightcrawler teleported a shark inside Blob's body.


 * Iceman was revealed to have defected from the X-Men and was working for Weapon Omega. He also left the Age of Apocalypse through the same means as Blob and was tracked down by Wolverine, Deadpool and the AoA Nightcrawler. During the fight, Nightcrawler teleported to a factory and fought Iceman, defeating him without either man using their powers. Once Iceman was defeated, Nightcrawler threw his body into an incinerator.

Prequels
Before the tenth anniversary, the Age of Apocalypse was considered a dead reality that no longer existed—a fact that was frequently mentioned by time-line escapees, such as Sugar Man and Blink. However, there were quite a few prequels written that took place before its destruction.

By the Light told the story of Blink transporting the X-Men to the moon where they faced Apocalypse's new horseman of Death, Maximus the Mad. Sinister Bloodlines followed the return of a Brood-infected Christopher Summers (Corsair) to Earth and his reunion, after escaping the experimentations of Sinister and Dark Beast, with Scott and Alex.

Blink was a four issue miniseries intended to reintroduce the Age of Apocalypse version of Blink as a teaser to the Exiles ongoing series. This story takes place prior to the "Age of Apocalypse" main events, but is largely set in the Negative Zone. Blink becomes lost in the Negative Zone after attempting to incite Blastaar towards war with Apocalypse and instead joins a rebellion against Blastaar alongside her lover, who turns out to be a de-evolved version of Annihilus. The last four pages of the final issue show Blink during the destruction of the Age of Apocalypse and becoming unhinged from time.

X-Man, during its run, occasionally re-visited the Age of Apocalypse, both through time travel and flashbacks. X-Man #-1 shows Mr. Sinister releasing Nate from his growth vat as a child to check on his progress. In the 1996 X-Man Annual, Sugar Man uses a variation on a time machine powered by Nate's psionic force to return to the early years of Apocalypse's rule where he hopes to take control himself. Nate follows and meets up with Forge, Magneto, Morph, and Mastermind, and is surprised to discover that Forge knew that he would be there because an older Nate Grey had time traveled and told Forge about his memories of this event. On the orders of this older Nate Grey, Forge forces the younger Nate to re-power the machine and return himself and Sugar Man to Earth-616. This leads to a rift between Forge and Magneto, who believed they should have allowed Nate to stay so that he could help them fight Apocalypse. Later, in X-Man #53 and #54, Nate, Jean Grey, and Cyclops run across a temporal rift that brings an infinite processing plant to Earth-616.

After the Fall (Age of Apocalypse 10th Anniversary)
In 2005, Marvel published an Age of Apocalypse one-shot and miniseries to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the fan favorite event.

The one-shot features stories set before the events depicted in the original "Age of Apocalypse" event, similar in focus to the Tales from the Age of Apocalypse issues. The one-shot contains the story of how Colossus and Shadowcat left the X-Men to train Generation Next; how Sabretooth met Wild Child; the first appearance of the Silver Samurai; and how the world survived the Human High Council's nuclear attack.

The limited series, which takes place after the nuclear attack in X-Men: Omega, introduced several characters who were not in the original storyline. Long time characters Cloak and Dagger, Psylocke, and the Morlocks (including Feral, Leech, Marrow, Skids, and Thornn), who were survivors of Mr. Sinister's experiments, are introduced. Newer characters Beak, Icarus, and X-23 are seen along with an alternate version of Xorn. Jean Grey is also revealed to have saved everyone from the nuclear attack by tapping into the Phoenix Force-level powers, and is revived from death by Sinister.

The Exiles, two of which are from the Age of Apocalypse universe, visited the world as well during this time -this took place in a 2-Part story separate from the 10th Anniversary "AoA" mini-seires - the survival of which comes as a surprise to Blink and Sabretooth. Blink was originally removed from The Exiles because her 'personal timeline' had been repaired; since her uncorrected fate was to cease to exist, it is implied that her actions with The Exiles combined with Jean Grey repairing the M'Kraan Crystal in the main reality, resulted in the Age of Apocalypse existing as a separate timeline.

Return to the Age of Apocalypse (Dark Angel Saga)
In 2011, the Age of Apocalypse was featured in a storyline in the ongoing series Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender.

Seeking a Celestial 'Life Seed' in order to save Angel (Warren Worthington) from becoming the new Apocalypse, The Uncanny X-Force, under the guidance of Dark Beast, journey to the Age of Apocalypse. X-Force arrives ten years after the X-Men had defeated Mister Sinister, yet it seems the X-Men still face enormous challenges in this harsh setting. The world, which during the previous appearance had seemed to be on the road to recovery, has once again fallen on hard times, similar to when Apocalypse was ruling, with Sentinels now roaming the streets. As they follow Dark Beast to one of his labs, they are unknowingly followed by Wildchild and Sabretooth (Earth-295). Dark Beast finds the life seed but before he could hand it over to the X-Force members, Nightcrawler teleports in and swipes the seed away, figuring that Dark Beast was up to some evil plot after decades of absence. After a brief quarrel which ended with the life seed destroyed by Sunfire, Psylocke recognizes Sabretooth from her time on the Exiles and convinces Wolverine (Earth-616) that this version of Sabretooth isn't a bad guy, which ends their battle. With the life seed destroyed, Dark Beast sneaks over to the portal back to the 616 Marvel Universe and walks in, leaving X-Force stranded in the Age of Apocalypse world. Nightcrawler's team, realizing that the sentinels are descending on their position, evacuates along with X-Force, taking them to the X-Men's new base in Atlantis.

It was soon revealed that a new "Heir of Apocalypse" has risen and that's the reason why the world as fallen once again into a dark age that resulted on the apparent extinction of the human race. Using a version of M.O.D.O.K., they discover the body of the slain Celestial which apparently still contains life seeds. However as X-Force also learn that the only way to return to the main reality is to seek the help of Gateway who in turn is kept prisoner in the mysterious floating city known as The Sky, the Sentinels soon arrives at Atlantis forcing the group to abandon the complex. As Fantomex leads a small team to the place where the Celestial is, the rest of the team invades The Sky to retrieve Gateway, however they are confronted by the Black Legion and the long thought deceased Weapon X (Logan/Wolverine Earth-295), appears using Apocalypse armor and reveals himself to be the Heir of Apocalypse.

Meanwhile, unaware of the problems Wolverine and his team are facing in the fortress, Fantomex and his small crew dive into the heart of the deceased Celestial in order to get the life seed they need to free Warren. After battling some drones, they manage to find only one seed and flee with it, losing Gambit in the battle, while, back in the fortress, Wolverine and his crew try to battle Weapon X and the Black Legion. However, Weapon X proves too powerful, since he had been augmented by the Celestial technology, when the cosmic entities However, things turned sour when a spaceship landed in the middle of Manhattan. Against Jean's advice, Logan led a group of X-Men into the ship to kill whoever was inside. When he entered, he discovered the ship actually belonged to the Celestials, who had come to Earth to judge it, and while he had ascended in form and power, his mind had become so twisted to the point of creating genetic-powerful warriors to kill Charles Lehnsherr, the infant son of Magneto and Rogue.

Weapon X easily manages to swat them all and take Jean Grey so he could transform her into Death, a horseman of Apocalypse. To perform the ritual he approaches Storm who was enslaved and transform into a blind seer made of living stone. After taking out the Black Legion and freeing Gateway, Wolverine ask Gateway to open a portal to bring forth Fantomex team. Using Fantomex, they manage to free Jean and open a gateway to their world. Wolverine wants Jean to come too but she refuses and forces them through the gateway with her powers. As X-Force returns to their world, they are greeted by Dark Beast, the Horsemen of Apocalypse, and Archangel, now wearing Apocalypse’s armor.

After a long fight, Fantomex retreats and gets Gateway to teleport the AOA X-Men to help X-Force, together they defeat Archangel, the AoA X-Men decide to go back to their timeline while Nightcrawler decides to stay in this timeline and vows to kill, Dark Beast, Iceman, Sugar Man, and any other villain that escaped the AOA timeline to this one.

The X-Terminated
In the Marvel Point One one-shot, a new team of anti-mutant humans calling themselves the X-Terminated, pledged to combat the rule of the ascended Weapon X and his minions, after X-Force's attempt to stop the genocidal successor of Apocalypse. The group consisted of remaining members of the human race in the Age of Apocalypse who have been pushed to the edge of extinction by mutants. Members of that team were Prophet (William Stryker), Goodnight (a rebuilt Donald Pierce), Deadeye (Zora Risman), Fiend (Francesca Trask), and Horror Show (Graydon Creed).

This team was also featured in Uncanny X-Force #19.1 and later in its own ongoing series titled Age of Apocalypse. The series was written by David Lapham and was published for 14 issues from 2012 to 2013.

Uncanny X-Force #19.1
As Jean Grey and Sabretooth returned from Earth-616, they meet the human coalition. Its also revealed that Jean had ordered much to Magneto's horror, the creation of clones of the Scarlet Witch, so they could use the spell Jean saw previously on Wolverine's mind that de-powered 99% of mutantkind. However Weapon X and his forces attack the last human city where Weapon X himself slays both Magneto and Rogue, leaving Jean Grey and Sabretooth the last two X-Men alive (Sunfire had given his life to stop Archangel's plans on Earth-616, and Nightcrawler decided to stay on that reality to hunt down Dark Beast, Blob, Iceman and Sugar Man). Jean telepathically nudges clones of the Scarlet Witch to recreate the Decimation and remove all mutants' powers across the globe. However, this was only successful within a radius of 12 feet, so Jean Grey and Sabretooth are both left de-powered while Weapon X and his forces remained powered. The human coalition distracts Weapon X with a bomb long enough for the group to escape as the city explodes behind them.

Age of Apocalypse ongoing series
As the human coalition (X-Terminated Team, now including Jean Grey) continues to fight the forces of Weapon X, now renamed Weapon Omega, they find Harper Simmons, a human journalist from Earth-616 who was forced to come to the Age of Apocalypse while investigating the prison break of Sugar Man by Dark Beast on Earth-616. He creates a pamphlet that incites human and mutant riots against Weapon Omega, who is now bringing back deceased mutants like Emplate, Scott Summers and Alex Summers using energies siphoned from the celestial life seed. Harper Simons joins with the X-Terminated. Others who work with the X-Terminated are Doctor Moreau and Bolivar Trask.

After discovering the resurrected Penance, he ordered his servants Azazel, Cyclops and Colossus to bring her into the fold. She initially refused and undid Colossus' brainwashing causing him to abandon Weapon Omega and serve Penance. A fight broke out but Azazel agreed to leave. He returned with Weapon Omega who demanded that Penance kneel before him which she did. Unbeknownst to Weapon Omega however Penance was also making deals with the Human Resistance.

It was since been revealed that the Celestials indeed had come to Earth however they didn't came to judge it, they rewrite instead Apocalypse's genetic code to form a new body, albeit in the form of a child which Weapon X effectively kills despite Jean's pleas. With the death of the child, Weapon X took on the role of the Evolutionary Caretaker in an effort to spare his world from the Celestials wrath. Thus, he restarted the campaigns of extermination perpetrated by Apocalypse against the human race after being corrupted by the Seed.

The X-Terminated later travel to Latveria so they could get the information they need to defeat Weapon Omega, as Doom had apparently managed to create a device capable of storing the Apocalypse Force from its host body and empowering it within a new user, however they are approached by the Queen, actually Doom's wife and former member of the Human High Council, Emma Frost, who had her telepathic powers returned to her and was now in league with Weapon Omega. The X-Terminated eventually gained the information they needed by killing Doom and removed the intel literally from his head.

With the information they gained, the X-Terminated build the device, however, Weapon Omega after being alerted that Jean Grey was hiding out in the city, resolved to hunt his wife down himself, and vowed that if her humanity could not be cured, he would kill her himself. Jean Grey was ultimately responsible for removing the power of the Death Seed within her former lover and were absorbed by Jean as the next host. Thanks to her history with the Phoenix Force, though, Jean was strong enough to reject the power of the Death Seed and displaced it. After everything died down, Weapon Omega emerged from the rubble as Logan once again, his mind now clear of the corrupting force of the Death Seed. Unknown to him or Jean, however, the energies of the seed had in fact been contained by Bolivar Trask in a giant machine under the Nevada Desert.

X-Termination
In March 2013, the X-Treme X-Men, Age of Apocalypse, and Astonishing X-Men titles will be part of the "X-Termination" crossover event, which focuses on the AoA Nightcrawler's trip home. Age of Apocalypse #14, the final issue of the series, will be Part 3 of the event. A hole was torn in the fabric of space-time when Nightcrawler and Dark Beast used the Dreaming Celestial to try and get back home which released three energy-consuming monsters.

The rift first became known on Earth-TRN262 in the head of the Sphinx. Lord Xavier, the Witch King, Nazi Xavier, and Xavier Head began sacrificing civilians to an interdimensional rift to gain power. The transdimensional X-Men, who had been trying to stop this from happening by killing ten evil Xaviers across various realities before they could use their powers to trigger the event, were able to rescue their Xavier and narrowly defeated Lord Xavier and Nazi Xavier. Unfortunately, the X-Men did not act quickly enough to save that world, and were forced to make an interdimensional jump, leaving that reality and all its citizens being consumed by the vortex.

When the Exterminators emerged, they were greeted by the X-Men, the transdimensional X-Men and the X-Terminated. One of the Exterminators departed to Earth-616 where he drained the Dreaming Celestial while the other two Exterminators remained on Earth-295, one feeding off the rift and the other seeking out the power of Apocalypse in the Death Seed.

It was soon revealed that at the dawn of the universe birth, the Celestials were there and shaped creation, but they were stupid enough to play god. They thought that with life and creation there must be death and destruction so they created the Exterminators to do that part. However, the Exterminators turned against the Celestials who couldn't kill them so they separated the universe into the Multiverse and imprison and bond them in the walls that separated all realities. Also, the Celestials didn't learn from their first mistake and created the Death Seed with the same purpose, but far more manageable.

Even when the AoA Jean Grey takes the power of Apocalypse into herself, they can't defeat the Exterminators and when several casualties resulted during the conflict which included the AoA's Sabretooth, Horror Show, Fiend as well as the X-Treme X-Men's Xavier, Kid Nightcrawler and Hercules, the only solution found was to trap the beings in the same manner as the Celestials had done in the first place. By using AoA Nightcrawler's teleportation powers, the surviving heroes were taken back to Earth-616 where after using one last jump, Nightcralwer apparently sacrificed his own life to closed the Age of Apocalypse universe from the multiverse trapping the Exterminators in that reality forever.

What If?
There had been various What If? issues revolving around the Age of Apocalypse:


 * In What If? vol. 2 #77, Legion manages to kill Magneto just as he escapes from the concentration camp he was being held in. Due to Magneto's death, mutants become accepted by the public and the X-Men are mutant celebrities, although Xavier senses that something is wrong. Apocalypse attacks a press conference in Washington, D.C., with an army of mutants and the X-Men are easily defeated. Xavier is forced to bring the now married Jean and Scott out of retirement. Xavier confronts Apocalypse directly while Jean and Scott take on his army. After being taunted that his dream was weak, Xavier kills Apocalypse with a psychic blast that kills himself as well. After sensing Xavier's death, Jean becomes angry and becomes the Phoenix again, causing the area to burn to the ground. Apocalypse's army retreats saying that his dream will live on, even though he is dead. In the aftermath, hatred and persecution of mutants begins to take place, due to the events in D.C. Scott reopens the Xavier Institute and carries on Xavier's dream. Apocalypse's forces challenge Scott, saying that only the best dream will survive.


 * In What If? vol. 2 #81, Tony Stark (Iron Man), head of the human resistance, joins up with Magneto to figure out a way to save Earth from the coming of Galactus. Among Tony’s fellow human freedom fighters are the Hulk, Sue Storm (Invisible Woman), and Gwen Stacy. Ultimately, the survivors defeat Galactus by linking all minds on Earth (human and mutant) into one psychic attack. They are left greatly hurt by Galactus, but feeling more unified and capable of stepping past the racism caused by Apocalypse's rule.


 * In 2006, Marvel published a What If? Age of Apocalypse one-shot that revealed what would have happened if both Xavier and Magneto were killed by Legion, leaving no one to form the X-Men. As explained by Uatu the Watcher, the governments of the world respond to the hundreds of deaths caused by Legion's attack by capturing mutants and sending them into concentration camps, causing non-mutant superhumans to flourish. Some mutants, such as Cyclops (who tore out his own eyes to pass as human), flee to the Savage Land. After Apocalypse conquers the world, he gains hundreds of mutant and superhuman followers, including the Absorbing Man, Banshee, Cannonball, the Hulk, Holocaust, Juggernaut, Lady Deathstrike, Namor, the Scarlet Witch, Sebastian Shaw, clones of Spider-Man, Storm, and Sunspot. Apocalypse's Horsemen are Hulk, Juggernaut, Namor, and Storm. Apocalypse's followers destroy the mutant sanctuary in the Savage Land and only Sauron and X-Man ( Nate Summers ) escape. They join the Defenders, a group of heroes consisting of Brother Voodoo (the new Sorcerer Supreme), Captain America (wielding Mjolnir), Captain Britain (using Iron Man's armor), Colossus, the Molecule Man, the Thing (using a prosthetic arm), and Wolverine (without adamantium), who have learned the truth about their reality from the sacrifice of Doctor Strange. They have pledged not to change the past, but to overthrow Apocalypse in the present. As they fight back, Nate puts his own plans in motion to change the past, but with tragic consequences. The majority of the Defenders are killed in the struggle against Apocalypse. Nate succeeds in killing Apocalypse with the help of the Molecule Man. Nate then garbs himself in Apocalypse's armor and uses the stolen Eye of Agamotto to open a time portal into the past to stop Legion's actions. Captain America unleashes a bolt from Mjolnir that kills Nate and he and Wolverine walk off. Uatu reveals that by trying to change the past, Nate merely caused events to repeat themselves in yet another reality, as the lightning bolt destroyed Legion, Xavier, Magneto, and hundreds of others. He mentions that this problem is spreading like a cancer across the Multiverse, as reality after reality turns into an Age of Apocalypse.

Parodies
A one-shot titled Marvel Riot was published in December 1995. The one-shot featured a parody of the Age of Apocalypse storyline.

Television

 * An Age of Apocalypse-like time-line is shown in the episode "One Man's Worth" from X-Men: The Animated Series. The death of Professor X at the hands of Fitzroy during his college years caused a destructive war between humans and mutants, with Magneto leading the Resistance against the mutant-hunting Avengers. Some of the mutants are shown in their Age of Apocalypse costumes from the comics.


 * The Age of Apocalypse reality is featured at the end of the Wolverine and the X-Men episode "Foresight" Pt. 3. After the X-Men accomplish their mission in the present to avoid a world ruled by Sentinels, a variant of the Age of Apocalypse reality is shown in the final episode of the first season. Mister Sinister and Cyclops (who in the Age of Apocalypse storyline, was a villain) are alongside Apocalypse. The series was cancelled before a Season Two revolving around the "Age of Apocalypse" reality could be done, so exactly how it would have been portrayed is unknown.

Video games

 * X-Men: Reign of Apocalypse is based loosely on the Age of Apocalypse storyline.
 * X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse is heavily influenced by the Age of Apocalypse storyline, including several characters and concepts from the storyline.

Trading cards
In the VS System trading card game, a series of exclusive cards were released as prizes and participation awards in various tournaments. These cards were themed around the Age of Apocalypse, and a number of cards in the set were printed with the Horsemen of Apocalypse team affiliation.