X-Men '97 Season 2 Introduces A Forgotten Part Of Apocalypse's Backstory
Contains spoilers for "X-Men '97" Season 2, Episode 4 — "Age of Apocalypse Part II"
As teased in the post-credits of "X-Men '97" Season 1, the show's second season brings back longtime X-Men nemesis Apocalypse (Ross Marquand). "Age of Apocalypse Part II" shows just how the villain turned from the (comparatively) human-looking En Sabah Nur (Adetokumboh M'Cormack) to Apocalypse – who easily defeats Magneto (Matthew Waterson), one of the strongest Omega-level mutants. The episode also addresses an aspect of Apocalypse's arc that's easy for casual observers to overlook: He's not just a mutant. He's also an "evolutionary caretaker" who has a deal with the powerful cosmic Celestials to act in this capacity — and wield the requisite power to do so. This is one of the many notable acts of meddling in the history of Marvel's Celestials.
In this episode, the mysterious object that En Sabah Nur is drawn to turns out to be Ship — Apocalypse's deadly weapon and mobile base, designed by the Celestials. Meanwhile, the oddly symmetric star constellation that the episode teases turns out to be the face of Eson (Waterson). He offers En Sabah Nur a power-up that transforms him into the hulking Apocalypse and enables his reign of terror. This is a fairly accurate, if condensed version of the Celestial part in Apocalypse's comic book backstory — but there's more to it than this simple encounter.
There are multiple Apocalypses, and their Celestial empowerment comes at a cost
In the comics, Apocalypse is old and powerful, but his "survival of the fittest" agenda might have bumped into even more powerful mutants over time if it wasn't for his Celestial encounter and the ensuing contract. Before meeting Eson he is simply En Sabah Nur, and his main mutant ability is controlling and manipulating his atomic structure, granting him immortality and tons of physical powers. However, Apocalypse doesn't become a true powerhouse until Eson offers him a contract to become a destiny-shaping being, which En Sabah Nur obviously accepts. There is a catch, of course: There is an unspecified cost to this deal, and Celestials may one day come back to claim it.
Interestingly, this makes Apocalypse less of a pure villain and more of an entity chosen by the Celestials to supervise evolution on a specific planet. What's more, En Sabah Nur is just one of several Apocalypses who have served this particular role. The Earth-616 Apocalypse's predecessors include the ancient, little-known Kelby Tak and a Neanderthal called Gorsvil. En Sabah Nur's successors to the "throne" have included original X-Man Warren Worthington III, his time-displaced heirs Eimin and Uriel, and former New Mutant Doug "Revelation" Ramsey. In the "Age of Apocalypse" timeline of Earth-295, familiar X-Men Logan and Jean Grey both end up as parts of the Apocalypse succession.