Warren Kenneth Worthington III is a fictional character, a comic book superhero who appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Originally known as Angel and later Archangel, Worthington is one of the founding members of the X-Men. A mutant, Angel originally possesses a pair of large feathered wings extending from his back, enabling him to fly. He is the heir and CEO of the multi-billion dollar Worthington Industries. This privileged background results in Warren being stereotyped as an arrogant and self-absorbed playboy during his early years with the X-Men. This personality was ultimately replaced with a more introspective and brooding personality in the late 1980s, when the character was revamped into the more grim and gritty "Archangel" persona.
One of the original X-Men, Angel has had a frequent presence in X-Men-related comic books throughout the years. He appeared occasionally in X-Menanimated series and video games. Ben Foster played the role of Angel in the 2006 film X-Men: The Last Stand.
Angel
Warren Worthington III was born in Centerport, New York, to Kathryn Worthington and Warren Worthington Jr. He attends Phillips Exeter Academy in his adolescence when white feathered wings begin to grow from his shoulder blades. At first, Warren feels he is a freak, but he soon learns that he can use his wings to fly and to help people. When there is a fire in his dormitory, he borrows some props from the school's drama department, dresses up as a heavenly angel, and rescues his friends. He soon learns that he is in fact a mutant. He dons a mask and costume, calls himself the Avenging Angel, and becomes a solo adventurer, before being recruited by Professor Charles Xavier into joining the X-Men.
Warren's status as a wealthy playboy, as well as being an outspoken individual who chafes at the notion of being told what to do, is the subject of much tension within the X-Men. In particular, Warren is in love with Jean Grey, who is in love with Scott Summers. Though he ultimately concedes Jean to Scott,Angel still harbors an unrequited love for Jean even as he finds himself a girlfriend of his own, Candy Southern.
While pursuing Sauron in the Savage Land, Angel is attacked by pteranodons and falls to his death. He would have remained dead if not for the "Creator", who is Magneto without his costume. Magneto provides the necessary medical treatment needed to revive Angel from death and provides Angel with a new blue and white costume. Unknown to Angel, the costume also has a device installed that lets Magneto gain control over Angel, which he does months later when he makes an attack on the X-Men.
Around this time, Angel publicly reveals himself as a mutant after discovering that not only has his uncle, Burt Worthington (who goes by the name of the Dazzler — though he is in no way related to Alison Blaire, a later mutant heroine and brief love interest for Warren in her own comic series who also uses the name), murdered Warren's father, Warren Worthington, Jr., but also poisoned his mother in order to ensure his inheritance of the Worthington fortune.
When the original X-Men are captured by the mutant island Krakoa, Professor X creates a new team of X-Men to rescue them. When this new team of X-Men decides to stay, Angel and the rest of the original team, with the exception of Cyclops, leave the team. He and Iceman go to Los Angeles, where they found the Champions with Hercules, the Black Widow, and the original Ghost Rider. Following the apparent death of Jean Grey and Cyclops' subsequent exile from the team, Warren rejoins the X-Men to help pick up the slack. During this time, Angel unsuccessfully pursues pop star Alison Blaire, also known as Dazzler. He grows increasingly disturbed by the behavior and actions of Wolverine, and before long, quits the team in protest.
He is at one point kidnapped by the Morlock leader Callisto, who intends to force Angel to be her lover. Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Sprite arrive in time to stop Callisto from cutting off Angel's wings (believing that without them, Angel will be unable to flee from her). Storm fights and defeats Callisto for the right to be the leader of the Morlocks, effectively freeing Angel in the process.
Shortly thereafter, Angel joins the Defenders, with his fellow former X-Men Beast and Iceman and girlfriend Candy Southern as members. Using Angel's Colorado penthouse as their base, the group has several adventures before most of the group (excluding Angel, his girlfriend, and his fellow ex-X-Men) are killed freeing fellow New Defender Moondragon from being possessed by a malevolent spirit.
Angel ponders retirement following the collapse of the Defenders team, but the return of Jean Grey (having been in stasis while an alien demigod impersonated her and ultimately died) once again keeps him from stepping away from the limelight. Jean Grey is furious at the increase in anti-mutant hysteria in the two years she has been away, let alone the X-Men's decision to align themselves with the villain Magneto. To appease Jean's desire for action, Warren organizes X-Factor. He recruits his old prep school friend Cameron Hodge to run the team, unaware that Cameron hates mutants and, in particular, Warren. Since Cyclops is still married to Madelyne Pryor at the time, Angel's love for Jean finds its way to the surface as Jean turns to Warren for emotional support in lieu of Cyclops' coldness towards her. This in turn destroys Warren's relationship with Candy Southern, after Candy catches Warren consoling Jean after she discovers Cyclops' marriage.
Archangel
X-Factor's formation signals a brutal period of upheaval in Warren's life. Cameron Hodge uses Warren's trust in running X-Factor to further fuel anti-mutant sentiment by portraying X-Factor as "Mutant Hunters" for hire. A run-in with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants results in the group's leader, Mystique, exposing the fact that Warren is financially backing X-Factor, which creates a public relations nightmare for Warren, due to his outed status as a mutant. Worse yet, Warren's wings are mutilated during the Mutant Massacre by the Marauder Harpoon, although Thor's intervention saves his life. When the wings develop gangrene,Cameron Hodge willfully signs the paperwork, against Angel's wishes, to have Warren's crippled wings amputated. Despondent over the loss of his wings, Warren escapes the hospital and commandeers his private jet, which explodes in the air as the rest of X-Factor watch helplessly from below. It is ultimately revealed that Hodge has sabotaged Warren's ultra-light airplane in order to finish off his nemesis, under the cover of an apparent suicide.
However, seconds before the explosion, Warren is spirited away by the ancient mutant Apocalypse. Apocalypse offers the despondent Angel a deal: serve him as his Horseman Death and get his wings back.Apocalypse subjects Angel to extensive genetic alterations, giving him blue skin and organic metal wings, which can cut through almost anything and can fire his metal feathers as projectiles. He also gives him the title of Death, the leader of his Horsemen after he beats the others in a fight, complete with extensive mental conditioning to make him obey Apocalypse's dark plans.Death is unveiled to X-Factor during their second meeting with the Horsemen, with Warren sadistically exploiting his friends' shock at seeing him alive to defeat them in combat. As he leads the Horsemen of Apocalypse to attack Manhattan, it is Iceman who helps Warren break free of Apocalypse's control by making Warren think he has murdered him using a humanoid ice block which Warren cuts through.Free, Warren refuses to rejoin his teammates, however, as the effects of his metamorphosis have left Angel changed to the core. No longer is he the handsome playboy billionaire, but an emotionally damaged individual whose wings reflect his newfound bloodlust. The bloodlust is ultimately fueled when he tries to seek out Candy Southern, only to find out that she has gone missing. Warren learns that Candy has discovered all of Hodge's secrets (most notably his embezzlement of Warren's fortune to finance the creation of his anti-mutant militia "The Right") only to be abducted and lobotomized to keep her silent. In the confrontation that follows, Hodge murders the brain-dead Candy in front of Warren. Warren responds by decapitating Cameron Hodge (who ultimately survives due to a deal with demons, granting him immortality). Warren (going by both "Death" and "Dark Angel" at this point in time) ultimately settles on "Archangel" as his new codename as he finally rejoins X-Factor during the events of Inferno.
After the Inferno and an adventure in space with his teammates, Warren meets and becomes romantically involved with Charlotte Jones, a New York City Police officer and single mother. It is with Charlotte's help that X-Factor frees Warren from the Ravens, a cult of near-immortal psychic vampires. It is during this battle that Warren being alive is made public knowledge, allowing him to regain control over the surviving business holdings held by his family, regaining his wealth as a result. Soon afterwards, X-Factor rejoins the X-Men following the defeat of the Shadow Kingon Muir Island.
Powers and Abiliites
Archangel's primary power is that of natural flight, due to his large feathered wings. His wings have superhuman strength, and they have a very flexible skeletal structure that enables him to press them to the back of his torso and legs with only the slightest bulge visible under his clothing. His bones are hollow, his body processes food more efficiently than a normal human body and does not store any excess fat, and he possesses a greater proportionate muscle mass than normal. As a result, his strength, speed, agility, flexibility, endurance, reflexes, coordination, balance, eyesight, hearing are at their peak. Elements of his anatomy are comparable to those of birds, especially birds of prey. His superhumanly sharp eyes can withstand high-speed winds which would damage the average human eye. He can breathe at high velocities or altitudes, and he can cope with the reduced temperatures at high altitudes for prolonged periods of time, giving him a greater-than-normal capacity to endure low temperatures in areas such as the Arctic. The strength in his natural wings can easily break a man's arm or leg, or even put someone through a wall.
While he generally flies below the height of clouds, Archangel can reach almost twice this height with little effort. At his absolute maximum, he can reach the highest recorded altitude of a bird in flight — about the height of Mount Everest — but he can only remain that high for a few minutes. Although flight is as natural a mode of transportation for Angel as for a bird, he can only fly nonstop under his own power for around half a day.
He has undergone heavy training with Professor X, especially in mastering his flight indoors. He has demonstrated superior agility, flexibility, reflexes, coordination, and balance while flying, and has been shown defeating superbeings much faster than him (like the Human Torch by dodging them and having them smash against the ground or a wall at full speed.
Angel is also an accomplished hand-to-hand combatant, having defeated several of the werewolf-like homo superior when Wolverine is defeated. He is trained in hand-to-hand combat at Xavier's school; while dating Psylocke, he receives a considerable amount of martial arts instruction.During his years on the team, he is given extensive training from Wolverine, and when he once surprises Wolverine after taking down some men, he says, "My father spoiled me with more than money."[He also receives further instruction from the Black Widow and Herculesduring his days with the Champions.
His wings have been replaced by Apocalypse with techno-organic versions which can appear the same as his natural wings.
As the result of a secondary mutation which has been shown inconsistently, Archangel also develops a healing factor and can heal others by mixing his blood with theirs, provided they have a matching blood type to Warren's. However, his healing blood does not work with Nightcrawler. Although powerful, this mutation varies in potency. At times, he cannot aid the terminally wounded; at others, he can actually raise the recently dead.This secondary mutation suggests that he may be descended from the ancient race of Cheyarafim mutants. He is nearly immune to injury because his healing blood is constantly flowing through him. At its onset, he repairs broken bones in days, but his healing abilities have enhanced since then. However, in an issue of X-Force, Warren is savagely attacked and his wings are ripped from his body. His healing factor fails to work, and he instead must be healed by Josh Foley. It is revealed that the Celestial Technology bonded to him by Apocalypse prevents Elixir from regenerating his wings. They eventually regenerate on their own. After the death of Warren and the Archangel persona via the Life Seed, the new entity known as Angel has healing powers far beyond what Warren was ever able to accomplish, as demonstrated when he resurrects a recently dead dog. Aside from his superhuman powers, Warren was a highly capable businessman before his resurrection as the blank slate "Angel", and is the former chairman of the board and principal stockholder of Worthington Industries.
Celestial technology wings
Archangel possesses a set of metal techno-organic wings grafted onto him by the genetic engineering of Apocalypse when Apocalypse renames him the Horseman of Death. These wings are composed of a hard, sharp, organic material that resembles the "organic steel" of Colossus' body. The wings give him the ability to project his metallic feathers out from his wings at great speed and with tremendous force, enabling them to pierce even steel.
Archangel does not have complete control over his feathers, which sometimes shoot from his wings against his conscious will in response to his unconscious aggressive drives. The feathers are laced with a neural inhibitor chemical, generated by Archangel's body, which induces temporary paralysis.
These wings allow him to fly at speeds much faster than his natural, feathered wings. The edges of these metal wings are also quite sharp, allowing them to be used as weapons.
While he believes he has lost his metal wings when he re-grows his organic ones, the Celestial Technology never leaves his system, and his natural-appearing wings contain the Celestial technology. When implanted into regular human beings, the technology induces a transformation similar to that of Warren's. When his feathered wings are severed from his body by Wolfsbane, his metal wings grow back in their place. Furthermore, his skin reverts to blue and his old Archangel costume appears. Warren's body returns to normal — the metal wings being replaced with the appearance of his feathered ones — indicating that Warren has the ability to switch between metal and feathered wings and his Angel and Archangel appearances. During a battle with Selene's Coven, Blink teleports Warren's wings apart, shredding them to pieces. However, within minutes, they begin to painfully re-grow, indicating his healing factor may still exist. The wings have been shown capable to heal Apocalypse.. However, as it is shown in issue 14 of X-Men: Second Coming, Dr. Nemesis questions the rate that they would grow as the biology is different than Colossus' armor.
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