The reality was revisited by Wolverine's black-ops X-Force squad (see X-FORCE READING ORDER: UNCANNY X-FORCE) when they jumped from the mainstream Marvel Universe (Earth-616) over to Earth-295 only to discover the world was now ruled by Weapon Omega, now subverted by the Celestial Death Seed that originally gave Apocalypse his power. The war continued with a band of humans and former mutants (the powerless Jean Grey and Sabretooth and the militant brand of the Human Resistance known as the X-Terminated - see THE X-TERMINATED) which eventually led to Logan losing the Death Seed and becoming plain ol' Weapon X once again. Now the world is slowly rebuilding, but it looks like Earth-295 is about to face its biggest threat, yet.
Marvel decided to close the door on the Age of Apocalypse with X-TERMINATION, tying up loose ends from the Uncanny X-Force run and the adventures of Dazzler's reality-hopping multiversal X-Men team from X-Treme X-Men in the process. I try to avoid expressing my opinions in these event posts and let you decide for yourself, but I feel you need to know in advance that this one's a real mess. With multiple artists, multiple realities, multiple versions of the same characters all in the same story, it's tough for even the most hardcore X-fan to follow or care about. And it's a sorry ending for Earth-295.
The stories that brought us to this event...
- THE AGE OF APOCALYPSE - Introducing Earth-295
- THE NEW AGE OF APOCALYPSE - Jean Grey gains the Phoenix Force
- THE X-TERMINATED - Rise of Prophet and the X-Terminated
- Astonishing X-Men #59 (tie-in)
- Age of Apocalypse #13
- X-Treme X-Men #12 (tie-in)
- X-Termination #1
- Astonishing X-Men #60
- Age of Apocalypse #14
- X-Treme X-Men #13
- Astonishing X-Men #61
- X-Termination #2
Astonishing X-Men #59 (tie-in)
Northstar's lawyer, She-Hulk, warns him he's about to be deported as his marriage to Kyle Jinadu isn't legally recognised. The version of Nightcrawler from the Age of Apocalypse (who recently served on Wolverine's black-ops X-Force squad) watches the Earth-616 incarnation of his wife who, unlike the Linda of Earth-295, is very much alive and wife another man. Iceman, Karma, Gambit and Dr Cecilia Reyes join Wolverine in trying to track this Nightcrawler down. They come close but he escapes, intending to return to his own reality. A tear opens in the sky nearby as Nightcrawler teleports and something nasty snarls from it...
Age of Apocalypse #13
Nightcrawler ends up in Japan where he turns down Mystique's offer of membership in the Hand. On Earth-295, humanity continues to rebuild after the defeat of Weapon Omega (Weapon X with the power of the Celestials' Death Seed) who now hunts those who once served him. Graydon Creed finds a way to restore the mind of his father, Sabretooth, despite his hatred for him. The Human Resistance now hold the contained energies of the Death Seed, but Prophet argues against attempting to use it for anything other than the coming war with Omega Red. Back on Earth-616, Nightcrawler locates the Dark Beast with plans to coerce him into helping him get home...Dazzler and her band of reality-hopping X-Men (made up of members from alternate universes) continue their hunt for the Ten Evil Xaviers only to find themselves prisoners on Earth-13812. Their Charles Xavier (a floating disembodied head from Earth-16111) has become a pawn of two other Xaviers (Nazi Xavier of Earth-13410 and Lord Xavier the Witch King of Earth-13059) as they attempt to take over the Multiverse by opening a rift in reality. The X-Men use the power of the rift against them, killing them both. But a number of innocents are sucked into the portal where they become victims of a trio of shadowy beings lurking within...
X-Termination #1
On Earth-616, Wolverine and his squad continue to track Nightcrawler. Dark Beast creates a device that will allow himself and Nightcrawler to return to Earth-295 by teleporting inside the Dreaming Celestial, but it's unstable. Nightcrawler is holding off the X-Men when an explosion opens a rift in the Dreaming Celestial, transporting Nightcrawler and Dark Beast to the Age of Apocalypse, where 'Crawler learns the X-Men of that world are dead. The Earth-616 X-Men emerge through the rift to Earth-295 along with Dazzler's multiversal X-Men. The floating Xavier head tries to close the portal, but three powerful figures emerge and kill him, absorbing his power...
The Earth-616 X-Men, multiversal X-Men and human freedom fighters of Earth-295 known as the X-Terminated go into battle against the three powerful beings. Karma's mutant powers allow her to learn the origins of these Exterminators, beings created by the Celestials at the dawn of the universe to destroy their failed experiments. Sabretooth and Horrorshow die to buy their allies time while the one Exterminator beings the destruction of Earth-295, one goes through a portal to Earth-616 and the last drains energy from the portal itself. Jean Grey refuses to accept the power of the Death Seed to use against the Exterminators, despite all reality being under threat...
Age of Apocalypse #14
Wolverine, Karma, Gambit and Northstar head back to Earth-616 with the multiversal Hercules, Howlett and Kurt Waggoner as well as Prophet and Deadeye of the X-Terminated. They find the Exterminator draining the Dreaming Celestial and manage to pull it away, but Hercules is killed and the Exterminator drains the Dreaming Celestial's life-force, anyway. The secondary group on Earth-295 locate the Death Seed energies before the Exterminators can. Jean Grey gets Nightcrawler to teleport her away with them and the Dark Beast gives chase to claim the power for himself. After draining Fiend, Colossus and Monet St Croix, the Exterminator arrives to feed...
On Earth-295, Dark Beast absorbs the energies of the Death Seed first and uses it against the various members of the X-Men and X-Terminated. Prophet and Kurt Waggoner return to Earth-295 to update them, but Kurt is killed in the chaos. Prophet kills the Dark Beast to free the Death Seed's power. Dazzler retrieves the Death Seed and gets it to Jean...
Astonishing X-Men #61
Equipped with the power of the Death Seed, Jean Grey is transformed into the new Apocalypse and attacks the Exterminators. Nightcrawler teleports inside the portal to retrieve a Celestial Black Box from Earth-616, but discovers a whole swarm of Exterminators ready to break through. Sage uses the Black Box to learn that the Celestials sealed the Exterminators off in another reality, but all the recent breaches to the multiverse caused the walls to weaken. The Celestials created the Death Seed as a more manageable replacement. Nightcrawler's actions were the last straw, allowing the Exterminators to escape. Now, more Exterminators are swarming into Earth-295 and Jean continues to fight them which allows more of her new Apocalypse persona to take control. Prophet devises a plan to trap the Exterminators on Earth-295 and seal them all in...
X-Termination #2
Nightcrawler teleports Sage and journalist Harper Simmons back home to Earth-616 and takes the opportunity to apologise to Wolverine. When Nightcrawler teleports Iceman back to Earth-616, Dark Beast emerges and pounces on Iceman, forcing a nugget of the Death Seed into his chest. Jean knocks out Prophet and orders Nightcrawler to take him to Earth-616 with Dazzler, then sacrifices himself to seal the rift to Earth-295 which now contains the entire Exterminator swarm, dooming that universe. Wolverine offers Dazzler a place at the Jean Grey School for Gifted Youngsters, but she decides to take some time to figure things out. Two weeks later, Harper Simmons catches up with Prophet and Dazzler on Venice Beach where they remember the fallen members of the multiversal X-Men and those who died in the Age of Apocalypse.
Astonishing X-Men #62-65 (2013)
Iceman struggles to control a darker side to his personality that emerges due to the fragment of the Death Seed within him; the Death Seed fragment appears to unlock more powers in Iceman, but Mystique reveals that it's only opened his mind to the possibilities; Mystique briefly obtains the Seed fragment but it's eventually taken and hidden by Shadowcat; Dark Beast is revealed to be imprisoned on Earth-616 having survived the destruction of Earth-295.
Iceman struggles to control a darker side to his personality that emerges due to the fragment of the Death Seed within him; the Death Seed fragment appears to unlock more powers in Iceman, but Mystique reveals that it's only opened his mind to the possibilities; Mystique briefly obtains the Seed fragment but it's eventually taken and hidden by Shadowcat; Dark Beast is revealed to be imprisoned on Earth-616 having survived the destruction of Earth-295.
Astonishing X-Men #68 (2013)
Northstar goes to his deportation hearing with She-Hulk (but the series is cancelled and, as Northstar continues to appear in other X-titles, we can assume it turned out positively).
Amazing X-Men #1-6 (2014)
Azazel mounts an attack on Heaven, drawing Earth-616's Nightcrawler into battle with him; the X-Men join the fight against Azazel which allows Nightcrawler to return from the dead.
Age of Apocalypse #1-5 (2015)
An alternate version of the Age of Apocalypse makes up the Domain of Apocalypse on God Emperor Doom's multiversal patchwork Battleworld (Earth-15513); the X-Men of this domain kill Apocalypse during SECRET WARS.
Secret Wars #6 (2015)
God Emperor Doom resurrects the Apocalypse of the 'Domain of Apocalypse', restoring the status quo of that domain during SECRET WARS.
Astonishing X-Men vol.12: Unmasked
Includes...
Astonishing X-Men #59
X-Men: The Age of Apocalypse - X-Termination
Include...
Include...
Age of Apocalypse #13-14
Astonishing X-Men #60-61
X-Termination #1-2
X-Treme X-Men #12-13
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