Was the character of Holocaust planned years before Age of Apocalypse?

[Jkid099]

Not sure if this has been discussed before, or explained, but I was skimming through that ol' X-Cutioner's Song tie-in comic and there's an entry for "Holocaust." The design is somewhat different ... there's no armor, but he seems to be composed of a lot of energy, and his head is a skull. The following is Stryfe's entry for him:

"HOLOCAUST - Hero? Villain? Anarchist?

How does one classify a mutant who dares to frustrate the Upstarts at dawn, singlehandedly destroys a Sentinel-processing plant at noon, and attempts to slay the X-Men at dusk? According to the history discs of this era, this man should not even exist.

Holocaust is the most frustrating of all the mutants currently under observation, because his methods have yet to reveal his motivation. He does not speak, his thoughts are cloaked even to me, and his mutant powers seem to adapt to any given situation ... and therein, one suspects, lies the means to his defeat.

The name implies his goal is the systematic destruction of life on the planet Earth -- indiscriminate of whether that life be human or mutant.

If that is indeed his intent ... he had better hurry, for the legacy awaits."

It sounds like they intended Holocaust to be a major threat at some point for the X-Men ... and then the concept fell to the wayside for a year or two (most likely in favor of the Phalanx, etc.) ... and then was re-introduced during the AoA storyline.

[Jesse Newcomb]

That sounds very cool. Can you scan it by any chance?

[Jkid099]

Here it is. (The board wouldn't let me post it at the regular size ... so I kinda had to shrunk it to get up. If you look closely, you can see the picture ... *Shrug*)

[SirChasm]

from what i remember holocaust was actually known as nemesis in the regular universe - and unlike sugar man and dark beast he appeared in this reality when aoa ended unlike db and sm who came back years earlier

[Jkid099]

That was after the AoA storyline, however.

[hbkabdul]

Is it possible he was created for 616 but never used and didnt appear until the AOA storyline. The description says that he isnt from this time line so perhaps they had decided early on that he would appear from another time line so they retrofitted him to appear in AOA after never using him in 616. i could be wrong but its a theory i think x-cutioners song and AOA are seperated by several years

[the Hornet]

WOW. I have been thinking about this for 10 years now and it suprised me that no one brought it up before. I too think that Holocaust was initially set to appear before they even thought up of the AOA storyline. But most likely other storyline took priority and by the time AOA came up, Marvel decided to fit his origin in there.

[The Dosadi Experiment]

Lobdell did have his moments, but Lobdell also had his flaws, one of them was dropping hints and clues, only to forget them completely and then suddenly bring them up again.

[Atomic Mongoose]

I'm glad somebody posted this, because I've been wondering the same thing, ever since I started reading comics (a little while before AOA). I've got the Stryfe's Stike Files one-shot and the entry on Holocaust always confused the hell out of me. Wonder what the official story is on his entry and why he wasn't used until AOA.

DDM!? DDM, where are you? We need answers!!!! :D

[The Lucky One]

WOW. I have been thinking about this for 10 years now and it suprised me that no one brought it up before.

It's been brought up here before. There's no definitive answer, though- it's possible Lobdell really was planning the AoA a year and a half ahead of time. (Remember, the Strike File was supposed to tease future events as well.) However, it's also possible he originally intended him to be a 616 character but changed his mind. Unless someone gets official word from Scott, we'll probably never know.

-D

[nubly]

anyone remember which other character showed up in stryfe's strike files that didnt show up before? was it siena blaze?

[streator]

anyone remember which other character showed up in stryfe's strike files that didnt show up before? was it siena blaze?
i dont have the strike file issue, but i know siena blaze first appeared in the 1993 uncanny annual, written by lobdell.

to comment on the subject, im glad holocaust wasnt introduced until AoA. i prefer that (mad?) design to the image shown a few posts above.

[Jkid099]

Siena Blaze was noted in the file for the Upstarts, but that's about it. Besides Holocaust, I think everyone featured in the files already had shown up in the X-comics by then, or would show up in the next year or so.

[DMike]

It was Threnody that showed up in Stryfe's book first.

[satchmo the dragon]

Is Holocaust still in 616 universe?

[cosmicspidey]

Is Holocaust still in 616 universe?

Nope, Holocaust was plucked out the the world he was stranded in that was infested with superheroes (as he described 616 in the latest issue of Exiles). Since then, he was killed and had his energy absorbed by Hyperion.

[Erik Lehnsherr]

^^Man, they finally got rid of him? Wow.