In this feature we examine comic book stories and ideas that were not only abandoned, but also had the stories/plots specifically "overturned" by a later writer (as if they were a legal precedent). Click here for an archive of all the previous editions of The Abandoned An' Forsaked. Feel free to e-mail me at bcronin@comicbookresources.com if you have any suggestions for future editions of this feature.

Today, we look at Apocalypse's history and whether he got his start in Ancient Egypt or not...

Apocalypse made his debut in X-Factor #6 and he talked about how old he was...

but it was not until X-Factor #24 that he really dropped some knowledge about how old he was...

Commenter R. wrote in to note that it is interesting that Simonson makes it clear here that Apocalypse PREDATED Ancient Egypt. It is something that she made clear decades later when she came back to do X-Factor Forever and did the Apocalypse Journal. Here is what she thought of Apocalypse's beginnings...

But she never got a chance to put that into the actual comics, and instead, in Cable #6 (by Fabian Nicieza and Dwayne Turner), we learn Apocalypse's real name...

And in X-Force #37, we learn that he was from Ancient Egypt...

And Simonson's original story was officially abandoned and forsaked in Rise of Apocalypse #1 in 1996 (by Terry Kavanagh and Adam Pollina), as we see the birth of Apocalypse...

I honestly don't know which version is better.

Thanks to R for the suggestion! If anyone ELSE has a suggestion, drop me a line at bcronin@comicbookresources.com