BIOGRAPHY - Page 4
Angel and Candy Southern moved to Colorado to a mountain chalet he called "Angel's Aerie." When the X-Men encountered the Hellfire Club’s Inner Circle, they came to Warren for help, as he had inherited membership in the Club from his father. Warren arranged some invitations for one of the Club’s parties and, while the team went to New York to check out the Hellfire Club, he remained behind with Professor Xavier. Sensing that Xavier was not comfortable with Cyclops and the X-Men acting so independently from him, Angel listened to Xavier’s concerns. [X-Men (1st series) #132-133]
Among the ranks of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle was Mastermind, whose manipulation caused Phoenix’s change into the cosmic powered Dark Phoenix and ultimately to destroy an entire, inhabited solar system. As the system was a constituent world in their empire, the Shi’ar demanded her death and Warren battled alongside the X-Men when they dueled the Imperial Guard over Phoenix’s fate. When all X-Men were defeated, Jean committed suicide, as she already felt Dark Phoenix gaining control again. Since Cyclops left the X-Men to grieve, Angel came back to the team so that they weren't left shorthanded.
However, Warren’s long time without training had taken its toll and, in a Danger Room session, he nearly caused Nightcrawler to receive grevious injuries. [X-Men (1st series) #137-139]
Over time, Angel's skills returned and he came to be a good advisor to Xavier. He got along well with most of the new X-Men, save Wolverine. After a few run-ins with him, Warren finally quit the team, because he could no longer stand Wolverine's savage attitude. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #148]
The Angel did not know that, very soon, he would need the X-Men’s help again. Without warning, he and Candy were ambushed in their penthouse in Manhattan and Warren was taken into the sewers below the city. In the old subway tunnels beneath the city, the X-Men encountered a large community of ugly mutants called Morlocks. Callisto, their leader, considered Warren the most beautiful man alive and wanted to marry him. The X-Men were outnumbered and there was only one chance to rescue their former teammate. Storm dared Callisto to a one-on-one duel and, by stabbing her in the heart, she assumed leadership of the Morlocks. She then cut Warren loose from his restraints and the team immediately headed for the surface. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #169-170]
A short while later, Angel joined his former teammates, Iceman and the Beast, in reforming the Defenders as a permanent team, along with Valkyrie, the Gargoyle and Moondragon. [Defenders (1st series) #125] Adapting the Aerie as their base of operations, the Defenders also nominated Candy Southern as their "leader" and business manager. The Defenders battled such opponents as the Mutant Force, Leviathan and the Walrus. Shortly after the New Defenders were formed, they were captured by Professor Power and the Secret Empire. Power insanely blamed Charles Xavier for the mind-death of his own son, Matthew, and attempted to brainwash the former X-Men and their fellow Defenders into assassinating Xavier's latest "children," the New Mutants. Moondragon helped the team fight off Power's influence and together the group disabled Power's plans and defeated the Secret Empire. As a result, the New Defenders were given official government clearance.
Months later, however, Moondragon lost her inner struggle with a mystic entity known as the Dragon of the Moon and was taken over by it. Driven to doing evil, Moondragon lashed out at her former teammates with her mental powers. Since she never liked the way Warren had looked at her (though she herself had telepathically caused him to feel attracted to her), she decided to remove his sight before escaping to whereabouts unknown. [Defenders (1st series) #143-144]
In the following weeks, Warren had his eyes examined by many doctors but none could help--he was blind. This also meant that he could not fly anymore, at least not alone. In several occasions, his teammate, Cloud, accompanied him in mist form and helped him navigate. [Defenders (1st series) #146]
Finally, Moondragon returned to finish what she had started – the destruction of the Defenders. She placed the three former X-Men in situations where they had to rescue friends and loved ones, keeping them away from the fight.
Cruelly, she even restored Warren’s sight, only the first thing he saw was his love Candy Southern upside down, with a knife slowly cutting her throat.
While the three mutants succeeded in their tests, the other Defenders sacrificed their lives to defeat Moondragon. Their ally, Interloper, could use his powers as an Eternal to stop the Dragon of the Moon, but he needed extra lifeforce to completely destroy it. When Beast, Angel and Iceman returned to the scene, they found both their allies and their enemy had been turned to dust. [Defenders (1st series) #152]
A short time later, after the Enclave upset a psionic cocoon at the bottom of the Hudson River, the Avengers found it and brought it to their mansion to examine. They asked Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four to determine what the object was. Richards accidentally opened the cocoon, releasing the real Jean Grey from a comatose state she had been put in when Phoenix took over her life. They called Angel and he brought her up to speed with the world. Jean was shocked at the state of mutant affairs, as well as the fact that the X-Men had accepted Magneto as a member, and wanted to do something about it.
Warren agreed and convinced Iceman and Beast to join their new X-Factor team. To lead them, they recruited Cyclops, who was shocked to see Jean because, in her absence, he had married a woman named Madelyne Pryor and had a son named Nathan. Still, Cyclops left his wife to return to his true love. Warren and his old friend, Cameron Hodge, came up with the idea behind X-Factor, which was to pose as mutant hunting humans to police evil mutants and recruit innocent mutants to help them learn how to use their powers. They also worked as mutant freedom fighters in disguise, as a team known as the X-Terminators. [X-Factor (1st series) #1]