History ComicBook / AgeOfApocalypse

** Maximus killed [[TheInhumans his entire family]] and cloned twisted versions of them to serve him as his EliteMooks.

* AlternateUniverse

* TheEmpire
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt

* RememberThatYouTrustMe

* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Mikhail-

[[caption-width-right:350:What happens when [[TheChosenOne One man]] dies? [[TheBadGuyWins THIS!]]]]

* CanonForeigner: Among others, Charles Lehnsherr, Dead-Eye, and Switchback. The only thing the [=AoA=] Arclight, Bastion, and Wolverine share with their classic Marvel Universe namesakes are the names. The classic Arclight is a woman (AoA Arclight's a man), the normal MU Bastion appeared as a mutant-hater ''after'' AoA, and the [=AoA=] version of the classic {{Wolverine}} goes by the name Weapon X. Sugar Man had no known counterpart in the classic Marvel Universe, but as noted below he, plus Dark Beast, X-Man, and Holocaust (whose respective counterparts are Beast, Cable, and the recently-revealed Genocide), did literally immigrate from the [=AoA=] reality to the classic universe in the finale.

* WorldOfBadass / TookALevelInBadass: The AoA-verse is truly an awful place, dominated by the Darwinist decree of 'Survival of the Fittest.' And yet, this same philosophy creates a 'verse where nearly ''everyone'' is even more badass then they were in the original timeline, in one way or another. Thought that Sabretooth was already a tough mo-fo? Wait until you see his first fight with Holocaust. You don't think Iceman is living up to his full potential power-wise? Let AoA Iceman show 616 Iceman how it's done. And Wolverine manages to kick ''just'' as much ass, if not more, with just the one claw. The list goes on and on, which makes sense, considering just what it takes to survive in this hellhole.

In 1995, this crossover from MarvelComics among the [[Comicbook/{{X-Men}} X-Titles]] began when Legion, son of Professor Xavier, travelled back in time to kill {{Magneto}}, but ended up killing his own father instead. This story, itself a minor crossover called ''Legion Quest,'' led to the main ''Age of Apocalypse'' crossover.

For four months the X-titles were replaced by miniseries that took place in the AlternateUniverse that had come about [[ForWantOfANail for want of an Xavier]]. This BadFuture VillainWorld was a [[{{Dystopia}} dystopian]] [[CrapsackWorld Crapsack]] where heroes were villains, villains were heroes, and AnyoneCanDie. The non-mutant comics weren't part of the crossover, though a two issue miniseries ''X-Universe'' did show what happened to the non-mutant Marvel heroes in the new history. Scott Lobdell directed the overall story arc and some of Chris Bachalo's best work is featured in this series. The series were renamed as follows:

* BerserkButton: Did anyone ''not'' see {{Magneto}} getting [[RoaringRampageofRevenge at least a little upset]] about people being hoarded into concentration camps by a supposedly "Superior Race"?

* FlipFlopOfGod: Readers were told that although changing the past usually produces an alternate universe that exists in addition to, but doesn't replace, the main one, Legion's great power enabled him to break this rule and change actual Marvel history. Nevertheless, the Age of Apocalypse universe was later treated as a normal alternate universe.
** It was explained that the real reason for the main MarvelUniverse being destroyed (temporarily) is the M'Kraan Crystal being breached; since there is a single M'Kraan Crystal that exists simultaneously in all realities, breaching it in one reality creates a cascade effect that will wipe out the entire multiverse. When this was averted, things went back to normal.

** Holocaust, Sugar Man, Dark Beast, X-Man, [=AoA=] Sabretooth and [=AoA=] Blink are literal examples of this; the former four found their way into the classic MU during the finale (X-Man interacted with his counterpart, Cable, a few times and Dark Beast once impersonated his counterpart, the classic Beast) and the latter two, via ''ComicBook/{{Exiles}}.'' Given Holocaust died, he's unlikely to meet his newly-revealed 616 counterpart, Genocide, unless he's resurrected.

** Keeper {{Daredevil}}, who serves as TheConsigliere and TheDragon to Mikhail Rasputin

** The lack of magic or magic users like Comicbook/DoctorStrange or X-Men ally Amanda Sefton has also been noted.
*** It's safe to assume Strange died during the culling, when he still was merely a human surgeon, along with Peter Parker, Reed Richards and Johnny Storm. And Cap's probably floating in a block of ice, somewhere in the Artic.

* QuirkyMinibossSquad - Slightly subverted in that some members of the Pale Riders (Dead Man Wade) and the bounty hunters (Caliban) ''are'' quirky, but the squads are rather efficient.

* BreakoutCharacter: Blink, who is easily the most popular character to come out of the event. This eventually resulted in her leading a team in ''[[ComicBook/{{Exiles}}]]'' due to fan demand to bring her back, and, again, she is easily the most popular character in that series.

* BreakoutCharacter: Blink, who is easily the most popular character to come out of the event, which eventually resulted in her leading a team in ''[[ComicBook/Exiles]]'', where, again, she is easily the most popular character.

In 1995, this crossover from MarvelComics among the [[Comicbook/{{X-Men}} X-Titles]] began when Legion, son of Professor Xavier, travelled back in time to kill {{Magneto}}, but ended up killing his own father instead. This story, itself a minor crossover called ''Legion Quest,'' led to the main Age of Apocalypse crossover.

On the tenth anniversary a sequel miniseries was produced, which isn't very popular among fans; among other things, it shows little evidence of the devastation evident in the original series. There was also a "What If" story pitting the survivors of the original series against Galactus. A arc in Uncanny X-Force seems to have paved the way for a new 2012 series for the survivors.

** If [[WorldWarII Holocaust]] had thought about where his name came from for just a minute, it would be obvious why he's on Magneto's hit list.

** [[WorldWarII The Holocaust]] almost killed Magneto. Magneto almost-kills Holocaust

** Keeper {{Daredevil|Murdock}}, who serves as TheConsigliere and TheDragon to Mikhail Rasputin

* WorldOfBadass / TookALevelInBadass: The AoA-verse is truly an awful, NightmareFuel inducing place, dominated by the Darwinist decree of 'Survival of the Fittest.' And yet, this same philosophy creates a 'verse where nearly ''everyone'' is even more badass then they were in the original timeline, in one way or another. Thought that Sabretooth was already a tough mo-fo? Wait until you see his first fight with Holocaust. You don't think Iceman is living up to his full potential power-wise? Let AoA Iceman show 616 Iceman how it's done. And Wolverine manages to kick ''just'' as much ass, if not more, with just the one claw. The list goes on and on, which makes sense, considering just what it takes to survive in this hellhole.

For four months the X-titles were replaced by miniseries that took place in the AlternateUniverse that had come about [[ForWantOfANail for want of an Xavier]]. This BadFuture VillainWorld was a [[{{Dystopia}} dystopian]] [[CrapSackWorld Crap Sack]] where heroes were villains, villains were heroes, and AnyoneCanDie. The non-mutant comics weren't part of the crossover, though a two issue miniseries ''X-Universe'' did show what happened to the non-mutant Marvel heroes in the new history. ScottLobdell directed the overall story arc and some of ChrisBachalo's best work is featured in this series. The series were renamed as follows:

On the tenth anniversary a sequel miniseries was produced, which isn't very popular among fans; among other things, it shows little evidence of the devastation evident in the original series. There was also a "What If" story pitting the survivors of the original series against Galactus. A recent arc in Uncanny X-Force seems to have paved the way for a new ongoing series in 2012 for the survivors.

* CanonForeigner: Among others, Charles Lehnsherr, Dead-Eye, and Switchback. The only thing the [[=AoA=]] Arclight, Bastion, and Wolverine share with their classic Marvel Universe namesakes are the names. The classic Arclight is a woman (AoA Arclight's a man), the normal MU Bastion appeared as a mutant-hater ''after'' AoA, and the [=AoA=] version of the classic {{Wolverine}} goes by the name Weapon X. Sugar Man had no known counterpart in the classic Marvel Universe, but as noted below he, plus Dark Beast, X-Man, and Holocaust (whose respective counterparts are Beast, Cable, and the recently-revealed Genocide), did literally immigrate from the [=AoA=] reality to the classic universe in the finale.

* WorldOfBadass: The AoA-verse is truly an awful, NightmareFuel inducing place, dominated by the Darwinist decree of 'Survival of the Fittest.' And yet, this same philosophy creates a 'verse where nearly ''everyone'' is even more badass then they were in the original timeline, in one way or another. Thought that Sabretooth was already a tough mo-fo? Wait until you see his first fight with Holocaust. You don't think Iceman is living up to his full potential power-wise? Let AoA Iceman show 616 Iceman how it's done. And Wolverine manages to kick ''just'' as much ass, if not more, with just the one claw. The list goes on and on, which makes sense, considering just what it takes to survive in this hellhole.

* BlondGuysAreEvil: Nemesis (Holocaust's previous persona, before being nearly killed by [[{{Irony Magneto]]), Havok.

* CanonForeigner: Among others, Charles Lehnsherr, Dead-Eye, and Switchback. The only thing the [=AoA=] Arclight, Bastion, and Wolverine share with their classic Marvel Universe namesakes are the names. The classic Arclight is a woman (AoA Arclight's a man), the normal MU Bastion appeared as a mutant-hater ''after'' AoA, and the [=AoA=] version of the classic {{Wolverine}} goes by the name Weapon X. Sugar Man had no known counterpart in the classic Marvel Universe, but as noted below he, plus Dark Beast, X-Man, and Holocaust (whose respective counterparts are Beast, Cable, and the recently-revealed Genocide), did literally immigrate from the [=AoA=] reality to the classic universe in the finale.

*** It's safe to assume Strange died during the culling, when he still was merely a human surgeon, along with Peter Parker, Reed Richards and Johnny Storm. And Cap's probably floating in a block of eyes, somewhere in the Artic.

F[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/AoATrope.gif]]