Earth-shattering events are kind of just Tuesdays for the X-Men, but sometimes they really make a lasting impression. The Age of Apocalypse stands as a defining moment in an era already iconic in most people's minds for the Marvel mutants.
One of the biggest and best events to come out of the event-happy 90s, this alternate reality turned the X-universe upside down. It remains popular - Hasbro just released a wave of action figures commemorating it - but is it still good? Here are five ways The Age of Apocalypse aged well and five it didn't.
10 Aged Well: Cements Apocalypse As Villain
Apocalypse proved a formidable villain before the storyline bearing his name, transforming Angel into Archangel and infecting Nathan Summers with a techno-organic virus that would lead to his becoming Cable.
But with The Age of Apocalypse, he steps into the X-Villain hall of fame. His cruel, cold pathology manifests in some of the most horrific moments in the entire history of the X-Men franchise. Few villains actually win against the X-Men, but in this reality, he utterly destroyed them.
9 Did Not: Overly Dark
While the story is necessarily dark, it's also unnecessarily indulgent in the worst tendencies of 90s comic book storytelling. Shocking deaths and liberal doses of blood and gore undermine the potency of a story that contains soul-chilling moments. Mountains of skulls and swimming pool deep puddles of blood underline the amplified horror of the story. The exaggerated style almost becomes comic at times, as when Colossus runs over his wife, Kitty Pryde, and kills her in a fit of blind rage.
8 Aged Well: A Fully Realized World
Dark alternate realities are a dime a dozen in comic books, replete with moments that could never take place otherwise. But the story does more than just present a mirror universe version of Earth-616. Though it plays out over just four months (in a broad number of different comic books), The Age of Apocalypse presents a fully realized world, heavily layered in considered world-building (there were even maps in the backs of the comics showing the new - destroyed - world).
7 Did Not: Magneto and Rogue
In the altered reality of The Age of Apocalypse, Magneto and Rogue are married with a son. The pairing doesn't work for either of them, especially Rogue, despite the circumstances. Rogue is one of the most independent X-Men, and one of the most devoted to Xavier's dream.
Making her the wife of a reformed Magneto probably seemed like a good idea, but it undermined her agency. Worse, it echoes something fans had (kind of) seen before. It wasn't a good look. It was implied the two were more than colleagues in a mainline story where they were in the Savage Land.
6 Aged Well: Sabretooth As Hero
A big part of The Age of Apocalypse shows fans where history zigged instead of zagged. Lots of characters take dark turns, but some break good, like Sabretooth. Victor Creed more or less becomes the Wolverine of the alternate X-Men thanks to the absence of the man himself. The way it's handled is really well done. Creed was actually on the side of Apocalypse before naturally growing disgusted with the unrelenting death and chaos. He serves as a father figure to Blink, showing new sides of the character that the Earth-616 version never has.
5 Did Not: Jean Dies. Again.
Some things are just doomed to repeat themselves. Take Jean Grey for example. The woman dies a lot. Her death comes at the conclusion of The Age of Apocalypse when Alex Summers killed her as she attempted to protect New York City from incoming nuclear warheads. Not helping, Alex.
Jean fulfilled her other signature move - coming back from the dead - when Marvel revisited the alternate timeline for its tenth anniversary. Turns out Sinister resurrected her from her genetic material.
4 Aged Well: Blink
As much as The Age of Apocalypse was a chance to change things up for the X-Men, it was also a chance to right some wrongs. Blink debuted during The Phalanx Covenant event and became an instant fan-favorite.
Only she died in the story, leading to calls to bring her back. She returned in a much more prominent role for The Age of Apocalypse and better still, became one of the few new characters to cross over into the main Marvel continuity. She later became a key member of Exiles.
3 Did Not: The Other Escapees
Having unique characters survive The Age of Apocalypse into Earth-616 was a cool way to capitalize on the tremendous success of the event. Unfortunately, outside of Blink and perhaps the Dark Beast, this crossover program never realized its full potential.
The evil version of Hank McCoy, Dark Beast, has been active ever since, but the other escapees from the alternate timeline, including Holocaust and Sugar Man, never amounted to much at all. Unlike Rachel Summers, who survived Days of Futures Past into main continuity, none of The Age of Apocalypse characters had anywhere near the impact.
2 Aged Well: Paved Way for House of X
The Age of Apocalypse was a seismic event for the X-Men, and its most lasting contribution might be the way it informed later stories. Suspending publication of the mainline titles and dropping fans into a strange, uncertain version of reality that is in some way the result of time travel probably sounds familiar to fans of the current Dawn of X storyline.
While there is no indication that the present situation is an alternate reality, thanks to the many lives of Moira McTaggart, it arguably is.
1 Did Not: No Real Lasting Impact
Despite providing a template for later events, The Age of Apocalypse did not have any true lasting impact on the X-Men. None of the characters that crossed over stuck around the team and none of the events of the story produced any major consequences for Earth-616. This has sadly become a feature and not a big of big X-Men storylines. Ever since the shocking and status quo destroying end of The Dark Phoenix Saga was retconned, few X-Men stories have produced any major lasting effects.