Dr.Strangefate
He Sees You When You're Sleeping. He Knows When Yo
Okay... I just mentioned this over in the Endangered Species discussion thread, and so I decided to create a thread with my list to celebrate the greatest X-Men crossover of the nineties, and possibly ever... Conceptually, and even how it all played out... Age of Apocalypse isn't just good in that Nostalgiac way, its legitimately one of the most interesting experiments they ever tried with the X-Men's little corner of the Marvel Universe...
TEN REASONS WHY THE ORIGINAL AGE OF APOCALYPSE ROCKS MY SOCKS
10. Bishop - Bishop has never been used as well as he was in Age of Apocalypse... District X came close, but the aged version of Bishop whom after witnessing Xavier's death, simply wandered the world, amnesiatic, watching it crumble under the might of Apocalypse, is a much more interesting "time-displaced" character than his regular incarnation. This also heralded his "Bald" look in the comics, which is miles better than the long curly hair he sported years after his introduction.
9. The Four Horsemen of Apocalypse - Rather than the B and C listers he's been employing for years and years, AoA Apocalypse only had room for the sort of characters that had typically only run against the X-Men one-by-one. Mikhail Rasputin, Abyss, Sinister, and the best new villain to come out of the series, Holocaust, the twisted son of Apocalypse.
8. Iceman in Complete Control of his Abilities : Less human, definitely, and having lost all of his youthful arrogance, the AoA Iceman was one of the team's heavy-hitters in a way the 616 Bobby Drake has never managed.
7. The Design of the AoA Sunfire : 'Nuff Said
6. Bringing back old Forgotten X-Characters : Blink died almost immediately after introduction in 616 (in the New Mutants series, I believe), and who on earth remembers Changeling, with his big stupid purple hat? Morph and Blink, however remained popular enough to give the two starring roles in Exiles (although the Morph in Exiles is a different character, he's based on the same idea of reworking the character), and for good reason.
5. Sinister becoming Cyclops and Havok's surrogate Father - Sinister's obsession with the Summers brothers went back ages in the comics and in this reality Sinister hovered in a gray area between good and evil, planting the seeds of Apocalypse's destruction... I also totally dug Scott actually only having one eye.
4. Dark Beast - Hank McCoy as the Evil Genius and Mad Scientist, testing his sadistic medicine on humans and mutants alike was pure genius on behalf of the original writers... In 616, Beast almost never recognizes the fact that he could have easily become the amoral creature he was in this reality, if Xavier hadn't instilled his dream in him. Dark Beast remains to be one of the most interesting remnants of AoA in the 616 continuity.
3. Apocalypse actually fulfilling his Name - I mean, its the premise of the entire series... Apocalypse won. He was more of a threat during Age of Apocalypse than he ever was before, or ever will be again... This series alone is why I love him as a villain, because its the only series that shows what he is capable of becoming.
2. Sabretooth as a Good Guy : AoA's Victor Creed is one of my alltime favorite characters... In a world without the human masters to cripple his conscience in an attempt to turn him into more monster than man, Creed managed to become more of a Hero than that world's Wolverine could ever become.
1. Magneto's X-Men : It was amazing at how they managed to maintain the dignity of Magneto's character in a world so twisted that he dedicated his life to the Dream of Charles Xavier that Human and Mutantkind could live in peace together. Magneto in this reality is perhaps a better leader than Charles ever was, despite his lack of success, his support of his team, and openess with them is staggering when compared to the secrets Xavier's hidden in for years and years... His relationship with Rogue is also very well written, despite the great difference in age never being addressed all that well.
TEN REASONS WHY THE ORIGINAL AGE OF APOCALYPSE ROCKS MY SOCKS
10. Bishop - Bishop has never been used as well as he was in Age of Apocalypse... District X came close, but the aged version of Bishop whom after witnessing Xavier's death, simply wandered the world, amnesiatic, watching it crumble under the might of Apocalypse, is a much more interesting "time-displaced" character than his regular incarnation. This also heralded his "Bald" look in the comics, which is miles better than the long curly hair he sported years after his introduction.
9. The Four Horsemen of Apocalypse - Rather than the B and C listers he's been employing for years and years, AoA Apocalypse only had room for the sort of characters that had typically only run against the X-Men one-by-one. Mikhail Rasputin, Abyss, Sinister, and the best new villain to come out of the series, Holocaust, the twisted son of Apocalypse.
8. Iceman in Complete Control of his Abilities : Less human, definitely, and having lost all of his youthful arrogance, the AoA Iceman was one of the team's heavy-hitters in a way the 616 Bobby Drake has never managed.
7. The Design of the AoA Sunfire : 'Nuff Said
6. Bringing back old Forgotten X-Characters : Blink died almost immediately after introduction in 616 (in the New Mutants series, I believe), and who on earth remembers Changeling, with his big stupid purple hat? Morph and Blink, however remained popular enough to give the two starring roles in Exiles (although the Morph in Exiles is a different character, he's based on the same idea of reworking the character), and for good reason.
5. Sinister becoming Cyclops and Havok's surrogate Father - Sinister's obsession with the Summers brothers went back ages in the comics and in this reality Sinister hovered in a gray area between good and evil, planting the seeds of Apocalypse's destruction... I also totally dug Scott actually only having one eye.
4. Dark Beast - Hank McCoy as the Evil Genius and Mad Scientist, testing his sadistic medicine on humans and mutants alike was pure genius on behalf of the original writers... In 616, Beast almost never recognizes the fact that he could have easily become the amoral creature he was in this reality, if Xavier hadn't instilled his dream in him. Dark Beast remains to be one of the most interesting remnants of AoA in the 616 continuity.
3. Apocalypse actually fulfilling his Name - I mean, its the premise of the entire series... Apocalypse won. He was more of a threat during Age of Apocalypse than he ever was before, or ever will be again... This series alone is why I love him as a villain, because its the only series that shows what he is capable of becoming.
2. Sabretooth as a Good Guy : AoA's Victor Creed is one of my alltime favorite characters... In a world without the human masters to cripple his conscience in an attempt to turn him into more monster than man, Creed managed to become more of a Hero than that world's Wolverine could ever become.
1. Magneto's X-Men : It was amazing at how they managed to maintain the dignity of Magneto's character in a world so twisted that he dedicated his life to the Dream of Charles Xavier that Human and Mutantkind could live in peace together. Magneto in this reality is perhaps a better leader than Charles ever was, despite his lack of success, his support of his team, and openess with them is staggering when compared to the secrets Xavier's hidden in for years and years... His relationship with Rogue is also very well written, despite the great difference in age never being addressed all that well.
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