History, Personality, Powers
BACKGROUND:
Warren Kenneth Worthington III was born in Centerport, Long Island, New York as an only child to his mother, Kathryn, and his father, Warren Jr. The Worthington’s were an extremely wealthy family and the owners of a multi-million dollar enterprise known as Worthington Industries. The business had been in the family for sometime, and Warren III would inevitably be its heir. Growing up though, his father was not in a rush to force the boy into his future job, and instead preferred to get him sent through school. Wild and adventurous, Warren made the most of his time both in and out of the private institution, using it to play sports, climb trees, and horse around with his friends. For the most part, Warren was a happy, playful little boy without much to worry about in his life. Most would say he had it quite easy.
It was during his time in private school that he manifested his abilities, but due to the nature of them, he was able to keep them hidden for quite some time. The only person Warren informed of the wings growing from his back was his family physician, who suggested that he keep them secret. Warren obeyed and did not tell a soul, including his parents and his good friend, Cameron Hodge. Warren went many weeks without issue until a dorm fire broke out; using his gift of flight, he rescued all of the students from the top floors. It was this incident that caught Charles Xavier’s attention, and the older man extended an invitation to Warren to join his school and X-Men. It was a bit of a fight (literally) to get him to agree, but eventually he did and took on the codename Angel.
Alongside the other four original X-Men - Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, and Iceman - Warren was trained extensively on how to use his abilities in Professor X’s Danger Room. Even amongst his new team, Warren’s cocky demeanour and show off attitude was strong as ever, and eventually he turned his focus on Marvel Girl. For some time he pursued her, much to the chagrin of Cyclops, but ended up realizing that she cared for Scott far more and they settled with being best friends. Afterwards, Warren began dating Candy Southern, and the two shared a long, passionate relationship right up until Warren graduated the X-Men and decided to pursue a college education. It should be noted that during his time with the X-Men, Angel’s father had been murdered by hitmen hired by his uncle, Burtram Worthington. Warren’s mother had also been killed, finally succumbing to a long term illness caused by repeated poison doses administered by her doctor. Warren was devastated at the loss of his parents, but ended up inheriting their estate and enterprise.
The college plan didn’t last for him either, as Warren and Bobby ended up in the middle of a conflict that resulted in the creation of the short lived team known as The Champions. The members of this line up included Angel and Iceman, as well as Black Widow, Ghost Rider, and Hercules. The team was a shaky group and did not last long at all, disbanding only a short time later. Warren (whose stint with the Champions had actually made his identity public knowledge) couldn’t lay low for long though, as the Phoenix mess had gone on sometime later. He returned to the X-Men to assist the new team in dealing with his close friend, Jean. After Phoenix’s death, Warren decided to re-join the team full time to make up for the void left by Jean and Scott. But AGAIN that didn't last long, and he found he could not work alongside the X-Men with Wolverine present. Logan was far too savage and unruly for Warren’s liking, so he left. Again. That time it stuck, and he didn't see his mutant friend again until he was abducted and repeatedly sexually assaulted by the Morlock known as Callisto. Fortunately, Warren was freed by Storm, but felt so ashamed and violated that he kept his distance from the team. Instead, he tracked down his best friends Iceman and Beast and joined up with their new team of Defenders.
During his time with the Defenders, Warren was put under a long-term telepathic influence by Moondragon, that forced him into having sexual and romantic feelings for her. Somehow the poor guy is consistently the victim of forced sexual exploits and this is a main theme here as he not only gets over Callisto's attack, but has to deal with Candy and Moondragon at the same time. This creates some tension between him and Iceman (who is also the victim of Moondragon's powers). Eventually Moondragon is disgusted with Warren though, and takes away his ability to see. He's left blind for many months, and only has his friend Cloud to help guide him around the skies. Moondragon does give him his sight back later on, but only so Warren can watch her slit Candy's throat. That woman is insane. The entire team, though, dies a short time later (with the exception of Bobby, Hank, Warren and Candy), and the boys are left teamless once again.
It would be Jean Grey's resurrection, however, that would bring Warren back to the mutant heroing scene. After her body was miraculously found alive, Angel was ecstatic to get the chance to catch up with his old friend. Both were dismayed at Magneto’s control over the X-Men, so they decided to start a mutant team of their own and invited the other original X-Men to join them. The love triangle between Scott, Jean, and Warren intensified once more almost immediately, but they still managed to get X-Factor off of the ground. Worthington Industries funded the team, which was being managed by Warren’s long time friend, Cameron Hodge. It was Hodge who suggested that they use X-Factor as a guise to round up ‘criminal mutants’ and, to the public’s knowledge, X-Factor was merely a team of human mutant hunters. However, the group was really using the disguise to help mutants, and went by the name ‘X-Terminators’ alternatively (and secretly). It was at this time they began picking up mutant kids off the street and housing them, doing their good deeds right under the public’s nose.
However, Warren’s stay with X-Factor was off and on. During the Mutant Massacre, the Avenger Thor found Warren crucified to a sewer wall by his wings, leaving the bones severely damaged and Angel unconscious. Thor immediately brought Warren back to his team for medical treatment, but X-Factor was busy trying to save any Morlock they could from being slaughtered by Sinister’s Marauders. The only person around at the time was Hodge, and Cameron promised the team and Thor that Warren’s medical treatment would be taken care of. What they didn’t know at the time, of course, was that Hodge had developed an intense hatred for mutants over the years fuelled by his unrequited love bitter jealousy of Warren’s successes. Hodge managed to fool the doctors into seeing a court order to have Warren’s wings amputated to heal the damages from the crucifixion, and they operated as told. Angel woke to find himself wingless and unable to fly ever again. The fact sent him into an intense depression and he lost his will to live. All he wanted was to fly one last time, so he took his personal helicopter up into the sky. The chopper ended up exploding during the trip, and the team was distraught to discover that Warren had killed himself. However, all was not as it seemed, and the mutant known as Apocalypse had teleported Angel out of harm’s way at the last moment. The mad geneticist made some massive changes to Warren’s body using Celestial technology in order to get his wings back, and this particular incident changed Warren forever.
In place of the once feathery, angelic wings were massive, razor sharp metallic ones with the ability to shoot sharpened, poisonous blades when he became angry. These wings were retractable and able to fold into Warren’s back. Along with the added wings, Warren’s skin was changed from its normal tone to an eerie blue one; he received a mental and physical healing ability; and the ability to grow retractable, talon-like claws from his hands. Angel had been brainwashed and ‘upgraded’, and was to serve as Apocalypse’s fourth Horseman, Death. He was then sent out to fight his former team, but fortunately they were able to sway him back to the side of the good when Angel had been tricked into believing he’d killed Iceman. Warren felt absolutely horrible about his behaviour and new abilities, and needed time to heal after what had happened to him. A break from the team was what he opted for, and ‘Dark Angel’ set out on his own.
Of course, Warren’s first order of business was to go right after Hodge and set things straight. The entire enterprise, estate, and funds had been left to his old friend after his ‘death’, and Warren was absolutely livid to find out of Hodge’s role in his amputation. During Warren’s absence, Hodge had used the funds he left behind to help strengthen his secret anti-mutant terrorist group, The Right. The Right had already attacked X-Factor and tortured one of their wards, Rictor. The group had managed to get power nullifying technology, very thorough information on known mutants, and enough weapons to equip an army. Warren wanted revenge for all that his supposed friend had done, and things only got worse when it was discovered that the increasingly hostile Hodge had taken Warren’s on again off again love, Candy Southern.
Warren went after Hodge in a complete rage, and a massive fight broke out between the two of them. Amidst the battle, Hodge managed to kill Candy. Warren was absolutely heartbroken, and without a second thought he decapitated Hodge with his new metal wings. Hodge was seemingly dead for the time being, and Warren set off to mourn. He did not return to X-Factor until after the events of Inferno. It was then that he decided to change his alias to Archangel.
Many months later, Hodge re-emerged with The Right, and kidnapped a handful of the New Mutants and the X-Man, Storm. Warren was completely dumbfounded to find out that Cameron had struck a deal with a demon for immortality just to seek out his revenge on mutants. The Right brought the students to the island of Genosha where Hodge continued his experiments on them, and actually killed Warlock in the process by absorbing his powers and life force. Warren and X-Factor worked alongside the X-Men to get their surviving teammates back, and they literally tore Hodge’s new robotic body apart and had to bury him alive to stop him. They were unsure how long he would be incapacitated for, seeing as how he managed to survive as just a head, but the X-Men and X-Factor got out of Genosha with those who lived and returned to the Institute. It was this event that caused the X-Factor team to finally rejoin the X-Men. The roster was split into two teams, the blue and the gold, and Warren joined the latter under the lead of Storm.
Warren had a very hard time coping with his appearance and all Hodge had done to him. There had been very little time to mourn for Candy and the brainwashing and torture that he endured, and it all really began to sink in after he was able to relax with the X-Men for sometime. Warren would spend a lot of his time in the Danger Room or brooding alone in his bedroom, much to the dismay of his friends. It wasn’t until the X-Cutioner’s Song event that he got the chance to get his hands on Apocalypse one more time. Warren used the Danger Room as a way to let out his aggression on the older mutant, and played a pivotal role in making Apocalypse use his science expertise to help nurse a comatose Professor Xavier back to life. Apocalypse gave Warren the opportunity to end his life after the fact, as he was far too weak in his power to carry on following his battle with Stryfe, but Warren vowed never to stoop to his low and let him live.
After many months of trying to move forward with his life, Jean and Warren decided to take a trip out to his cottage for a nice getaway for old time’s sake. Only when they got there, they found Candy Southern alive and well, and discovered that the Right had resuscitated her and kept her alive. Warren was completely dumbfounded and was unsure how to think and feel about her being alive; he was still battling his feelings for Jean (who was set to marry Scott) and trying to move past his dealings with Apocalypse. Being the close friend she was, Jean urged Warren to give Candy another go. Before it could get serious though, none other than Hodge reappeared again to taunt Warren, claiming that the organic Phalanx he absorbed from the late mutant Warlock had kept him alive and gave him shape-changing abilities. Apparently this was also the same reason Candy was alive as well. Warren was understandably livid, and yet another massive battle ensued. Both Jean and Warren were no match for the powerful Hodge, and it took Candy sacrificing herself to destroy them both. Again Warren was left to grieve his loss.
Quite some time later, Warren began pursuing a relationship with the X-Man and ninja, Psylocke. The two had been practically brought together by none other than the Hellfire Club. The Lord Imperial, Shinobi Shaw, was interested in bringing both Archangel and Psylocke into his new Inner Circle, and invited Warren to a get together at the headquarters. Betsy agreed to go along with him as his date, and when Shaw’s true intentions were revealed, the two X-Men battled the Hellfire Club and managed to escape unscathed. However they both decided that the date was a pleasant one and that they had a lot in common with each other. They agreed to begin seeing one another on a full time basis, and the relationship very quickly escalated to a passionate one; they soon fell in love.
Psylocke and Archangel went through a rollercoaster of a ride together throughout their time with the X-Men, including battling Legion (just prior to the Age of Apocalypse event), seeing Psylocke get eviscerated by the feral Sabretooth, and battling together to salvage their relationship during the Crimson Dawn series. After Betsy’s attack, she had grown quite withdrawn from Warren, but Angel continued to fight for her and searched for the mystic energy (with help from Doctor Strange) that would save her life. The two then decided to retire, and lived together in Warren’s loft until the Onslaught incident. The X-Men were unable to stop Onslaught, however, and witnessed the destruction of the Avengers and other Marvel heroes by their once beloved mentor, Professor Xavier (It should also be noted that during the Sabretooth event, Warren's metallic wings had been damaged amongst the struggle and broke loose. However, the former feathery ones had grown back beneath them. The only residual effect leftover from Apocalypse's experiments now was Warren's blue skin).
The X-Men continued on without Xavier, however, and the team was next stuck in the middle of Operation: Zero Tolerance. Another group of anti-mutant terrorists were picking mutants up off the streets and imprisoning and experimenting on them. It was at this time that Bastion had released the omega sentinels out to capture the X-Men and other civilian mutants, and hundreds were taken in and experimented on. Warren was part of a small rescue effort to save his fellow teammates; however he and Psylocke were eventually captured and brought to Antarctica by Erik the Red. It was here that Warren learned of Gambit’s involvement in leading the Marauders into the Morlock tunnels during the Mutant Massacre. Archangel was completely outraged and devastated at the news of his teammate’s betrayal; if it were not for Gambit’s involvement, Warren never would have been crucified in the tunnels and lost his original wings. Once more his past had come back to haunt him, and Warren felt no pity for Gambit being left in the Arctic plains on his own.
Following the Zero Tolerance incident, Warren returned home to resume his retirement with Betsy. Worthington Industries was still running strong, and their relationship was as good as ever. Eventually Warren returned to the team at Jean Grey’s call to assist with an incident involving Professor Xavier. The team, however, was led into yet another battle with Apocalypse’s horsemen which seemingly saw the death of Wolverine. Of course, in true Marvel fashion, ‘Wolverine’ was a Skrull and the real Logan had been transformed into the horseman, Death. Archangel and Psylocke had been chosen to lead a team of X-Men to track down the real Wolverine, and were successful in doing so with help of Betsy’s telepathy. During the battle Warren experienced a bizarre power flare up due to his previous contact with Apocalypse’s gene work. A fiery life-form took shape on his back and acted as a new set of wings; this ‘life form’ enabled Warren to become more powerful than ever before, and he was able to use this energy to heal terminally ill children and one of his original Horseman comrades, War. However, power usage was grating and incidentally Warren’s power levels were returned to normal.
The recent incident with Apocalypse had enticed both Psylocke and Archangel to move back to the team full time again. They began with their regular training schedules and fought a few small battles until the Higher Evolutionary released a giant wave of ‘anti-mutation’. All of the X-Men had lost their abilities and had no choice but to disband once again. With everyone deciding to go their separate ways, Warren and Betsy decided to live it up and chill out in Mexico for a long needed vacation. They remained on the sidelines for quite sometime while another temporarily reformed team of X-Men battled the Higher Evolutionary and reversed their affects. Repowered, the two moved back to the States and Warren’s loft. Pyslocke returned to the X-Men full time, and Warren remained part-time so that he could focus on his business.
However, Psylocke began to develop feelings for one of her new teammates, Neal Sharra. Warren noticed this, obviously, and on Christmas of that year, Warren broke it off with her. All he wanted was a stable relationship with her where he could look forward to eventually settling down and getting married. Betsy didn't want that nor was she ready for it, so she let him go. Broody as ever, Warren returned to work for a few weeks before deciding to join Nightcrawler's 'away' squad of X-Men (which he eventually ended up leading himself). The team had notable international missions at this time, including recruiting Jono from England, dismantling mutant brothels, attending and participating in UN & G8 summits for mutant rights, and going after their former teammate Banshee and his new branch of militant mutants known as X-Corp.
The team returned to the mansion full time shortly after, and Nightcrawler and Archangel took on co-leadership duties. It was during this time that Angel met the newest X-Woman, Husk. She took an immediate liking to Warren and began to pursue him romantically, but he was hesitant to date her due to their age difference. It was also during this time that Warren's secondary healing mutation manifested, and he was cured of his blue skin and also able to revive Husk from near death--which was the result of an accident in the field that was Warren's fault. This gave him an even stronger desire to stay away from Paige, much to her chagrin. They fought, bickered, intensified their tension, and so on until finally Warren agreed to accompany her to her family's farm to put a stop to a long time rivalry there. It was there that Warren decided to go through with his feelings for Paige and somehow got the idea that screwing her in front of their friends and her family up in the sky was a good way to do that. At that point in time, Warren's sexual exploits were very well known (like his exhibitionism, his sexually submissive tendencies, etc), but this one kind of took the cake and really showed that modesty just...didn't exist for him. The two were happy, though, so their friends went with it until Warren was sent off to do a long term solo mission in Genosha.
During his time in Genosha, Warren was eventually reconciled with Paige and was getting back into politics. At a fancy dinner gala with a few world leaders, Genosha was attacked by a group of terrorists. Unfortunately for Warren, though, he had to team up with Callisto--the woman who'd previously abducted and assaulted him. They did manage to get the job done, but it wasn't without a lot of tension and psychological repercussions--including Callisto voicing her desire to take him again. Only this time she had another rapist suitor who wanted a piece of Warren, too--Viper. Exasperated at the treatment from the ladies, Warren got most of the job done himself and was later awarded a metal of heroics for his good work.
M-Day happened shortly after, and Warren reappeared in New York City (without Paige) to do an undercover mission for the X-Men. A serial killer was going around and killing decimated mutants, so Warren disguised himself as an M-Day victim with help from an image induced to make it look as if his wings had been mutilated. With the help of an old flame and news reporter, he was able to take down the killer and go back to work with his business, presumably. Warren didn't appear with the X-Men again (with the exception of a cameo appearance at the murdered students' funerals) until the first mutant baby was born in Alaska nearly a year and half following the Decimation. He was assigned to be part of the rescue squad there, and battled the Purifiers for most of the crossover. At the end of the event, the X-Men retrieved the baby and she was sent to the future with Cable. However, the team's mentor, Charles Xavier, was shot and seemingly killed. Cyclops broke up the team and the Westchester, NY Institute was finally abandoned for good.
That didn't mean Warren and Scott fell out of contact, however. When word got out that some teammates of theirs had gone to San Francisco and disappeared, Warren was sent out to go retrieve them. Upon arriving, he realized something weird was going on, as the entire city appeared to be reliving the 1960's (no, seriously). Warren, too, fell under the brainwashing spell, and spent a lot of his time with a rather large group of sexually interested women. It was implied he'd spent his hippie time 'partying' with them (nudge, nudge)...that is until Cyclops and his lover, Emma, came and saved the day. The 'time warp' was actually a reality warp caused by Mastermind (Martinque Wyngarde) and the X-Men saved the city as well as the mayor and were offered sanctuary in San Francisco. Warren bought a stretch of mountains and had their new headquarters build across the land, and the call was made to have every remaining mutant left in the world to join them there.
Very shortly after they arrived, however, Warren had agreed to allow Cyclops use of his New Mexico home for an unexplained 'team' meeting. Unbeknownst to Warren, Scott was using his home as the new headquarters for his wetworks team, X-Force. Wolverine, X-23, and Warpath were regrouping at the vacation house when their injured teammate, Rahne, was brought back from being tortured by the Purifiers. Warren just happened to drop in at the time to see what the hell was going on, and everything went to hell from there. The Purifiers had actually been searching for Warren for quite some time, as they held interest in his wings and the underlying Apocalypse strain of the techno-organic virus that he held (from his Horseman powers). The Purifiers had kept Rahhe alive and brainwashed her into attacking Warren the moment she laid sight on those wings of his, and she went into a frenzy and chewed them off. Warren was left gravely injured, and the omega-level healer, Elixir, tried to help him.
While the healing worked for a few moments, Warren's body began to retaliate and pushed Elixir out. Within seconds, he began convulsing and screaming in agony. The combined efforts of Wolverine, Warpath, and X-23 could not keep Warren under control and eventually his Horseman powers were reawakened. He shapeshifted back into his old Death form, attacked his teammates, and flew off in a rage to find the wings that had been taken by Rahne. He was back to his ability to fly faster than the speed of sound, and made it across the continent in just minutes to break into the Purifiers' facility. There he quite literally tore apart every human he could find (which included an entire army of Warren's own TO clones that the Purifiers had created with his wings) singlehandedly. A full on massacre occurred, and while the Purifiers were defeated, the real threat behind the attack escaped. Bastion had been fused with Nimrod, and he assisted in the resurrections of a group of the X-Men's greatest foes (Stryker, Hodge, the Leper Queen, Graydon Creed, and Bolivar Trask amongst them) with the help of the Magus and his techno-organic virus. X-Force was unable to catch the group before they escaped, and both Rahne and Warren were left completely unstable and traumatized from the incident. Healed up and able to shift back to his normal form, Warren now had the ability to shapeshift back and forth between his normal self and the Horseman of Death--mental psyche included. With new powers, a split personality, and unbelievable amount of PTSD, he was having a very hard time controlling his impulses and abilities.
Because of the turn of events, Scott wanted Warren on his new team of killers and asked him to keep his new powers a secret. The existence of X-Force was not allowed to be found out by the rest of the X-Men, so Warren did his duty and joined up despite the complete fracture of his psyche. During his time with the team they'd gone to Japan to retrieve a new strain of the Legacy virus, survived the equivalent of a nuclear bomb going off at a Graydon Creed rally, and got in a mix up with the Red Hulk and Red She-Hulk. All of these missions were quire run of the mill and nasty for the team, and they took their toll on them.
However, their friends on the main roster still had no idea. X-Force was forced to remain chipper and act as if nothing was going on, so during his spare time, Warren volunteered to help Beast put together a science team to help attempt to reverse the effects of M-Day. Hank and Warren traveled all around the world and recruited the likes of Madison Jeffries, Dr. Kavita Rao, and the elusive Doctor Nemesis. During these trips, Warren had been forced to shapeshift to defend the team from an attacking sea monster, and this caused a great rift between him and Hank. Beast was completely infuriated that someone was forcing Warren to keep secrets like that, and that eventually led to a blow-up between Hank and Scott. Warren attempted to keep his head on, though, and continued working with both the science team and X-Force throughout the X-Men's duration in San Francisco, the battle with the Dark Avengers (in which Warren single handedly defeated Bullseye), and their transition to Utopia.
Two other major events of note after this time included X-Force's trip to the future to find Cable and the messiah baby (Hope). The timeline they were trapped in was one in which Cable's clone, Stryfe, was ruling the country. Warren's Death persona was triggered off from the get go, and he left the team behind to go find his maker, Apocalypse. There was a lot of internal struggle on his part, as Warren knew Apocalypse was the only one who could help them defeat Stryfe, but on the same token, he wanted to kill the man who ruined his life. This event was a good look into Warren's mind, and showed that he was really suffering from a split personality; he argued with himself, physically fought with himself, and was shown to be in great pain when trying to shapeshift against his other half's wishes. Though torn about the ordeal, Warren was able to decide to bring Apocalypse to his team's aid and actually managed to help them win the fight because of it.
After returning home, the team was almost immediately thrust into the fight against Selene's undead army. The Black Queen resurrected every dead mutant in...well basically the entire publication history of Marvel comics...and sent them to destroy the X-Men on Utopia. While the X-Men fought all of the 'zombies' to defend their home, Scott ordered X-Force to go directly after Selene's Inner Circle and the Queen herself. During the scuffle, Warren got his metal wings shattered by the mutant Blink. This instance was another eye opener, as he was able to regenerate the destroyed limbs within a few seconds. Just like that he was back into the mission, and the squad was sent out to Genosha to destroy Selene.
In true X-Force fashion, the assassins weren't given anymore rest despite the fact that half of their team had quit after the Selene disaster. Cable had returned to the present timeline with Hope, and Bastion and his men resurfaced to begin an all out war. Cyclops ordered Wolverine, X-23, and Archangel to work alongside Nightcrawler, Psylocke, Magik, and Colossus to track them down. The team began back in Westchester, NY where they first encountered the Sapien League. They were easily able to dismantle their forces, but Cable and Hope fled. With Magik taken out of the fight next, the team was down a teleporter and on a cross-country chase to find Cable. By then they were being pursued by Purifiers, the Sapien League, the Right, and other anti-mutant organizations, and the squad had to split up. Warren remained on the team defending Cable, and they were eventually able to make it back to Utopia while Nightcrawler and Rogue left with Hope. However, once they made it back to the island, the squad learned the news that Nightcrawler had been murdered in the process and Karma from the New Mutants squad had lost her leg. With a funeral and more impending attacks, the team was at a strict divide as to how to deal with the loss of their teammates and wondered if this new messiah girl was worth the blood loss.
Not that they had time to think about it. Bastion had his men on the island as soon as the team reconvened there, and all hell broke loose with everyone stuck in the fight of their lives.
PERSONALITY:
Warren is a man of many different shades. On the outside he comes across as very stuck up and arrogant; his self esteem was always very high growing up and he was an over achiever. Excellent athleticism, popularity, news tabloids, red carpet treatment, and his family’s wealth had always been a huge factor in his show off attitude and confident social skills. Warren is a hit with the ladies and knew he was a good looking man, as well. Flaunting his confidence is not an issue. He had many friends as a child, and even the manifestation of his mutant abilities did not discourage him from his go-getter attitude. His abilities are seen as a blessing of sorts, and he always tried to find a way to use them for the greater good (ie rescuing people from fires, stopping petty crimes on the streets, sneaking out of bed at night to patrol, etc).
However, after getting his wings amputated and replaced with his metallic ones, Warren’s angry and temperamental side became more dominating to his personality; his fuse was very short and he had the tendency to brood often. Though he was severely depressed and enraged at the outer appearance he was given, he did not lose the will and strive to succeed. He continued to work very hard to build Worthington Industries and kept his business savvy mind very focused on his enterprise. Warren is very driven with his work, especially as a form of distraction from his heroing life. Warren's brooding and temper problems got worse with the split personality. He can fly off the handle at any given moment, and is unpredictable enough to attack his own teammates if he is too far gone (in his Death persona, of course, which brings us to that...)
The Death persona is controlled by a programming of sorts, consisting of a 'survival of the fittest' mantra, and has the tendency to repeat things like 'only the strong survive' and variations of it. He is chaotic and bloodthirsty. Mutants always take precedence over humans. He is fearless, rash, and completely insane. If Warren is feeling severe anger, rage, or fear this will trigger off the Death persona. Apocalypse being in his vicinity will trigger off the Death persona. Warren can try and fight this as much as he wants (and he does), but it doesn't always go his way. Death's psyche is just as strong, if not stronger, that Warren's normal one.
In short, Death is to Warren currently just about as similar as the Hulk is to Bruce Banner. He's an alter ego and an uncontrolled enigma which affects his personality greatly.
POWER:
- Archangel’s body is built much like a bird; his physiology is meant to support aerodynamics and flight. His bones are hollow (making him much lighter than he looks) and his metabolism is so enhanced that his body fat composition is zero percent. With no fat and slender bones, his body has a huge muscle composition that is supported by his peak strength, speed, reflexes, durability, and agility. Physically, Warren is a very obvious mutant; he has two massive feathered wings spanning from the scapulae in his back. The entire span of these wings is sixteen feet between each tip, and it is theorized that they also serve as solar collectors, meaning Warren gains most of his strength and energy from being in the sky in the sun. Warren is also blessed with enhanced eyesight and stronger ocular muscles to withstand the speed and consequences of high speed flight, as well as enhanced hearing to pick up on sounds going on down on the ground.
- Warren also has a superhuman sense of direction and can always pinpoint true north with no effort.
- He has a regenerative healing factor. This works both personally, and as a way to heal others with blood-to-blood contact with someone of the same blood type.
- Shapeshifting. As Death, his wings are composed of a near indestructible techno-organic metal. These wings are comprised of 'feathers' so sharp that they can be used as...well basically, throwing knives that he calls flechettes. These were at one time lace with a natural paralyzing agents, but it is unknown if that aspect of the powers has returned since his new recurring transformations started. In this form, his durability is so enhanced that he can easily survive gunshots, explosions, being severely burned, and amputations. It could even be stronger than that, however, canon has yet to reveal his body's defense limitations. In addition to the TO wings, he also has retractable talons made up of the same material. His speed is enhanced enough to break the sound barrier.
- Death sense. In his Horseman form, Warren has the ability to sense the dead if they are around him. That includes dead people walking around.
Warren Kenneth Worthington III was born in Centerport, Long Island, New York as an only child to his mother, Kathryn, and his father, Warren Jr. The Worthington’s were an extremely wealthy family and the owners of a multi-million dollar enterprise known as Worthington Industries. The business had been in the family for sometime, and Warren III would inevitably be its heir. Growing up though, his father was not in a rush to force the boy into his future job, and instead preferred to get him sent through school. Wild and adventurous, Warren made the most of his time both in and out of the private institution, using it to play sports, climb trees, and horse around with his friends. For the most part, Warren was a happy, playful little boy without much to worry about in his life. Most would say he had it quite easy.
It was during his time in private school that he manifested his abilities, but due to the nature of them, he was able to keep them hidden for quite some time. The only person Warren informed of the wings growing from his back was his family physician, who suggested that he keep them secret. Warren obeyed and did not tell a soul, including his parents and his good friend, Cameron Hodge. Warren went many weeks without issue until a dorm fire broke out; using his gift of flight, he rescued all of the students from the top floors. It was this incident that caught Charles Xavier’s attention, and the older man extended an invitation to Warren to join his school and X-Men. It was a bit of a fight (literally) to get him to agree, but eventually he did and took on the codename Angel.
Alongside the other four original X-Men - Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, and Iceman - Warren was trained extensively on how to use his abilities in Professor X’s Danger Room. Even amongst his new team, Warren’s cocky demeanour and show off attitude was strong as ever, and eventually he turned his focus on Marvel Girl. For some time he pursued her, much to the chagrin of Cyclops, but ended up realizing that she cared for Scott far more and they settled with being best friends. Afterwards, Warren began dating Candy Southern, and the two shared a long, passionate relationship right up until Warren graduated the X-Men and decided to pursue a college education. It should be noted that during his time with the X-Men, Angel’s father had been murdered by hitmen hired by his uncle, Burtram Worthington. Warren’s mother had also been killed, finally succumbing to a long term illness caused by repeated poison doses administered by her doctor. Warren was devastated at the loss of his parents, but ended up inheriting their estate and enterprise.
The college plan didn’t last for him either, as Warren and Bobby ended up in the middle of a conflict that resulted in the creation of the short lived team known as The Champions. The members of this line up included Angel and Iceman, as well as Black Widow, Ghost Rider, and Hercules. The team was a shaky group and did not last long at all, disbanding only a short time later. Warren (whose stint with the Champions had actually made his identity public knowledge) couldn’t lay low for long though, as the Phoenix mess had gone on sometime later. He returned to the X-Men to assist the new team in dealing with his close friend, Jean. After Phoenix’s death, Warren decided to re-join the team full time to make up for the void left by Jean and Scott. But AGAIN that didn't last long, and he found he could not work alongside the X-Men with Wolverine present. Logan was far too savage and unruly for Warren’s liking, so he left. Again. That time it stuck, and he didn't see his mutant friend again until he was abducted and repeatedly sexually assaulted by the Morlock known as Callisto. Fortunately, Warren was freed by Storm, but felt so ashamed and violated that he kept his distance from the team. Instead, he tracked down his best friends Iceman and Beast and joined up with their new team of Defenders.
During his time with the Defenders, Warren was put under a long-term telepathic influence by Moondragon, that forced him into having sexual and romantic feelings for her. Somehow the poor guy is consistently the victim of forced sexual exploits and this is a main theme here as he not only gets over Callisto's attack, but has to deal with Candy and Moondragon at the same time. This creates some tension between him and Iceman (who is also the victim of Moondragon's powers). Eventually Moondragon is disgusted with Warren though, and takes away his ability to see. He's left blind for many months, and only has his friend Cloud to help guide him around the skies. Moondragon does give him his sight back later on, but only so Warren can watch her slit Candy's throat. That woman is insane. The entire team, though, dies a short time later (with the exception of Bobby, Hank, Warren and Candy), and the boys are left teamless once again.
It would be Jean Grey's resurrection, however, that would bring Warren back to the mutant heroing scene. After her body was miraculously found alive, Angel was ecstatic to get the chance to catch up with his old friend. Both were dismayed at Magneto’s control over the X-Men, so they decided to start a mutant team of their own and invited the other original X-Men to join them. The love triangle between Scott, Jean, and Warren intensified once more almost immediately, but they still managed to get X-Factor off of the ground. Worthington Industries funded the team, which was being managed by Warren’s long time friend, Cameron Hodge. It was Hodge who suggested that they use X-Factor as a guise to round up ‘criminal mutants’ and, to the public’s knowledge, X-Factor was merely a team of human mutant hunters. However, the group was really using the disguise to help mutants, and went by the name ‘X-Terminators’ alternatively (and secretly). It was at this time they began picking up mutant kids off the street and housing them, doing their good deeds right under the public’s nose.
However, Warren’s stay with X-Factor was off and on. During the Mutant Massacre, the Avenger Thor found Warren crucified to a sewer wall by his wings, leaving the bones severely damaged and Angel unconscious. Thor immediately brought Warren back to his team for medical treatment, but X-Factor was busy trying to save any Morlock they could from being slaughtered by Sinister’s Marauders. The only person around at the time was Hodge, and Cameron promised the team and Thor that Warren’s medical treatment would be taken care of. What they didn’t know at the time, of course, was that Hodge had developed an intense hatred for mutants over the years fuelled by his unrequited love bitter jealousy of Warren’s successes. Hodge managed to fool the doctors into seeing a court order to have Warren’s wings amputated to heal the damages from the crucifixion, and they operated as told. Angel woke to find himself wingless and unable to fly ever again. The fact sent him into an intense depression and he lost his will to live. All he wanted was to fly one last time, so he took his personal helicopter up into the sky. The chopper ended up exploding during the trip, and the team was distraught to discover that Warren had killed himself. However, all was not as it seemed, and the mutant known as Apocalypse had teleported Angel out of harm’s way at the last moment. The mad geneticist made some massive changes to Warren’s body using Celestial technology in order to get his wings back, and this particular incident changed Warren forever.
In place of the once feathery, angelic wings were massive, razor sharp metallic ones with the ability to shoot sharpened, poisonous blades when he became angry. These wings were retractable and able to fold into Warren’s back. Along with the added wings, Warren’s skin was changed from its normal tone to an eerie blue one; he received a mental and physical healing ability; and the ability to grow retractable, talon-like claws from his hands. Angel had been brainwashed and ‘upgraded’, and was to serve as Apocalypse’s fourth Horseman, Death. He was then sent out to fight his former team, but fortunately they were able to sway him back to the side of the good when Angel had been tricked into believing he’d killed Iceman. Warren felt absolutely horrible about his behaviour and new abilities, and needed time to heal after what had happened to him. A break from the team was what he opted for, and ‘Dark Angel’ set out on his own.
Of course, Warren’s first order of business was to go right after Hodge and set things straight. The entire enterprise, estate, and funds had been left to his old friend after his ‘death’, and Warren was absolutely livid to find out of Hodge’s role in his amputation. During Warren’s absence, Hodge had used the funds he left behind to help strengthen his secret anti-mutant terrorist group, The Right. The Right had already attacked X-Factor and tortured one of their wards, Rictor. The group had managed to get power nullifying technology, very thorough information on known mutants, and enough weapons to equip an army. Warren wanted revenge for all that his supposed friend had done, and things only got worse when it was discovered that the increasingly hostile Hodge had taken Warren’s on again off again love, Candy Southern.
Warren went after Hodge in a complete rage, and a massive fight broke out between the two of them. Amidst the battle, Hodge managed to kill Candy. Warren was absolutely heartbroken, and without a second thought he decapitated Hodge with his new metal wings. Hodge was seemingly dead for the time being, and Warren set off to mourn. He did not return to X-Factor until after the events of Inferno. It was then that he decided to change his alias to Archangel.
Many months later, Hodge re-emerged with The Right, and kidnapped a handful of the New Mutants and the X-Man, Storm. Warren was completely dumbfounded to find out that Cameron had struck a deal with a demon for immortality just to seek out his revenge on mutants. The Right brought the students to the island of Genosha where Hodge continued his experiments on them, and actually killed Warlock in the process by absorbing his powers and life force. Warren and X-Factor worked alongside the X-Men to get their surviving teammates back, and they literally tore Hodge’s new robotic body apart and had to bury him alive to stop him. They were unsure how long he would be incapacitated for, seeing as how he managed to survive as just a head, but the X-Men and X-Factor got out of Genosha with those who lived and returned to the Institute. It was this event that caused the X-Factor team to finally rejoin the X-Men. The roster was split into two teams, the blue and the gold, and Warren joined the latter under the lead of Storm.
Warren had a very hard time coping with his appearance and all Hodge had done to him. There had been very little time to mourn for Candy and the brainwashing and torture that he endured, and it all really began to sink in after he was able to relax with the X-Men for sometime. Warren would spend a lot of his time in the Danger Room or brooding alone in his bedroom, much to the dismay of his friends. It wasn’t until the X-Cutioner’s Song event that he got the chance to get his hands on Apocalypse one more time. Warren used the Danger Room as a way to let out his aggression on the older mutant, and played a pivotal role in making Apocalypse use his science expertise to help nurse a comatose Professor Xavier back to life. Apocalypse gave Warren the opportunity to end his life after the fact, as he was far too weak in his power to carry on following his battle with Stryfe, but Warren vowed never to stoop to his low and let him live.
After many months of trying to move forward with his life, Jean and Warren decided to take a trip out to his cottage for a nice getaway for old time’s sake. Only when they got there, they found Candy Southern alive and well, and discovered that the Right had resuscitated her and kept her alive. Warren was completely dumbfounded and was unsure how to think and feel about her being alive; he was still battling his feelings for Jean (who was set to marry Scott) and trying to move past his dealings with Apocalypse. Being the close friend she was, Jean urged Warren to give Candy another go. Before it could get serious though, none other than Hodge reappeared again to taunt Warren, claiming that the organic Phalanx he absorbed from the late mutant Warlock had kept him alive and gave him shape-changing abilities. Apparently this was also the same reason Candy was alive as well. Warren was understandably livid, and yet another massive battle ensued. Both Jean and Warren were no match for the powerful Hodge, and it took Candy sacrificing herself to destroy them both. Again Warren was left to grieve his loss.
Quite some time later, Warren began pursuing a relationship with the X-Man and ninja, Psylocke. The two had been practically brought together by none other than the Hellfire Club. The Lord Imperial, Shinobi Shaw, was interested in bringing both Archangel and Psylocke into his new Inner Circle, and invited Warren to a get together at the headquarters. Betsy agreed to go along with him as his date, and when Shaw’s true intentions were revealed, the two X-Men battled the Hellfire Club and managed to escape unscathed. However they both decided that the date was a pleasant one and that they had a lot in common with each other. They agreed to begin seeing one another on a full time basis, and the relationship very quickly escalated to a passionate one; they soon fell in love.
Psylocke and Archangel went through a rollercoaster of a ride together throughout their time with the X-Men, including battling Legion (just prior to the Age of Apocalypse event), seeing Psylocke get eviscerated by the feral Sabretooth, and battling together to salvage their relationship during the Crimson Dawn series. After Betsy’s attack, she had grown quite withdrawn from Warren, but Angel continued to fight for her and searched for the mystic energy (with help from Doctor Strange) that would save her life. The two then decided to retire, and lived together in Warren’s loft until the Onslaught incident. The X-Men were unable to stop Onslaught, however, and witnessed the destruction of the Avengers and other Marvel heroes by their once beloved mentor, Professor Xavier (It should also be noted that during the Sabretooth event, Warren's metallic wings had been damaged amongst the struggle and broke loose. However, the former feathery ones had grown back beneath them. The only residual effect leftover from Apocalypse's experiments now was Warren's blue skin).
The X-Men continued on without Xavier, however, and the team was next stuck in the middle of Operation: Zero Tolerance. Another group of anti-mutant terrorists were picking mutants up off the streets and imprisoning and experimenting on them. It was at this time that Bastion had released the omega sentinels out to capture the X-Men and other civilian mutants, and hundreds were taken in and experimented on. Warren was part of a small rescue effort to save his fellow teammates; however he and Psylocke were eventually captured and brought to Antarctica by Erik the Red. It was here that Warren learned of Gambit’s involvement in leading the Marauders into the Morlock tunnels during the Mutant Massacre. Archangel was completely outraged and devastated at the news of his teammate’s betrayal; if it were not for Gambit’s involvement, Warren never would have been crucified in the tunnels and lost his original wings. Once more his past had come back to haunt him, and Warren felt no pity for Gambit being left in the Arctic plains on his own.
Following the Zero Tolerance incident, Warren returned home to resume his retirement with Betsy. Worthington Industries was still running strong, and their relationship was as good as ever. Eventually Warren returned to the team at Jean Grey’s call to assist with an incident involving Professor Xavier. The team, however, was led into yet another battle with Apocalypse’s horsemen which seemingly saw the death of Wolverine. Of course, in true Marvel fashion, ‘Wolverine’ was a Skrull and the real Logan had been transformed into the horseman, Death. Archangel and Psylocke had been chosen to lead a team of X-Men to track down the real Wolverine, and were successful in doing so with help of Betsy’s telepathy. During the battle Warren experienced a bizarre power flare up due to his previous contact with Apocalypse’s gene work. A fiery life-form took shape on his back and acted as a new set of wings; this ‘life form’ enabled Warren to become more powerful than ever before, and he was able to use this energy to heal terminally ill children and one of his original Horseman comrades, War. However, power usage was grating and incidentally Warren’s power levels were returned to normal.
The recent incident with Apocalypse had enticed both Psylocke and Archangel to move back to the team full time again. They began with their regular training schedules and fought a few small battles until the Higher Evolutionary released a giant wave of ‘anti-mutation’. All of the X-Men had lost their abilities and had no choice but to disband once again. With everyone deciding to go their separate ways, Warren and Betsy decided to live it up and chill out in Mexico for a long needed vacation. They remained on the sidelines for quite sometime while another temporarily reformed team of X-Men battled the Higher Evolutionary and reversed their affects. Repowered, the two moved back to the States and Warren’s loft. Pyslocke returned to the X-Men full time, and Warren remained part-time so that he could focus on his business.
However, Psylocke began to develop feelings for one of her new teammates, Neal Sharra. Warren noticed this, obviously, and on Christmas of that year, Warren broke it off with her. All he wanted was a stable relationship with her where he could look forward to eventually settling down and getting married. Betsy didn't want that nor was she ready for it, so she let him go. Broody as ever, Warren returned to work for a few weeks before deciding to join Nightcrawler's 'away' squad of X-Men (which he eventually ended up leading himself). The team had notable international missions at this time, including recruiting Jono from England, dismantling mutant brothels, attending and participating in UN & G8 summits for mutant rights, and going after their former teammate Banshee and his new branch of militant mutants known as X-Corp.
The team returned to the mansion full time shortly after, and Nightcrawler and Archangel took on co-leadership duties. It was during this time that Angel met the newest X-Woman, Husk. She took an immediate liking to Warren and began to pursue him romantically, but he was hesitant to date her due to their age difference. It was also during this time that Warren's secondary healing mutation manifested, and he was cured of his blue skin and also able to revive Husk from near death--which was the result of an accident in the field that was Warren's fault. This gave him an even stronger desire to stay away from Paige, much to her chagrin. They fought, bickered, intensified their tension, and so on until finally Warren agreed to accompany her to her family's farm to put a stop to a long time rivalry there. It was there that Warren decided to go through with his feelings for Paige and somehow got the idea that screwing her in front of their friends and her family up in the sky was a good way to do that. At that point in time, Warren's sexual exploits were very well known (like his exhibitionism, his sexually submissive tendencies, etc), but this one kind of took the cake and really showed that modesty just...didn't exist for him. The two were happy, though, so their friends went with it until Warren was sent off to do a long term solo mission in Genosha.
During his time in Genosha, Warren was eventually reconciled with Paige and was getting back into politics. At a fancy dinner gala with a few world leaders, Genosha was attacked by a group of terrorists. Unfortunately for Warren, though, he had to team up with Callisto--the woman who'd previously abducted and assaulted him. They did manage to get the job done, but it wasn't without a lot of tension and psychological repercussions--including Callisto voicing her desire to take him again. Only this time she had another rapist suitor who wanted a piece of Warren, too--Viper. Exasperated at the treatment from the ladies, Warren got most of the job done himself and was later awarded a metal of heroics for his good work.
M-Day happened shortly after, and Warren reappeared in New York City (without Paige) to do an undercover mission for the X-Men. A serial killer was going around and killing decimated mutants, so Warren disguised himself as an M-Day victim with help from an image induced to make it look as if his wings had been mutilated. With the help of an old flame and news reporter, he was able to take down the killer and go back to work with his business, presumably. Warren didn't appear with the X-Men again (with the exception of a cameo appearance at the murdered students' funerals) until the first mutant baby was born in Alaska nearly a year and half following the Decimation. He was assigned to be part of the rescue squad there, and battled the Purifiers for most of the crossover. At the end of the event, the X-Men retrieved the baby and she was sent to the future with Cable. However, the team's mentor, Charles Xavier, was shot and seemingly killed. Cyclops broke up the team and the Westchester, NY Institute was finally abandoned for good.
That didn't mean Warren and Scott fell out of contact, however. When word got out that some teammates of theirs had gone to San Francisco and disappeared, Warren was sent out to go retrieve them. Upon arriving, he realized something weird was going on, as the entire city appeared to be reliving the 1960's (no, seriously). Warren, too, fell under the brainwashing spell, and spent a lot of his time with a rather large group of sexually interested women. It was implied he'd spent his hippie time 'partying' with them (nudge, nudge)...that is until Cyclops and his lover, Emma, came and saved the day. The 'time warp' was actually a reality warp caused by Mastermind (Martinque Wyngarde) and the X-Men saved the city as well as the mayor and were offered sanctuary in San Francisco. Warren bought a stretch of mountains and had their new headquarters build across the land, and the call was made to have every remaining mutant left in the world to join them there.
Very shortly after they arrived, however, Warren had agreed to allow Cyclops use of his New Mexico home for an unexplained 'team' meeting. Unbeknownst to Warren, Scott was using his home as the new headquarters for his wetworks team, X-Force. Wolverine, X-23, and Warpath were regrouping at the vacation house when their injured teammate, Rahne, was brought back from being tortured by the Purifiers. Warren just happened to drop in at the time to see what the hell was going on, and everything went to hell from there. The Purifiers had actually been searching for Warren for quite some time, as they held interest in his wings and the underlying Apocalypse strain of the techno-organic virus that he held (from his Horseman powers). The Purifiers had kept Rahhe alive and brainwashed her into attacking Warren the moment she laid sight on those wings of his, and she went into a frenzy and chewed them off. Warren was left gravely injured, and the omega-level healer, Elixir, tried to help him.
While the healing worked for a few moments, Warren's body began to retaliate and pushed Elixir out. Within seconds, he began convulsing and screaming in agony. The combined efforts of Wolverine, Warpath, and X-23 could not keep Warren under control and eventually his Horseman powers were reawakened. He shapeshifted back into his old Death form, attacked his teammates, and flew off in a rage to find the wings that had been taken by Rahne. He was back to his ability to fly faster than the speed of sound, and made it across the continent in just minutes to break into the Purifiers' facility. There he quite literally tore apart every human he could find (which included an entire army of Warren's own TO clones that the Purifiers had created with his wings) singlehandedly. A full on massacre occurred, and while the Purifiers were defeated, the real threat behind the attack escaped. Bastion had been fused with Nimrod, and he assisted in the resurrections of a group of the X-Men's greatest foes (Stryker, Hodge, the Leper Queen, Graydon Creed, and Bolivar Trask amongst them) with the help of the Magus and his techno-organic virus. X-Force was unable to catch the group before they escaped, and both Rahne and Warren were left completely unstable and traumatized from the incident. Healed up and able to shift back to his normal form, Warren now had the ability to shapeshift back and forth between his normal self and the Horseman of Death--mental psyche included. With new powers, a split personality, and unbelievable amount of PTSD, he was having a very hard time controlling his impulses and abilities.
Because of the turn of events, Scott wanted Warren on his new team of killers and asked him to keep his new powers a secret. The existence of X-Force was not allowed to be found out by the rest of the X-Men, so Warren did his duty and joined up despite the complete fracture of his psyche. During his time with the team they'd gone to Japan to retrieve a new strain of the Legacy virus, survived the equivalent of a nuclear bomb going off at a Graydon Creed rally, and got in a mix up with the Red Hulk and Red She-Hulk. All of these missions were quire run of the mill and nasty for the team, and they took their toll on them.
However, their friends on the main roster still had no idea. X-Force was forced to remain chipper and act as if nothing was going on, so during his spare time, Warren volunteered to help Beast put together a science team to help attempt to reverse the effects of M-Day. Hank and Warren traveled all around the world and recruited the likes of Madison Jeffries, Dr. Kavita Rao, and the elusive Doctor Nemesis. During these trips, Warren had been forced to shapeshift to defend the team from an attacking sea monster, and this caused a great rift between him and Hank. Beast was completely infuriated that someone was forcing Warren to keep secrets like that, and that eventually led to a blow-up between Hank and Scott. Warren attempted to keep his head on, though, and continued working with both the science team and X-Force throughout the X-Men's duration in San Francisco, the battle with the Dark Avengers (in which Warren single handedly defeated Bullseye), and their transition to Utopia.
Two other major events of note after this time included X-Force's trip to the future to find Cable and the messiah baby (Hope). The timeline they were trapped in was one in which Cable's clone, Stryfe, was ruling the country. Warren's Death persona was triggered off from the get go, and he left the team behind to go find his maker, Apocalypse. There was a lot of internal struggle on his part, as Warren knew Apocalypse was the only one who could help them defeat Stryfe, but on the same token, he wanted to kill the man who ruined his life. This event was a good look into Warren's mind, and showed that he was really suffering from a split personality; he argued with himself, physically fought with himself, and was shown to be in great pain when trying to shapeshift against his other half's wishes. Though torn about the ordeal, Warren was able to decide to bring Apocalypse to his team's aid and actually managed to help them win the fight because of it.
After returning home, the team was almost immediately thrust into the fight against Selene's undead army. The Black Queen resurrected every dead mutant in...well basically the entire publication history of Marvel comics...and sent them to destroy the X-Men on Utopia. While the X-Men fought all of the 'zombies' to defend their home, Scott ordered X-Force to go directly after Selene's Inner Circle and the Queen herself. During the scuffle, Warren got his metal wings shattered by the mutant Blink. This instance was another eye opener, as he was able to regenerate the destroyed limbs within a few seconds. Just like that he was back into the mission, and the squad was sent out to Genosha to destroy Selene.
In true X-Force fashion, the assassins weren't given anymore rest despite the fact that half of their team had quit after the Selene disaster. Cable had returned to the present timeline with Hope, and Bastion and his men resurfaced to begin an all out war. Cyclops ordered Wolverine, X-23, and Archangel to work alongside Nightcrawler, Psylocke, Magik, and Colossus to track them down. The team began back in Westchester, NY where they first encountered the Sapien League. They were easily able to dismantle their forces, but Cable and Hope fled. With Magik taken out of the fight next, the team was down a teleporter and on a cross-country chase to find Cable. By then they were being pursued by Purifiers, the Sapien League, the Right, and other anti-mutant organizations, and the squad had to split up. Warren remained on the team defending Cable, and they were eventually able to make it back to Utopia while Nightcrawler and Rogue left with Hope. However, once they made it back to the island, the squad learned the news that Nightcrawler had been murdered in the process and Karma from the New Mutants squad had lost her leg. With a funeral and more impending attacks, the team was at a strict divide as to how to deal with the loss of their teammates and wondered if this new messiah girl was worth the blood loss.
Not that they had time to think about it. Bastion had his men on the island as soon as the team reconvened there, and all hell broke loose with everyone stuck in the fight of their lives.
PERSONALITY:
Warren is a man of many different shades. On the outside he comes across as very stuck up and arrogant; his self esteem was always very high growing up and he was an over achiever. Excellent athleticism, popularity, news tabloids, red carpet treatment, and his family’s wealth had always been a huge factor in his show off attitude and confident social skills. Warren is a hit with the ladies and knew he was a good looking man, as well. Flaunting his confidence is not an issue. He had many friends as a child, and even the manifestation of his mutant abilities did not discourage him from his go-getter attitude. His abilities are seen as a blessing of sorts, and he always tried to find a way to use them for the greater good (ie rescuing people from fires, stopping petty crimes on the streets, sneaking out of bed at night to patrol, etc).
However, after getting his wings amputated and replaced with his metallic ones, Warren’s angry and temperamental side became more dominating to his personality; his fuse was very short and he had the tendency to brood often. Though he was severely depressed and enraged at the outer appearance he was given, he did not lose the will and strive to succeed. He continued to work very hard to build Worthington Industries and kept his business savvy mind very focused on his enterprise. Warren is very driven with his work, especially as a form of distraction from his heroing life. Warren's brooding and temper problems got worse with the split personality. He can fly off the handle at any given moment, and is unpredictable enough to attack his own teammates if he is too far gone (in his Death persona, of course, which brings us to that...)
The Death persona is controlled by a programming of sorts, consisting of a 'survival of the fittest' mantra, and has the tendency to repeat things like 'only the strong survive' and variations of it. He is chaotic and bloodthirsty. Mutants always take precedence over humans. He is fearless, rash, and completely insane. If Warren is feeling severe anger, rage, or fear this will trigger off the Death persona. Apocalypse being in his vicinity will trigger off the Death persona. Warren can try and fight this as much as he wants (and he does), but it doesn't always go his way. Death's psyche is just as strong, if not stronger, that Warren's normal one.
In short, Death is to Warren currently just about as similar as the Hulk is to Bruce Banner. He's an alter ego and an uncontrolled enigma which affects his personality greatly.
POWER:
- Archangel’s body is built much like a bird; his physiology is meant to support aerodynamics and flight. His bones are hollow (making him much lighter than he looks) and his metabolism is so enhanced that his body fat composition is zero percent. With no fat and slender bones, his body has a huge muscle composition that is supported by his peak strength, speed, reflexes, durability, and agility. Physically, Warren is a very obvious mutant; he has two massive feathered wings spanning from the scapulae in his back. The entire span of these wings is sixteen feet between each tip, and it is theorized that they also serve as solar collectors, meaning Warren gains most of his strength and energy from being in the sky in the sun. Warren is also blessed with enhanced eyesight and stronger ocular muscles to withstand the speed and consequences of high speed flight, as well as enhanced hearing to pick up on sounds going on down on the ground.
- Warren also has a superhuman sense of direction and can always pinpoint true north with no effort.
- He has a regenerative healing factor. This works both personally, and as a way to heal others with blood-to-blood contact with someone of the same blood type.
- Shapeshifting. As Death, his wings are composed of a near indestructible techno-organic metal. These wings are comprised of 'feathers' so sharp that they can be used as...well basically, throwing knives that he calls flechettes. These were at one time lace with a natural paralyzing agents, but it is unknown if that aspect of the powers has returned since his new recurring transformations started. In this form, his durability is so enhanced that he can easily survive gunshots, explosions, being severely burned, and amputations. It could even be stronger than that, however, canon has yet to reveal his body's defense limitations. In addition to the TO wings, he also has retractable talons made up of the same material. His speed is enhanced enough to break the sound barrier.
- Death sense. In his Horseman form, Warren has the ability to sense the dead if they are around him. That includes dead people walking around.