Apocalypse: The Most Powerful Mutant to Ever Live

He’s survived for thousands of years, wanting nothing more than to rid the world of mankind and rule a planet inhabited by mutants. What’s up nerds? I’m back with one of the most powerful beings in all of comics, Apocalypse. Please feel free to watch me breakdown the ancient mutant in the video below, or read the blogged out version if you’re not the video viewing type.

The Rise of En Sabah Nur

3000 years ago in ancient Egypt, a gray-skinned, blue-lipped child was born in the settlement of Akkaba. Due to his appearance, he was abandoned as an infant and found by a group of nomads known as The Sandstormers. The Sandstormers’ leader Baal saw the powerful potential the child had. Baal took the child in and raised him as his own, giving him the name En Sabah Nur. It was within this tribe that Nur learned the philosophy: survival of the fittest.

Time traveler Kang the Conquerer traveled back in time and assumed the identity of the Pharaoh Rama-Tut. Knowing who En Sabah Nur would become, Kang sent his General Ozymandias after The Sandstormers. The Sandstormers were defeated but Baal and Nur escaped and sought refuge in a cave. It is here that Baal revealed to En Sabah Nur the location of alien technology hidden within the cave. The tech had been Baal’s secret to climbing the ranks among the Sandstormers in year’s past. Shortly after, Baal died and En Sabah Nur vowed to seek revenge on Rama-Tut.

En Sabah Nur posed as an Egyptian slave to enter the Pharaoh’s city. Once inside, Nur finds an attraction to Ozymandias’ sister, Nephri. However, upon seeing En Sabah Nur’s appearance, Nephri rejects him. Nur became enraged, causing his mutant abilities to emerge. Nur then rampages through the city renaming himself Apocalypse. Rama-Tut secretly fled the city and Apocalypse uses his advanced technology to enslave Ozymandias and transform him into stone clairvoyant with the ability to foresee Apocalypse’s future.

Powers & Abilities:

Apocalypse is not only one of the most powerful mutants who have ever lived, but he is also one of the most powerful beings to ever walk the Earth. If you thought Superman had too many superpowers, then you might want to take a seat, Apocalypse has so many abilities that even he isn’t sure if he has discovered them all yet.

Apocalypse is immortal and does not age. His superhuman strength allows him to lift over 100 tons. His superhuman endurance enables him to withstand drops from orbital heights. He has also been able to take blows from the likes of Colossus and withstand Cyclops’ optic blasts.

A power we see quite often is Apocalypse’s ability to grow in size. This is because he can control his entire molecular structure. He draws energy sources from different dimensions, causing him to increase his mass. This growth will enable him to become even stronger than he is at normal size, allowing him to lift over 1,000 tons! Because he can control his molecular structure, Apocalypse can also adapt and survive to any environment. He can transform his limbs into weapons, such as blades or hammers, and does not need food, water, sleep or oxygen to live.

Apocalypse’s reflexes, speed and agility are also at superhuman levels, granting him the ability to hit the likes of Quicksilver or Beast in combat.

As if he doesn’t have enough abilities already, Apocalypse can also absorb and distribute energy, similar to Bishop. However, Apocalypse can also channel energy from those extra dimensions to create his own energy blasts. Apocalypse once absorbed all of Cyclops’ optic blast energy, making Cyclops unable to use his power for months.

He is also of genius intellect and possesses extensive telepathic and telekinetic ability. He can read minds, mask himself from other telepaths, mind control, transfer consciousness and/or powers to other mutants and is able to lift 100 tons telekinetically!

Due to the alien tech Apocalypse uncovered, Apocalypse is a technopath and his celestial armor is nearly impenetrable. The armor also grants him the ability to fly at mach 8 speeds and teleport.

Long ago, Cable traveled to the ancient past and infected Apocalypse with the deadly techno-organic virus, the virus ravages living mutant tissue and turns it mechanical. (This is why Cable has one robotic arm.) To most mutants, this may be a death sentence, but since Apocalypse has control of his molecular structure, it’s actually a blessing. This allows him to personally merge with his alien tech and reconstruct himself from a single drop of blood.

Now Apocalypse does have a weakness (praise Odin!) Although he is immortal and does not age, his powers take a physical toll on his body. If untreated, Apocalypse’s sheer power will exhaust his physical form. His exoskeleton body armor helps contain this power and slows down the process it takes to exhaust his body. This is why we rarely see Apocalypse out of his suit.

In order to survive, Apocalypse must transfer his consciousness and powers to a new host body once his current host body becomes exhausted. Apocalypse can regenerate himself however, by taking long slumbers in his rejuvenation chambers. This sleep can last for hundreds of years and if disturbed will put Apocalypse at his most vulnerable position.

Notable Story Arcs:

After the events in Egypt, Apocalypse traveled the world, conquering and gaining follows to worship him as a god. Apocalypse would enter long periods of hibernation and spring up throughout different time periods. Figuring he was the only mutant at the time, eventually Apocalypse would enter his rejuvenation chamber until a time where more mutants were present so he could be with his own kind and destroy humanity, leaving nothing but a planet of mutants.

Apocalypse awoke in London 1859 and encountered a British scientist named Nathaniel Essex. The two bonded over their beliefs of social Darwinism (survival of the fittest)  and Apocalypse promised to give Essex immense power if he were to help him. Essex agreed and Apocalypse used his technology to turn him into Mister Sinister. Sinister’s first job was to create a human plague that would rid the world of human life. Sinister instead created a plague that attacked Apocalypse, causing him to retreat to his rejuvenation chamber.

Nearly 100 years later, Apocalypse is awoken by Cable’s arrival in the present time. Apocalypse examines the world as it is and has several battles with The X-Men, X-Factor and the Avengers. Apocalypse will often posses 4 mutants and grant them immense power and technology. They stand by apocalypse’s side as his 4 horsemen. Eventually Apocalypse is “killed” by Cable after attempting to transfer his consciousness into Cyclops. It takes the strength of Jean Grey’s telepathy to tear Apocalypse from Cyclops’s mind. Cable then destroys Apocalypse in his astral form by using his psimitar.

Because of Apocalypse’s techno-organic infection, one drop of his blood into a vat of organs causes Apocalypse’s body to be created and his spirit to be reconstituted.

Not so easy to kill, huh? Apocalypse has proven to be a dangerous threat for all Marvel super heroes and should be handled with extreme caution. Apocalypse is one of the first mutants and superhumans to walk the Earth and will rest at nothing to rule the planet with his four horsemen and army  of mutants at his side.

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