Apocalypse is, according to himself, the Earth’s first mutant. En Sabah Nur was found by a nomadic Egyptian, presumably discarded because of his looks. Raised by the nomads, he adopted the belief that only the strong were fit to survive. When he grew up, his clan was captured and enslaved by Grand Vizier Ozymandias. Nur rebelled and was killed, but his powers brought him back to life. Then, he discovered Rama Tut’s technology underneath Egypt. Using it, he destroyed all Egyptian rulers, turning Ozymadias into the being he is today. Apocalypse used Rama Tut’s technology to regenerate after long periods of time, achieving a sort of eternal life. During the Crusades, the Black Knight and his friend Bennet du Paris found his temple. Apocalypse recognized Bennet as a mutant and transformed him into Exodus. Next time he surfaced, Darwin had just postulated his theory on the survival of the fittest. Apocalypse met then Nathaniel Essex, a scientist who had foreseen that mutants would expand in coming centuries. They allied and Apocalypse turned him into Mr Sinister. However, Cyclops and Phoenix defeated him. Recently, Apocalypse was awakened once more when Cable arrived from the future. He first used his Alliance of Evil to fight X Factor, but he soon left them and recruited the Horsemen of Apocalypse. His target was to destroy the weak so that the strong would prevail. He even captured the X Men Angel and turned him into Death, one of his horsemen. However, he had to replace him with Caliban when he left.
Apocalypse also infected Cyclops’ son, Nathan with a techno-organic virus, but got defeated once more. That would be the origin of both Cable and Stryfe. This time, Apocalypse created the Riders of the Storm. This time he was not defeated by heroes but by his creation. Stryfe came back from the future and left him crippled and dying on the surface of the moon. He survived and tried to revive his Horsemen. He tried to use the Hulk as War, but he could not control him. His second choice were Deathbird, Caliban, Rory Campbell and Wolverine as War, Pestilence, Famine, and Death respectively.
He also decided to lead a faction of the skrulls because he was interested in the race mutations. He led them to create the Twelve, mutants whom he used to absorb powers from. Most members of the Twelve were X-men that, once again, teamed up to defeat him. However, while trying to absorbed their energies and merge with Nate Grey, he merged with Cyclops. He rejected the merging and escaped, but Cyclops did not survive the process. Jean Grey and Cable, though, believed him alive and went to find him. They tracked Apocalypse to Egypt, where Summers, now an amalgamation of himself and Apocalypse, fought them. Jean finally physically separated Apocalypse and Summers and Cable destroyed Apocalypse’s essence with his telepathic powers.
Name: En Sabah Nur
Group: Associates of Evil , Apocalypse’s Horsemen, the Riders of the Storm/Dark Riders
Origin: Ancient Egypt
First appearance: X Factor #5
