Warren Worthington III

Angel
File:Angelmarvels.jpg Cover to Marvels #2. Art by Alex Ross.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	X-Men (vol. 1) #1 (September 1963)
Created by	Stan Lee Jack Kirby
In-story information
Alter ego	Warren Kenneth Worthington III
Species	Human Mutant
Team affiliations	X-Men X-Factor Renegades Champions of Los Angeles Defenders/Secret Defenders Hellfire Club The Four Horsemen X-Terminators
Notable aliases	Avenging Angel, Death, Dark Angel, Archangel
Abilities	Feathered wings granting flight Healing factor

Warren Kenneth Worthington III is a fictional character, a comic book superhero who first appears in the Marvel Comics universe. Originally known as Angel and later Archangel, Worthington is one of the founding members of 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, Angel 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, Angel 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. Angel also appeared in the third film of the X-Men franchise, X-Men: The Last Stand; he was portrayed by Ben Foster.

Publication history

From his debut in X-Men vol. 1 #1, Angel has frequently appeared throughout most X-Men titles as well as the first series of the Defenders, Champions and the second series of Excalibur. In the late 1990s he appeared alongside Psylocke in a limited series called Psylocke & Archangel: Crimson Dawn. He is also one of the main stars in the series X-Men: The Hidden Years which is set in the original X-Men's early days. In 1996, Marvel also published a one-shot story simply called Archangel, which was written by Peter Milligan.

Fictional character biography

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. When there was a fire in his dormitory, he borrowed some props from the school's drama department, dressed up as a "heavenly" angel and rescued his friends. He soon learned that he in fact was a mutant. He donned a mask and costume and called himself the Avenging Angel and became a solo adventurer.

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. Along with the rest of the original team, he battled Magneto in the team's first mission.

For a time, he was romantically interested in Jean Grey, but eventually he realized that Jean was in love with Scott Summers and gave up the pursuit.

While pursuing Sauron in the Savage Land, Angel was attacked by Pteranodons and fell to his death. He was brought back to life by an un-costumed Magneto, who was known as Creator in the Savage Land. Presumed dead, Magneto had been gathering a mutant army.

Not long after this, Warren took vengeance upon his uncle, Burt Worthington (who went by the name the Dazzler), who had killed Warren's father, Warren Worthington, Jr.

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. He could not remember anything else at the time as he was unconscious. Just then, Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Sprite arrived to stop Callisto, but they were also captured by the Morlocks and tied to stakes. Storm struck a deal with Callisto: a battle to the death without powers. They would duel with knives, with the winner keeping 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 Madelyne Pryor (who was later revealed to be a clone of Jean).

Archangel

File:Xf024cvr.jpg

Cover of X-Factor #24. Art by Walter Simonson.

Much later, having joined his teammates as a member of X-Factor, Warren's wings were severely damaged during the Mutant Massacre by Harpoon. 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 ultra-light 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, a New York City Police officer who helped to rescue Warren and the rest of X-Factor from the Ravens, a cult of near-immortal psychic vampires.

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 Angel powers, 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. 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. Also in the same storyline it is hinted by Azazel (Nightcrawler and Abyss's father) that Archangel may actually be related to the Cheyarafim, an ancient group of Angel-like mutants who had banished Azazel and his people from Earth into another Dimension.

Decimation

Warren and Paige took an extended leave of absence, and Archangel launched a charity called "Mutants 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 his history with Callisto, 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, 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. The X-Men later teamed up with Bishop to find and recover the 198.

World War Hulk

Archangel joined with fellow former Champions member Hercules, along with Namora, and Amadeus Cho to attempt to calm down The Hulk. In their attempts to help save New York City from the destruction, they form a new team of superheroes, called the Renegades.

Return to the X-Men / Messiah Complex

Angel is part of the team which investigates the new mutant birth in Alaska. He is later part of the team who is looking for former Acolytes. He is next seen part of the same team but attacking The Marauders. Warren goes against Sinister but is easily defeated once he gets over Emma's mental attack. He is knocked out but recovers just fine and is present with the X-Teams for the final battle over the fate of the baby.

Divided We Stand

Angel is later seen flying over San Fransisco, going to meet with Hepzibah and presumably Warpath when he stumbles across an area that looks as if the 60's never happened. He contacts Scott and Emma asking them for assistance before he too joins the rest of the population, becoming a hippy.

Powers and abilities

Archangel's primary power is that of natural flight, due to his large feathered wings. 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 high 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, reflexes, and coordination, and balance while flying appears unmatched in the Marvel Universe, and he's been seen several times defeating other super-beings 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.

Angel is also an accomplished hand-to-hand fighter, having defeated several of the werewolf-like homo superior when Wolverine was defeated. He was trained in hand-to-hand combat at Xavier's school, while dating Psylocke he got a large amount of training,while over the years on the team he got extensive training from Wolverine, and when once surprised Wolverine after taking down some men he said, "my father spoiled me with more than money", and received further training from the Black Widow and Hercules during his days with the Champions.

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. This secondary mutation suggests that he may be descended from the ancient race of Cheyarafim mutants. He is nearly immune to injury because his healing blood is constantly flowing through him; at its onset he repaired broken bones in days. His healing abilities have progressed since then.

Aside from his superhuman powers, Warren is a highly capable businessman, and was the former chairman of the board and principal stockholder of Worthington Industries.

Metal wings

Archangel once possessed a set of metal wings given to him by Apocalypse. These wings were composed of a hard, sharp, organic material that resembles the "organic steel" of Colossus' body. The wings gave him the ability to project his bio-metallic feathers out from his wings at great speed and with tremendous force, enabling them to pierce even steel. Archangel did not have complete control over his feathers, which sometimes shot from his wings against his conscious will in response to his unconscious aggressive drives. The feathers were laced with a neural inhibitor chemical, generated by Archangel's body, which induced temporary paralysis. With his new wings, he has been referenced to fly at speeds much faster than his natural, organic wings. The edges of these metal wings were also quite sharp, allowing them to be used as weapons.

Other versions

1602

In the 1602 timeline, Warren became 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 Enrique until being rescued by Carlos Javier and his students. After being rescued, Werner befriends John Grey who, unbeknownst to Werner, was Jean Grey disguised as a man. This friendship causes 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 comes to light that Werner had fallen in love with who he simply believed to be John Grey, nothing more.

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 then 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.

Earth X

In this alternate universe, Warren lost his fortune and had become an authentic "Angel", who would help anybody who needs him. He joins the New York City Police and his old friend Iceman to protect the world-altering Torch of the city against the forces of Mephisto. Later, he travels with Mister Fantastic and others to the Negative Zone in the search for the Paradise.

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, 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.

Marvel Zombies

Angel is infected by the zombies Rogue and Ms. Marvel. He participates in a zombie attack on the castle of Doctor Doom. The zombies had detected unaffected humans inside.

Mutant X

In the alternate reality represented in the comic book Mutant X, Warren Worthington was captured by Apocalypse much like he was in the main Marvel timeline. However, instead of the changes seen in Earth 616; 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 shake off Apocalypse's brainwashing, but still affected by the horrors he endured, he had become bitter, and often lashed out at his teammates, especially the child-like Brute. The Fallen, as he now called himself, joined Havok's team of mutants known as the Six. The Six was a twisted re-imagining of the original X-Factor team, in a reality where Alex Summers was the first X-Man instead of his older brother Scott. The other members were Marvel Woman (Madelyne Pryor), Ice-Man (with his powers enhanced beyond his control), the Brute (a Hank McCoy who possessed green scales and an amphibious nature instead of blue fur) and Bloodstorm, an alternate version of Storm who was turned into a vampire by Dracula.

When Madelyne Pryor became possessed by the Goblin Force and took over New York, the Fallen defects from The Six alongside her, becoming her second-in-command, and later vanishing after her defeat. Unlike most of Pryor's servants, the Fallen went with her willingly. He next appeared re-allied with Apocalypse against the threat of the Onslaught-like Xavier/Shadow King entity. He is one of the very few surviving heroes after the combined attack of the Goblin Force controlled Beyonder and the revived Dracula. He allies himself with a reformed Six.

He made one final appearance at the end of the series, when Dr. Strange summoned The Fallen, along with Xavier, Reed Richards, and others to help Alex prepare for his battle with the Beyonder.

A character resembling The Fallen (albeit mis-colored) briefly appears in Exiles Annual #1 as one of numerous captives of a team of Exiles stationed on Earth-33629.

Shadow-X

New Excalibur battles an evil counterpart of Angel, who is a member of the Shadow-X, the X-Men of an alternate reality in which Professor X was possessed by the Shadow King. They are brought to Earth-616 as a result of M-Day. He was later killed by one of the Shadow Captains.

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. There was much controversy over Angel joining the X-Men, as there were many protests of angels being a sign of God. Also, Rogue did not like the fact that he had the appearance of an angel. On an unauthorized mission to Genosha, Angel and his teammates attempt to rescue Longshot, an accused murderer who is facing a public execution. After being captured and rescued by Dazzler, Angel 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. Warren gets over his initial attraction to Storm and after the events in Genosha, engages in a relationship with Dazzler. After Bishop recruits Dazzler in his new team of X-Men, she makes Angel part of the team (despite Bishop's protests). He was killed in # 90 by Mister Sinister.

Angel’s powers include feathered wings, hollow bone structure, and zero body fat, allowing flight. He also has heightened strength, speed, agility, reflexes, coordination, balance, endurance, and eyesight. He does not appear to have the healing powers of his 616 Universe counterpart.

It has been speculated that Angel may later return as 'Ultimate Archangel'.

X-Men: Fairy Tales

In the first issue of X-Men: Fairy Tales, based on the Japanese story of Momotarō, 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.

In other media

Television

• Angel made his first ever animated appearance on the 1966 Marvel Super Heroes episode of The Sub-Mariner with the original X-Men line-up (Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, and Jean Grey).

• Angel was shown in two 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" where in that episode, he introduced Storm to Iceman and Firestar as well as helping to fight Juggernaut.

• 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" genetic mutations, but is actually Mystique, a servant of Apocalypse, who turns him into Death. Angel also makes several appearances in the Beyond Good and Evil four-part episode (he appears in parts II, III, and IV), and as one of the original X-Men in two flashbacks, bringing up continuity errors elsewhere as 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. In all, Angel or Archangel, appeared in 7 episodes of the series.

• He also appeared in four episodes of X-Men: Evolution, where he acted more like an 'angel', shown rescuing people from what would otherwise be life-threatening situations, though he ultimately does not join the X-Men. His voice was provided by Mark Hildreth.

Film

Warren Worthington III appears in the 2006 feature film X-Men: The Last Stand, portrayed by Ben Foster. In the film, Warren (referred as Angel in the credits but never called by this name in the dialogue) is a young man in his early twenties, 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. In a flashback, Warren as a boy (portrayed by Cayden Boyd) is seen attempting to cut off his wings. Despite having been featured prominently in promotional art for the film, Angel's role in the film was actually quite minor, and he only appears in a bare handful of scenes throughout the entire film.

Video games

• In the Sega Genesis release X-Men you can summon the blue-skinned/metal wing version of Warren for some assistance.

• The same blue-skinned, metallic-winged Archangel was a playable character in the Fall of the Mutants PC game.

• André Sogliuzzo was credited as Angel in X-Men Legends, but was not seen. Angel was originally intended to be a playable character, but software developer Raven could not implement him properly and he was scrapped and replaced with Jubilee.

• Dave Wittenberg voices Angel in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse. Angel 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, it was mentioned that his mind and body were changed by Mr. Sinister's drugs. It is unknown if Angel would recover from the drugs and turn back to his natural form. On a side note, Archangel has special dialogue with Jean Grey.

Trivia

• Religious affiliation is Episcopalian

• The Sentry X-Men issue reveals Warren was helped by the Sentry to conquer various neuroses, and is the only one to confront the Void with hope.

• Although Archangel has been known as both "Angel" and "Archangel" over the course of his career and they are often used interchangeably, he has more or less been officially known as the latter since the late 1980's, so as to not cause too much confusion with other characters named "Angel".

• As many important characters introduced in early Marvel comic books, Angel has the same first and last initials (WW). Other examples in Marvel are Scott Summers (Cyclops), Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic), Bruce Banner (the Hulk), Susan Storm (Invisible Woman), Peter Parker (Spider-Man), J. Jonah Jameson, Betty Brant, Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan, Matt Murdock (Daredevil), Otto Octavius (Doctor Octopus), Moira MacTaggert, Curt Connors (The Lizard), Bucky Barnes (Winter Soldier), Wade Wilson (Deadpool), Robert Reynolds (The Sentry), Greer Grant (Tigra) and Stephen Strange (Dr. Strange). Prolific writer/creator Stan Lee used this device to help him remember his characters' names.

References

• UncannyXmen.net's Spotlight on Archangel

External links

• http://marvel.com/universe/Angel_%28Warren_Worthington_III%29