Onslaught (comics)
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Onslaught is a Marvel Comics supervillain who was the focus of a huge intra-company crossover in 1996. He was created by writers Scott Lobdell and Mark Waid and designed by artist Andy Kubert with input from dozens of others. He first fully appeared in X-Men (vol. 2) #53 (June 1996).
Although his nature was initially unclear, Onslaught was a composite lifeform made up of Professor Xavier's repressed mental characteristics and influenced by psychic contact with Magneto. Utilizing Xavier’s vast psionic powers and Magneto’s control over the electromagnetic spectrum, he transmuted himself into the physical world and was defeated through the combined efforts of the entire Marvel superhero community.
"Onslaught" is also a shorthand for the Onslaught Saga, which began shortly before Onslaught: X-Men, ended in Onslaught: Marvel Universe, and led directly into the Heroes Reborn collection of series. The actual beginning of the saga is hard to determine, due to a great deal of foreshadowing and preluding. The event permeated almost all Marvel comic books published in summer 1996.
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[edit] Character history
During the conclusion of the Fatal Attractions crossover, Magneto ripped the adamantium from Wolverine's skeleton after Wolverine attempted to kill him. In response, Professor X shut down Magneto's mind psionically -- something he swore he would never do. (This occurred in X-Men (vol. 2) #25, with further details in Wolverine #105.) Since the Professor used his powers in anger, his mind became open to the influence of Magneto's psyche, which festered and grew in Xavier's repressed subconscious. This small element of Magneto's psyche took root in the dark corner of Xavier's mind, where his repressed anger at humanity's intolerance toward mutants was buried. This was the seed that would grow into the being known as Onslaught. Eventually this part of Xavier's psyche became so strong, with the help of Magneto's psyche, it eventually became powerful enough to completely manifest itself out of psionic energy, and split itself from Xavier.
Onslaught was first mentioned in Uncanny X-Men #322, in which the Juggernaut crash-landed in Hoboken, New Jersey, having been hit hard enough by Onslaught to send him across the country, with a mental block on his brain, causing him to forget who or what Onslaught actually was (as he had learned Onslaught's identity). Onslaught's presence was felt behind the scenes in several other X-Men stories over the following year, but little was revealed about the character. Around this time, Nate Grey (X-Man), a powerful psychic from the Age of Apocalypse timeline, came to Earth. When Professor X attempted to scan Nate's mind, Nate accidentally pulled Xavier's astral form into the physical realm. As revealed later, this was the means by which the Onslaught entity learned how to manifest itself in a physical form. Onslaught's next major role in a story was in X-Men (vol. 2) #50, in which a team of X-Men fought his herald, Post. After the battle, a psychic entity (actually Onslaught himself) appeared to the X-Men before vanishing. The entity appeared in this form once more in Uncanny X-Men #333, in which it assisted Gambit and Jean Grey in their investigation of the anti-mutant government agent Bastion.
Onslaught made its first full appearance under that name and in costume in X-Men (vol. 2) #53. Onslaught's physical form, as first seen here, was enormous and had a uniform similar to Magneto's. It was extraordinarily intelligent, and had vast psionic and magnetic powers. He kidnapped Jean Grey, took her to the astral plane, and attempted to convince her to follow him and to become his consort. Without revealing to her that he was a part of Xavier's mind, he tried to show her the extent of Xavier's own repressed anger and frustration, both towards the seeming futility of his dream and towards his own students - expressed in the form of a flashback to X-Men (vol. 1) #3, in which Xavier mused on his undeclared and inexpressible love for Jean Grey. She rejected him, and for it Onslaught lashed out at her, burning her forehead with her own psionic power, overtaken by Onslaught. With a statement of "know my name", Onslaught cast her from the Astral Plane, leaving his name psionically burned onto her forehead (visible only to Jean herself). She and the other X-Men soon met with the Juggernaut in Uncanny X-Men #333, who wanted her to use her telepathic powers to read his blocked memory and find out who Onslaught really was. Before they could do so, Onslaught kidnapped Juggernaut and imprisoned him within the mystical gem that granted him his powers (X-Men [vol. 2] #54). The entity then manifested itself before the X-Men, defeating them in battle (Onslaught: X-Men), and destroying most of Xavier's school.
Bishop, the time-lost mutant from the future, had been warned that a traitor within the ranks of the X-Men had betrayed the team in the late 20th century, leading to their destruction. While Bishop had long thought that person to be Gambit, the aforementioned events made it clear that the actual traitor was Xavier, or more accurately, Onslaught.
Assisted by Post and Dark Beast (who had infiltrated the X-Men by disguising himself as Beast), Onslaught attempted to start a global apocalypse that would destroy all of humanity. Dark Beast and his allies fought X-Factor and loosed a number of Sentinels on New York City in X-Factor #125. These Sentinels fought Spider-Man, the Punisher, and the Green Goblin (Phil Urich, a superhero who retired as result of this battle), and killed the parents of Hallie Takahama, who would later become the superheroine, Jolt. Post defeated Cable, after which Cable and the Hulk fought each other. Afterward, the two teamed up with Apocalypse for an inconclusive assault on Onslaught. Meanwhile, Wolverine and Elektra were able to discern Onslaught's origin as a twisted synthesis of the minds of Xavier and Magneto.
Following Onslaught's devastation of the X-Men, they were visited by the Avengers, accompanied by Rogue and Joseph (Magneto's clone, who was thought to be Magneto himself). Nate Grey and X-Force soon joined the heroes at the X-Mansion. Grey and X-Force remained behind while the other heroes travelled to the Fantastic Four's headquarters, where they unsuccessfully attempted to prevent Onslaught (in the form of a young Charles Xavier) from kidnapping Franklin Richards (Fantastic Four #415). Meanwhile, the members of X-Force were subdued by Mister Sinister, who also kidnapped Nate Grey. Although Sinister attempted to convince Grey to work with him, Grey was also psychically visited by Onslaught (again in Xavier's child form), who kidnapped him despite the interference of Franklin Richards. Onslaught was able to use the near-limitless psychic power of his two young captives to amplify his own, changing into his second physical form in the process. In this form, Onslaught fought the Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Joseph. During the battle, Thor was able to physically separate Xavier from Onslaught. Without Xavier's influence, Onslaught was "free" (as he put it), no longer bound by Xavier. Later, after a confrontation with Xavier himself, Onslaught declared that neither mutants, nor humans, were worthy, and that all would be equally dominated by him.
Onslaught's physical form was destroyed by the gathered heroes (whose ranks now included the Hulk, Namor the Sub-Mariner, and surprisingly, Doctor Doom). In doing so, however, they unleashed his full extent of his power. Unchecked, Onslaught used his power to create a second sun, with which he intended to destroy the Earth. The heroes determined that they could enter Onslaught's energy-based form and use their own bodies to contain Onslaught's psychic energy while the mutants, now having something tangible to hit, would unleash all their firepower on the heroes to destroy Onslaught, which would kill the heroes in the process. Furthermore, using a mutant to contain Onslaught's energy would allow Onslaught to draw upon that mutant's power to increase his own. The Avengers, the Fantastic Four, Bruce Banner (but not the Hulk, who was physically separated from Banner during the battle), and an unwilling Doctor Doom appeared to sacrifice their lives in this fashion. Namor and the Scarlet Witch were also among those who sacrificed themselves. The Scarlet Witch used her probability-control powers to shield herself so that she could enter, and Namor may have been able to enter due to the fact that he is a human-Atlantean hybrid, rather than a traditional Homo Superior. Thanks to Franklin Richards' power, the heroes who gave their lives to destroy Onslaught did not die; instead, they were reborn in a pocket dimension (Heroes Reborn). This dimension was contained within a ball that Franklin would carry with him until the missing heroes were able to return.
In this pocket dimension, during a chaotic event involving the impending detonation of the gamma power core of the Avengers headquarters (which was later revealed to be a breach in space and time), Onslaught himself briefly appeared as a non-corporeal being. With the departure of Rob Liefeld and Jeph Loeb from the Avengers title, this mysterious occurrence was never touched upon again; however, in late 2006, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Onslaught event, a five-issue mini-series, Onslaught Reborn, by Loeb and Liefeld, will see the villain return and explore this dangling plot thread. Set after Decimation but before Civil War, it sees the mutant energy from the depowered mutants reforming the monster.[1]
[edit] Varying appearances
Onslaught's armor and appearance have been drawn in vastly different ways, presumably due to different artists having conflicting interpretations of him.
- Officially, his helmet resembles Magneto's, with the purple trim around the facial area, with the helmet empty and fields of light for eyes. In several issues, he has been depicted with a red, noseless face, or a lack of purple rim around his face.
- It can be gathered that Onslaught should have muscle-like plates around his armor, appearing almost robotic at times. However, several artists have drawn the red area of his armor as flesh. The details of his armor's purple plating has been depicted differently, as well.
- Onslaught's massive, monstrous second form has also been depicted in various ways. Most of them are the same as the armor variations of the first form, but there are others; at times, he has been depicted without purple plates on his forearms, with varying minor differences in the structure of his head, and shape of his overall design.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Onslaught has existed in two forms, each with a different spectrum of power.
The first form is associated with Onslaught the most, and the one he had when he was one with Xavier. In this form, Onslaught has shown a wide variety of abilities including extremely high levels of superhuman strength and resistance to injury. This strength is shown when it is revealed that he knocked The Juggernaut, literally, across North America. At one point, Onslaught remarks that he can increase his physical strength to any levels he wills it. Onslaught's psionic powers appeared limitless, appearing to surpass even that of Xavier in his right mind. He was especially powerful in the astral plane, where he appeared to have god-like abilities. From what has been seen, he seems to have total mental control over anyone or anything he wishes, ranging from near-infinite telepathy by altering one's perception to believe they are someone or somewhere else (he demonstrated this by making Wolverine believe he was a wolf pup, and making Storm think she was a child), to most conceivable forms of telekinesis. Onslaught also possessed many forms of energy projection (lasers etc.), all of which at high levels of power. Another demonstration of his raw power was when Onslaught ripped the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak out of the supposedly indestructible Juggernaut's body.
After fully evolving into his own, separate consciousness, Onslaught captured Franklin Richards and combined the child's vast reality-altering powers with his own. This caused Onslaught to evolve into his second, more powerful form. In this form, his powers were increased to virtually godlike levels, including the ability to mass-manipulate (his complete takeover of all the Sentinels), create and reshape matter at will (shown when he created his citadel, and when he created a second sun to destroy Earth), and an apparent omniscience (as evidenced when he easily thwarted an attempt to sneak into his citadel). He could also change reality at an almost unlimited extent. His physical strength was also shown to be astonishingly high; so much so he was able to go toe-to-toe in a physical fight with the Hulk (or more precisely, the "Savage" Hulk), after the Hulk's mind had been blanked and his strength and rage set to incredible levels, using the mental powers of Jean Grey. For a time, Onslaught had these powers while still in his first form; the majority of these came from the absorption of Nate Grey and Franklin Richards.
In the end, Onslaught's true body was revealed to be a mass of pure, psionic energy that was immune to all forms of physical attacks and, under normal circumstances, all forms of energy as well.
[edit] Onslaught's objective
The Overview book, Road to Onslaught, contained what appeared to be copies of Marvel documents (laced with corrective notes in red pen), entitled "Onslaught Made Easy", describing what it was Onslaught was trying to accomplish, in details not immediately apparent in many of the comics. According to these, Onslaught was planning to become a collective conscience, or "hive-mind", replacing all thought in the universe with his own. Onslaught was to become thought itself (an objective he had actually managed to accomplish before his demise), and force himself into the minds of every living being. However, this was a miscalculation on Onslaught's part, as a human mind cannot contain such a massive consciousness (the documents compare this to forcing an orange into a grape).
The control of the Sentinels was not to just terrorize the populace, nor was it to keep the heroes in check (especially since Onslaught no longer considered them a threat). He had abducted several scientists working on the Sentinels to gain access to Sentinel technology. His goal was to utilize the technology within the Sentinels that cancels out psionic energy of mutants. Onslaught planned to reverse this process, and channel all that energy into himself, with the Sentinel's rampage being a way to spur fear, panic, and various negative emotions, which would release scores of psionic energy, which Onslaught would then channel into himself, growing ever-stronger.
However, just having vast amounts of psionic energy wouldn't be enough, as Onslaught would need a way to channel it. Using Xavier's knowledge of Landau, Luckman, and Lake and the transdimensional portals, Onslaught planned to tap into the portals to spread himself to everyone on the planet with a single thought. Subsequently, Onslaught had focused his assault on Manhattan due to the "mother of all these doorways", as the documents state, lying below Central Park; the Grand Chamber of the Morlock Tunnels, a "horrific bubbling cauldron of energy that he intends to wield", again quoting the documents. He planned to use this energy via Gateway, who had taken great interest in beings with psionic power, knowing that one of them would wield enough of this power to inadvertently destroy the world. But, because he serves this power, he serves the one who wields it (which would be Onslaught).
The documents summarize his objectives thusly....
- "Recruit" Franklin Richards and Nate Grey.
- State his intentions to the world.
- Release the Sentinels on Manhattan.
- Expose the core of ambient, world-wide energy which exists in the Morlock Tunnels beneath Central Park.
- Use Gateway to disseminate his hyper-psionic energy throughout the world using the pre-existing Landau, Luckman, and Lake energy portals.
[edit] List of casualties
The final battle against Onslaught cost the Marvel Universe eighteen of its most prominent figures. Though they would return, the event marked a turning point in their individual histories.
- Dr. Bruce Banner; notably not the Hulk version of his personality who was separated by Onslaught and left behind.
- Black Panther
- Captain America
- Crystal
- Doctor Doom
- Falcon
- Giant-Man
- Hawkeye
- Human Torch
- Invisible Woman
- Iron Man
- Mister Fantastic
- Namor the Sub-Mariner
- Scarlet Witch
- Thing
- Thor
- Vision
- Wasp
In the miniseries Heroes Reborn: The Return, it was revealed that She-Hulk and the Inhumans were casualties as well, seemingly off panel during Onslaught Marvel Universe. The appearances of She-Hulk and the Inhumans could've been images that were projected into the pocket universe by young Franklin's memory of his parents' friends and past teammates. This is evidenced by the fact that She-Hulk worked with the Heroes for Hire team and the Inhumans celebrated Crystal's return in the pages of Quicksilver's solo comic.
[edit] Final Battle Roster
Those that fought Onslaught in the last battle included those in the List of Casualties, Cyclops, Professor X, Jean Grey, Hulk (with and without Banner), Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, Storm, Cable, Joseph (Magneto's clone), Bishop, Iceman, Nate Grey (X-Man),Spider Man and Franklin Richards.
[edit] Onslaught Reborn
When the Scarlet Witch used her powers to depower countless mutants, including Magneto and Prof. Xavier, people were only worried about what was lost not what came back. The power lost by Magneto and Xavier somehow combined and restored Onslaught, who is now determined to kill Franklin Richards. Onslaught takes control of both the Human Torch and Mister Fantastic in a attempt to get Franklin but it is interrupted by the Thing and Invisible Woman. When Franklin flees to Counter-Earth Onslaught follows him.
[edit] Appearances in other media
Onslaught has appeared as the final boss in Marvel vs. Capcom. In that version of the story, Xavier subconsciously used Onslaught's power to call heroes from another universe to help the Marvel super heroes battle him. At the end of the game, the player faced Onslaught in the two forms seen in the comics. In two endings to the game, Jin Saotome (in his own ending) and Captain America (in Hulk's ending) sacrifice themselves to defeat Onslaught (who had become the mass of pure energy in said endings). Onslaught becomes a playable character on the PlayStation version after the player defeats him with any character. He is also able to use some of Magneto's attacks, such as Magnetic Shockwave and Magnetic Tempest. The majority of his lines in the game are derived from lines he spoke in the Onslaught saga (i.e. in his intro, he states "know my name", uses his "behold my mighty hand" phrase on multiple occasions, etc.) His dash attack is also derived from a scene in Onslaught: X-Men, where Onslaught battered the X-Men with a psychic assault, complete with a similar orange glow, and the line that accompanies the attack; "taste my wrath". Many fans agree that he is the hardest boss to defeat in the entire Marvel VS series because of the high damage his moves inflict, as well as his ability to summon, and control, a random character from the game, lengthening the battle and increasing the effort needed to beat him.
[edit] Figures
There have been several Onslaught figures released throughout the years. A helmeted version was released in the late 1990s. Later, in 2006, Onslaught's second, monstrous form was used as the Build-A-Figure for Marvel Legends Series 13. It was smaller than most other ML Build-A-Figures.
[edit] Notes
- ^ George, Richard. "Onslaught's Assault Begins", IGN, 2006-10-26. Retrieved on 2006-10-26.
[edit] Onslaught Issue Checklist
(It is in Alphabetical Order and not in release order as according to the phases and impacts)
Amazing Spider-Man #415 - Spider-Man battles Onslaught's sentinels.
Avengers #400 - X-Men seek the help of the Avengers
Avengers #401 - Joseph and Rogue join the fight.
Avengers #402 - the Avengers battle Holocaust and Post.
Cable #32 - Post vs. Cable
Cable #33 - Post vs. Cable (cont.)
Cable #34 - Onslaught-controlled Hulk vs. Cable
Cable #35 - Cable Teams up with Apocalypse to rescue Franklin Richards
Cable #36 - Cable deals from the aftereffects of the battle with Onslaught with Franklin Richards
Excalibur #99 - Onslaught recruits the Black Queen of the Hellfire Club
Excalibur #100 - The X-Men travel to Muir Island to discover how to stop Onslaught
Fantastic Four #414 - Onslaught appears to befriend the reality-warping Franklin Richards.
Fantastic Four #415 - Onslaught abducts Franklin Richards.
Fantastic Four #416 - The Fantastic Four and their allies fight Onslaught- conjured phantoms of their greatest foes.
Generation X #18 - Emma Frost subconsciously tries to Safeguard Generation X from Onslaught
Generation X #19 - Emma Frost releases Generation X from her subconscious efforts to protect them from Onslaught
Green Goblin #12 - Green Goblin battles one of Onslaught's sentinels
Incredible Hulk #444 - Cable and Storm free Hulk from Onslaught's control
Incredible Hulk #445 - the Hulk joins the Avengers in an attack on Onslaught.
Incredible Hulk #446 - The Hulk is on the run post-Onslaught and post-Banner
Incredible Hulk #447 - The Marvel Universe deals with a mindless Hulk due to the Onslaught Affair!
Iron Man #332 - Iron Man and the Avengers battle Onslaught's sentinels
Onslaught: X-Men - X-Men are attacked by Onslaught
Onslaught: Marvel Universe - The stunning conclusion.
Onslaught: Epilogue - Professor X is interrogated by Bastion. .
Punisher #11 - Punisher and S.H.I.E.L.D. prevent helicarrier from being scavenged after battle with Sentinels
Spider-Man #72 - Spider-Man (Ben Reilly) joins Peter Parker against the sentinels
Thor #502 - Last issue of Thor in which he prepares for battle the day before the end.
Uncanny X-Men #322 - The Juggernaut lands in New Jersey after getting punched by Onslaught in Canada.
Uncanny X-Men #333 - Onslaught helps Jean Grey escape from Operation: Zero Tolerance
Uncanny X-Men #334 - The Juggernaut seeks the help of the X-Men in seeking to unlock Onslaught's identity from his mind
Uncanny X-Men #335 - Avengers and X-Man come to the X-Men's aid
Uncanny X-Men #336 - The X-Men, The Avengers, and The Fantastic Four launch an all-out assault
Uncanny X-Men #337 - Xavier takes stock of his life after Onslaught
Wolverine #93 - Juggernaut runs for his life because he knows too much
Wolverine #104 - Wolverine and Elektra discover Onslaught's true nature
Wolverine #105 - Wolverine joins the battle
X-Factor #124 - Havok is unconsciously manipulated by the Dark Beast
X-Factor #125 - Onslaught takes control of Project: Wideawake's Sentinels.
X-Factor #126 - Forge and Sabertooth rescue the real Beast
X-Force #46 - Mimic is captured by Onslaught
X-Force #52 - X-Force battles Onslaught augmented Blob and Mimic
X-Force #57 - X-Force attempts to safeguard X-Man from Mister Sinister
X-Force #58 - X-Force are psionically manipulated by Onslaught
X-Man #15 - Onslaught recruits Holocaust
X-Man #16 - Holocaust battles X-Man in Onslaught's name
X-Man #17 - Holocaust battles X-Man in Onslaught's name (cont.)
X-Man #18 - X-Man seeks X-Force's help
X-Man #19 - Mister Sinister tries to prevent Onslaught from controlling X-Man
X-Men #25 - Xavier shuts down Magneto's mind!
X-Men #46 - Onslaught sends a Sentinel research facility offline
X-Men #49 - Chamber is teleported away by an Onslaught-controlled Gateway
X-Men #50 - the X-Men battle Onslaught's herald, Post!
X-Men #53 - Onslaught takes Jean Grey on a tour through Professor X's mind.
X-Men #54 - Onslaught's identity revealed
X-Men #55 - the X-Men, Avengers, and Fantastic Four attempt to stop Onslaught and his sentinels
X-Men #56 - Xavier confronts Onslaught
X-Men #57 - Xavier allows himself to be taken into Government custody
X-Men: Road to Onslaught-Explains Onslaught’s motives
X-Men Unlimited #12 - Doctor Strange helps free Juggernaut from the Gem of Cyttorak
X-Men Unlimited #14- Franklin Richards deals with the loss of his parents due to Onslaught
[edit] External links
- Onslaught Reborn preview pages and video interviews with writer Jeph Loeb and artist Rob Liefeld
- Onslaught entry at the Marvel Database Project
- Marvel Directory description of Onslaught's powers
- Detailed description of Onslaught
- Description of Xavier's gradual transformation into Onslaught
- Extreme Genesis for a preview of the Onslaught Reborn story next to come at Marvel Comics
