History ComicBook / Apocalypse

* {{Badass}}: Well, he is essentially the {{Darkseid}} of the X-Verse, so that's pretty much a given.

* EvilOverlord: Particularly in the ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse, where he rules North America [[TheEmpire with an iron fist]].

* HeroKiller: He is capale of taking on whole teams of heroes by himself, and has directly or indirectly killed numerous characters. One episode of the 90's animated series ends with him effortlessly killing the ''entire'' team of X-Men sent to stop him (time-travel saved them) while the series ''AgeofApocalypse'' kicks off with him committing nuclear genocide all over the planet.

* GeniusBruiser: He is extraordinarily intelligent and also one of the most powerful mutatants the X-Men have to face.

* SadistTeacher: Ultimately what he is- a crazy and ruthless "teacher" whose students are entire cultures and species. The biggest problem, of course, is that what he teaches is [[InsaneTrollLogic absolutely bonkers]] and tends to result in his "students" destroying each other, which he seems to find acceptable as long as they got "stronger" (ie. become merciless {{Blood Knight}}s) while doing it. One could get the feeling that he does everything he does because war and conflict and struggle [[EvilCannotComprehendGood are the only things that he is capable of understanding]]; thus, if people are not fighting and killing and dying all the time and everywhere, [[TautologicalTemplar obviously the world is wrong and he has to fix it.]]

* KickTheDog / LaserGuidedKarma / TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: In the ''Rise of Apocalypse" miniseries chronicling his backstory, he as a young man was rejected by the girl he loved due to being physically ugly. When it turned out his powers made him immortal, he went back to her as she was dying of old age and taunted her on her deathbed.

* TheManBehindTheCurtain: On rare occassions in more modern day and future storylines, Apocalypse's fearsome exterior visage of an ancient and incredibly powerful mutant is torn away to reveal... an ancient and incredibly old man with a physique roughly akin to that of [[TheSimpsons Mr. Burns]], whose current power is largely due to being encased in what is basically glorified (albeit very, very advanced) PoweredArmor, while his own power ate away at his body. Note however, that every appearance after X-Factor 68 is a host body not capable of handling his full power.
** However, he can subvert this trope via GrandTheftMe, and finding a suitably powerful host to contain his awesome energies (or better yet, elevate himself to cosmic-level evil using one or a number of even stronger hosts) is one of his more common plots.
* [[TheManBehindTheMan The God Behind The Man]]: Not only did he give Mr. Sinister his powers, Apocalypse is also the original source of his resources. He also has at least one mutant cult and a number of minions, and was once even worshipped by a group of Skrulls. He was introduced as the leader of a throwaway generic evil organization, and an alternate version of him was the master of Dark Beast and other evil survivors of that timeline.

* AboveGoodAndEvil: He is even the BigBad of an epic 4-part StoryArc in the [[WesternAnimation/XMen 90's cartoon]] called "Beyond Good And Evil", which gave us this gem:

* AdaptationalBadass: His 90's animated series version is way more epic.
** Also, his ''Evolution'' counterpart may be the strongest version, and slightly less evil.

* DealWithTheDevil: It's been revealed that the Celestials knew about Apocalypse using their technology, and allowed him to keep it in exchange for future services (although, technically, the Celestials are not evil, so in a sense ''Apocalypse'' was the Devil in this case, except he was on the poor end of the deal). While they have yet to collect on said services, the Celestials did at one point prevent Apocalypse from dying to ensure that he would be able to pay them back someday.

* SuperEmpowering: In addition to Mr. Sinister, Apocalypse has also empowered most of his Horsemen, either giving them brand new powers or upgrading what was already there. This has even helped the X-Men on occasion (despite the brief episode of brainwashing), as he has restored Angel's wings, Wolverine's adamantium skeleton, and Sunfire's legs.
** Though it later turned out that Angel had a HealingFactor and his wings would have regrown naturally anyway, and Wolverine probably wasn't too happy with having the adamantium once again forced upon him, so its for a given value of "help".

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: A very impressive example, as he can use it to create space-age weaponary and act as a highly-efficient HealingFactor that makes Wolverine's look tame, as well as [[SizeShifter alter his size]] (most prominent in the 90's cartoon) and occasionally just plain old impersonating people.
** This seems to be his default mutant power, though Celestial tech has amped it. He's basically a stronger version of Mystique- this explains his gray skin (to her blue skin), long life (she has barely aged in over a century; he barely aged in over ''several'' centuries) and of course he could shapeshift before he found his PowerArmor. His [[LargeAndInCharge height]] and superior strength and stamina and SuperIntelligence are what suggest his powers are greater than hers, but the only real difference otherwise is the class they are in. Note that even before he acquired the celestial's technology, he had the ability to duplicate physical super powers by molecular manipulation, but this mostly just shows just how ''powerful'' a shapeshifter he really is.

Apocalypse is a Franchise/MarvelUniverse created by writer Louise Simonson and artist Jackson Guice. He first appeared in ''ComicBook/XFactor'' vol. 1 #5 (May, 1986). He has since gone on to plague the Comicbook/XMen and other heroes. Born 5,000 years ago into a desert tribe in Ancient Egypt who took one look at the blue skinned mutant and left the supposed abomination behind to die, the infant who would become Apocalypse was found by the leader of a band of desert raiders called Baal, who adopted the boy and named him "En Sabah Nur" -- "The First One", as he believed that the child was the first of a MasterRace of beings who would one day inherit the Earth[[note]]He was wrong, as there were other mutants who came before him -- Selene, notably, is nearly thrice as old at 14,000[[/note]]. Baal raised En Sabah Nur and indoctrinated him into the brutal philosophy of his raiding band- [[SocialDarwinism Survival of the Fittest]], and the idea that life is and should be a never ending struggle of the strong against the weak and each other to earn the right to live and prosper.

Apocalypse is a Franchise/MarvelUniverse created by writer Louise Simonson and artist Jackson Guice. He first appeared in ''ComicBook/XFactor'' vol. 1 #5 (May, 1986). He has since gone on to plague the Comicbook/XMen and other heroes. Born 5,000 years ago into a desert tribe in Ancient Egypt who took one look at the blue skinned mutant and left the supposed abomination behind to die, the infant who would become Apocalypse was found by the leader of a band of desert raiders called Baal, who adopted the boy and named him "En Sabah Nur"- "The First One", as he believed that the child was the first of a MasterRace of beings who would one day inherit the Earth[[note]]He was wrong, as there were other mutants who came before him- Selene, notably, is nearly thrice as old at 14,000[[/note]]. Baal raised En Sabah Nur and indoctrinated him into the brutal philosophy of his raiding band- [[SocialDarwinism Survival of the Fittest]], and the idea that life is and should be a never ending struggle of the strong against the weak and each other to earn the right to live and prosper.

Apocalypse is a Franchise/MarvelUniverse created by writer Louise Simonson and artist Jackson Guice. He first appeared in ''ComicBook/XFactor'' vol. 1 #5 (May, 1986). He has since went on to plague the Comicbook/XMen and other heroes. Born 5,000 years ago into a desert tribe in Ancient Egypt who took one look at the blue skinned mutant and left the supposed abomination behind to die, the infant who would become Apocalypse was found by the leader of a band of desert raiders called Baal, who adopted the boy and named him "En Sabah Nur"- "The First One", as he believed that the child was the first of a MasterRace of beings who would one day inherit the Earth[[note]]He was wrong, as there were other mutants who came before him- Selene, notably, is nearly thrice as old at 14,000[[/note]]. Baal raised En Sabah Nur and indoctrinated him into the brutal philosophy of his raiding band- [[SocialDarwinism Survival of the Fittest]], and the idea that life is and should be a never ending struggle of the strong against the weak and each other to earn the right to live and prosper.

%%* {{Badass}}

* AxCrazy: Apocalypse is completely insane and suffers from severely grandiose delusions.

* '''{{BADASS}}'''
** BadassArmFold: A signature pose he uses to assert his superiority.
** BadassBoast: (Most likely in 1990s X-Men cartoon)

* ComboPlatterPowers: Apocalypse's only natural mutations are physical prowess, intelligence, immortality, and his strange gray skin and blue lips (surprisingly enough), and his shapeshifting, as shown in the "Rise of Apocalypse" mini. The rest of hisabilities such as the technopathy, psychic abilities (maybe. The comics are inconsistent on whether or not the psychic abilities are natural or augmented) his armor and other powers are derived from technology on loan from the Celestials.

Born 5,000 years ago into a desert tribe in Ancient Egypt who took one look at the blue skinned mutant and left the supposed abomination behind to die, the infant who would become Apocalypse was found by the leader of a band of desert raiders called Baal, who adopted the boy and named him "En Sabah Nur"- "The First One", as he believed that the child was the first of a MasterRace of beings who would one day inherit the Earth[[note]]He was wrong, as there were other mutants who came before him- Selene, notably, is nearly thrice as old at 14,000[[/note]]. Baal raised En Sabah Nur and indoctrinated him into the brutal philosophy of his raiding band- [[SocialDarwinism Survival of the Fittest]], and the idea that life is and should be a never ending struggle of the strong against the weak and each other to earn the right to live and prosper.

Born 5,000 years ago into a desert tribe in Ancient Egypt who took one look at the blue skinned mutant and abandoned the supposed HumanoidAbomination to die, the infant who would become Apocalypse was found by the leader of a band of desert raiders called Baal, who adopted the boy and named him "En Sabah Nur"- "The First One", as he believed that the child was the first of a MasterRace of beings who would one day inherit the Earth[[note]]He was wrong, as there were other mutants who came before him- Selene, notably, is nearly thrice as old at 14,000[[/note]]. Baal raised En Sabah Nur and indoctrinated him into the brutal philosophy of his raiding band- [[SocialDarwinism Survival of the Fittest]], and the idea that life is and should be a never ending struggle of the strong against the weak and each other to earn the right to live and prosper.

* EvilerThanThou: To Mister Sinister, Bishop, Stryfe, Sabretooth, ''{{Dracula}}'' and even ''{{ComicBook/Loki}}'' at one point. He frequently pulls this, but puny lesser villains keep thinking they can take him and have to find out the hard way how wrong they are.

The explosion in the mutant population in modern times awoke Apocalypse from his slumber and set him loose upon the world once again. He now actively seeks to provoke a war between humans and mutants so that mutants can inherit the Earth under his guidance, whilst trying to increase his power by finding powerful mutants to serve as his new host. His plans often bring him into conflict with the ComicBook/{{X-Men}}, who he regards as {{Worthy Opponent}}s who have [[WeCanRuleTogether earnt the right to live in his dystopic mutant empire]], when he isn't [[MindControl brainwashing them to serve as his minions]] or [[GrandTheftMe trying to steal their bodies]], or trying to destroy them as threats to his plans.

Apocalypse is one of the ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'s most powerful and dangerous recurring foes. There is more than one BadFuture and ParallelUniverse where he rules the world, and ''all'' of them are hellish {{Death World}}s built on billions of corpses where people have to fight and kill each other to earn the right to live. Unsurprisingly, even without all that, Apocalypse has earned the hatred of a number of prominent characters for his millenia of atrocities, genocide and evil schemes.

* CapcomVsWhatever: Was the boss of VideoGame/{{X-Men vs Street Fighter}} and the penultimate boss of ''VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroesVsStreetFighter''. Has not appeared in the series since.

* AGodAmI: He may or may not believe he is an actual god, but he is certainly happy to be worshipped as such if it furthers his interests, and he definitely believes he is no ordinary mutant.

* AxCrazy: Apoclapyse is completely insane and suffers from severely grandiose delusions.

* SadistTeacher: Ultimately what he is- a crazy and ruthless "teacher" whose students are entire cultures and species. The biggest problem, of course, is that what he believes in is [[InsaneTrollLogic absolutely bonkers]] and tends to result in his "students" destroying each other, which he seems to find acceptable as long as they got "stronger" (ie. become merciless {{Blood Knight}}s) while doing it. One could get the feeling that he does everything he does because war and conflict and struggle [[EvilCannotComprehendGood are the only things that he is capable of understanding]]; thus, if people are not fighting and killing and dying all the time and everywhere, [[TautologicalTemplar obviously the world is wrong and he has to fix it.]]

* EvilerThanThou: To Mister Sinister, Bishop, Stryfe, Sabretooth, ''{{Dracula}}'' and even ''Loki'' at one point. He frequently pulls this, but puny lesser villains keep thinking they can take him and have to find out the hard way how wrong they are.

* LargeAndInCharge: In the animated series at least, he is shown to be perfectly capable of altering his size to be as lare as he wants; however, every version has his default size as somewhere around the 15 foot range, and even before he got Celestial tech he was still taller than any normal human.

* ArtisticLicenseLinguistics: He supposedly has an Arabic birth name, even though he was born in Egypt around 3,000 B.C.--several thousand years before the Arabic language existed, and ''long'' before it would have been spoken in Egypt.

** This seems to be his default mutant power, though Celestial tech has amped it. He's basically a stronger version of Mystique- this explains his gray skin (to her blue skin), long life (she has barely aged in over a century; he barely aged in over ''several'' centuries) and of course he could shapeshift before he found his PowerArmor. His [[LargeAndInCharge height]] and superior strength and stamina and SuperIntelligence are what suggest his powers are greater than hers, but the only real difference otherwise is the class they are in. Edit: This is sort of incorrect. Even before he acquired the celestial's technology, he had the ability to duplicate physical super powers by molecular manipulation. That is beyond shapeshifting, that's willing yourself to have additional powers. Mystique has never been capable of any of that. What Apocalypse can do is something very few shapeshifters can do, outside of the cosmic level characters and high end powerhouses.
* WarIsGlorious

He is set to be the BigBad of the 2015 movie Film/XMenApocalypse, making his live-action debut. He will be played by actor Oscar Isaac.

* AGodAmI

* AxCrazy

* BaldOfEvil
* BarrierWarrior

* TheChessmaster

* EvilutionaryBiologist

* GeniusBruiser

* HeroKiller

* LargeAndInCharge

* ManipulativeBastard

''-> I am the rocks of the eternal shore. Crash against me and be broken!''