Onslaught (Marvel)

Revision as of 04:11, 20 May 2023

Onslaught in X-Men: The Onslaught Revelation v1 #1.

Onslaught is a male comic character who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Origin

Onslaught was a psychic entity born from the minds of Professor X and Magneto that was born during a battle between the pair. After ripping out Wolverine's Adamantium skeleton, Magneto was seen to had gone too far with his old friend Xavier looking to finally end the threat posed by him. This saw him firing a powerful psi blast that pierced Magneto's mind with the intent of erasing it to a blank slate. Unknown to anyone, a dark ego of Magnus came to break free from his body and lodged itself within the mind of Charles Xavier. This then took root inside of him with this entire event occurring in a split second which led to the creation of Onslaught. (Wolverine v2 #104) Onslaught remained dormant for some time. Gradually, Xavier's frustration with his dream of mutant-human peace and harmony began to increase, exacerbated by the daily growth of anti-mutant hysteria, the deaths of dozens of mutants from the lethal Legacy Virus, and his own failed attempt to rehabilitate the mutant sociopath called Sabretooth. Xavier reached his breaking point when anti-mutant humans killed a young mutant near the grounds of the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, the secret base of the X-Men. It was at this point that Onslaught awakened within Xavier and began to manifest himself to others. (X-Men Prime v1 #1)

Among the mysterious Onslaught's first acts was invading a government-sanctioned Sentinel base. Government agents checked on a High Security Sentinel Augmentation Research facility in Kentucky which they had considered humanity’s first line of defense against the threat posed by Mutants. However, they came to find the place to be abandoned with 15 of the United States‘ most highly regarded scientists missing. Onslaught had downloaded the current specifications for the mutant-hunting androids and erased portions of the memories of the employees working in the clandestine factory. The base’s computer systems went back online shortly afterwards, but only a single word appeared on the screens which read 'Onslaught'. (X-Men v2 #46) An investigation of Project Nimrod at Camp Hayden brought up the same result with X-Force having found the base stripped bare of all it’s devices and computers and the word 'Onslaught' being painted on the walls instead. Nothing was known of the mysterious entity except that their plans involved a focus on Sentinel technology. (X-Force v1 #52) With the threats of Onslaught still fresh in their minds, the X-Men dispatched Jean Grey and Gambit to infiltrate a secret meeting held at the Pentagon. This was headed by Bastion who was the leader of Operation: Zero Tolerance that was met with various world leaders to discuss the threat of mutants and in particular the being or organization known as Onslaught. Unfortunately, Gambit and Jean’s cover was compromised by Bastion, before they could learn too much. However, while escaping Jean discovered that a mysterious and powerful psychic force had knocked out all the guards in the building. Once outside the building, the ghostly image of Onslaught appeared before Jean and told her to consider this aid as a gift. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #333)

The rise of Onslaught was detected by Apocalypse and Uatu the Watcher. Meanwhile, the Avengers and the X-Men came to learn of the villains interest in Nate Grey and Franklin Richards. They then split into two teams one which went to investigate Onslaught's ties to Magneto whilst the other went to warn the Fantastic Four. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #335)

Soon after, while hiding in Xavier's mind, Onslaught encountered the telepathic, telekinetic Nate Grey. He pulled the Professor's body from the astral plane, a feat never before achieved. Through X-Man's actions, Onslaught was able to escape Xavier's mind and move independently. (X-Man v1 #16) After taking full possession of the Professor's mind and body, Onslaught-as-Xavier called together the X-Men. When they resisted his plan to turn them into soldiers fighting a total war against humans, Onslaught revealed himself to the X-Men and attempted to destroy the outlaw adventurers. The time-tossed mutant soldier called Bishop, remembering childhood stories of a traitor betraying and killing the X-Men, began to realize that the guilty party was Xavier as Onslaught. Bishop rescued his teammates. Taking Xavier's body with him, Onslaught escaped. (Onslaught: X-Men v1 #1) Once free, Onslaught created a childlike psionic projection named Charles to gain the trust of young Franklin Richards, a mutant possessing the latent power to alter reality. Onslaught succeeded in capturing the child despite a rescue attempt by Franklin's parents, Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman, members of the legendary super-team known as the Fantastic Four. (Fantastic Four v1 #414) Once free, Onslaught created a childlike psionic projection named Charles to gain the trust of young Franklin Richards, a mutant possessing the latent power to alter reality. Onslaught succeeded in capturing the child despite a rescue attempt by Franklin's parents, Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman, members of the legendary super-team known as the Fantastic Four. (X-Men v2 #55)

Onslaught Reborn

Red Onslaught

House of X

Following the establishment of Krakoa, an island nation was formed that was to be the home for mutantkind. In response, an anti-Mutant organization named Orchis had formed where they aimed to eliminate the species. One of their efforts saw the resurrection of Legion who they kept at a facility at Rub'al-Khali. They looked to study the autonomous entities within his mind whilst removing any control David Haller had over them. The goal was to weaponise this in the creation of a psychic entity that could be deployed against Krakoa. Ultimately, their experimentation of Haller was a success leading to the rebirth of Onslaught. (Way of X v1 #2) The psychic being came to anchor himself inside the broken mind of the Mutant Lost to limit his power and allow him to get into the island undetected. (X-Men: The Onslaught Revelation v1 #1) Nightcrawler later became aware of a dark presence that was beginning to haunt Krakoa where it radically altered and influenced the minds of the young mutants to push them towards their darker and crueller impulses on a day-to-day basis, especially in light of effective immortality. This boogieman was a mysterious figure that appeared and hunted the mutants in their dreams. This led to the youths naming this figure as the Patchwork Man and even tell campfire ghost stories of him. Believing the culprit to be his son Legion, Xavier recruited Nightcrawler to investigate and bring Legion to Krakoa. Nightcrawler eventually found and rescued Legion from Project Orchis with the later confirming to Nightcrawler that the Patchwork Man was none other than Onslaught. They had determined that Onslaught had somehow been restored and weaponized by Project Orchis, the secret alliance of anti-mutant scientists and politicians, in the hopes that his influence would push mutantkind into destroying themselves. (Way of X v1 #2) Onslaught's return was kept a secret by Nightcrawler and Legion, out of fear of how it would lash out to protect itself if exposed. Legion, working with Xorn and Zorn, set a trap for Onslaught by merging the minds of Loa and Mercury to entice him. Though the bait worked, Onslaught was able to escape and caused a fight between Fabian Cortez and Lost at Stacy X's orphanage. (Way of X v1 #3) Later, Onslaught possessed every mutant in the Green Lagoon during a meeting between Legion and his father, forcing David and the Xorn brothers to kill everyone there in order to free them from his control. (Way of X v1 #4) Legion eventually deduced that as the Patchwork Man, Onslaught had been feeding on the parts of the mutants psyches that were lost during resurrection, and implanting a part of himself into the mind of every resurrected mutant. (Way of X v1 #5)

Overview

Personality and attributes

Xavier's dark side manifests in X-Men: The Onslaught Revelation v1 #1.

To the Krakoans, he came to be regarded as a bogeyman-like figure who was called the Patchwork Man. (Way of X v1 #2)

Onslaught was driven mostly by the unconscious desire Professor X and Magneto had towards domination. (Way of X v1 #3) It was said that he was willing and capable of taking over the whole planet and making it according to his own perverted plans. (Wolverine v2 #104)

He was said to be one of the most potent adversaries mutantkind had ever faced. (Way of X v1 #3)

Powers and abilities

Doctor Nemesis classified him as being a unique etheric chimera created from the combined psychic profiles of Professor X and Magneto. (Way of X v1 #3)

The boundless power of Onslaught was said to be restricted only by his access to sustenance. (Way of X v1 #3)

Such was his power that he was shown as being capable of knocking the likes of the Juggernaut across an entire country. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #322)

Notes

• Onslaught was created by Scott Lobdell, Mark Waid and Andy Kubert where he made his first appearance in X-Men v2 #53 (June, 1996).

Alternate Versions

• In Ultimate X-Men v1 #90 (2008), Onslaught was alluded to in the Ultimate Marvel universe set on Earth-1610 in the Multiverse.

In other media

Video games

Appearances

• X-Men v2: (1996)
• Uncanny Avengers v1:
• Way of X v1: (2021)
• X-Men: The Onslaught Revelation v1:

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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