Notable Absences
When the crossover was published in 1995, almost every major mutant who had been created by that point was adapted into the Age of Apocalypse. There were a few exceptions though and, whilst some have appeared in subsequent stories, others have not. The following is a list of characters that remain unaccounted for:-
- Alpha Flight (Diamond Lil, Goblyn, Guardian, Manikin, Marrina, Pathway, Puck, Sasquatch, Snowbird and Vindicator) - Unknown
- Boom Boom – Unknown
- Cable – Whilst Nate Grey is a close counterpart, Cable doesn’t have a true one
- Kylun - without Excalibur / Widget, he still would be a child
- Longshot - Originally, Mojo was attracted to Earth because its television broadcasting was received in the Mojoverse too. The AoA Earth doesn’t look like a place with high running TV programs, so Mojo might never have interfered and Longshot apparently never got stranded on Earth.
- Meggan - Unknown
- Micromax - As a British mutant, he might have been hunted down by Sentinels
- Phoenix III (Rachel Grey)- Her status as chronal anomaly would have protected her like Bishop, yet shortly before the crossover, Rachel had entered the timestream to trade places with Captain Britain.
- Revanche - given AoA Psylocke’s distinctively Asian features, it is presumed that Kwannon was somehow merged/switched with Betsy Braddock. It is unknown, however, what became of Kwannon afterwards
- Rusty - Unknown
- Shatterstar - same as with Longshot
- Warpath - Unknown
Characters created for the crossover
The crossover allowed the various writers not only to re-imagine existing characters but also to create new ones. Some of these new characters would go on to receive 616 counterparts at a later date, whilst others would not. Some of the unknown characters could be analogies of existing characters but, without being identified on panel, we will never know.
The characters who received their 616 counterpart after being in the AoA were:-
- Abyss
- Damask (Emma Steed)
- Jesse Aaronson (Bedlam)
- Rex
- Terrance Aaronson (King Bedlam)
- Vincente
The characters that have yet to have an identifiable known counterpart are:-
- Arclight (not the Marauder)
- Artemis
- Chang, Tommy
- Clegg
- Dead-eye
- Deadeye (Zora Risman)
- Death I
- DuPris, Samantha
- Fiend (Francesca Trask)
- Holocaust
- Know-It-All
- Lehnsherr, Charles
- Mangle
- Moonstar
- Newt
- Quietus
- Slocum
- Sugar Man
- Switchback
- Wolverine (not Logan)
- Vultura
- X-23 (Kirika Yashida)
- X-Man
The St. Croix siblings status has changed over the years since the crossover was first published. In 616 continuity at the time of the Age of Apocalypse, Monet St. Croix (M) was a part of Generation X, whereas her sisters Nicole and Claudette had yet to appear. In actual fact, the being known as Penance was Monet St. Croix and M was her amalgamated twin sisters. When the AoA was created, though, this wasn’t known and so the Generation Next member Know-It-All was assumed to be Monet (even though at one point she is referred to as Claudia). At the end of 1996, a few one-shots were released detailing untold stories from the Age of Apocalypse and the twin sisters, the Monets, debuted. This was a hint to the eventual reveal of the complicated 616 relationship of Monet and her sisters. Then in 2011, the Age of Apocalypse series was launched that debuted a resurrected Monet St. Croix, casting doubt over her ever being Know-It-All. The simple solution to this is that Know-It-All is another sibling called Claudia and that Monet had been missing or dead during the initial crossover.
Moonstar of the Pale Riders appeared very dead after Damask butchered her in X-Calibre #2. If she was not the Moonstar who appeared with the Morlocks, that character has never been properly identified.
Contrary to popular belief, Nate Grey is not the direct counterpart to Cable. Nate’s parents are Jean Grey and Scott Summers whereas Cable’s are Madelyne Pryor and Scott Summers. Their mothers may be genetically identical but they remain two very different women. This means that Cable and Nate Grey are essentially alternate reality brothers.
Weapon Omega’s Black Legion seemed to comprise up of amalgamated characters, such as Grimm Chamber, who appeared to have the powers of both Chamber and the Thing. It is unknown as to whether any of these characters were the true counterparts to the 616 heroes but it is very unlikely. The probable scenario is that they are creations designed by one of the AoA’s numerous scientists, using DNA from multiple powered individuals.
Whilst a number of characters abandoned the timeline over the years, only a few remain active on Earth-616. By the end of the X-Termination event, only Nate Grey and Prophet are safely confirmed to be living there. Previous escapees Holocaust, Hatchet-9, Rastus, Blob, Iceman and Nightcrawler are all seemingly dead. Although they survived the X-Termination, Dark Beast and Sugar Man were later killed as well. While Sabretooth died, Blink is still operating as part of the Exiles outside of the AoA.