X-Men 3 Mutant Spotlight 2: Angel
Real Name: Warren Kenneth Worthington III
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, 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.
Recently Warren underwent yet another transformation. This time
Archangel "shed" his metallic wings which gave way to his older,
more familiar feathered wings. The mystery surrounding this change
is yet uncovered, but Warren fears it could be the next step in
some higher plan that Apocalypse may have in store for him. This
transformation was seemingly triggered by injuries he suffered to
his wings inflicted by Sabretooth.
His newfound 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.
Strength Level: The Angel possesses
the normal human strength of a man of his age, height and build,
who exercises in intensive regular exercise. His wings can create
enough lift to enable him to carry aloft at least 200 pounds in
addition to his own weight.
Known Superhuman Powers: Angel 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. Angel'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. Angel 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.
