Apocalypse (Marvel)

"I will weed out the weak and the inferior, so that the strong survives!"

- - Apocalypse

Apocalypse is an ancient, powerful mutant who has become the archenemy of the X-Men since his first arrival - championing an extreme philosophy of mutant supremacy and survival of the fittest, to Apocalypse, only the strong deserve to survive and anyone that shows weakness should be mercilessly destroyed. His main goal throughout the majority of his career was to plunge the world into a terrible genetic war in which mutants would ultimately rule the world - upon which he would watch as the mutants battled each other until only the strongest, most aggressive individuals survived.

Origin
Born in ancient Egypt the young Apocalypse was abandoned as an infant due to his gray skin and blue lips as well as unusual markings on his face - he was found and raised by desert nomads - who would teach him the ways of "survival of the fittest". He later named En Sabah Nur which means "The First One" in the Egyptian language.

As he grew older he saw his tribe attacked by the forces of the pharaoh Rama-Tut and became vengeful, disguising himself as a slave in order to get close enough to the pharaoh to kill him, however when he gained the chance to attack the pharaoh he found himself defeated due to futuristic weaponry - revealing that Rama-Tut was an alter-ego of the time-traveling villain Kang the Conqueror.

He survived the assault and tried to flee along with Nur, a woman he'd fallen in love with, but she rejected him out of fear of his appearance - this was the last straw for Apocalypse and he went into a rage.. unleashing his mutant abilities and forcing Rama-Tut to flee as he went on a rampage.

For centuries to come Apocalypse would wander the world, making civilizations worship him as a god and manipulating them into fighting wars - testing their strength and justifying his actions by claiming he was improving the world with his actions.. eventually the great warlord stumbled upon Celestial technology and used it to enhance himself further before he put himself in suspended animation, deciding to "sleep" until mutants such as himself were more numerous and he could put their strength to the test as he did so many ancient civilizations.

Early Events
What happened in the long period of time after the events of his origin is unclear but his slumber would be broken at least as early as the 12th century where he would awaken the mutant powers of a crusader who would become the villain Exodus - much later in Victorian London Apocalypse would surface again and aid in the creation of another mutant by the name of Mr. Sinister.

Battles with the X-Men
After the rather confusing "early years" Apocalypse would remain hidden, more or less, until the modern age - in which he would begin his lengthy career as the X-Men's most powerful and dangerous mutant enemy, creating countless plans on global conquest and war as well as regularly recruiting powerful beings to be his heralds - which he named the Horsemen Of The Apocalypse. Some of the mutants he recruited would be heroes either brainwashed or enslaved to his will while others were villains that followed him freely.

He also fought many complex battles involving time-travel, only serving to make his history that much harder to follow - however in all incarnations he has had the same basic goal, to conquer the world and plunge it into war.

Age of Apocalypse
Apocalypse also starred in his own story arc, fittingly titled Age of Apocalypse, which was an alternate time-line in which Professor Xavier had been murdered by Legion and Apocalypse succeeded in taking over most of the world - this series showed Apocalypse at his most powerful and deadly, his world being amongst the darkest of the X-Men's numerous "alternate" worlds. Ultimately the Age of Apocalypse would come to an end thanks to a time-traveling Bishop - who undid the events of the past and thus erased the alternate time-line.

Appearances In Other Media
Apocalypse has been the main antagonist of the final series of X-Men: Evolution, was a recurring villain in the original X-Men TV show and has been the main villain and final boss of the videogame X-Men Legends II, along with X-Men Vs. Street Fighter.

Also revealed in X-Men Legends 2 that due to his egomaniacal form, he assembled the Madrid Priests, a massive ancient cult of mutant and human followers who worshipped him and taken his doctrine of the survival of the fittest as truth.

Personality
Apocalypse is a monster - plain and simple. Emotionless and cruel to the extremes he is amongst the most brutal of the X-Men's many opponents and although his personality can vary from story to story he is almost universally portrayed as a being of almost limitless malice who sees the weak as deserving of death and contempt while viewing strength and aggression as necessary to survive.

Powers and abilities
Apocalypse is one of the most powerful mutants in the Marvel universe, having a vast array of abilities including but by no means limited to shape-shifting, teleportation, superhuman strength that can rival the Hulk, absorption and projection of energy, resistance to telepathic attacks as well as limited use of telekinesis and telepathy himself.

He is already near invulnerable to physical harm yet also has great regenerative abilities as well -he has complete control over his body, on an atomic scale, allowing him to alter his size and density as he sees fit as well as adapt to disease or environment. He is also immune to aging and requires neither food nor water to survive - he doesn't tire and has immense knowledgeable befitting a being that has existed almost as long as civilization - his knowledge of science surpasses even Beast of the X-Men.

In addition to all this he has access to advanced alien technology and is a master of manipulation, intimidation and strategy.