Today, we look at how Marvel retconned Apocalypse's connection to the Celestials in a way that dramatically changed his relation to the towering Marvel cosmic beings.
In Abandoned an' Forsaked, 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).
One of the more interesting changes in the Marvel Universe over the past 40 years is the way that the Celestials have been treated in the comics. Obviously, as you may or may not know, Jack Kirby did not intend for his original Eternals comic book series from the mid-1970s to be set in the Marvel Universe. The whole concept of the comic was how would the world react if they discovered that Earth was basically created by giant space gods and, guess what? - they're BAAAAACK! The Eternals and Deviants then reveal themselves to the world as the Celestials return.
That story has less of an impact when Galactus visits Earth every other week, so Kirby wanted the story to have its own continuity and it did. A couple years after the series was canceled, though, Roy Thomas decided to work the Eternals into the Marvel Universe. A later retcon revealed that the Celestials erased the events of the original series from the collective memory of the world. So Celestials were forgotten by the people of Earth in the Marvel Universe, but also, for the most part, the Celestials were forgotten by the creators behind the Marvel Universe, as well.
That has changed in a big way the last 20 years or so, especially the last five years, as the Eternals were being prepared for joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now, suddenly, the Celestials seem to secretly be behind EVERYthing. We see that change play out in the story of Apocalypse's evolving (another word for retconned) connection to the Celestials.
WHAT WAS APOCALYPSE'S ORIGINAL CONNECTION TO THE CELESTIALS?
In X-Factor #24 (by Louise Simonson, Walter Simonson and Al Milgrom), we learn that Apocalypse is really old...
I mean REALLY, really old...
Apocalypse had control of a ship that once belonged to the Celestials. X-Factor took over control of the ship when they defeated Apocalypse in battle. These were people who called a dude made out of Ice, "Iceman," so naturally, their brilliant name for their new ship was, well, Ship (Forget the original X-Men's lack of creativity in their names, how about X-Factor, where Jean Grey ultimately just started going by her actual name. "I'm Superman." "I'm Batman." "Oh, I didn't know we were supposed to have names with our costumes. I'm...uh...Bill?").
In X-Force #37 (by Fabian Nicieza and Paul Pelletier), we see Apocalypse back when he was a relatively younger man, encountering another External who had basically immortaility.
It was here that Apocalypse (then known as En Sabah Nur) first discovered the Celestial ship...
And Apocalypse, being a bit of a jerk, promptly killed they guy who led him there and took control of the ship for himself (to Apocalypse's credit, though, he did not call the ship "Ship." I'm vaguely impressed that the X-Men don't call their plane "Airplane." Then again, the X-Men basically just called their Blackbird jet "Blackbird" when that's the type of ship that it is, so I guess I shouldn't be giving them much credit there).
This suggests that THIS was when Apocalypse first discovered Celestial technology, but however, in the first issue of the mini-series, Rise of Apocalypse (by Terry Kavanagh and Adam Pollina), we see that Apocalypse and his adopted father, Raal, found Celestial technology hidden in Egypt....
And they planned to use this found technology against the faux-Pharaoh Rama-Tut...
The upshot of the story, though, is that clearly Apocalypse just found some awesome technology that was left from the Celestials and he made it his own, right?
Apocalypse later uses this technology to make Ozymandias his servant for eternity after Ozymandias discovers the technology, as well...
Again, let's be frank, Apocalypse is not a good dude. He's ALL sorts of messed up (although, I guess he's not necessarily any worse than Rama-Tut, so it's a bit like six of one, half dozen of the other when it comes to these guys).
In any event, like I noted before, it sure seems like Apocalypse just found himself some Celestial technology and then simply used it to make him badass, right?
Maybe not.
In the X-Men storyline, "Blood of Apocalypse," Apocalypse shows up in a giant flying Sphinx and when the X-Men defeat him....
he seemingly kills himself in X-Men #186 (by Peter Milligan and Salvador Larroca)....
But not so fast! See how the story was suddenly thrown for a loop (until it was oddly pretty much left unresolved) and how it made a shocking revelation about the connection between Apocalypse and the Celestials!!
HOW WAS APOCALYPSE'S CONNECTION TO THE CELESTIALS CHANGED?
In a back-up story in X-Men #186 (by Peter Milligan, Casey Jones and Vince Russell), we see Apocalypse, as he awaits death, but instead of death, he's contacted by the Celestials, who reveal an unseen past from when he took control of the Celestial ship all those years ago...
Yes, as it turned out, Apocalypse didn't necessarily steal the technology from the Celestials (well, he INTENDED to, that's true, but that's not what happened), he was OFFERED it by the Celestials....
He would just have to work WITH them, so this is just another one of those stories where we learn that, whoops, behind the scenes, the Celestials were really pulling the strings...
The weird thing about this, though, is that the story ends with him assuming he's finally dying, but the Celestials are, like, "Nah, bro, you still have work to do."
And that's it. It's never been picked up again. Apocalypse has been back since for storylines, of course, but they tend to be different versions of Apocalypse (there was a whole "to do" about Apocalypse being cloned and the clone was killed but a clone was made of the clone, etc. etc. etc.).
EDITED TO ADD: Reader Nathan Adler wrote to point out that in Rick Remender's Uncanny X-Force run, in issue #15 (by Remender, Jerome Opena and Dean White), we learned that the Celestials specifically gifted the technology to Apocalypse for him to safeguard the development of the mutant raise by protecting it from weaker species.
That's it for this installment of Abandoned an' Forsaked! Thanks to Tom A. for suggesting that I feature this one! Everyone else, feel free to send me ideas for future installments at brianc@cbr.com! I always love to know what stories interest people!