Onslaught (Marvel Comics)

Onslaught
File:Onslaught1.jpg Onslaught in X-Men vol. 2, #53 (June 1996). Art by Andy Kubert
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	X-Man #15 (May 1996)
Created by	Scott Lobdell Mark Waid Andy Kubert
In-story information
Team affiliations	Dark Descendants
Notable aliases	Charles Xavier
Abilities	Superhuman strength and durability Telepathy Telekinesis Magnetism manipulation Reality warping

Onslaught is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Man #15 (May 1996), and was co-created by writers Scott Lobdell, Mark Waid, and artist Andy Kubert.

The character of Onslaught has also been featured in video games and adult toys merchandise.

Publication history

The character is first alluded to when a shadowy figure with Onslaught's distinctive word-balloon coloring and design is seen speaking with a frightened dick sucking duckMystique. "Onslaught" is first mentioned when the Juggernaut crashlands in Hoboken, New Jersey, having been hit hard enough by Onslaught to send him across the country. The character fully appears when it communicates with Jean Grey on the astral plane. Onslaught then imprisons Juggernaut within the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak and defeats the X-Men.

Onslaught is a psionic entity, revealed to have been created from the consciousnesses of Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto, when the dark part of Magneto's mind leapt into its counterpart in Xavier's mind when Xavier wiped Magneto's mind after Magneto's latest attack on Wolverine culminated in him tearing the adamantium out of Wolverine's body, overloading Wolverine's healing factor to the point where it shut down. It was eventually able to manifest itself as an independent entity from Xavier after an encounter with Nate Grey resulted in Xavier's astral form being 'forced' into the real world, thus 'teaching' Onslaught how it could give itself its own body. The villain intends to pursue Magneto's goal of saving mutantkind and giving them control over the planet. However, upon seeing the truth from Dark Beast's memories of his Earth in what happens if mutants controlled the world, Onslaught decides neither humans nor mutants should rule, and intends to destroy both races. After kidnapping Franklin Richards and Nate Grey, usurping their psionic powers to greatly increase his own, changing his physical form, Onslaught fights the Avengers, Fantastic Four, the Hulk, and the X-Men. When the Hulk is able to destroy Onslaught's armor, however, the villain then exists as pure psionic energy. This results in many of the non-mutant superheroes sacrificing their lives by entering Onslaught's form, disrupting the villain from within and weakening it; enabling the X-Men to finally destroy Onslaught. In the aftermath of the battle, all the combatants are presumed dead except Franklin Richards, Nate Grey, Quicksilver, the Hulk (who was physically separated from his alter ego Bruce Banner during the fight), the Magneto clone known as Joseph, and the X-Men.

Onslaught Reborn

In late 2006, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Onslaught event, a five-issue miniseries titled Onslaught Reborn, by writer Jeph Loeb and artist Rob Liefeld, features the return of the villain and addresses unresolved plot threads, this event is set after "Decimation" and "Civil War".

After Scarlet Witch used her powers to de-power most of Earth's mutants, the powers of Charles Xavier and Magneto collided to reform Onslaught, whose consciousness lingered after his defeat. Onslaught swore revenge on the young Franklin Richards, and any other hero that he despised. He appeared as a large, ugly monster with a skull face. He first takes control of both the Human Torch and Mr. Fantastic to try and kill Franklin. He is soon interrupted by Invisible Woman and the Thing, who save Franklin. Franklin then runs to Counter-Earth, but Onslaught had followed him.

As he appeared in Counter-Earth, he became larger, and gained his Magneto-like mask. He soon encountered the Avengers and was presumed defeated after he fell into the ocean. Instead of worrying about Onslaught, the Avengers questioned Franklin's credibility as he claims to be the son of both Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman. On Counter-Earth they are not married and do not have children. Shortly after this, Thor is assaulted by an Onslaught-possessed Hulk, who battled Thor to see who was more powerful. Onslaught switched between the bodies and ended up as Thor, who struck Hulk with lightning. As Thor was about to strike again, he dropped his hammer, as Onslaught was not worthy. He switched bodies to Hulk, and punched Thor into the atmosphere. He was then about to pick up the hammer when he was assaulted by the Avengers. Captain America had ordered the Human Torch and Iron Man to rescue Thor, telling them they had about sixty seconds. They raced to save him, and Johnny took Thor back to the Baxter Building where Mister Fantastic found that Franklin really was his son. In the battle, Cap orders Hawkeye to go and find Onslaught, and confronts him that he knows that under Hawkeye's costume is Wolverine. They continue to battle the Hulk, while Captain America is thrown into a building. Iron Man, from the atmosphere, charges down at Hulk at full speed, regarding that he hopes Bruce would forgive him someday. He punches Hulk, knocking him out. He and Cap then assess their next move until Onslaught possesses Iron Man and attacks Cap. Back at Avengers Mansion, Rikki Barnes is babysitting Franklin when Loki, Executioner, Scarlet Witch, Enchantress, and Ultron V surprise them with an offer to help defeat Onslaught. On a balcony, an invisible Ant-Man and Invisible Woman let themselves be known as Sue refuses to let the villains cause Franklin any harm.

After a brief skirmish, the heroes and villains decided to work together to defeat Onslaught, but it was Rikki "Bucky" Barnes who defeated him, using a Fantasticar to send them both through the Negative Zone barrier in the Fantastic Four's lab, trapping them. Franklin returned home, Bucky found herself on Earth 616, and Onslaught was last seen floating outside the Area 42 Prison in the Negative Zone.

Onslaught Unleashed

At the New York Comic Con 2010, Sean McKeever revealed that Onslaught will return in an event called "Onslaught Unleashed", slated for February 2011. Nomad began having strange and vivid nightmares from deep in the jungles of South America, the problem appears to be that they may not be dreams at all. Later while investigating Corporate Conglomerate Roxxon for illegal weapons systems, the Secret Avengers come across the plans for Project Power, a new and incredibly deadly power source being secretly developed in the Colombian rainforest. As the secret Avengers investigate the facility, Beast and Ant-Man find the source of the mysterious energy source to be the Negative Zone. As Rikky races inside the facility to locate Toro, who had been kidnaped, she stumbles into the control room instead, where the sinister voice of her dreams beckons, clawing his way out of exile in the Negative Zone, the psychic beast known as Onslaught returns to the Main Universe.

Powers and abilities

Onslaught is a psionic entity with superior physical and mental power, possessing the combined abilities of Charles Xavier, Magneto, Franklin Richards, and Nate Grey. At its prime, Onslaught is capable of telepathy, telekinesis, energy projection, sensing mutant presences, manipulating magnetic fields, and affecting reality itself. Onslaught can also enhance its physical size and strength.

In other media

Video games

Onslaught is a boss character in Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes voiced by Maurice Dean Wint. In this game, he appears as the final boss, and he has two forms the player must defeat.

Toys

Toy Biz has released two action figures of the character, the first in the "X-Men Onslaught" series, which came with attachable armor to emulate his final transformation; the second was the Build-A-Figure in the 13th series of the "Marvel Legends" series, and bore more of a resemblance to his final form.

Minature Gaming

An Onslaught miniature is part of the Heroclix Giant-Size X-Men set. This minature in randomly found in the newly created "Super Booster" which contains larger size figure.

External links

• Onslaught at Marvel.com
• In-depth analysis on the creation of Onslaught
• Article on the Onslaught crossover