The Age of Apocalypse comes thundering back in Marvel’s Secret Wars this summer. One of the masterminds of that dark X-Men reality returns for a new story set in the Age he helped create.
In this day and age, publishers cancel entire lines and reboot often but back in 1995 the entire X-Men line was cancelled and these heroic mutants as we knew them vanished. It was a shock. It was a creative gamble. It was an epic alternate universe story that still has impact on the Children of the Atom now.
Professor X’s son rewrote history with just one horrible choice and the Age of Apocalypse was born.
In a world without Charles Xavier: Apocalypse rose to power; Cyclops, Havok and Beast were servants of Mister Sinister; Magneto (married to Rogue) led an X-Men including Sabretooth, Quicksilver and Wild Child and Jean Grey and Wolverine (still called Weapon X) were renegades.
Fabian Nicieza returns for this new Age of Apocalypse, a Warzone on the Battleworld.
For the veteran X-Men writer it’s a chance to revisit one of the greatest villains but with a twist. After decades of plotting to conquer mutants and Earth, the bad guy has won. Nicieza teases what’s next for the titular enemy on Marvel.com.
“And that’s where the real fun begins in exploring the character. So for Apocalypse, the question becomes, once you have proven you are the fittest in your crazy Darwinian game, then what do you do?”
One of the most shocking elements of the original epic is how twisted the teams were. How did classic villains become heroes.
“The X-Men, whose branding as ‘freedom fighters’ in this world has long ago degenerated to the label of ‘terrorists,’ have seen their membership whittled down quite a bit—especially after our opening scene, he said with a cackle of evil in his voice,” said Nicieza. “As with the original series, I decided to take one character and redesign them pretty dramatically. That should play out both in terms of a minor mystery and some fun character conflict as the series progresses.”
Nicieza will be joined by artist Gerardo Sandoval (Wolverine). You can see more of Sandoval’s art from the first issue here.
Age of Apocalypse #1 arrives in June.
By Editor