The X-Men have experienced a few alternate realities and timelines over the years, but none have had as big an impact as the The Age of Apocalypse. And even though it was a limited event, unique characters from the timeline managed to escape to the mainstream reality. THE The Age of Apocalypse itself has also returned in several ways over the years, further underscoring the storyline’s enduring popularity. The last return will take place in the next X-Men of the Apocalypse by Jeph Loeb and Simone Di Meo, when the fan favorite AoA the team is moving into the mainstream world.
The revealed cover images of the series also heralded the return of one of the most popular films. AoA Exiles, Nate Grey. He is one of the most powerful mutants the world has ever seen, although his journey from The Age of Apocalypse on his next return to X-Men of the Apocalypse is a roller coaster with plenty of ups and downs that befit a multiversal outcast like X-Man. He went from a rebellious, overpowered teenager to a mysterious New York celebrity to a multiversal mutant shaman and creator of worlds, but Nate Gray still hasn’t found his place among the X-Men.
Nate Gray was created in the Age of Apocalypse
THE The Age of Apocalypse was created when omega-level mutant David Haller/Legion, the son of Professor Charles Xavier, traveled back in time. He did this in a misguided attempt to kill Magneto to ensure that his father’s dream of mutant and human coexistence would be easier to achieve. Unfortunately, young Xavier dove before the fatal blow intended for Magneto, radically altering the timeline. The psychic reverberation of his death led to the early awakening of Apocalypse, who took advantage of a world without Xavier. Magneto was weakened during the battle against Apocalypse, but he was able to survive and assemble his own team which he named the X-Men in honor of his deceased friend.
Apocalypse gathered his own mutant army and conquered North America on his principle of “survival of the fittest”. Mutants have taken over and enslaved humanity, which has become genetic material for the Horsemen of the Apocalypse to experiment on. Sinister was one of these horsemen, although he sought a different future for mutants. To this end, and much like the mainstream Sinister universe, he decided to combine powerful mutant genetics to create a weapon he could aim against the Apocalypse. On Earth-616, Jean Grey’s death forced Sinister to create a clone named Madelyne Pryor so he could continue his plans. This led to the birth of Nathan Summers, although Apocalypse sensed the youth’s power and infected him with a techno-organic virus to negate the threat. He was raised in the future to become Cable and remained an ever-present thorn in Apocalypse’s side, but he was never able to reach his full potential.
Things were different in the AoA universe, and Sinister was able to acquire the genetic material of Scott Summers/Cyclops (one of his mutant lieutenants/prelates) and the still-living Jean Grey, who was briefly held captive by Apocalypse. This meant that the created child who would become Nate Gray had the full genetic potential of the Summers and Gray line at his disposal, with no techno-organic virus to hold him back. The powerful mutant was artificially raised to the age of a teenager and only intermittently left to experience snippets of childhood. Cyclops secretly turned on Apocalypse and began freeing captured mutants like Grey, although he was unaware of their family connection. Nate Gray eventually found a new home with a traveling performance troupe that was also a secret resistance cell made up of mutants led by Forge. However, Sinister kept tabs on the group by posing as a mutant named Essex.
Gray was a target due to his incredible telepathic and telekinetic abilities that Forge was teaching him to control, although it also threatened to burn his young body before he reached adulthood. Apocalypse and the X-Men were looking for him, but it wasn’t until Essex revealed himself and killed Forge that Nate Gray decided to really get into the fight. He infiltrated Apocalypse’s Citadel and entered into a brutal fight with Apocalypse’s son, Holocaust, while Magneto’s X-Men stormed the fortress to rescue their leader from Apocalypse. The Holocaust pushed Nate Gray to the limits of his power, forcing him to use an unknown element in battle. He retrieved a fragment of the M’Kraan Crystal, stolen earlier by Gambit and his X-Ternals to help correct the timeline. Gray used the crystal to pierce Holocaust’s armor. However, the Multiversal Crystal activated instead, transporting them both to reality 616 just as it had been restored by the AoA X-Men in a brutal, climactic battle that cost them everything.
His exile on Earth-616 left him alone and hunted
After his battle against Holocaust (who will remain one of X-Man’s most powerful villains), Nate Gray woke up in the snowy mountains of Switzerland. He was disoriented and still in shock following his stay at the The Age of Apocalypsewhich made him very suspicious. His arrival on the planet does not go unnoticed, and he quickly becomes a hunted mutant. His first encounter with Xavier’s astral form went terribly, although he demonstrated his incredible psionic potential by forcing Xavier from the astral plane, something no other telepath had ever accomplished. He was also hunted by Sugar Man and Dark Beast, two fellow exiles from the AoA who each managed to escape into the dominant reality as well.
He started traveling once he accepted he was no longer in the The Age of Apocalypseand was thrilled to be able to experience a world that wasn’t torn apart by a mutant/human war. He even had a traveling companion in the form of a returned Madelyne Pryor, which raised some interesting questions since she had been dead for years at that point. However, his psychic energy remained, and Nate Grey, in his immediate confusion after arriving in the Earth-616 reality, instinctively called for his mother. His incredible power reached the psychic ghost of Madelyne Pryor and, unknowingly, he created a new body for her. This created a lasting bond between them ranging from romantic to possessive as Pryor returned to his old evil ways.
Grey’s previous encounter with Xavier made him a target of Onslaught, who captured the AoA exile to add his power to the psychic being’s growing collection. Gray briefly worked with the X-Men and teams like X-Force during this time, although he was not trusted by them. Even after saving him from the Apocalypse, he refused to stay with his fellow mutants. However, he decides to stay in New York, where he meets a few friends and becomes a local celebrity. His powers had only increased, allowing him to perform small “miracles” as his powers manifested in new and unstable ways. This brought him to the attention of Spider-Man, and the two quickly bonded and formed a lasting friendship. While Pryor had left him for his own evil plans, he had met and fallen in love with another of Sinister’s slaves, a powerful mutant named Threnody. She was forced to betray Nate Gray after spending a lot of time together, and it was even implied that she conceived his child while they were together before apparently being killed by Pryor.
This left Nate Gray alone again and he began to wander the world he was just beginning to feel comfortable in. However, it gave him a chance to connect with Cyclops and Phoenix from his new world, who were hoping to establish a connection with their alternate reality “son”. Gray also began wearing Cyclops’ old X-Factor costume during this time to show their new connection. He had also met Cable several times since arriving in their world, although their similarities caused devastating psionic feedback that prevented them from spending too much time together. Nate Gray was designed to be a weapon with incredible power, and despite his best efforts, that power kept him alone and separated from the rest of the mutants. Ironically, this would allow him to take a big step forward and step into a new role that would change the character forever.
Gray traveled the world spiral as a mutant shaman
Warren Ellis and Steven Grant took over X-Man when rebranding “Counter-X” and radically evolved the character into a new role. After years of increasing his powers, he ascended to another plane where he was transformed into a mutant shaman. This change occurred when a dark multiversal Madelyne Pryor had taken over her world and used the powers of many “failed” Nate Grays to continue to conquer as the Red Queen. However, the AoANate was able to fight back and increase his power even further by absorbing Nate Grey’s final shaman mark into himself and allowing him to perceive and travel the Spiral of Worlds.
In his new role as a mutant shaman, he protected Earth from the dark worlds below him in the Spiral. Monsters summoned by dark mutant corporate sects were fended off by Nate Grey, while facing all-powerful beings from higher up the spiral who wanted to destroy everything below them. It was a very focused and contained era that didn’t care much about side characters or the friends or family it made along the way. His time as a mutant shaman was short and often forgotten, given how drastically history changed the character. However, this continues to play an important role in its development, although it also led to its demise.
Gray eventually encountered a powerful alien known as the Harvester, whose race had seeded the Earth with life-creating elements that ultimately resulted in the birth of humanity. The Reaper returned to Earth, ready to cultivate his “harvest” of humanity, although he soon discovered that he could not extend his control over the only mutant found in a small town in Kansas, where he first arrived. Gray soon realized that the only way to stop the Reaper was to sacrifice his own life and pour his psionic energy into the same genetic code being harvested, tainting it with mutant energy and rendering the people of Earth unusable for the alien race. It was a strange end to the mutant shaman’s strange life, but it saved the entire planet and left a small back door open for his eventual return.
The Resurrection and Return of X-Man as the New Mutant
Other AoA exiles like Dark Beast continued to play a role in events over the years, such as in Norman Osborn’s film. Dark Reign. The former Green Goblin turned Iron Patriot decided to create his own Dark X-Men team after the success he had with his Dark Avengers. AoA Dark Beast was part of this short-lived list, and during that time he helped investigate a city that had fallen into a deep trance. They were under the control of Nate Grey, who used them to anchor himself until he was able to replenish his body, even though he was in a weakened state. He tried to get help from the Avengers, but Osborn had obviously taken over the team. Nate Gray was defeated and imprisoned in Dark Beast’s Omega Device, which absorbed his power and transferred it to Weapon Omega, a member of the Dark X-Men.
The New Mutants finally freed Nate Gray from the machine, which had fallen into Sugar Man’s possession. It was the time of the X-Men’s utopia, so Cyclops was in charge of the entire mutant island off the coast of San Francisco. Although a recovering Nate Gray still wasn’t sold on the idea of working with Cyclops or the X-Men, he wanted to stay nearby after his final resurrection. He joined the reformed New Mutants, who had become one of Cyclops’ most trusted attack teams. Almost every member also had a long history with Cable, so helping Nate Gray find his place became a priority for them.
Nate Gray actually thrived as the New Mutant and even began a romantic relationship with team leader Dani Moonstar. Unfortunately, the new roster of New Mutants disbanded after Avengers vs. X-Menleaving Nate Gray alone again. However, Gray was no longer content to travel the world. After all, he was still the mutant shaman and felt a responsibility to his so-called “tribe”. This led him on a new path to regain his lost power, with enormous repercussions that nearly made him the very thing he was created to destroy.
Nate Gray returned to create his Age of X-Man
During the X-Men Disassembled In the storyline, Nate Gray returned once again with a new appearance that swaps his shamanic style for an evil messiah look. He had regained his powers and more thanks to one of Apocalypse’s life seeds, created from celestial technology. However, he learned that he was dying again, which motivated him to try to repair the world before it became the reality he escaped from so long ago. He used his new abilities to take control of David Haller/Legion and converted Magneto, Omega Red, Storm and Blob into his Horsemen of Salvation to eliminate the X-Men so they could not stop his plans.
Gray revealed to the world that he was their savior and planned to remake the world in his image during World War II. Age of X-Man. Nate Gray created an entirely new realm into which he transported most of the X-Men, supposedly dead in the main reality. Gray reshaped history with him at the center of the X-Men, with mutants also being remade in his image. However, some mutants fought back and were eventually able to convince Nate Gray that in trying to save the world, he ultimately followed the same path as Apocalypse on his world, even though he had altruistic motivations. Gray agreed to return the X-Men to their original reality, while the aspect of Magneto he created in the Age of X-Man reality agreed to stay with him and help him rebuild. That was the last time fans saw Nate Grey, at least until X-Men of the Apocalypse Alpha #1.
The question led to AoA X-Men to what they called Xavier’s reality, where they were encountered by Nate Gray as he fell from the sky with energy around him. However, this version of Nate Gray looks like AoA version instead of the Age of X-Man version, so it is possible that this Nate Gray is also from the The Age of Apocalypse and traveled with the team to the dominant reality without them knowing. Or is it the Age of X-Man Nate Grey, who has returned to his original look, which seems more likely given the passage of time AoA universe. Anyway, X-Men of the Apocalypse #1 will kick off an exciting new chapter for Nate Gray after a very long and confusing journey as the X-Man.