Angel’s Account
In the early years while part of the X-Men, young telepath Jean Grey joined the team and Warren was instantly attracted to her. However, Jean had caught the eye of their teammate Cyclops, which created an awkward love triangle. Eventually realizing that Jean was in love with Cyclops, Warren stopped pursuing her. Soon after, Warren briefly romanced the Scarlet Witch, before rekindling his relationship with an old flame, Candy Southern, and the pair became inseparable.
After Xavier’s seeming death, FBI Agent Fred Duncan ordered the X-Men to disband. During this time, agents of the criminal Dazzler killed Warren’s father. Investigating, Warren was shocked to learn that the Dazzler was his Uncle Burt, who had been using his brother’s company as a cover for his crimes. In the ensuing battle, Warren dropped the Dazzler from a great height and presumed him dead.
Subsequently, the X-Men reunited and clashed with the pterodactyl-like Sauron, leading to a confrontation with their old foe Magneto in the Antarctic jungle the Savage Land that ended with Magneto believed dead. After Xavier’s return, he bade the X-Men return to the Savage Land and ascertain Magneto’s true fate. There, Warren befriended Avia, a female member of the Nhu-Gari tribe; she was captured alongside Warren by the nefarious Krueger, who sought to sell them to the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, but the plan was thwarted by the X-Men.
Warren later learned that his Uncle Burt survived and was planning to marry Warren’s mother Kathryn in an effort to secure the family fortune. Furthermore, Burt had secretly arranged for Kathryn to be gradually poisoned by the family doctor. Warren and the X-Men foiled Burt’s plan, though too late to save Kathryn, who died in her son’s arms.
Following a surprise attack by a returned Magneto, Warren found himself separated from his teammates. While searching for them, he was attacked by the Secret Empire and later rescued by his teammates with the help of Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America and Sam Wilson, AKA Falcon. After the sentient island Krakoa captured Warren and the X-Men, Professor X assembled a second squad of X-Men to rescue them. They failed, however, forcing Xavier to recruit a third team who were ultimately successful. After these failures, most of the original students—including Warren—left the team. Their training long since complete, they wished to follow individual pursuits and felt the newly expanded group no longer needed them; in addition, Angel intensely disliked new recruit James Howlett/Logan, AKA Wolverine, regarding him as a dangerous savage.
Warren and his fellow former X-Man Iceman planned on going to college, but they were pulled into a conflict with the Olympian Gods alongside Hercules, Black Widow, and Ghost Rider. The quintet subsequently formed a Los Angeles-based super-team, the Champions. Warren revealed to the general public that he was the Angel, though his connection to Xavier’s school remained secret, and he inherited his parents’ fortune. He was the primary driving force behind the Champions’ formation and served as the group’s financier, though Black Widow became the actual team leader.
Sometimes aided by allies such as Hawkeye, the time-displaced Two-Gun Kid, Black Goliath, the enigmatic alien Stranger, elite intelligence agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and Iron Man, Angel and the Champions fought menaces such as high-tech lunatic Stuart Clarke, AKA Rampage, Russian super-agents Crimson Dynamo and Darkstar (who switched sides and joined the Champions) and Boris Bullski, AKA Titanium Man, the monstrous Eliot Franklin, AKA Griffin, Warlord Kaa’s shadow warriors, the telescoping-legged Wilbur Day, AKA Stilt-Man, cosmic scholar Kamo Tharnn, AKA Possessor, sentient bee colony Fritz Von Meyer, AKA Swarm, giant reptilian monster Godzilla, mutated genius George Tarleton, AKA M.O.D.O.K., and his subversive group Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.), Latverian tyrant Victor von Doom, AKA Doctor Doom, and Sentinels controlled by the Vanisher.
However, the team’s greatest foes were internal problems. Corrupt contractors had used low-quality materials in the high-tech headquarters and accessories Warren bought for the group, leading to frequent malfunctions, and the team’s always-mismatched roster fought among themselves frequently until everyone but Angel finally quit.
Formally disbanding the Champions, Warren later rejoined the X-Men. However, his disapproval of Wolverine soon led him to quit again. Soon after, Angel was kidnapped by Callisto, leader of the subterranean Morlock community, who sought to marry Warren. He was rescued after the X-Man Storm challenged Callisto to a duel and won, thus becoming the Morlocks’ new leader.
After declining an invitation to join the Avengers, Angel teamed with Spider-Man, Kevin Plunder, AKA Ka-Zar, and the X-Men to defeat Karl Lykos, AKA Sauron, and the Savage Land Mutates, helped the Avengers battle his rampaging ex-Champions teammate Ghost Rider, defeated his French counterpart Le Peregrine during En Dwi Gast, AKA Grandmaster’s “Contest of Champions,” and befriended and romantically pursued the new Dazzler, singer Alison Blaire.
Later, Angel joined The Defenders alongside Iceman when that group reorganized as a more formal team under the leadership of another former X-Man, Hank McCoy, AKA Beast. Angel financed the new group, managed for a time by Candy, and provided a base of operations at his New Mexico mountain estate. Angel and Iceman both became infatuated with their new teammate Heather Douglas, AKA Moondragon, though nothing came of it. Following clashes with Mutant Force, Edward Cobert, AKA Leviathan, and the Walrus, the Defenders were attacked by their teammate Moondragon when she was possessed by the mystic Dragon of the Moon. Moondragon held Candy captive and while Warren, Beast, and Iceman rescued Candy and other endangered innocents, the other Defenders defeated the Dragon but turned to dust in the process. Demoralized and understaffed, the three remaining Defenders broke up.
Warren next reunited with the other original X-Men in forming X-Factor, an organization that posed as mutant hunters but secretly helped mutants in need. A rift between his teammates Cyclops and the newly resurrected Jean Grey rekindled Warren’s old romantic interest in Jean (though he never acted on it), eventually estranging Candy. Warren’s old friend Hodge was employed as X-Factor’s public relations manager, but he had come to hate mutants and secretly used X-Factor’s resources to fuel anti-mutant sentiment.
Soon after, Warren’s status as X-Factor’s secret financial backer was leaked to the media, causing great controversy. During the Marauders’ massacre of the subterranean Morlock community, the Marauder Harpoon damaged Warren’s wings. Rescued by God of Thunder Thor Odinson, AKA Thor, Warren was hospitalized and Hodge tricked the doctors there into needlessly amputating his wings. Unaware of his friend’s manipulation, Warren named Hodge beneficiary of his assets. With Warren deeply depressed after the loss of his wings, his break-up with Candy, and the controversy surrounding X-Factor, Hodge sabotaged Warren’s plane in an attempt to kill him and create the appearance of suicide.
Though the world believed him dead, Warren was rescued by the eternal mutant Apocalypse, who offered to restore his wings. Desperate, Warren agreed, and through technological and genetic manipulation (which turned his skin blue) he was given razor-sharp metal wings. Warren’s reservations were removed by a drug and he became Apocalypse’s Horseman Death, attacking New York City alongside his fellow Horsemen. After being tricked into believing he had killed Iceman, Warren broke Apocalypse’s programming and struck off on his own, too ashamed to rejoin X-Factor. During this time, Warren learned that Hodge had used X-Factor’s assets to fund his own anti-mutant organization known as The Right. Warren sought to make Hodge pay for his betrayal, but upon tracking him down he discovered that Hodge had kidnapped Candy. In the ensuing clash, Hodge killed Candy and Warren decapitated Hodge in retaliation. Warren subsequently rejoined X-Factor as Archangel, and later saved the life of policewoman Charlotte Jones. The two became romantically involved, and Charlotte helped Warren in reclaiming his humanity.
Following an attack on the X-Men and their allies by agents of the island nation Genosha, Warren learned that Hodge had survived, having bargained with a demon who granted him eternal life, and that he had positioned himself as the power behind Genosha. Ultimately, the heroes prevailed and Hodge was defeated. After X-Factor’s members rejoined the X-Men, a mutual attraction developed between Warren and his teammate Psylocke and the pair began dating.
During this period, Warren teamed with Spider-Man, the New Warriors, the Avengers, and other heroes to battle Darkling, whose Darkforce temporarily corrupted and controlled Archangel and other morally conflicted heroes before Darkling’s defeat. The mystic Anthony Ludgate Druid, AKA Doctor Druid, later tricked Archangel and Iceman into participating in a Secret Defenders mission that pitted them against old Champions foe Swarm, never learning who had manipulated them. Having inherited Hellfire Club membership from his father, Warren declined an offer from the Club’s then-Black King Shinobi Shaw to join its Inner Circle as the White King.
In the wake of a savage attack by the feral mutant Victor Creed, AKA Sabretooth, Warren and Psylocke briefly left the X-Men to recuperate. Refusing another offer of Avengers membership, the wounded Warren was already easing back into X-Men business when his metallic wings molted, revealing that his original, feathered wings had grown back underneath. Later, when Professor X disbanded the X-Men in an attempt to ferret out an alien imposter, Warren joined an ad-hoc team of X-Men to help the young mutant Mannites battle Apocalypse’s latest Horseman Death, secretly his former X-Men teammate Wolverine. Despite his responsibilities as head of Worthington Industries taking precedence, Warren continued to aid the X-Men, such as when he helped Wolverine overcome Apocalypse’s brainwashing. This resulted in the last vestiges of Apocalypse’s power in Warren’s body granting him the ability to heal, which he used on the paralyzed Abraham Kieros, AKA War, Apocalypse’s former Horseman. Eventually, Warren and Psylocke mutually agreed to end their relationship after realizing they were both too different. Warren subsequently committed himself to the X-Men full-time, even serving as team leader for a while.
After Professor X was publicly exposed as a mutant, Warren took a more public role in his business activities, speaking to the G8 summit about mutants in the world economy. When plant-like mutant Black Tom Cassidy captured the X-Men, Warren’s skin reverted to normal after Tom drained some of his lifeforce. Recovering from his injuries, Warren underwent a secondary mutation that unlocked healing properties in his blood. After Xavier Institute student Paige Guthrie, AKA Husk, uncovered corruption within Worthington Industries, she and Warren investigated and encountered mutant werewolves the Dominant Species, whose leader, Maximus Lobo, claimed to have been the one who killed Warren’s father. When the werewolves severely injured Husk, Warren used his newfound power to save her life, and the pair briefly became romantically involved.
Battling the Dominant Species again alongside the X-Men and the dimension-hopping Exiles, Warren wielded the Soulsword belonging to the Exile Illyana Rasputin, AKA Magik of Earth-4210, which she later bequeathed to him as a gift. Following the discovery of the ruins of an ancient mutant civilization, Warren and his teammates encountered Azazel, a self-proclaimed mutant from biblical times who led the demonic mutant Neyaphem clan of which Warren’s teammate Kurt Wagner, AKA Nightcrawler, was a descendant. Warren himself was revealed to be the descendant of their mortal enemies, the angelic mutant Cheyarafim clan.
Later, after Cyclops became the Institute’s co-headmaster, he asked Warren to establish a high-profile charity to improve mutantkind’s image. Warren established “Wings over the World,” a recreation center wherein visitors don artificial wings and fly by means of anti-gravity, and later “Mutantes Sans Frontières,” a global outreach organization. Setting up office in Zanzibar, the Hellfire Club’s White Queen Courtney Ross attacked a gala using mercenaries Viper and the Weaponeers. Alongside the Super Hero Askari, and reinforcements from nearby island nation Genosha, the heroes repelled the invaders.
When most of the world’s mutants lost their powers on “M-Day,” Warren retained his; after the remaining still-powered mutants—who had banded together as the 198 under government supervision—escaped their confinement, Warren teamed with Cyclops, Iceman, and Beast to prevent mutant policeman and former X-Man Bishop and Sentinel Squad O*N*E* from re-capturing them, then subsequently teamed with Bishop to help save the 198 from the machinations of mutant-hating O*N*E commander General Lazer.
Soon thereafter, outlaw boy super-genius Amadeus Cho, AKA Brawn, manipulated Warren and his former Champions teammate Hercules into joining Cho’s cause alongside others as the Renegades. Cho stole $1.2 billion from Warren, seeking to create a sanctuary for the exiled Bruce Banner, AKA Hulk, and Warren left the group.
Since regaining his original feathered wings and more human appearance, Warren has gradually dropped the Archangel name and reclaimed his original Angel alias. He rejoined the X-Men to aid their search for the first mutant child born since “M-Day,” bringing him into conflict with Bennet du Paris, AKA Exodus’ Acolytes and Nathaniel Essex, AKA Mister Sinister’s Marauders.
Later, Warren and the X-Men joined with the Guardians of the Galaxy against the Slaughter Squad and Thane, son of Thanos, who sought the Black Vortex, a cosmic-power granting artifact. The teams debated over what to do with the vortex while the Slaughter Squad attacked and imbued themselves with cosmic powers. Beast and Angel submitted to gain cosmic powers as well, and Angel’s wings became wings of light. Gamora, Beast, and Angel leave with the Black Vortex intent on reshaping the universe in their own image but then it is stolen by Ronan the Accuser, AKA Ronan. Beast, Angel, and Gamora repent their actions and join with Groot, Cyclops and Iceman, and Katherine “Kitty” Pryde, AKA Kate Pryde, to defeat their enemies.
