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Real name Warren Kenneth, Worthington III, , l’Ange vengeur, Archangel, Dark Angel, la Mort
Warren Kenneth Worthington III, originally Angel and later as Archangel, is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics and is a founding member of the X-Men. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The X-Men #1 (September 1963).
Angel is a member of a subspecies of humans known as mutants, who are born with superhuman abilities. He originally possesses a pair of large feathered wings extending from his back, enabling him to fly. He is the heir to a multibillion-dollar corporation called Worthington Industries. This privileged background results in Warren being stereotyped as a self-absorbed playboy during his early years with the X-Men. This personality was ultimately replaced with a more introspective and brooding personality in the late 1980s, when the character was revamped into the more grim and gritty "Archangel" persona.
One of the original X-Men, Archangel has had a frequent presence in X-Men-related comic books throughout the years. He appeared occasionally in X-Men animated series and video games. Ben Foster played the role of Angel in the 2006 film X-Men: The Last Stand and Ben Hardy will portray him in the 2016 film X-Men: Apocalypse. Biography
Angel
Warren Worthington III was born in Centerport, New York, to Kathryn Worthington and Warren Worthington Jr. He attends Phillips Exeter Academy in his adolescence when white feathered wings begin to grow from his shoulder blades. At first, Warren feels he is a freak, but he soon learns that he can use his wings to fly and to help people. When there is a fire in his dormitory, he borrows some props from the school's drama department, dresses up as a heavenly angel, and rescues his friends. He soon learns that he is in fact a mutant. He dons a mask and costume, calls himself the Avenging Angel, and becomes a solo adventurer, before being recruited by Professor Charles Xavier into joining the X-Men.
Warren's status as a wealthy playboy, as well as being an outspoken individual who chafes at the notion of being told what to do, is the subject of much tension within the X-Men. In particular, Warren is in love with Jean Grey, who is in love with Scott Summers. Though he ultimately concedes Jean to Scott, Angel still harbors an unrequited love for Jean even as he finds himself a girlfriend of his own, Candy Southern.
While pursuing Sauron in the Savage Land, Angel is attacked by pteranodons and falls to his death. He would have remained dead if not for the "Creator", who is Magneto without his costume. Magneto provides the necessary medical treatment needed to revive Angel, and provides him with a new blue-and-white costume. Unknown to Angel, the costume also has a device installed that lets Magneto gain control over Angel, which he does months later when he makes an attack on the X-Men.
Around this time, Angel publicly reveals himself as a mutant after discovering that not only has his uncle, Burt Worthington (who goes by the name of the Dazzler — though he is in no way related to Alison Blaire, a later mutant heroine and brief love interest for Warren in her own comic series who also uses the name), murdered Warren's father, Warren Worthington, Jr., but also poisoned his mother in order to ensure his inheritance of the Worthington fortune.
When the original X-Men are captured by the mutant island Krakoa, Professor X creates a new team of X-Men to rescue them. When this new team decides to stay on as X-Men, Angel and the rest of the original team, with the exception of Cyclops, leave. He and Iceman go to Los Angeles, where they found the Champions with Hercules, the Black Widow, and the original Ghost Rider. Following the apparent death of Jean Grey and Cyclops' subsequent exile from the team, Warren rejoins the X-Men. During this time, Angel unsuccessfully pursues pop star Alison Blaire, also known as Dazzler. He grows increasingly disturbed by the behavior and actions of Wolverine, and quits the team in protest.
He is kidnapped by the Morlock leader Callisto, who intends to force Angel to be her lover. Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Sprite arrive in time to stop Callisto from cutting off Angel's wings (believing that without them, Angel will be unable to flee from her). Storm fights and defeats Callisto for the right to be the leader of the Morlocks, effectively freeing Angel in the process.
Shortly thereafter, Angel joins the Defenders, along with Beast, Iceman and girlfriend Candy Southern. Using Angel's Colorado house as their base, the group has several adventures before most of the group are killed freeing teammate Moondragon from demonic possession.
Angel considers retirement following the collapse of the Defenders, but the discovery of Jean Grey alive changes his mind. Jean Grey is furious at the increase in anti-mutant hysteria in the two years she has been missing, and opposes the X-Men's decision to align themselves with the villain Magneto. To appease Jean's desire for action, Warren organizes X-Factor. He recruits his old prep school friend Cameron Hodge to run the team, unaware that Cameron hates mutants, particularly Warren. Since Cyclops is married to Madelyne Pryor at the time and reacts coldly to Jean's return, Angel takes advantage of Jean's need for emotional support and expresses his love for her. This destroys Warren's relationship with Candy Southern, after Candy finds Warren consoling Jean.
Archangel
X-Factor's formation begins a period of upheaval in Warren's life. Cameron Hodge abuses Warren's trust and portrays X-Factor as "mutant hunters" for hire, further fueling anti-mutant sentiment. An altercation with the Brotherhood of Mutants allows Mystique to discover the relationship between the "mutant hunters" and the former X-Men; she exposes Warren as the financial backer for X-Factor, causing a public relations nightmare. Warren's wings are mutilated during the Mutant Massacre by the Marauder, Harpoon. When the wings develop gangrene, Cameron Hodge violates Angel's wishes and has the crippled wings amputated. Despondent over the loss, Warren escapes the hospital and commandeers his private jet. It explodes in the air as the rest of X-Factor watch helplessly from below. It is ultimately revealed that Hodge sabotaged Warren's plane in order to finish off his nemesis, in an apparent suicide.
Seconds before the explosion, Warren is spirited away by the ancient mutant Apocalypse. Apocalypse offers to restore Angel's wings if Angel will serve him as one of his Four Horsemen. Apocalypse subjects Angel to extensive genetic alterations, giving him blue skin and organic metal wings which can cut through almost anything. The wings can fire the metal feathers as projectiles. Apocalypse gives Worthington the title of Death. He makes Worthington the leader of his Horsemen after Worthington beats the others in a fight, and gives him extensive mental conditioning to make him obey Apocalypse's dark plans. Death is unveiled to X-Factor during their second encounter with the Horsemen, and Warren sadistically exploits his friends weaknesses to defeat them in combat. During a later attack on Manhattan, Iceman fakes his own death at Warren's hands, hoping that the shock of killing a friend will enable him to break Apocalypse's mental control. Although freed, Warren refuses to rejoin X-Factor, feeling that he has changed too much psychologically to be a hero.
He seeks out Candy Southern, but finds that she is missing. Warren learns that Candy has been lobotomized to protect Cameron Hodge's secrets, including the establishment of the anti-mutant militia "The Right" using funds embezzled from Worthington. In the confrontation that follows, Hodge murders Candy in front of Warren and Warren decapitates Hodge. Changing his codename from "Death" to "Dark Angel", he later rejoins X-Factor and takes the codename "Archangel" during the events of Inferno.
Warren later meets and becomes romantically involved with Charlotte Jones, a New York City Police officer and single mother. It is with Charlotte's help that X-Factor frees Warren from the Ravens, a cult of near-immortal psychic vampires. It is during this battle that Warren's survival is made public knowledge, allowing him to regain control over his family's remaining business holdings and his personal fortune. X-Factor rejoins the X-Men following the defeat of the Shadow King on Muir Island.
Angel again
After rejoining the X-Men, Archangel's brooding behavior lessens, after Jean reveals to Warren that his wings (which Warren believes have a mind of their own) have actually been operating off Warren's own subconscious desires for violence. This, combined with Warren's accidental decapitation of Mutant Liberation Front member Kamikaze, leads Warren to try to reject the dark cloud that has hung over his head ever since gaining his new wings. His relationship with Charlotte Jones fades as Warren begins dating fellow X-Men member Psylocke. In an attempt to put his dark days behind him, Warren retires his "Death" uniform in favor of the blue/white costume Magneto made for him.
After Psylocke is eviscerated by X-Men prisoner Sabretooth during an escape attempt, Warren and the X-Men track him down and capture him, but not before he is able to badly damage Warren's metal wings. Over time, the damage to his wings spreads. Eventually, the metal wings shatter completely, revealing that his feathered wings have been growing back within them and have broken them apart from the inside. This follows a visit from Ozymandias, who tells him that he is indeed one of Apocalypse's chosen ones. Reclaiming his original Angel powers, Warren still retains his blue skin color.
Angel is one of several X-Men who are present when Gambit's culpability in the events of the "Mutant Massacre" is made public by Magneto, which turns him against his teammate. Shortly afterwards, with the X-Men broke and their mansion stripped bare by the US Government, Angel volunteers money to help keep the team going, though this requires his reclaiming full control over his family company to do so. Angel returns to the team following the events of The Twelve, in which his wings (temporarily) further mutate into wings made of light and he gains talon-like hands and healing powers, which Warren uses to restore the mobility of crippled Horseman of Apocalypse War. Returning to the X-Men, Warren finds his relationship with Psylocke gone, as she has begun dating new X-Men recruit Thunderbird III.
When Rogue leaves the X-Men to join Storm's splinter group (X-Treme X-Men), Angel is promoted to head of the X-Men's field team. Angel's squad fights the anti-mutant group Church of Humanity and Mystique and her newest incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and tangles with the Vanisher, who has gone into business with several medical companies to create a designer drug that could give humans mutant-like powers. Angel also becomes entangled in a love triangle with rookie X-Men member Paige Guthrie and the mutant prostitute Stacy X. Furthermore, during a battle with Black Tom Cassidy, Angel's regression to his pre-"Death" state is complete when he reverts to his normal Caucasian skin color when Cassidy (now turned into a plant-type vampire) attempts to drain Angel's life force from him. His healing powers from The Twelve also manifest themselves again, in the form of the revelation that Angel's blood has miracle healing properties.
Decimation
Following the death of Jean Grey, Warren and Paige take an extended leave of absence from the team. Warren begins doing overseas charity work at this point, in the form of a charity called "Mutants Sans Frontières" in Zanzibar (a reference to Doctors Without Borders), where he then proceeds to help stop a coup with the aid of Professor X's newest charges from nearby Genosha. In Excalibur, Warren meets up again with Callisto. As Paige reminds Warren of his history with Callisto, Viper attacks, but Warren and Callisto defeat Viper together.
In Generation M, Angel fakes having lost his wings in order to capture the Ghoul, a deranged serial killer who uses his retained mutant powers to murder ex-mutants.
Though not an active member of any team, Warren reunites with the other surviving original X-Men — Cyclops, Iceman, and Beast — in a mission to stop Bishop from recapturing the fugitive mutants known as the 198, though Bishop later joins them in their rescue attempt.
World War Hulk
Angel joins with fellow former Champions member Hercules, Namora, and Amadeus Cho in order to calm down the rampaging Hulk. Afterward, Angel discovers that Amadeus Cho has hacked into Warren's bank accounts and stolen several million dollars from him, to help him further aid the Hulk.
Messiah Complex
Angel is part of the team that investigates the new mutant birth in Alaska. He is later part of the team who is looking for former Acolytes. He is next seen part of the same team, but attacking the Marauders. Warren goes against Mister Sinister, but is easily defeated once Sinister recovers from Emma Frost's mental attack. Angel is knocked out, but recovers and is present with the X-teams for the final battle over the fate of the baby.
Divided We Stand
Angel is later seen flying over San Francisco, going to meet with Hepzibah, Warpath, and Iceman, when he stumbles across an area that looks as if the 1960s never ended. He contacts Scott and Emma, asking them for assistance before suffering the mind-altering effects of the zone, which are revealed to be caused by Martinique Jason. Angel and the three other ensnared X-Men are sent by Martinique to confront Scott and Emma. Emma manages to free them from the illusion and, during the fall-out battle, Angel rescues Mayor Sadie Sinclair. Thankful for the assistance and for the idea of having real superheroes in their city, Mayor Sinclair then talks to Cyclops and Angel about helping them resettle the X-Men in San Francisco.
Archangel returns
In X-Force (vol. 3) #4, Warren is brutally attacked by a mind-controlled Wolfsbane. During the attack, Wolfsbane savagely rips Warren's wings from his back and runs away, taking the wings with her. It is revealed by Elixir that Warren's wings are still techno-organic constructs that he is unable to heal. Wolfsbane later delivers them to the Purifiers, who are seeking the Apocalypse Strain, the techno-organics, which comprise Warren's wings. The Purifiers use the Apocalypse Strain to modify an army of Purifier agents, giving them the same metallic wings that Archangel once had. Meanwhile, although Elixir is able to heal all of Warren's injuries, he cannot regrow his wings due to interference from the Apocalypse Strain. Later in the story, Warren is gripped by a series of excruciating seizures that not only mysteriously regenerate his techno-organic wings, but also transform him back into Apocalypse's version of Death/Archangel, complete with blue skin and a techno-organic version of his uniform.
X-Force attacks Archangel, who eventually asks for relief from the pain of losing his wings and transforming into Archangel. Archangel escapes, to take revenge on the Purifiers, and at their headquarters he slaughters most of them in a blood-maddened rage. Once the battle is over, he reverts to his normal Caucasian, feather-winged appearance. He comments to Wolverine that he can still feel the metal wings inside him, and that they want to come out again. According to Elixir, Warren's transformation is permanent, implying that he is fully capable of transforming back into Archangel again at any time.
In an attempt to understand what was done to both Wolfsbane and Angel, the pair of them are placed in a room together, where Rahne is forced to gaze at Warren. The mere sight of him causes her to become murderous once again, and she attempts to rip the wings from Warren's body once more. The sight of a psychotic Wolfsbane, as well as the fear of having his wings torn from his body again, causes a defensive reaction in Warren, reverting him back into his violent Archangel persona.
From then on, Angel takes dual membership with both the X-Men and X-Force, though Cyclops forbids Angel from telling the rest of the team about the return of his Archangel powers. While recruiting a scientist for Beast's "Science Squad", the X-Club, Angel is forced to transform into Archangel in order to destroy a giant rampaging monster. Beast reacts in anger that Angel has not told him that his "Death" powers have returned, creating tension between the two friends. Angel knows telling Beast would expose the latest incarnation of X-Force and effectively end Cyclops' latest tenure as leader if the truth about his personal black ops squad became public knowledge.
During the X-Club's trip to 1906 in order to discover the origins of the modern mutant race, Angel transforms into Archangel a number of times to help further their mission.
During the Fear Itself storyline, Wolverine and Archangel interrogate Purifiers member Benedict Ryan on where Jonathan Standish is hiding out.
Dark Angel Saga
In the "Dark Angel Saga", the "Archangel" persona of Warren has finally taken over and he plans to be the heir to Apocalypse, bringing Ozymandias, Dark Beast, the Final Horsemen, Autumn Rolfson, and her son Genocide as his army to destroy humanity. At the conclusion of the story arc Betsy stabs Archangel in the chest with the Life Seed, seemingly killing him. In the aftermath of the explosion of Apocalypse's citadel, Warren is seen by the members of X-Force walking in the snow. Psylocke, shocked that he is alive and apparently free of Apocalypse, runs up and embraces him. This Warren then reveals he had no idea who Psylocke is and appears to have amnesia. Warren has his normal white skin but seems to have metallic wings.
Death and new personality
Following the Dark Angel Saga, it is revealed that Warren had indeed died and his soul departed for the afterlife, with his Celestial-mutated body now hosting an all-new personality with its own soul. He lost leadership of Worthington Industries and became a student in Wolverine's school.
Although the new entity, who has chosen to retain the same name of Warren Worthington III, is making efforts to be integrated, it is clear that he has no memory at all of the original Warren Worthington's friends and acquaintances, as his discussions with Iceman demonstrate.
All-New X-Men
When Beast decides to travel back in time to recruit the original X-Men to stop Scott committing mutant genocide, Angel accompanies his teammates into the future, but initially prefers to return to the past rather than remain in such a twisted present. Even after his teammates vote to remain until they have saved the future, Angel expresses curiosity about what has happened to his own future self, as no reference has been made to his present condition. The next day, the rebirthed Angel finds the younger Angel who asks him why he has metallic wings; the older Angel ignores the question and invites his younger self to go flying. While flying above the skies of New York, the two Angels become caught up in H.Y.D.R.A.'s attack on Avengers Tower. Together, the two heroes are able to defeat the terrorists and capture Madame Hydra.
Frustrated after seeing what will happen to himself in the future, the younger Angel defects from the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning and joins the older Cyclops' new team of outlaw X-Men. After the rest of the displaced X-Men join Cyclops' team, the younger Angel has started dating X-23.
Warren's children
In an apocalyptic possible future, an aging Frank Castle warns the present-day Deadpool of the "son of Archangel". During Uncanny Avengers (2013), it is revealed that while preparing to ascend as Apocalypse during the "Dark Angel Saga", Warren fathered two children with Pestilence of the Final Horsemen, who appear as the time-traveling "Apocalypse Twins".Best films
(2016)
(2006) Played by the actors