ARCHANGEL In X-MEN APOCALYPSE

X-Factor #86 courtesy Marvel
X-Factor #86 courtesy Marvel

Director Bryan Singer revealed Archangel will be appearing in X-Men: Apocalypse via Instagram.

“Always happy to share some cool stuff with my favorite film magazine @empiremagazine more to come on their April 30th issue.”

Ben Hardy (EastEnders) has been reported to be playing a young Warren Worthington. The film will have new actors playing younger versions of Jean Grey, Cyclops, Storm and Nightcrawler since it’s set in the 1980’s.

The reveal by Singer is clearly showing the Archangel version of the character. In comics Warren lost his mutant feather wings and Apocalypse gave him metal wings that shot blades and remade him into one of his Four Horsemen as seen in this image from X-Factor #86. Continue reading ARCHANGEL In X-MEN APOCALYPSE

New Mutants of Uncanny X-Men

Uncanny X-Men #1 courtesy Marvel
Uncanny X-Men #1 courtesy Marvel

Creating new mutants is hard. For every Gambit, there’s a Maggot. Brian Michael Bendis took on the challenge of writing the X-Men just when the mutant race is booming again with new mutants.

Cyclops, Magneto, Emma Frost and Magik have been recruiting new Children of the Atom for his revolution in All-New X-Men. We’ve met healer Christopher Muse, time manipulator Eva Bell and shape-changer Benjamin Deeds. The teens are now at the covert Charles Xavier School.

Ahead of next week’s Uncanny X-Men #1 Bendis talked about the new recruits on Marvel.com. Eva, Benjamin and Christopher’s lives have suddenly changed but they’ll be looking back.

“They’ll be doing that right away. “Can I go get my stuff? Can I go talk to my mom?” A lot of Australians seem to be very happy that Eva’s from Australia. I wasn’t aware that there was such a dearth of Australian heroes. I got so much happy mail and tweets from Australian people. We will be going back to the Gold Coast in issues #2 and #3 of UNCANNY X-MEN to find out what the deal with Eva is. I like Eva a lot. I like writing her a lot. For people who liked Jessica Jones and Maria Hill, I think they’re going to get a kick Continue reading New Mutants of Uncanny X-Men

AVX: Spider-Woman Blasts Gambit, Angel and Devil

  AVX Round One continues with more Marvel teaser images!

Spider-Woman Versus Gambit? I really like this matchup because the powers are similar and both heroes have swayed down the dark path so they could both fight dirty if necessary. Humberto Ramos created this showdown of venom blast and kinetic cards.

  Daredevil and Archangel by Salvador Larroca is a wild card simply because of Warren Worthington’s recent transformation in Uncanny X-Force: The Dark Angel Saga. Murdock could take Angel but a clash with Archangel – not so sure Matt could survive.

Geek Honor for Uncanny X-Force

Uncanny X-Force 17 from Marvel.com. Cover Art by Esad Ribic

  Uncanny X-Force is one of my favorite books of the year. The title was just named #6 on MTV Geek’s top ten list of best comics of the year.

  The Dark Angel Saga features a slow corruption of original X-Man Angel into a calm and cool villain methodically turning Apocalypse’s vision into reality. I also love the writer’s portrayal of Psylocke.   Rick Remender is the mastermind of the covert X-team and their incursion in the Age of Apocalypse dimension. He takes over Secret Avengers in 2012.

  In an earlier post I outlined the seeds of the Dark Angel Saga to get you prepped for the finale of this 8 part epic.

The Seeds of The Dark Angel Saga

Uncanny X-Force 17 from Marvel.com. Cover Art by Esad Ribic

  Today the Dark Angel Saga Volume 1 is available. This collects the first chapters of Rick Remender’s violent epic starring Wolverine’s covert team – it’s one of my favorite storylines of 2011.

  As The Dark Angel Saga races to the finale in Uncanny X-Force I recall the twisted tales that serve as the foundation for this adventure. Wolverine’s covert ops team has been searching for the Life Seed to save original X-Man Warren Worthington/Archangel from becoming the next Apocalypse. The seeds for this story are definitely worth reading. There are links to the books throughout the post.

  Logan and Wolverine’s covert squad traveled to the Age of Apocalypse. This alternative timeline is where Apocalypse conquered North America.  Back in the 90’s Marvel made a radical move by cancelling all the X-titles. During Legion Quest Professor X had been killed in a freak time travel incident by his own son and never formed the X-Men. Without opposition, the evil mutant Apocalypse rose to power. The new titles reflected this dark new status quo. Reality was eventually restored but some beings from that dimension escaped into the real Marvel universe and the X-Men have been pulled back into this alternate realm in previous stories.

Uncanny X-Men #1 Marvel.com

  Warren Worthington was always the golden boy of the original X-Men. Being rich, blonde, athletic and born with mutant wings, Warren was christened Angel by creator Stan Lee.

  Many years later the original five X-Men regrouped to form X-Factor. This is when the golden boy’s life turned tragic. During the Mutant Massacre, Angel was brutally attacked and his wings had to be amputated. But Warren would fly again thanks to Apocalypse. Warren was now armed with wings of poisoned blades that he could shoot at his enemies. Under Louise Simonson’s reign as writer Angel became the Archangel, one of Apocalypse’s Four Horseman. It was just one of the game changing stories affecting all the X-teams during the Fall of the Mutants event. 

   I believe this stands as one of the most radical transformations in comics and lead to emotional storytelling and some vicious showdowns that included Archangel versus Wolverine. One of Archangel’s most vicious battles was in the X-Tinction Agenda.

  Eventually Angel was reborn. Warren’s white wings returned but the blue skin stayed. During this period Warren and Psylocke fell in love. Psylocke is a fellow X-man who underwent a radical change from telepathic British model to Asian psychic ninja. Psylocke’s transformation deserves a whole post – I’ll work on that!

  During the Messiah Complex epic Cyclops and Wolverine created a covert team to do the dirty work the X-Men couldn’t. X-Force was created to take out threats to mutants even if it meant killing. During the first mission Warren’s white wings were shredded again and the Archangel persona took over during a clash with the Purifiers. After the events of Second Coming Cyclops ordered Logan to disband X-Force.

Uncanny X-Force: The Apocalypse Solution cover courtesy Marvel.com

  Warren and Logan form their own covert team to seek and destroy the newly resurrected Apocalypse in The Apocalypse Solution. The story raises a lot of questions about ends justifying the means and when a hero’s actions are really heroic. X-Force is definitely not for every reader.

  I think those storylines are the seeds to give you the foundation for The Dark Angel Saga. These epics are always exciting to enjoy anytime.  You may want to give them a read to give you more context while you wait for the final chapter and learn Warren’s fate.