Favorite Apocalypse?

[Evan Grubbs]

I remember when I was first exposed to the X-Men in the Fox animated series. I was so blown away by how amazingly awesome so many of the characters were. Apocalypse was such an awe-inspiring protagonist. He was eternal, insanely powerful, and he was a very deep character: the kind that always made you think about his real motives even long after the episode was over. He was also one of the only villains who really never "lost", per se. He never legitimately won, but he always came out with one up on his opponents.

Then, last year, I decided I'd read the entire X-Factor series because I wanted to reference the Fox Apocalypse to the 616 Apocalypse. I was REALLY surprised to find this weak, almost stupid, one dimensional villain. His outfit was stupid, his motives were stupid, he was involved in some of the most ridiculous plots in X-History, and he always got his ass beat with very little effort.

Then they killed him.

Reading X-Factor surprised me even more because I'd already read the original (and amazing) "Age of Apocalypse" series', as well as parts of the Apocalypse mini-series where he's growing up in Africa. These were great stories, with a complex, intense, and deep Apocalypse, so very different from the original 616 Apocalypse.

So what are your thoughts on Apocalypse? How did they go so wrong with such an amazing concept for a character that so many others have done so right?

[Christopher O]

The only time Apocalypse has been done right, imo, is in X-Men: Evolution. That's the only time I've enjoyed the character. The other versions had a ridiculous character design and typical, boring characterization. He was cheesy and cliched from the outset. In Evolution, he was mysterious and just bad ass.

[Nyssane]

I liked his appearances in the original X-Factor. It was neat how he was always behind the scenes, kind of spurring on his lackeys to do his evil bidding (first the Alliance of Evil and later the Four Horsemen).

I don't like him as the "all-powerful supremely evil" villain. And I think the Age of Apocalypse is completely overrated.

[18-Till-I-Die]

Well i've always been a fan of Apocalypse. I think he had a cool idea, being this immortal eugenic facist who wanted to create a world ruled by mutant elites. It sounded cool.

Yeah i liked Apocalypse...

Till they killed him. I wouldnt mind if he were dead for a time, it's comics no good villain dies forever. Hell no one dies forever.

But it was the undignified, useless, stupid story of how he died that sucked.

[tjarvis]

Well i've always been a fan of Apocalypse. I think he had a cool idea, being this immortal eugenic facist who wanted to create a world ruled by mutant elites. It sounded cool.

Yeah i liked Apocalypse...

Till they killed him. I wouldnt mind if he were dead for a time, it's comics no good villain dies forever. Hell no one dies forever.

But it was the undignified, useless, stupid story of how he died that sucked.

Yeah, the Twelve storyline really did blow.

But I loved the concept of Cyclops being at war with Apocalypse in the same body. The first mutant vs. the first X-Man (well, not techinally, but in spirit). It was neat on a metaphorical level.

I like an Apocalypse whose nearly impossible to beat. The guy should be a high end threat. I'm hoping Fabian does good things with him in the upcoming C & D story arc.

[Dizzy D]

I'm more of a fan of the old Apocalypse in X-factor. The one that used his shapeshifting intelligently to beat his opponents instead of just hitting and blasting people like he did from X-factor 65 and onward.

I also like his original motivations better. From X-factor 65 onward his motivations were selfish: he wanted the weak to become strong so he could absorb the power of the strong. The original one just wanted to spread conflict, because in his twisted mind he was doing humanity as a whole a favour by forcing them to become strong.

[The Fury]

All hail 90's Cartoon Apocalypse. The only one worthy enough.

Such great moments as nearly destorying all life during that time travel story.

The single moment he got angry, grew huge and killed all the X-men after they destoryed hs precious Virus (i mean he actually killed them).

And with such great lines like. After Cable tells him he's just evil. He says.

"I am not Malificent, I am."

[The Dosadi Experiment]

Apocalypse... I've been a fan of his character ever since the Cartoon, where he was a powerful foe, he was shamelessly evil and he knew how to forge a threatening plan.

Then I started reading X-men, the actual comic, and my very first comic was X-men Omega, that's right, the last issue of the Age of Apocalypse.

I loved it! In the years that followed Roger Cruz was my hero, and Apocalypse my favorite character. But I learned more, read more, and discovered a rather weak character where the regular universe was concerned.

I read the Rise of Apocalypse mini-series and regained some hope, up to the point where the Fantastic Four guest starred, because in my humble opinion, that ruined an otherwise perfect mini-series.

and then there was The Twelve, and ever since then... I hate the character of Apocalypse in the 616 universe. It's a weak parody of what he could be, and everybody knows it.

My favorite Apocalypse is therefore the one from the Age of Apocalypse, a killer design, a master planner, and still someone you can see is somewhat right. He's evolution in progress, and that appeals to me.

Second is X-men Evolution Apocalypse, because he's mostly silent and not present, he's cool because he remains unknown. And as with all good villains, it's what you don't know that makes a character more formidable. Evolution had a mysterious vibe going on, but he was set up to be a finite story, you couldn't let him return, ever, it would kill the character.

Third, TAS-Apocalypse, the one who started it all, smart, powerful, evil, went places where he shouldn't have gone. He was cool, because he was evil.

616 apocalypse doesn't register on this list, he's not cool, he's nothing.

[cable guy]

The cartoon helped me get into comics in the first place. I didn't notice at first how different Apoc was in the cartoon from the comic. Slowly, they might be getting there with him.

I can only hope they take a page from the cartoon, and make him the pure powerful form of evil that he is. Willing to wipe out reality as we know it in order to create a world where only the strong survive.

[fishtaco]

I dont like X-men Evolution much. I used to watch it, but now I dont watch TV period. I only saw the episode where Mesmero was trying to bring him back, and there was that weird spider thing.

I love the villain. I always love the villain. You name it. In the AOA, X-Factor, Cable, during the Twelve, X-men: Search For Cyclops, X-Cutioners Song, anytime. I love Stryfe too. I love Askani. One of the greatest X-men stories ever. ever. ever. ever. ev...yeah.

[Erik Lehnsherr]

The Fox version and the AoA Apocalypse is the best ones to date. He took over the world in one and was never physically beaten in another.

[Ryan K]

I don't like Apocalypse. In any of his incarnations. Never have.

I think he's fairly generic and unimpressive.

I think there has yet to be a good let alone great story written about him. And I don't count the Age of Apocalypse, because to me the great parts of that story were great in spite of Apocalypse. Generation Next and some of the character moments that were in that series would have been the same if the story had been the Age of Mr. Sinister or the Age of Nanny.

[Gaveedra 6]

Apocalyse is a great villan, but only in theory. For someone who's thousands of years old, he's a lousy strategist.

Apparently, he COULD reshape the world, as in Age of Apocalypse. He COULD create a bizarre dystopian mutant future as seen in the first Cyclops & Phoenix series, then in the Askanison series starring young Cable.

He seems to have nearly infinite power to reshape other mutants into terrifying warriors. Sinister. Caliban. Archangel. Even Wolverine can be counted as one of his designs. He even somehow swindled the celestials out of one of their sentient space stations.

But he never even seems to get close to amounting to anything. In the 616 universe, he just doesn't set his sights that high. His early attacks seem like little more than vandalism. Even his seemingly greatest scheme ever, the "Twelve" storyline, his motives are just self-serving. He wants a powerful new body so he can keep living forever. That's kinda weak. Shouldn't he be laying waste to cities and such? Taking over Genosha? He's supposedly the X-Men's #2 supervillan. I wish he'd be more of a menace. Hopefully, his eventual return will see him in good form.

[Shellhead]

I didn't like X-Men: Evolution. I tried, I really tried, but near the end of the first season, I gave up on it as hopelessly lame, based more on the writer's high school memories than anything in the X-comics.

However, I did see one of the Apocalypse episodes, and that was very cool.

That's the only time that I've ever been impressed with Apocalypse. He looks like a gigantic clown, he spouts all the most exhausted villainous cliches, and he seems more like a poor plot device than an actual Marvel villain.

Evan,

They didn't "go wrong" with Apocalypse... remember that you are going backwards in your exploration of the character. What happened with the cartoon is that they finally got the character right. But never forget that he started out as an absurd loser in X-Factor.

[Kid Seven]

You can't use Apocalypse often. Of course he'll end up losing, he has to, and so the trick has to be using him infrequently enough that 'losing' seems more an outcome and less a job description.

And really, only big, semi-cosmic plots with him please.

Viva la Animated Apocalypse!

[Bart Simpson]

I liked the orginal appearances by Apocalyspe in X-Factor. Especially his first appearances and the later issues around the late 60's/early 70's.

[The Grand Beef]

Apocalypse is my favorite villian of all time.

I love what drives him, I love his history, I love just the whole character. The worlds first mutant. Sort of a god-like unbeatable foe. He plays things in the backround, pulls a lot of strings and only shoes his true face when needed. I like how he works through others, like his Horsemen.

I feel that in the last couple years, specifically the Twelve story, the character of Apocalypse really went downhill. I really really really hate the idea of Apocalypse as some kind of parasite...thats how they showed him. It goes against everything he stood for, survival of the fittest. He should be a solid strong immovable character who'se stood high for aeons...not jumping from host to host, living on their life, just to survive. I really hated that storyline haha...

I think my favorite Apocalypse stories were AoA. I really felt he should get his due, and finally he did. That was the way it should have been, and it showed how powerful the character really was. He should always be that kind of a threat.
I also really liked the Rise of Apocalypse mini-series, I never felt like it got it's due. It was an amazing story that really brought out the personality and character of Apocalypse. Not only that, but the art was absolutly amazing and gave him a really cool look. I can't remember the artists name (I know as soon as someone says it, I'm going to slap myself), the guy who did X-Force for awhile, but I love his style. I don't think he does comics anymore, but I wish he did.

As far as looks go, I loved the way he looked in the Cyclops and Pheonix miniseries. I admit, it has a lot to do with the same kind of story as The Twelve in the fact that he's essentially a "parasite", but I still liked the story and Gene Ha's interpretation of Apocalypse was totally awesome. I loved the different looks of Apocalypse, especially the one where he's basically a massive tank on wheels with floating heads. Very eerie and strange, very mysterious and alien, and gave the impression of power and longativity.

Also, I loved the Apocalypse action figure, the one that came out with the Onslaught figures haha. He just looks so badass, they used the Hulk as basis for the figure and he just looks really cool.

I haven't read X-Men in awhile, but as far as I know Apocalypse was killed in The Twelve storyline. That is so sad. He's go sooooo much potential, even now after so much time. And I wish a writer would give him the character and personality he deserves, bring him back to the Apocalypse he should be.

Thats what I think at least, for what it's worth.

~The Grand Beef!

[DDM]

Apocalypse as written by Lousie Simonson from X-Factor #6, 11, 19, 23-26, 50 since he was trying to cull the weak from the strong. Afterwards, Marvel turned Apocalypse into a sort of vampire which just is one huge useless tangent.