Archangel (comics)
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Angel (comics) redirects here. For other uses in comics, see Angel (disambiguation)#Comics. For other uses of "Angel" in general, see Angel (disambiguation).
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Archangel (Warren Kenneth Worthington III), originally and still occasionally known as Angel, is a Marvel Comics superhero, best known as one of the founding members of the mutant super-team known as the X-Men. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby, he first appeared in X-Men (vol. 1) #1 (September 1963).
A mutant, Archangel is gifted with a pair of large feathered wings extending from his back enabling him to fly. He is the heir and CEO of the multi-billion dollar Worthington Industries. This privileged background resulted in Warren being stereotyped as an arrogant and fun-loving playboy during his early years with the X-Men, but the trials and tribulations of personal experience have tempered him with humility and deepened his character over the course of time.
One of the original X-Men, Archangel has had a frequent presence in X-Men-related comic books throughout the years. He appeared occasionally in X-Men animated series and video games. Ben Foster plays him in the 2006 film X-Men: The Last Stand. Cayden Boyd plays him at a younger age in the film.
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[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] Angel
Warren Worthington III was born in Centerport, New York to Kathryn Worthington and Warren Worthington, Jr. He was attending a private school in his adolescence when white, feathered wings began to grow from his shoulder blades. At first Warren felt he was a freak, but he soon learned that he could use his wings to fly and to help people. He saved several people from a fire in his dormitory where he came to enjoy his power. He soon learned that he in fact is a mutant. He donned a mask and costume and called himself the Avenging Angel and was a solo adventurer originally.
He then began attending the Xavier School For Gifted Youngsters, where Professor Charles Xavier trained young mutants to control their powers and use them for good. Taking the code name Angel, Worthington became one of the original members of the superhero team the X-Men. For a time, he was romantically interested in teammate Jean Grey and tried to date her, but he eventually realized that Jean really wasn't interested in him, as the X-Man she was truly in love with was Scott Summers.
When the original X-Men were captured by the mutant island Krakoa, Professor X created a new team of X-Men to rescue them. When this new team of X-Men decided to stay, Angel and the rest of the original team, with the exception of Cyclops, left the team. He and Iceman went to Los Angeles, where they founded the Champions with Hercules, the Black Widow and the original Ghost Rider. Following the apparent death of Jean Grey and Cyclops' subsequent exile from the team, Warren rejoined the X-Men to help pick up the slack. During this time, Angel grew increasingly disturbed by the behavior and actions of Wolverine, and after some time quit the team in protest.
He was once kidnapped by the Morlock leader Callisto and stripped of most of his clothing. Callisto attempted to humiliate him and rape him. He couldn't remember anything else at the time as he was knocked out. Just then, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus and Sprite arrived to stop Callisto. But the X-Men were captured by the Morlocks and tied to stakes. Callisto struck a deal with Storm; a battle to the death without powers. They would duel with knives with the winner getting Angel and having the leadership of the Morlocks. Storm won, but spared Callisto's life. Shortly thereafter, Angel joined the Defenders.
The Defenders did not last much longer with Angel, Iceman and Beast being the sole survivors. They had decided to abandon the hero's life, but with the resurrection of Jean Grey, the five original X-Men chose to form X-Factor. During this period, Warren found himself giving Jean more emotional support than Cyclops was, who was going through intense emotional repercussions while trying to deal with the fact that Jean was still alive in conjunction with his own involvement with her clone, Madelyne Pryor.
[edit] Archangel
Much later, having joined his teammates as a member of X-Factor, Warren's wings were severely damaged during the Mutant Massacre. Cameron Hodge – whom Warren had known for years and considered a friend, yet was secretly anti-mutant – had his wings amputated. Despondent over the loss of his wings, Warren escaped the hospital and commandeered his private jet, which exploded in the air as the rest of X-Factor watched helplessly from below. It was revealed that Hodge had sabotaged Warren's ultralight airplane to create the illusion that the depressed Warren had tried to commit suicide.
Before the explosion, Warren was spirited away by the ancient mutant Apocalypse. Apocalypse altered Warren's appearance, giving him blue skin, organic metal wings and the ability to fire his metal feathers as projectiles. He also gave him the title of Death, the leader of his Horsemen. When it appeared as though Death had killed his former teammate Iceman, he overcame Apocalypse's brainwashing. Hungry for revenge, he tracked down Hodge. Hodge had kidnapped Warren's lover, Candy Southern, and killed her. Warren beheaded Hodge with his wings, seemingly killing him (it was later revealed that Hodge's head still lived in the X-Tinction Agenda crossover). Warren did not rejoin X-Factor immediately afterwards, spending some time as a loner called "Dark Angel" due to his state of mind following Southern's death. After the events of Inferno, he finally rejoined X-Factor, taking the name Archangel at Beast's urging. It was around this point that he became romantically involved with Charlotte Jones, an NYPD officer who helped to rescue Warren and the rest of X-Factor from the Ravens, a cult of near-immortal psychic vampires.
[edit] Angel Again
After rejoining the X-Men, Archangel became romantically involved with Psylocke. Warren soon traded in his "Death" garb for his old blue and white costume, signifying he was attempting to put his dark days behind him. After Psylocke was eviscerated by X-Men prisoner Sabretooth during an escape attempt, Warren and the X-Men tracked down and captured him, but not before he was able to badly damage Warren's metal wings. Over time, the damage to his wings spread. Eventually the metal wings shattered completely, revealing that his feathered wings had been growing back within them and broke them apart from the inside. This followed a visit from Ozymandias, who told him that he was indeed one of Apocalypse's chosen ones. Reclaiming his original codename Angel, Warren still retained his blue skin color. Having both experienced drastic changes in their lives, Psylocke and Warren found themselves growing apart, while Psylocke began showing attraction for new X-Men recruit Thunderbird III. Realizing they were no longer on the same path, Warren ended their relationship, wishing her happiness in the future.
Warren remained a member of one of the core X-Men teams, where he served as co-leader with Nightcrawler. In a fight with Black Tom Cassidy, Angel experienced a "secondary mutation". His blood gained advanced healing properties, giving him the ability to heal quickly from wounds and allowing him to heal others when his blood is mixed with theirs. This new power "healed" Warren's skin from Apocalypse's alterations, turning his blue pallor back to its original shade. Warren discovered his ability to heal others when he saved the life of teammate Husk (Paige Guthrie) after she was severely injured in battle. He has since become involved in a controversial romance with Paige, who is several years his junior. It was also revealed during The Draco storyline that his blood dealt much pain to Nightcrawler.
Warren and Paige took an extended leave of absence, and Archangel launched a charity called "Mutantes Sans Frontières" in Zanzibar, (a reference to Doctors Without Borders), where he then proceeded to help stop a coup with the aid of Professor X's newest charges from nearby Genosha. In "Excalibur," Warren met up again with Callisto. As Paige reminded Warren of the time he had with Callisto, Callisto and Warren had no time for sweet memories as Viper attacked. Warren and Callisto then managed to defeat Viper together. In Generation M, it appeared that Angel's wings had shrunken and shriveled into a useless state following the events of House of M. However, in Generation M #5, it was revealed that Warren had managed to fake losing his mutant abilities in order to lure out The Ghoul, a deranged serial killer who uses his retained mutant powers to murder ex-mutants.
Though not an active member of any team, Warren has re-united with the other surviving original X-Men - Cyclops, Iceman, and Beast - in a mission to stop Bishop from re-capturing the fugitive mutants known as The 198 in the miniseries X-Men: Civil War.
[edit] Alternate versions
[edit] Age of Apocalypse
In the Age of Apocalypse, Warren was never remade as Death by Apocalypse, nor did he ever join the X-Men. Instead, as most of New York was destroyed, Angel worked with Apocalypse's mutant elite, Magneto and his X-Men, and even the Human High Council to maintain and operate a nightclub aptly named Heaven, where humans and mutants could intermingle. When two of his employees, Scarlett MacKenzie and Karma, were apprehended and the later killed, Angel finally chose a side. Strapping himself down with a number of bombs, he attacked Apocalypse's citadel in a suicide run. His sacrifice shut down the protective shields surrounding the citadel, providing the X-Men with a much needed entrance.
[edit] Ultimate Angel
The Ultimate version of Angel (Warren Worthington III) is one of only a few mutants to be identifiably a mutant at birth. Warren comes from millionaire, mutant-bigoted parents who quickly sign guardianship of him over to Charles Xavier. Warren joins the X-Men taking the codename Angel, though he proves to be an inexperienced and reluctant fighter. On an unauthorized mission to Genosha, Angel and his teammates attempt to rescue Longshot, an accused murderer facing a public execution. After being captured and rescued by Dazzler, he faces Professor Xavier and takes responsibility. Under the guise of expulsion, Angel joins Emma Frost’s Academy of Tomorrow as a spy for Xavier.
Warren becomes close friends with Nightcrawler, initially due to the fact that they both have physical mutations. This mimics the Devil/Angel connection they have in the normal Marvel continuity. Warren also is in a relationship with Dazzler.
Angel’s powers include feathered wings, hollow bone structure, and zero body fat, allowing flight. He also has heightened strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, and eyesight. He does not appear to have the healing powers of his 616 Universe counterpart.
[edit] Exiles
Archangel appeared in the comic book Exiles as a member of Weapon X, a more ruthless version of the self-titled reality hopping team. This Archangel, hailing from Earth-714, appeared very much like his Earth-616 counterpart, even wearing a costume very similar to the one the 616-version wore at the time. Of course, this Archangel, since he was selected for Weapon X rather than the Exiles themselves, clearly was more savage, employing the excessive use of automatic weapons. Archangel was, at some point, replaced by a sociopathic version of Ms. Marvel after he was supposedly sent home for completing his number of missions. He was actually placed in the Panoptichron gallery of fallen Exiles. Why he was placed there is unknown, but he was one of only five recruits to return home alive and intact, alongside She-Hulk, Beak, Iron Man, and Daredevil.
[edit] Mutant X
In the alternate reality represented in the comic book Mutant X, Warren Worthington was captured by Apocalypse much like he was in our own timeline. However, instead of the changes we saw in our own universe; blue skin and metallic wings, this fallen angel was given chalk white skin, leathery bat-wings, razor sharp claws and fangs, and the ability to breathe fire. Able to shuck Apocalypse's brainwashing, The Fallen, as he now called himself, joined Havok's offshoot X-Men team named The Six. This Six was a twisted re-imagining of our own X-Factor team, in a reality where Alex Summers lived the life of his older brother Scott. In addition, Madelyne Pryor replaced Jean Grey as "Marvel Woman", Ice-Man was Robert Drake with his powers enhanced beyond his control, The Brute was Hank McCoy after his formula gave him green scales and an amphibious nature instead of blue fur, and Bloodstorm rounded out the roster as our own Storm who was never saved from the vampiric bite of Dracula.
When Madelyne Pryor became possessed of the Goblin Force and took over New York, The Fallen defected from The Six alongside her, becoming her second-in-command, and later vanishing after her defeat. He next appeared re-allied with Apocalypse against the threat of the Onslaught-like Xavier/Shadow King entity, and remained an ally of the reformed Six as one of the very few surviving heroes after the combined attack of the Goblin Force controlled Beyonder and the revived Dracula.
[edit] Earth X
In this alternate universe, Warren lost all of his fortune and had become an authentic "Angel", who would help anybody who needs him. He joined the Police of New York and his old friend Iceman to protect the Torch of the city against the forces of Mephisto. Later, he traveled with Mister Fantastic and others to the Negative Zone in the search for the Paradise.
[edit] 1602
In the 1602 timeline, Warren was Werner, a young witchbreed (as mutants were known in this reality) who hid his mutation using garments sewn by his mother. Unfortunately, he was captured and tortured by the Grand Inquisitor until being rescued by Carlos Javier and his students. After being rescued, Werner befriended John Grey who, unbeknownst to Werner, was Jean Grey disguised as a man. This friendship caused jealousy on the part of Scotius Summerisle, who knew of Jean's deception and feared Werner also knew and was trying to court her. After Jean's death, it was revealed Werner had not known that John was really Jean. When Scotius confessed his jealousy and apologized, Werner revealed that he had been in love with John Grey.
[edit] X-Men: Fairy Tales
In the first issue of X-Men Fairy Tales, based on the Japanese story of Momotaro, Archangel appears as the pheasant. He refuses to fly because he is scared of falling and failing, until Cyclops/Hitomi and Beast/Aoi convince him.
He was named Tenshi, meaning 'Angel' in Japanese.
[edit] Powers
Archangel's primary power is that of flight. His wings have superhuman strength, and they have a very flexible skeletal structure that enables him to press them to the back of his torso and legs with only the slightest bulge visible under his clothing. His bones are hollow, his body processes food more efficiently than a normal human body and does not store any excess fat, he possesses a greater proportionate muscle mass than normal and his superhumanly sharp eyes can withstand high-speed winds which would damage the average human eye. His lungs can extract oxygen from the air at high velocities or altitudes, and he can cope with the reduced temperatures at low altitudes for prolonged periods of time, giving him a greater-than-normal capacity to endure low temperatures in areas such as the Arctic.
While he generally flies below the height of clouds, Archangel can reach almost twice this height with little effort. At his absolute maximum, he can reach the highest recorded altitude of a bird in flight - about the height above sea level of Mount Everest - but he can only remain that high for several minutes. He can fly nonstop under his own power for around half a day.
Flight is as natural for Archangel as it is for a bird and he's been heavily trained by Professor X, especially in mastering his flight indoors. His agility while flying appears unmatched in the Marvel Universe, and he's been seen several times defeating other superbeings much faster than him (like the Human Torch) by dodging them and having them smash against the ground or a wall at full speed. The strength in his natural wings can easily break a man's arm or leg, or even project someone through a wall.
As the result of a secondary mutation, Archangel also developed a "healing factor" and can heal others by mixing his blood with theirs, provided they have a matching blood type to Warren's. This mutation varies in potency--at times, he cannot aid the terminally wounded; at others, he can actually raise the newly dead.
While Archangel possessed the metal wings given to him by Apocalypse, he had the ability to fire metal feathers at his opponents. The feathers were laced with a neural inhibitor chemical that induced temporary paralysis. With his new wings, he has been referenced to fly at great speeds, even on the levels of Mach 3, possibly faster.
[edit] Appearances in other media
[edit] Television
- Angel was shown in several episodes of Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. He appeared in "The Origin of Iceman" and "A Firestar is Born". He was voiced by Bill Callaway in " A Firestar is Born".
- Archangel's origin was retold in the animated X-Men series, where Apocalypse creates the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Played by Stephen Ouimette, Angel goes to a scientist who claims he can "cure" mutancy, but is actually Mystique, a servant of Apocalypse, who turns him into Death. Angel also makes a cameo appearance in the Beyond Good and Evil four-part episode, and as one of the original X-Men in two flashbacks, bringing up continuity errors elsewhere when Cyclops, Beast and Jean Grey do not know him. In this version, he loses the "death" status to become once again Archangel thanks to Rogue, who saps the evil that lay within him.
- He also appeared in a number of episodes of X-Men Evolution. His voice was provided by Mark Hildreth.
[edit] Film
- Angel is portrayed by Ben Foster in X-Men: The Last Stand. In the film, Warren Worthington III (referred as Angel in the credits but never called by this name in the dialogue) is a young man in his early twenties (seen as a child - portrayed by Cayden Boyd - in a flashback, in which he attempts to cut off his wings), and the son of a rich industrialist who is motivated by his son's mutation to create a "cure" for mutants. Warren flees before he can be stripped of his powers and goes to find the X-Men for help. He later makes an appearance in the final confrontation against Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants, rescuing his father as he is thrown off of a roof. Despite featuring prominently in much of the film's advertising, Angel's role is quite a minor one, and he only appears in a bare handful of scenes throughout the entire film. He is, however, seen wearing an X-Men uniform on the DVD cover. Apparently, men who auditioned for the part of Angel performed several scenes not in the final version of the movie. Whether these were filmed or not remains speculation until they do or do not appear as special features on the DVD to be released.
[edit] Video games
- Angel appears in the video game X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, where he shows up as the scout for the different areas that are visited until he is captured by Apocalypse and turned into Archangel. After fighting him as Archangel, the player follows Apocalypse to Egypt for the game's climax. In stage 5, he was mention that his mind and body where changed from Mr. Sinister's drugs. It was presumed unknown that Angel would recover from the drugs and turn back to his natural form.
[edit] External links
- Bio at Marvel.com
- MDP: Angel / Archangel (Warren Worthington III) - Marvel Database Project
- UncannyXmen.net's Spotlight on Archangel
- Archangel on the Marvel Universe character bio wiki
| Preceded by: Unknown |
As Death III, one of the Horsemen of Apocalypse X-Factor vol. 1 #17 (June 1987) - X-Factor vol. 1 #25 (February 1988) |
Succeeded by: Caliban as Death IV |
Categories: X-Men | Fictional Americans in Marvel Comics | Fictional Anglicans | Fictional millionaires | Marvel Comics mutants | The 198 Files | Fictional characters with the power to heal | Fictional characters with the power of accelerated healing | Marvel Comics characters who can fly | Hellfire Club members
