ABYSS
Earth-295

Real Name: Nils Styger

Identity/Class: Alternate Earth (Earth-295), human mutant

Occupation: None, formerly Horseman of Apocalypse

Group Membership: None
    formerly Horsemen of Apocalypse (Holocaust/Nemesis, Mr. Sinister/Nathaniel Essex)

Affiliations: Apocalypse (En Sabah Nur), Brotherhood of Chaos (Arclight, Copycat/Vanessa Carlysle, Infinites, Madri, Prelate Alex Summers, Prelate Scott Summers, Shadow King

Enemies: Bastion, Bishop, Jamie Madrox, X-Men (Banshee/Sean Cassidy, Dazzler/Alison Blaire, Exodus/Bennett du Paris, Iceman/Bobby Drake, Storm/Ororo Munroe, Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff-Lensherr)

Known Relatives: Raven Darkholme (mother, deceased), Kurt Wagner (half-brother, deceased)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: The Madri Temple, Quebec, Canada;
    formerly Portland, Maine;
    formerly Apocalypse's Citadel, Apocalypse Island, New York;
    formerly The Pens, Apocalypse Island, New York;

First Appearance: X-Men Alpha I#1 (February, 1995)

Powers/Abilities: Abyss is a mutant whose body forms a portal to another dimension. It is possible this may be the same dimension that Nightcrawler travels through when he teleports. Abyss is also able to stretch his physical form into tendril-like appendages which he uses to capture victims. Once wrapped, he can absorb some of their strength and then deposit them in his pocket dimension. It is unknown whether anything can survive in this pocket dimension; it is possible that someday some of his victims could escape. Abyss also has limited mental abilities: his signature move is a psionic tremor that causes agony in anyone subjected to it. He also showed signs of limited telepathy or empathy. Abyss' body appears to be transparent, but the apparent emptiness is part of the portal to the pocket dimension he is connected to.

Height: Variable
Weight: Variable
Eyes: Electric blue
Hair: Blue

History:

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: X-Men - Age of Apocalypse 2005 I#1) - Most of Nils Styger's early days are shrouded in mystery. He is the son of Mystique but neither he nor Nightcrawler realize they are brothers. Once Apocalypse rose to power, he was among the many mutants captured and taken to the Pens, Sinister's laboratory complex located underneath Apocalyse's base on the island formerly known as Manhattan.

(Amazing X-Men I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Styger managed to break free from the Pens. Rather than escape, he fought his way into Apocalypse's lair where he faced and assassinated the Horsemen known as Bastion.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: X-Men - Age of Apocalypse 2005 I#1) - Impressed by the boy's tenacity, Apocalypse made him his youngest Horseman. Styger changed his name to Abyss and soon gained a reputation for being cruel, capricious and a devout follower of his master's teachings. People who served him risked death for even the slightest error.

(Amazing X-Men I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Abyss once faced Quicksilver but was unable to defeat him. He was looking forward to the day he could exact his revenge (see comments).

(Age of Apocalypse: The Chosen I#1 - BTS) - Apocalypse counted Abyss and the other Horsemen Holocaust, Mr. Sinister and Mikhail Rasputin among his Chosen, a group he deemed worthy of survival. However, he noted that he actively cultivated their internal power struggles in order to weed out the weak even among the strongest. After all, in the new world he was building there was only place for the genetically worthy led by himself.

(X-Men Alpha I#1 (fb) - BTS) - When En Sabah Nur summoned his Horsemen to him for an important meeting, Abyss returned to Apocalypse Island (formerly known as Manhattan).

(X-Men Alpha I#1) - Abyss tried to make light of the fact Mikhail Rasputin had chosen to ignore Apocalype's summons. But Holocaust would hear nothing of while he reminded Abyss and Mr. Sinister that as caretakers of a quarter of Apocalypse's sovereign nation, they had responsibilities most grave. His sanctimonious preaching was interrupted by Apocalypse who wasted no time in announcing the time had come to unleash a full scale genetic war to cleanse the globe of mankind once and for all.

(Weapon X I#1) - Abyss and Holocaust were still meeting with Apocalypse when Weapon X and Jean Grey rode a Sentinel onto the Great Sea Wall to retrieve classified intelligence. They received reports of prelate Alex Summers' attempts to stop them and were present when Summers became fused to a Sentinel hand after a teleportation mishap. Holocaust chided Abyss for making light of the situation, especially when it became clear Hank McCoy had to break out a bonesaw to free Summers.

(Amazing X-Men I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Apocalypse tasked Abyss with stopping the Eurasian Human High Council from helping humans escape North America. Learning that the Council was sending its fleet of Sentinels to Maine, Abyss took a number of Madri and the Brotherhood of Chaos to stop them. He remained in the ship while the Brotherhood infiltrated the thousands of humans who had flocked to the pick up point in Booth Bay Harbor. Abyss was particularly pleased when the X-Men showed up to help, led by the son of Magneto.

(Amazing X-Men I#1) - Abyss kidnapped Jeremy Graves, a small boy, keeping him wrapped up in his tendrils as part of his plan to lure Quicksilver to him.

(Amazing X-Men I#2) - Abyss took Jeremy to his ship where he passed the time by gleefully torturing the child. He let Jeremy think there was a chance to escape only to wrap him up again while telling him Apocalypse would come for the humans even if they fled to Europe. He assured the crying child that soon the abyss would swallow all.

(Amazing X-Men I#2 - BTS) - When a Madri cardinal returned to the ship after failing to stop the X-Men from connecting with the human evacuees, Abyss decided to kill him for failing to live up to Apocalypse's rule. As he was being murdered, the man even thanked him. Abyss left his mutilated corpse on a cross outside the ship.

(Amazing X-Men I#2) - Banshee was looking for the Madri and came across the ship where he spotted the body of the priest. Abyss immediately introduced himself to the X-Man, telling him he was Apocalypse's latest, greatest and newest Horseman. Abyss horrified Banshee by producing the scared Jeremy Graves from his body. Sean offered himself for the child's freedom, but Abyss explained he wanted Quicksilver because he "had a score to settle with that arrogant speedster".

(Amazing X-Men I#2 - BTS) - Banshee returned to his teammates to tell Quicksilver of Abyss and his demands. While he waited, Abyss decided to have a little fun and targeted the nearby human encampment with a psionic tremor that caused dozens to shriek out in agony. He then drained some of Jeremy Graves' lifeforce before spitting the boy out.

(Amazing X-Men I#2) - Pietro wanted to go and face Abyss alone, but Storm insisted that she accompanied him. Once they reached the Madri ship, Storm was the first to encounter the still form of Jeremy Graves. While she tended to the boy, Abyss made his presence known, mocking and lambasting the X-Men for wasting their potential as mutants by helping humans. Quicksilver was unimpressed with the villain's boasting and used his super speed to force Abyss' tendril-like body into his own dimensional portal. Abyss was unable to stop himself from disappearing out of sight.

(Amazing X-Men I#3 - BTS) - Abyss soon reappeared and was granted a chance to redeem himself. He was sent to Quebec to help the Madri interrogate Bishop, the X-Men's mysterious new ally who possessed secrets about alternate worlds worlds that Apocalypse wanted to unlock from his mind.

(Amazing X-Men I#3) - Abyss watched how the Shadow King failed to fully read Bishop's mind. Despite all his mental might, the King's psi probes only got surface memories of Bishop's life on a world where his old opponent Charles Xavier was still alive. When Bishop even managed to drive the King out, the Madri were left to wonder what all of this could mean. The sadistic Abyss slammed them aside with his tendrils, only to curl over the strapped down Bishop to proclaim that the secrets in that man's head might spell the end for the age of Apocalypse and that was something he simply wasn't going to allow.

(Amazing X-Men I#4) - Expecting the X-Men would try and rescue Bishop, Abyss waited around for them in the Madri temple. When the three man team of Banshee, Storm and Quicksilver showed up, Abyss allowed Storm to free Bishop because he expected the Madri could handle them. He focused on Quicksilver and Banshee who tried to liberate Jamie Madrox, the mutant who was the original template for all the Madri. Abyss made his presence known, toying with his opponents and taunting them with the fact that he could sense both their fear and the despair of Storm and Bishop who he suspected had about five minutes left to live.

(Amazing X-Men I#4) - Fed up, Banshee ordered Quicksilver to get Madrox and the others to safety. Then, conquering his own fear of death, he dove into the form of the perplexed Abyss where he unleashed the full force of his wail. Banshee's continued sonic shrieks tore up the villain's insides, seemingly killing Abyss and trapping Sean Cassidy inside the pocket dimension.

(Age of Apocalypse I#4 - BTS) - Eventually, Sugar Man and Dark Beast recovered genetic material from Abyss and dozens of other deceased mutants to create clones. The villains then decided which ones they were going to properly resurrect using energy they fed off of a Celestial lifeseed. Abyss was on the cusp of being brought back, but the facility was attacked by X-Terminated member Deadeye (Zora Risman) who damaged the pod Abyss was in, killing the clone in the process.

Comments: Created by Scott Lobdell & Mark Waid, Roger Cruz & Steve Epting, Tim Townsend & Dan Panosian