Onslaught (Marvel)
Onslaught is a male comic character who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
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)
Taking on the form of his old friend Erik Lensherr, Onslaught subtly confronted Charles Xavier in his own mind about his past mistakes, subtly starting a slow process to undermine the telepath's on himself, the world and his vaunted dream. Onslaught made Xavier entertain the notion he had far more in common with Magneto than he knew. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #309) As a result of X-Man mentally yanking Charles Xavier's telepathic essence from the Astral Plane to the physical world, Onslaught was now free to manifest itself as a psionic entity as well. (X-Man v1 #10) Manifesting as a separate entity for the first time, Onslaught decided to settle past scores and sought out Charles Xavier's stepbrother Cain Marko. Onslaught hunted and tormented the Juggernaut who grew so intimidated by the foe that he was on his way to his old enemies the X-Men. Onslaught deliberately slammed the invulnerable Juggernaut clear across the country making sure he landed in New York City near a team of X-Men. The heroes were stunned to hear a mysterious entity called 'Onslaught' was behind the Juggernaut's defeat. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #322) 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) Onslaught contacted Gateway and somehow intimidated him into helping him. However, the Aborigine teleporter determined telepathy was the psionic entity's weakness. He tried to manipulate the creature into exposing himself to powerful psionics. Acting on orders of Onslaught, Gateway briefly kidnapping the telepathic teen Chamber, subtly hinting at the true culprit by leaving the name 'Onslaught' in the minds of his Generation X teammates. (X-Men v2 #49)
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
Following the events of M-Day, Onslaught was reborn as an unembodied energy being. (New Avengers v1 #18)
Onslaught's quest to kill Franklin ultimately led him to the Baxter Building headquarters where Earth's heroes had assembled to oppose. With a little help from Franklin, the Avenger Hawkeye remembered he was actually the mutant Logan. Somehow retaining memories of his 616-counterpart, Hawkeye popped his claws and slashed off Onslaught's helmet. Now vulnerable to attack from the heroes, Onslaught was near defeat but attempted one final lunge at Franklin. Bucky sacrificed herself by ramming Onslaught with a Fantasticar and driving them both into the Negative Zone. (Onslaught Reborn v1 #5) Onslaught quickly took over Rikki Barnes, using the bulk of his essence to consume her and send her back to Earth-616 through a rapidly closing portal he had found. There, she would unwittingly serve him and work towards his escape from the Negative Zone. (Onslaught Unleashed v1 #3) Onslaught was later seen floating near Prison 42. (Onslaught Reborn v1 #5)
Onslaught kept influencing Barnes, now known as Nomad of the Young Allies. He sent her strange, vivid nightmares that turn out to be prophetic when her dream comes true and the villain El Dragon does kidnap her teammate Toro. Bringing in Steve Rogers and his Secret Avengers onto the case, Nomad and the Young Allies realize El Dragon is keeping Toro at Project Power, an energy research facility hidden in the Colombian rainforest. Both teams mount a rescue mission. (Onslaught Unleashed v1 #1) Nomad and the heroes learn the source of Project Power's energy research: they are tapping the Negative Zone. This leads them to a confrontation with El Dragon and his army of child soldiers. Onslaught makes his presence known and takes over both Nomad and El Dragon's children's army which he uses to attack the heroes. (Onslaught Unleashed v1 #2) Onslaught continued to siphon his energies through Project Power, slowly reasserting himself from the Negative Zone. All the while, he used Nomad's body as a host and delighted in Rebecca's internal pleas to stop hurting her friends while he toyed with Gravity and Firestar making them fight each other. Onslaught was briefly weakened when Nomad figured out a way for the power hungry El Dragon to absorb some of Onslaught's energies. Briefly weakened, the villain was vulnerable to Barnes attacking him from inside their shared mind. In the end, Onslaught managed to rid himself of Barnes and was now his own, separate energy entity ready to press the attack. (Onslaught Unleashed v1 #3) The Secret Avengers and the Young Allies fought to keep Onslaught at bay, but he proved too strong for them to contain. Beast and Sharon Carter came up with a strategy involving a tactical electromagnetic pulse that briefly disrupted the villain's energy matrix. Catching their breath, the heroes were met by Nomad who informed them she was still tethered to Onslaught and that he was using her to reassert himself into this world once again. With a heavy heart, Gravity agreed to use his powers to disperse Nomad's form before Onslaught could return. Despite the success of their mission, Steve Rogers had a nightmare about Onslaught's inevitable return through Nomad who in turn used Rogers as their host body. (Onslaught Unleashed v1 #4)
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)
Its eventually discovered that Project Orchis implanted a sliver of Onslaught's on Lost, who they had used as a test subject before. When Lost was revived, the piece of Onslaught implanted itself on every mutant on the island. Thankfully, Onslaught was discovered before his plan was completed and he moved to a new plan, the Cruciball. As mutants were being revived, Onslaught implanted the idea for a massive party where mutants would then kill each other while a mind-controlled Professor Xavier erased their minds from Cerebro. Onslaught would then eat these minds and grow infinitely stronger. When the 'Cruciball' was foiled, Onslaught decided to take matters into his own hands and manifested himself in the physical world. Due to the fact that Magneto has become significantly peaceful and Professor Xavier has embraced his darker side, Onslaught's new form mimics that of Professor X's with a blood-red, Cerebro-like helmet, black bodysuit and jagged claws. He even lords over mutants in much the same way that Xavier has been doing recently. Possessing Magneto and Xavier again soon afterwards, Onslaught renew his attack on the Krakoans. However, even with his powers augmented by his first hosts, this version of Onslaught was, after all, only a sliver of the original powered up by stolen energies, therefore he was no match for Nightcrawler, Legion, and their allies, who worked together to create the Alter, Legion's own mind organized into a functioned pocket universe in the Astral Plane, where mutants could link their minds together. Under Nightcrawler's direction they them embrace Onslaught instead of fighting him which diminished him under the weight of their very human emotional baggage. Nightcrawler then crushes the pathetic creature that Onslaught has been reduced to, apparently ending his threat once and for all. (X-Men: The Onslaught Revelation v1 #1)
Overview
Personality and attributes
To the Krakoans, he came to be regarded as a bogeyman-like figure who was called the Patchwork Man. (Way of X v1 #2)
The entity was known to contain elements of both Professor X and Magneto. (X-Men/Dr. Doom '98 v1 #1)
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)
Onslaught was able to absorb other Mutants into himself and taking their power for himself. It was shown that he targeted Omega-level Mutants in order to add their immense power to his own. (X-Men v2 #56)
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
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