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Archangel |

Beast: "Sometimes, Bobby, I wonder if puberty will ever end for you."
Archangel: "Or start."
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Mutant Profile |
Real name: Warren Kenneth Worthington III
Former aliases: Angel II, Death II, Dark Angel, Avenging Angel
Identity: Publicly known
Occupation: Adventurer, former member of X-Factor
Legal status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record
Place of birth: Centerport, Long Island, New York
Marital status: Single
Known relatives: Warren K. (grandfather, deceased), Warren K. Jr. (father, deceased), Kathryn (mother, deceased), Burt (alias, Dazzler, paternal uncle)
Group affiliation: (current) X-Men, (former) X-Factor I, Defenders, Champions, Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Base of operations: (current) Xavier Institute, Salem Center, Westchester County, New York State, (former) X-Factor I headquarters, New York City; "Ship"
First appearance: X-MEN (first series) #1
Personality: At one time Warren was a carefree, free-spirited playboy. However, following the amputation of his wings and his brainwashing by Apocalypse, all emotions were driven from him. He slowly started to recover from this in being surrounded b his friends again, but his metal wings are a contant reminder of what was done to him.
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Physical description and mutant powers |
Height: 6 ft.
Weight: 150 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond
Other distinguishing features: Archangel possesses large wings with a sixteen foot
wingspan from wing tip to tip. Due to Apocalypse's genetic engineering, Archangel has blue
skin, and his wings are composed of a hard, sharp organic material that resembles the
"organic steel" of the mutant Colossus.
Strength: Apart from his wings, Archangel possesses the normal strength of a man of his
age, height, and build who engages in intensive regular exercise. His wings have superhuman
strength and can create enough lift to enable him to carry aloft at least 500 pounds
in addition to his own weight.
Fighting Skills: Archangel has a unique acrobatic fighting style based around his
ability to fly, combined with years of experience and training.
Special Skills and Abilities: Archangel is quite possibly the most skilled aerial
combatant in the world. He is skilled in the world of finance and has a significant knowledge
of physics.

Known superhuman powers: Archangel is a mutant who can fly by means of his natural. Fully
feathered like a bird's, the wings have a very flexible skeletal structure, enabling him to
press them to the back of his torso and legs with only the slightest bulge visible under his
clothing. His wings have superhuman strength and can create enough lift to enable him to carry
aloft at least 500 pounds in addition to his own weight. Archangel's entire anatomy is
naturally adapted to flying. His bones are hollow like a bird's, making him weigh far less than
usual for a man of his build. His body is virtually devoid of fat and possesses greater
proportionate muscle mass than an ordinary human does.
His eyes are specially adapted to withstand high-speed winds which would hurt the average
human eye. He possesses a special membrane in his respiratory system enabling him to
extract oxygen from the air at high velocities or altitudes. Archangel flies by flapping his
wings, as a bird does. Though he generally flies below the height of clouds (6,500 feet),
Angel can reach a height of 10,000 feet with little effort. With severe strain he can reach
the highest recorded altitude of a bird in flight (African geese at 29,000 feet above sea
level), but he can only remain that high for several minutes. He can fly nonstop under his own
power for a maximum of approximately twelve hours. Contrary to some reports, he could not
make a transatlantic flight solely under his own power. However, since his genetic alteration
by Apocalypse, Angel may be able to fly for longer periods non-stop than he could previously.
Archangel's metal wings are razor sharp, and he is able to fire equally sharp metal blades, which
are coated with a paralysing venom.
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History |
Warren Worthington III was attending a private school in his adolescence when wings began to
grow from his shoulder blade. The wings reached their full adult size within months, but
Worthington kept them a secret by strapping them tightly to his back and concealing them under
his clothes. At first he thought himself a freak. However, Worthington learned that he could
use his wing to fly, and came to enjoy his new ability. Then, one night there was a fire in his
dormitory, and he resolved to use his flying power to rescue the people inside. To conceal his
identity, Worthington wore a long blond wig and a long nightshirt, so that he looked like an
angel. The rescue was successful, and his identity remained a secret. Shortly thereafter
Worthington became a costumed crime fighter in New York City under the name of the Avenging
Angel. He was then contacted by the X-Men and agreed to join them.
Shortly after Professor Charles Xavier, the founder of the X-Men, recruited several
new members for the group, the Angel decided to leave the X-Men. After his parents' deaths,
Worthington inherited their vast fortune, and he used part of it to found a Los Angeles-based
organization of super-human adventures the Champions. Worthington also publicly revealed that
he was the Angel, although he and Xavier managed to keep secret Worthington's connection with
Xavier's school, the cover and home base for the X-Men. When the Champions failed as an
organization, Worthington decided to devote his time from then on to his business duties and to
his renewed romance with longtime girlfriend Candace "Candy" Southern. Worthington also briefly
returned to the X-Men.
Recently the Angel joined the Defenders and remained with the team after the Beast reorganized
the group. The Defenders used the mansion and estate that Worthington and associate Candace
Southern jointly owned in the New Mexico Rocky Mountains as their base of operations. When the
Defenders disbanded, the Angel helped found X-Factor.
The Angel later joined another team of superhuman adventurers, the Defenders, and remained with
them after the Beast, another of the original X-Men, reorganized the group. The Defenders used
the mansion and estate that Worthington and Southern jointly owned in the Colorado Rocky
Mountains as their base of operations.
After several of the Defenders seemingly perished in a battle against Moondragon and the Dragon
of the Moon, the Angel joined four other original members of the X-Men in founding X-Factor,
an organization that would seek out and aid superhuman mutants under the pretense of hunting
down "mutant menaces." Worthington brought in a friend from school, Cameron Hodge, to act as
X-Factor's public relations director. Unknown to Worthington, Hodge was the leader of an
organization called The Right and intended to use X-Factor to exacerbate anti-mutant sentiments
in the general public.
Mystique, then leader of Freedom Force, discovered that Worthington, a known mutant, was
secretly the financial backer of X-Factor, which was publicly believed to be a mutant-hunting
organization, and leaked this information to the news media, generating great controversy.
Subsequently, in a battle with the Marauders during their massacre of the mutant Morlocks, the
Angel was caught by Blockbuster. Another Marauder, Harpoon, then impaled the Angel's wings
with his weapons. The thunder god Thor rescued the Angel, but the bones of the Angel's wings
had been permanently crippled, and his wounds became infected. As a result, surgeons amputated
Worthington's wings. Worthington changed his will, leaving his fortune to X-Factor, thereby
unwittingly playing into Hodge's plans. Shortly afterwards, in despair over the loss of his
wings, his breakup with Southern, and the controversy plaguing X-Factor, Worthington apparently
committed suicide in a small aircraft that exploded.
In fact, however, Worthington was teleported to safety by the mutant Apocalypse who, through
genetic manipulation, caused the Angel's wings to grow back in a new form. His views towards
the world radically altered by his recent traumatic experiences, Worthington became one of
Apocalypse's warriors, the so-called Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and took the name Death.
As Death, he battled the other four founding members of X-Factor, but he was shocked into
ending his attack when one of the X-Factor members, Iceman faked his own demise. Abandoning
both Apocalypse and X-Factor, Worthington flew off to live a solitary life. He then rejoined
X-Factor and adopted the new name of Archangel. When X-Factor disbanded, he too rejoined the
X-Men at the mansion.
His new relationship with his fellow X-Man, Psylocke has been the anchor he needs while dealing
with his current changes. It's no surprise that Warren is also providing the same comfort to
Betsy as she deals with her own "evolution" as a result of her exposure to the life-saving
Crimson Dawn.
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