ARCHANGEL

 

ARCHANGEL

Real Name: Warren Kenneth Worthington, III

First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #1, September 1963

Powers: Warren Worthington III's mutant power is flight due to a pair of huge feathery wings on his shoulder blades. His wings span 16 feet from wingtip to wingtip, are fully-feathered, and have an extremely flexible skeletal structure. His mutation renders his entire anatomy adapted for flight. He has hollow bones like a bird, virtually no body fat, a greater proportionate muscle mass than a regular man, enhanced aerial agility and eyesight (which gives him improved vision and are specially adapted to withstand high-speed winds which would hurt the average human eye), and membranes in his lungs that enable him to breathe at high altitudes and speeds. His wings are strong enough to support his own weight and an additional 500 pounds. He can fly for 12 hours non-stop at a maximum speed of 150 miles per hour before tiring.

His transformation into Archangel was initiated after his own wings were surgically amputated after suffering serious injuries during the Mutant Massacre event. During a suicide attempt post-surgery, he was captured by the mutant known as Apocalypse, who implanted some of his own shape-shifting techno-organic cells into Warren's body, cultivated using a Celestial Deathseed, which worked to construct a new set of bio-metallic wings out of his back. These wings were layers of smooth, thin feathers composed of living metal, also extending 16 feet from tip to tip. They were much stronger and more powerful than the fully organic feathered wings, allowing him to carry more weight, fly longer and faster (reaching the speed of sound under his own power). These wings were razor edged along the outside rim, sharp enough to decapitate a man with a casual movement or score steel.

Also, Archangel's body now produced a neurotoxin which flowed through his wings and filled his feathers. These self-regenerating feathers could be fired as flechettes on command, a single dart or a stream of razor sharp projectiles. The neurotoxin would be released into a victim if it even nicked their skin, paralyzing a normal man for at least 15 minutes. Both the toxin and the feathers themselves were so plentiful that they seemed virtually infinite for practical usage. The metal wings were retractable, collapsing into each other along a series of vertical lines. They could shift into a "ready mode" which was like a rectangular backpack with two spikes extending out and up from behind his shoulders, or even collapse into his back to be completely hidden underneath a regular shirt. A side effect of Archangel's transformation was that his skin turned blue, and he apparently became somewhat stronger, faster, and with better stamina, durability, and endurance in the process.

Shortly after the Onslaught event, Archangel's bio-metallic wings began "molting", and he reverted back to his feathered wings. Some years after that, he was assaulted by Black Tom Cassidy and reverted to his regular pink flesh tone as well. This also triggered his secondary mutation of healing blood. Warren now possessed a tremendously powerful healing factor which was conducted primarily through his blood cells. It caused him to naturally recuperate faster from most kinds of wounds, and exposing his blood directly to the injury would accelerate the healing even more.

His healing powers could also be applied to other people through transfusion or direct exposure, though only in certain cases where there was compatibility between his blood and theirs. Archangel's power automatically neutralized any potential diseases, viruses, or pathogens that could be transferred by contact with blood. All of Warren's powers seem to come from his bloodline as part of the Cheyaraphim, an ancient race of mutants. The Cheyaraphim are apparently genetically opposite to the Neyaphem in some way, making Archangel's blood actually caustic to those mutants descendant from that other ancient bloodline, including Nightcrawler.

At one time while feathered but still blue, Archangel spontaneously manifested a new mutation based on enhanced life-energy. His hair and wings were converted into pure energy, an outward expression of his own super-charged life essence. Formed out of golden "living light", they could fire "flechettes" of life-energy that caused a metaphysical shock to his opponent's system, temporarily incapacitating them by directly touching their souls. Warren could also morph his fingers into razor sharp blades that extended over a foot in length, and expel his life energy as a physical and empathic healing effect -- he could stimulate hope and joy in the hearts of other people, and cure them of many ailments or injuries, including paraplegia. It was by taxing his healing powers that Archangel exhausted his new abilities and reverted back to normal. Whether these powers were part of some plan by Apocalypse or another expression of his Cheyaraphim heritage is unknown.

Later, Warren's wings were destroyed again, this time by the drugged Wolfsbane. This triggered a re-emergence of the Apocalypse Strain -- latent techno-organic cells which lay dormant in his system even after the loss of his metallic wings. He mutated back into his blue-skinned Archangel state, and regrew a full set of bio-metallic wings. Since then, Warren has shown the ability to morph at will between "Angel" and "Archangel" modes. These transformations also increased his healing abilities to some degree, as his wings have been damaged or destroyed several times since then, but quickly repair themselves during his shifts. After the death of Apocalypse, however, the Deathseed imprinted in Warren's cells caused him to ascend and become the new Apocalypse. His "Archangel" personality took over completely, and he demonstrated greater levels of strength and durability. Archangel also possessed increased telepathic defenses and resistance, and may have had other abilities as well.

Archangel was killed by Psylocke using the Celestial Lifeseed to counter his transformation. Warren Worthington effectively died, and the Lifeseed rebuilt his body into a new configuration, with a brand new personality in control. Angel retained a set of bio-mechanical wings in this new state, although they were apparently unequipped with feather fletchettes. He has the basic physiology and aerial agility of the prior Angel, and can summon the power of the Lifeseed for various effects. Angel can produce discharges of pure force from his hands, and sculpt a sword of light for his personal use. The sword creates an energy backlash on contact, which prevents other people from trying to grab or use the blade. Angel possesses healing powers, allowing him to restore health to others simply by laying hands upon them, and can even resurrect recently deceased animals. His flight speed can also be dramatically increased by drawing upon the Lifeseed for propulsion. Angel's vision is affected by the Lifeseed as well, allowing him to perceive certain unclarified aspects of a person's soul or destiny by looking at them. Angel's body and powers are solely sustained by the finite power of the Lifeseed within him -- every use of his abilities exhausts some of that power, and when the Lifeseed energies are depleted, Angel will apparently revert to a lifeless state.

Angel went through several changes in rapid order. Clan Akkaba began amputating his wings, using the genetic material to clone a choir of Archangel drones, one of whom rejoined the X-Men. The X-Men eventually learned Angel and Archangel were separate beings and confronted Akkaba. Angel met with the Archangel of this "choir" and merged with him, recreating the original Warren Worthington's personality in the process. Archangel has returned to his pre-ascension status quo -- able to physically shift between Angel and Archangel configurations at will.

Warren Worthington III was born to an extremely wealthy family and is sole heir and CEO of Worthington Enterprises, a multi-national conglomerate with holdings in advanced aviation technology, periodicals (at least one newspaper), experimental alternative fuels, fancy frozen yogurts, and legal mutant brothels. Over 150 years old, the company has a nearly uncountable net worth. A talented businessman with a college degree in business administration, his wealth ranks him among the lower part of the Fortune 500 List.