Marvel's Wolverine Is Teasing A Unique Version Of A Classic X-Men Villain
This isn't quite the En Sabah Nur we all know and love.
While the mutant-massacring Sentinels and Magneto, the Master of Magnetism himself, are more recognizable X-Men villains simply because of how long they’ve been part of the mythos, there’s perhaps no greater threat to the X-Men than the immortal conqueror En Sabah Nur, aka Apocalypse. The X-Men represent the possibility of cooperation and mutual compassion with humankind, and Magneto represents the unmitigated superiority of mutants, but Apocalypse’s entire ethos runs counter to both — only the strong survive. If that means mutants, all the better, but if not, he will waste no tears.
Despite debuting in 1986, 23 years after the X-Men themselves, Apocalypse has become one of Marvel Comics' biggest villains, and the sheer number of times he’s shown up outside the source material is proof. While he’s technically only been the antagonist of one live-action film, 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse, he’s also been in X-Men: The Animated Series and its sequel series, X-Men ‘97, as well as countless video game appearances starting with the 1992 Super NES game Spider-Man and the X-Men in Arcade’s Revenge. Most recently, he was teased near the end of Marvel’s Wolverine, the newest game from Marvel’s Spider-Man developers Insomniac Games, which sets up a version of the First Mutant and his Four Horsemen that seems a little different from the source material.
The Sentinels might have appeared first, but they simply can’t compare to the sheer power of Apocalypse.
Marvel’s Wolverine already makes significant departures from established X-Men canon, with the biggest tweak being that Charles Xavier and his superhero team don’t actually exist in this universe. The role of mutantkind’s protectors is instead filled by Team X (composed of Wolverine, Mystique, and Sabretooth) and Nathaniel Essex, a human-passing mutant benefactor. Of course, anyone familiar with that name knows Nathaniel Essex is actually the supervillain Mister Sinister, and in the game it’s revealed that, like his comics counterpart, Essex has been alive for over two centuries and even altered his own DNA to become a mutant, having grown obsessed with the idea that mutants represent the next phase of human evolution.
Mister Sinister’s presence usually means Apocalypse is never far behind (the immortal mutant gave Sinister his abilities in the comics), and that’s not changed here, but their connection is quite different. During a run-in with Lady Deathstrike, who’s portrayed as the leader of The Hand, Wolverine discovers the ninja clan believes that he’s a “Shinigami,” a God of Death in service of their master, the Beast. In the comics, the Beast is an actual demonic entity, but in Marvel’s Wolverine, the Beast is none other than Apocalypse himself, and The Hand is using an ancient technology known as a Helix Engine (presumably created by Apocalypse) to activate and empower mutant genes while binding the genes’ carriers to Apocalypse’s control.
If Apocalypse can’t have Wolverine, then Sabretooth is seemingly the next best thing.
Nathaniel Essex steals this technology in an attempt to force evolution on mutants worldwide, and it takes the combined strength of Jean Grey and Wolverine to defeat him, but along the way Logan discovers a shocking revelation about his past: he was once bound to Apocalypse as Death, one of his Four Horsemen. During the game’s climax, Apocalypse again tries to exert his control over Wolverine, only to be forcibly burned out of his mind by Jean Grey and her newly accessed Phoenix abilities (at the expense of Logan’s memories of their time together also being wiped out). It’s clear Insomniac is setting up Apocalypse as the Big Bad of the X-Men game they have planned, which is made even more explicit by the game’s post-credits scene, where Apocalypse grooms Sabretooth to become his Horseman of War.
With Apocalypse’s presence as the First Mutant, a figure responsible for massive shifts in human and mutant history, it makes sense to position him as someone Wolverine has encountered before, someone an ancient clan like The Hand would venerate, and someone who can re-emerge in the modern day and provide the perfect catalyst for the formation of the X-Men. Insomniac’s liberties also allow for a unique depiction of the Four Horsemen; many different mutants have been folded into the group before, and it’s always fascinating seeing who gets recruited in every adaptation. Like with Spider-Man, Marvel’s Wolverine has tried to provide a unique interpretation of X-Men lore, and although we don’t yet know how those changes will affect their upcoming X-Men game, what we do know is that the team will be quite unlike how it’s ever looked before.
