The Age of Apocalypse comes to Secret Wars

Battle world will play home to a whole mess of Marvel realities and Age of Apocalypse will most definitely be joining them on the patchwork world.

Apocalypse rules his domain on Battleworld with an iron fist. The few humans left alive have been enslaved. The mutant rebellion has been crushed – it’s survivors, scattered. But the terrorist insurgents known as the X-Men will not go quietly into this grim future. They will fight! They will end Apocalypse’s reign of terror! Even if it means their very lives!

“This Age of Apocalypse, taking place on Battleworld, is a story about the choices heroes have to make after they’ve already lost. What are the X-Men about if a dream of coexistence between humans and mutants has become a lost cause?” asks series writer Fabian Nicieza, in an interview with Marvel.com.

But the fight is not yet over. A very special mutant named Cypher may hold the key to turning the tide. A weapon to be pointed directly at Apocalypse and fired. Now, the hunt is on as Magneto and his X-Men attempt to rescue Cypher from the clutches of Cyclops & Havok’s Elite Mutant Force, Dark Beast and his vile experiments, and the new Horsemen of Apocalypse!

I’m still not really sure how these Warzones will fit together or how their storylines will play out in the greater scheme of Battleworld and Secret Wars, but it sure is cool to see some of these universes again. And that’s particularly true in the case of Age of Apocalypse.

One of the best loved of these types of tales, AoA was an X-Men-centric crossover and easily one of the biggest ever. With this particular retelling, things aren’t going all that well for the good guys and Apocalypse has the world (or the section that’s left anyway) firmly in his control.

The versions of the characters featured here are all pretty unique, and so it should be particularly cool to see them all back in action again- not to mention where they all might be heading as Secret Wars wages on. Fabian Nicieza takes the helm on the writing chores as well, which any X-fan should be pretty happy about, with Gerardo Sandoval’s highly stylized pencils featuring in the interiors, as well as on the cover.

Expect to see Age of Apocalypse #1 on the racks this July.