The Best of Age of Apocalypse

[donpricetag]

Inspired by the X-Men animated series two-parter One Man's Worth, the Age of Apocalypse was the first X-Men crossover event of its kind. It literally took over the entire X-Men line to tell the tale of what happened to the world after David Charles Haller, otherwise known as Legion, traveled to the past and mistakingly murdered his father, Professor Charles Xavier. The act radically changed the flow of events following the incident. Most notably, the X-Men were not formed by Xavier, but Magneto. And under his leadership Apocalypse, one of the X-Men's most powerful foes plunged the world into chaos, eventually taking over most of North America. Under his rule a large portion of the human population and any mutant not deemed strong parished or sent to languish in breeding pits. Eventually the time period was repaired and most of this nightmare fades into nothing, but even years afterwards, the wounds it created are still felt.

The story was brutal and at times heartbreaking as we saw many of our heroes either die grusome deaths or be transformed into deranged evil mirror versions of themselves. As tragic and twisted of a tale it was, it had some of the best and bravest storytelling we've seen since the creation of the franchise. What are your favorite parts of that storyline? What do you remember most?

[donpricetag]

One of my biggest take aways from it is how the timeline twisted a heroic soul like Jamie Maddrox. Apocalypse used his power to create duplicates of himself to make up his entire army of Infinite -Men. Either I missed it or it wasn't explicitly mentioned, but it didn't "click" in my head who those soldiers were until a couple years after the fact. It was ingenious and a truly perverted way to use Jamie's powers. Creating an instant never ending army of loyal soldiers and zealots to wipe out an entire continent. A force that just kept coming.

[wano]

I liked the X universe two parter, it showed how the humans heroes and non heroes struggled to survive against the apocalypse and managed to endure. . . My best takes were a powerless thor beating the crap out of Mikhail, daredevil saving empath and Dr Doom and hulk saving everyone assess. . . It pretty much showed that even in a different universe most heroes remained as such, even without powers

[lurkerforyears]

I liked the X universe two parter, it showed how the humans heroes and non heroes struggled to survive against the apocalypse and managed to endure. . . My best takes were a powerless thor beating the crap out of Mikhail, daredevil saving empath and Dr Doom and hulk saving everyone assess. . . It pretty much showed that even in a different universe most heroes remained as such, even without powers

I think Age of Apocalypse was the highpoint of XMen 90s comics, and may be the best comics crossover event ever

I agree on X-Universe being one of the best AoA stories, if not the best one. It's also pretty much the only good use of Mikhail Rasputin that exists. His design as a metal man similar to Colossus was also better than the 616 one
I never understood how a powerless Dr Donald Blake Thor beat Mikhail with a wooden cane btw.

I think Empath died, I think Murdock put him out of his misery when he touched Empath and understood all the pain and suffering he was going through. It's also the last time Empath was used well probably, he was put into a torture machine that was also like a Cerebro that powered up and projected his emotions, and he was making the emotions of all the people in London go into turmoil, anarchy and chaos. Empath is one of those mutants that can be used as weapons of mass destruction, even if he doesnt seem like a very offensive-attacking mutant at first sight.

The other great story imo, is Generation Next. Featuring a lot of Mondo unlike 616 Gen X, and with the rest of characters being much more advanced at using their powers, like Husk. And also a new mutant that was never seen in another place, Vicente iirc. It also introduced Sugar Man.

And the last great story is imo Factor X, featuring Sinister, Dark Beast, the Summer's Brothers, Aurora and Northstar, the Bedlam brothers, Cannonball and a sister who still hasn't developed any power in the 616 universe (Amazon).

I also liked Abyss a lot, and disliked how he was depowered in 616 (Austen retconned him as Nightcrawler's brother, btw)

Age of Apocalypse also had many mutant Alpha Flight characters (Wildchild, Jeffries, Aurora and Northstar), which is something that has rarely happened since then. AoA Wildchild + Sabretooth was so popular that iirc Wildchild even got a put in the normal 616 books, joining X-Factor when Forge and Mystique were in the team.
Every part of the wide xmen universe was represented in the event.

some pages although I could post a lot more

[Alan2099]

One of my biggest take aways from it is how the timeline twisted a heroic soul like Jamie Maddrox. Apocalypse used his power to create duplicates of himself to make up his entire army of Infinite -Men. Either I missed it or it wasn't explicitly mentioned, but it didn't "click" in my head who those soldiers were until a couple years after the fact. It was ingenious and a truly perverted way to use Jamie's powers. Creating an instant never ending army of loyal soldiers and zealots to wipe out an entire continent. A force that just kept coming.

I didn't know they used Madrox for the armored guys. I knew they used him as the Madri (Apocalypses' weird cult priests). There was one issue that actually showed the main Madrox. He was a shaggy haired, drooling idiot in a diaper. In the end, he was able to muster up enough willpower to shut down all his clones (but the strain killed him.)

The other great story imo, is Generation Next. Featuring a lot of Mondo unlike 616 Gen X, and with the rest of characters being much more advanced at using their powers, like Husk. And also a new mutant that was never seen in another place, Vicente iirc. It also introduced Sugar Man.

Vicente did appear in the main timeline at one point. He was just a minor villain on a team and nothing was ever really done with him.


Also, while some people I know had problems with the guy, I loved Holocaust. He was a great villain.

[donpricetag]

I didn't know they used Madrox for the armored guys. I knew they used him as the Madri (Apocalypses' weird cult priests). There was one issue that actually showed the main Madrox. He was a shaggy haired, drooling idiot in a diaper. In the end, he was able to muster up enough willpower to shut down all his clones (but the strain killed him.)

Perhaps I'm mistaken but I remember them being referred to as Infinites more than once. I believe some were unique Mutants but I thought I read most if not all of the ones being called Infinites were doops. If I'm wrong, someone please enlighten me. I remember the Madri too. Creepy.

[lurkerforyears]

Perhaps I'm mistaken but I remember them being referred to as Infinites more than once. I believe some were unique Mutants but I thought I read most if not all of the ones being called Infinites were doops. If I'm wrong, someone please enlighten me. I remember the Madri too. Creepy.

I understood it the same way as you. Most of the soldiers of Apocalypse were brainwashed Madrox dupes. thats why he was so important.

[yogaflame]

Gen Next was the only good story(it was actually amazing). I didn't really like the rest of the books. And the ending was really anti-climactic(why didn't Magneto do that 20 years earlier?).

[lurkerforyears]

Gen Next was the only good story(it was actually amazing). I didn't really like the rest of the books. And the ending was really anti-climactic(why didn't Magneto do that 20 years earlier?).

he didnt know reality wasn't real until he found Bishop. And making reality be "true" again was very painful, it implied having to kill his own son (making him never be born), never being in a relationship with Rogue, and turning many of the heroes he knew into villains (like Sabretooth)

What Magneto did was like the Sampson option, pressing the nuclear button, destroying the world, just knowing it would get replaced with a better reality.

[yogaflame]

No, I mean what he did to Apocalypse in the end, who they were fighting anyways the entire 20 years.... If he could do that, why not just storm 'Poccy's tower and split him apart from jump?

[donpricetag]

Gen Next was the only good story(it was actually amazing). I didn't really like the rest of the books. And the ending was really anti-climactic(why didn't Magneto do that 20 years earlier?).

Going after Apocalypse was a suicide mission which is why he only did it while the world was about to end and I'm not sure if he was also aware of the incoming nukes. It was kind of a last ditch effort. Even if he got to him and rip him apart a decade earlier, the system he set in place was still there. One of his generals would just taken over, probably killed a half dead/ exhausted Magneto and theb exterminate what was left of the X-Men who would find themselves without thier leader. The X-Men were the same people, but they were not nearly as skilled or experienced as the ones we have in 616. They were really only a ragtag group with very little formal training. That was demonstrated and illustrated several times throughout the series. I really want to get the omnibus but last I checked that thing was $100! But it was soooo beautiful with his hard covers!

[lurkerforyears]

No, I mean what he did to Apocalypse in the end, who they were fighting anyways the entire 20 years.... If he could do that, why not just storm 'Poccy's tower and split him apart from jump?

I agree with that. The last issue was rushed, anticlimatic, and not very good

The way to make it right was easy, something like:
Apocalypse wins, absolute victory, atomic bombs falling everywhere, only the strongest survive, Magneto finally is convinced this world can't be saved, and destroying reality by bringing back the correct reality is the correct thing to do, even if it means he will never get married to Rogue, and even if it means his son will stop existing (because him no existing would be better than living in the world devastated by Apocalypse).
The final fight isnt about winning or losing, it is just to keep Apocalypse busy, keep his forces at bay, while the other heroes destroy reality by correcting the timeline.

They wanted to solve all the plotlines in a single issue, and it didnt work, and it felt pointless too, since that reality was about to die anyway.

I dislike X-Man btw. X-Man and Gambit and the Externals are the only books I disliked.

[yogaflame]

Eh, not buying it. X-Chronicles showed the X-Men training even before Apocalypse had fully taken over. Look at Dazzler; she could make perfect 3d hard light holograms. Or Iceman, who was full omega with his powers long before 616. They could have taken him if they wanted to. The plot just necessitated them being up against the wall.

[donpricetag]

Eh, not buying it. X-Chronicles showed the X-Men training even before Apocalypse had fully taken over. Look at Dazzler; she could make perfect 3d hard light holograms. Or Iceman, who was full omega with his powers long before 616. They could have taken him if they wanted to. The plot just necessitated them being up against the wall.

Yes, they trained. That didn't mean it worked. Even with all their training they were not the X-Men of this world, which is why Apocalypse took over in the first place. It's actually the whole point. Xavier was the key, not Magneto. In the Alpha book it showed them get into a fight against one man and totally get wiped up after fighting, I think the word was "valiantly". Storm, Creed, Iceman and several others, completely man handled. Dazzler isn't the danger room.

You're basically saying 12 semi-trained X-Men should have been able to take out an entire country with an army of other super powered beings. It was a suicide run to buy time. No one expected to come out from that, which is why I think there was a death rate of like 50% or more across each books final issue. It was the end.

Magneto sacrificing himself to go after Apocalypse would have changed nothing. You still had Holocaust, Sinister, Beast, Mikhail and host of others waiting to take over. Taking out the leader of a regime doesn't end the regime. It just changes hands.

[lurkerforyears]

One of the best things about AoA is that 2 of the 4 Horsemen betray Apocalypse (Sinister and Mikhail). The Horsemen were more like politicians ready to betray Apocalypse to gain the power themselves if given the chance, than corrupted Apocalypse loving drones, which they used to be before, and is what they have become (again), especially since Remender introduced the death seed and life seed stuff.