- The character is not to be confused with the Milestone Comics villain Holocaust (often referred to as Pyre), who was once a member of the Blood Syndicate.
Holocaust | |
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Panel from Astonishing X-Men #4 (Age of Apocalypse) Art by Joe Madureira |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | X-Men Alpha (February 1995) |
Created by | Scott Lobdell Roger Cruz |
In-story information | |
Species | Human Mutant |
Team affiliations | Horsemen of Apocalypse Dark Descendants Exiles |
Notable aliases | Nemesis |
Abilities | Superhuman strength, agility and durability Energy blasts Life-force absorption |
Holocaust is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in X-Men Alpha (February 1995), and was created by Scott Lobdell and Roger Cruz.
Contents |
Fictional character biography
Holocaust, originally known as Nemesis,[1] is the purported son of Apocalypse and also served as one of his Four Horsemen in the Age of Apocalypse timeline. His physical form, nearly destroyed by Magneto in revenge for Nemesis' murder of his daughter Scarlet Witch[2] is contained in a crystalline exo-armor of phasing and shape-shifting properties.
Adopting the name Holocaust, the transformed Horseman slaughtered millions in North America in Apocalypse’s name. After a culling in Chicago, Holocaust was confronted by X-Man Sabertooth and the two fought. Holocaust won and took Sabertooth to his Infinite Factory. The X-Men persued and the overconfident Holocaust was taken by surprise and nearly killed by the young X-Man Blink. With the help of her team, Rogue nearly defeated Holocaust but he teleported himself to Apocalypse’s stronghold just in time.[3]
During the final battle in the Age of Apocalypse, Holocaust battled Nate Grey which ended with Holocaust being stabbed with a shard of the M'Kraan Crystal. This caused both him and Nate to be teleported into the main Marvel universe.[4]
Holocaust ended up in space, his containment suit shattered, and his body encased in a block of ice. He was found by the Acolytes, and Exodus ordered him brought aboard Avalon.[5] Inside Avalon Holocaust was somehow able to drain the life energy of a few Acolytes to regain some of his strength. He escaped his containment chamber and began to battle Exodus, whom he remembered as an X-Man from his timeline. Their battle destroyed the station, and they crashed to Earth, where Holocaust drained more human lives.[6]
Holocaust was eventually found by Sebastian Shaw. Shaw and Holocaust formed a short-lived and uneasy alliance, with Shaw providing Holocaust with a new containment suit. Holocaust then helped Shaw capture and brainwash X-Force, but after that plan failed their partnership dissolved.[7]
Holocaust then appeared as a thrall of Onslaught's Dark Descendants and fought Nate Grey again,[8][9][10], but went his own way following Onslaught's defeat. During the incident when he, Dark Beast, Sugar Man and Nate were captured by the Shi'ar, who viewed the fact that Holocaust still had part of the M'Kraan Crystal inside him as the highest heresy, Holocaust appears to have renamed himself Nemesis, mostly due to Dark Beast's refusal to call him anything else.[11] He then found out that his new containment suit has a shape-shifting capability, which can be used if enough bio-energy is absorbed. Nemesis used this ability to make himself look like Nate Grey, killing more and more people until the two adversaries finally clashed. Nemesis was defeated and so much of his energy was drained that he was searching out Dark Beast, who created his first suit, for assistance.[12]
Suddenly, he became unstuck in time, and (again calling himself Holocaust), he returned to his birth reality, where he was told to join the Exiles.[13] Angered at the Timebroker's interference, he tracked down the M'Kraan Crystal and took control of the army base housing it.[14] Then he convinced the Exiles to help him sync the Tallus to the Crystal and attack the Timebroker directly.[15] Unfortunately for him, they encountered the Weapon X Hyperion in the Timebroker's citadel, and the first thing that Hyperion did was to crack his exoskeleton open and absorb Holocaust's bio-energy into himself, literally inhaling the villain. Holocaust appears to have died in the process.[16]
Powers and abilities
Holocaust possessed enhanced strength, endurance, reflexes, and physical invulnerability. He also possessed the power to generate highly destructive bio-nuclear microwave energy blasts and could drain the life-force from others to charge his phasing and shape-shifting crystalline exo-armor, which granted him extra protection from physical harm.
Other Versions
Earth-616
First mentioned in Stryfe's Stryke File, the Earth-616 version of Holocaust does not need a containment suit and is a silent killer.
Also, while never confirmed on-panel, it has been theorized by fans that Fever Pitch is actually the Marvel-616 counterpart of Holocaust. This is due to the fact that their mutant powers both reduced them to nothing more than living flaming skeletons (with highly similar appearances to each other), as well as the fact that Holocaust's Marvel-616 counterpart has yet to actually be revealed.
Other media
Television
- Holocaust makes a brief cameo appearance in the X-Men: The Animated Series episode "One Man's Worth."
Video Games
- Holocaust appears as a boss in the video game X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse voiced by Peter Lurie. He's a horseman of Apocalypse based at the Madri Temple and is the protector of the Stepford Cuckoos (who he refers to as the Trinity). He appears during the battle with the Stepford Cuckoos.
Toys
- Although the packaging refers to him as "Dark Nemesis", an action figure of Holocaust was made by Toy Biz in a ninja themed series of X-Men figures during the '90s.
- A Holocaust build-a-figure in the fourth series of Hasbro's Marvel Legends was released in 2009.
References
External links
- Holocaust at Marvel.com
- Uncannyxmen.net bio on Holocaust