Rise of Apocalypse

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The Rise of Apocalypse
Apocalypse as featured in #3
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Limited series
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	October 1996 – January 1997
No. of issues	4
Main character(s)	Apocalypse
Creative team
Artist(s)	Terry Kavanagh James Felder (#3-4)
Penciller(s)	Adam Pollina Anthony Williams (#4)
Inker(s)	Mark Morales Harry Candelario (#1) Al Milgrom (#4)
Letterer(s)	Comicraft Richard Starkings (#4)
Colorist(s)	Christian Lichtner
Editor(s)	Mark Powers
Collected editions
The Rise of Apocalypse	ISBN 0-7851-0586-7

The Rise of Apocalypse is a four-issue limited series published in 1996 by Marvel Comics. The series was written by Terry Kavanagh, and drawn by Adam Pollina.

5,000 years ago, a baby is found in the Egyptian desert by a band of nomad raiders. The child is raised and named En Sabah Nur by the tribe's leader, Baal, who teaches the boy survival of the fittest. During the same time, Egypt is ruled by the Pharaoh Rama-Tut who, in actuality, is the time traveller Kang the Conqueror, who arrived from the future to claim En Sabah Nur as his heir, because the boy will grow up to become one of the most powerful mutants and notorious villains in history; Apocalypse. Nur's tribe is destroyed by Tut's armies. Before Baal dies as well, he tells Nur that he is destined for greater things. Seeking revenge, En Sabah Nur travels to Rama-Tut's city where he hides as a slave and falls in love with Nephri, the sister of Ozymandias, Tut's general. But Nur is eventually rejected by Nephri, upon seeing his disfigured visage. His mutant powers awaken, and he enslaves Ozymandias while Rama-Tut flees. Having renamed himself Apocalypse, he now sets out to destroy the weak. ^[1]

The series has been collected into a trade paperback:

• The Rise of Apocalypse (collects Rise of Apocalypse and X-Factor #5-6, 160 pages, March 1998, ISBN 0-7851-0586-7)

• Apocalypse's origin, similar to the Rise of Apocalypse, appeared in the X-Men: Evolution episode, "Dark Horizon, Part II". This version was abandoned as a baby before he was found by Baal's tribe of bandits, named "En Sabah Nur", and grew up to become a powerful warrior. After the Pharaoh Rama-Tut learned of Nur's power and slaughtered the bandits, the latter's full powers manifested, leading to him killing Rama-Tut's forces, renaming himself "Apocalypse", and taking the pharaoh's pyramid-like vessel and a device within it called the Eye of Ages. Using it to empower himself further, he intended to use it turn all humans on Earth into mutants, but was sealed in the vessel by his high priests for fear of his power.
• The Rise of Apocalypse was referenced in the final episode of the first season of X-Men '97, "Tolerance is Extinction – Part 3", and it will play a major role in the second season.