HOLOCAUST
Earth-295

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Alternate Earth (Earth-295), human mutant, citizen of the United States (see comments)

Occupation: None, formerly Horseman of Apocalypse

Group Membership: None;
    formerly Exiles (Blink/Clarice Ferguson, Mimic of Earth-12/Calvin Rankin, Morph of Earth-1081/Kevin Sidney, Namora of Earth-2189, Sabretooth/Victor Creed), Horsemen of Apocalypse (Abyss/Nils Styger, Bastion, Mikhail Rasputin, Mr. Sinister/Nathaniel Essex), Onslaught's lieutenants (Blob/Fred J. Dukes, Mimic/Calvin Rankin, Post/Kevin Tremain)

Affiliations: Dark Beast (Hank McCoy), Infinites, Engineer Krakken, Madri, Onslaught, prelate Alex Summers, prelate Alex Summers, Sage of Earth-616, Sebastian Shaw of Earth-616, Sugar Man, Wolverine

Enemies: Acolytes of Earth-616 (Barnacle/Mortimer Everett, Rusty Collins, Colossus/Peter Rasputin, Marco Delgado, Exodus/Bennet du Paris, Frenzy/Joanna Cargill, Javitz/Isaac Javitz, Kleinstocks/Harlan & Sven Kleinstock, Milan, Rem-Ram/Marcus Andrews, Scanner, Skids/Sally Blevins, Unuscione/Carmella Unuscione, Amelia Voght), Avengers of Earth-616 (Captain America/Steve Rogers, Giant-Man/Hank Pym, Iron Man of Earth-9620/Tony Stark, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff, Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff, Wasp/Janet van Dyne), Blastaar, Hyperion of Earth-4023 (Mark Milton), Marauders of Earth-616 (Cassandra Nova, Psylocke/Kwannon, Somnus/Carl Valentino, Tempo/Heather Tucker, Zzzxx), Madelyne Prior of Earth-616, Shi'ar (commander Kai'tra, unidentified others), Threnody of Earth-616, X-Force of Earth-616 (Boomer/Tabita Smith, Cable/Nathan Summers, Caliban, Domino, Shatterstar/Gaveedra Seven, Siryn/Theresa Rourke, Sunspot/Roberto da Costa, Warpath/Jimmy Proudstar), X-Men (Banshee/Sean Cassidy, Blink/Clarice Ferguson, Dazzler/Alison Blaire, Exodus/Bennett du Paris, Iceman/Bobby Drake, Magneto/Erik Magnus Lehnsherr, Morph/Kevin Sydney, M.O.D.O.K./'Charles Xavier', Nightcrawler/Kurt Darkholme, Psylocke/Betsy Braddock, Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff-Lensherr, Rogue/Anna Marie Lensherr, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff Lensherr, Sabretooth/Victor Creed, Silver Samurai/Kenuicho Harada, Storm/Ororo Munroe, Sunfire/Shiro Yoshida, Weapon X/Logan, Wild Child/Kyle Gibney), X-Men of Earth-616 (Cyclops/Scott Summers, Jean Grey)

Known Relatives: Apocalypse (alleged father, deceased)

Aliases: Nemesis (codename before transformation), "flying furnace" (nickname used by Threnody), "Holly" (nickname used by Hyperion)

Base of Operations: Panoptichron;
    formerly mobile on Earth-616;
    formerly Earth-616 Sebastian Shaw's New York city safe house, New York;
    formerly Apocalypse's citadel;
    formerly mobile throughout the United States;
    formerly Japan;
    formerly Wundagore Mountain, Transia

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

Powers/Abilities: Holocaust was a mutant able to absorb life energy, directly siphoning it from his victims and leaving them drained, burned up husks. He used the energy he stole to increase his strength and project energy blasts. As Nemesis, he was also able to redirect that energy into a negation effect of others' powers. He seemingly didn't retain that ability when he lost his physical form. Holocaust is psi-sensitive. Holocaust could sense and track down particular energy signatures from miles away. Holocaust's skin and vital organs were completely burned away, leaving him a flaming skeleton in a transparent life support containment suit. The left arm of the suit was fashioned into a multi-barrelled hand cannon which allowed him to fire his energy beams. Holocaust could launch himself into the air and achieve sustained flight by blasting his energy weapon. Holocaust's armor could make him appear human for extended periods of time, though he needed to consume additional biomass and life energy to make that work. If he left the suit, he risked eventually dissipating and fading away.

Height: 6'3"
Weight: 240 lbs.
Eyes: Red (blue as Nemesis)
Hair: None (blond as Nemesis)

History:

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: X-Men - Age of Apocalypse 2005 I#1) - Even as a young boy, the mutant known as Nemesis claimed to be Apocalypse's son. From a very early age he was a ruthless follower of his father's belief in the survival of the fittest.

(Marauders II#5 (fb) - BTS) - For his seventh birthday, Nemesis culled all of Earth's symbiotes.

(X-Men Chronicles I#1) - Eager to prove himself in the eyes of Apocalypse, Nemesis accepted the mission to attack the X-Men's base in Transia and kill as many of Magneto's students as he could. After climbing Mount Wundagore, he made his presence known when he blasted a school facility which killed several of the younger students. With Magneto and most of the X-Men away on a mission, he faced the team's most recent recruit Rogue and Wanda Maximoff, who actually managed to hurt him with her mutant probability powers. Unable to let this slight slide, he focused his attentions on Wanda, fatally wounding her before being forced to retreat.

(X-Men Chronicles I#1 - BTS) - Wanda Maximoff died, but not before warning Rogue that the X-Men were no longer safe on Wundagore Mountain.

(Gambit and the X-Ternals I#1 (fb) - BTS) - During the battles of succession, Nemesis killed Candra which further cemented his claim to become a Horseman.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: X-Men - Age of Apocalypse 2005 I#1) - After his successes on Wundagore and against Candra in New Orleans, Nemesis was embraced by Apocalypse as his newest Horseman.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: X-Men - Age of Apocalypse 2005 I#1) - Apocalypse took Nemesis when he launched a blitzkrieg assault on Europe and Asia. In Japan, Nemesis helped him murder thousands of humans. He also proved instrumental in capturing the country's national hero Sunfire.

(Astonishing X-Men I#2 (fb) ) - Nemesis restrained Sunfire and presented him to Apocalypse who was bathing in a river of blood. Apocalypse then delighted in drowning Shiro Yashida in the blood of his freshly killed relatives and countrymen.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: X-Men - Age of Apocalypse 2005 I#1) - Before he could drown, Sunfire unleashed a nuclear level plasma blast to free himself. Nemesis absorbed the blast, saving himself and Apocalypse. Now charged with Sunfire's energies, Nemesis was placed in charge of Japan while Apocalypse moved on. He found himself opposed by a small band of X-Men led by Magneto who grew incensed when Nemesis bearly killed Quicksilver. The thought of losing another child to the villain angered the master of magnetism so much that he used his powers to tear his opponent apart from the inside. The burnt body of Nemesis was left for dead on the battlefield.


(X-Men Chronicles I#2 (fb) ) - Nemesis was quietly retrieved by Beast who began work to restore his life by encasing his remains in a suit of armor of his own design.

(X-Man Annual I#97 (fb) - BTS) - Henry McCoy secretly put a number of features and fail-safes into the armor that he never told Holocaust about. As a result, Holocaust did not know the armor could restore his human appearance. Beast decided to keep this to himself because of their antagonistic history.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: X-Men - Age of Apocalypse 2005 I#1) - Reborn in his new armored form, Nemesis took on the name Holocaust and began work to reclaim his position as Horseman again. His enthusiasm for mass murder quickly got him back to his former position of power as caretaker of a quarter of Apocalypse's realm.

(Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: X-Men - Age of Apocalypse 2005 I#1) - Holocaust led an army of Infinites to Canada where he began to slaughter the population which was trying to evacuate to Iceland. Holocaust wiped out Canada's superhero team Beta Flight except for the feral mutant Wild Child who he kept on as his personal attack dog. However, the bloodthirsty Wild Child eventually turned on Holocaust himself during the battle of Mexico City, leading Holocaust to place him in the soldier rehabilitation center on Alcatraz Island.

(Astonishing X-Men I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Even though Apocalypse signed the Kelly Pact which prohibited any planned mass extermination of human beings, Holocaust received his permission to resume the cullings of the human population within the borders of his nation.

(Marvel Point One I#1/3 (fb) ) - In order to maximize the efficiency of the cullings, Holocaust ordered mutant engineer Krakken to design a new type of high capacity oven. He was pleased with the results.

(Age of Apocalypse One-Shot I#1/3 (fb) - During the culling of Los Angeles, Holocaust became aware that his once loyal servant Sabretooth had gone soft and was now actually trying to save the people they had come to exterminate. As punishment for hiding some schoolkids, he had him sent to Alcatraz prison where Holocaust made sure Sabretooth shared a cell with Wild Child who by then had eaten his last three cellmates.

(X-Men Chronicles I#2) - During the culling of Spokane, Washington, word reached Holocaust that Jean Grey and Weapon X had left the X-Men. Realizing his enemy Magneto was now vulnerable, Holocaust summoned the hunter-killer known only as Wolverine. He ordered the assassin to track down Magneto and kill the closest to him while making him watch. Holocaust planned to go after the suffering Magneto to revel in his anticipated grief.

(Blink I#1 - BTS) - Holocaust was in Apocalypse's New York citadel planning the culling of both Dakotas when he was alerted to an ongoing invasion inside the building.

(Blink I#1) - Holocaust confronted the intruder: Blastaar and a contingent of his Balurian troops who had emerged from the Negative Zone to conquer this reality. Holocaust managed to beat Blastaar and his forces back with help of the Infinites and the Madri, but not before the villain vowed to return with his army. The scene was witnessed by the young X-Man Blink who had sneaked into the facilities on a reckless, unapproved solo mission. When she saw Blastaar, she figured he might be a potential ally and teleported after him into the Negative Zone before Holocaust could catch her.

(Astonishing X-Men I#2 (fb) - BTS) - Holocaust personally presided over the cullings of the American heartland. He had an Infinite processing plant constructed in Indianopolis which used the survivors of his attacks as raw material to build new troops.

(Age of Apocalypse: The Chosen I#1 - BTS) - Apocalypse listed Holocaust and the other Horsemen Mikhail Rasputin, Abyss and Mr. Sinister among his Chosen, those he deemed worthy of survival.  However, he also 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) - Holocaust returned to Apocalypse Island (formerly known as Manhattan) to attend an important meeting with En Sabah Nur along with his fellow Horsemen.


(X-Men Alpha I#1) - Holocaust was most displeased when Mikhail Rasputin turned out to be a no show. 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 he was ready to unleash a full scale genetic war to cleanse the globe of mankind once and for all. Holocaust enthusiastically joined in the planning of the war, offering strategies to strike at the heart of the human resistance in Europe.

(X-Men Alpha I#1) - Some time later, Apocalypse grew furious when Mr. Sinister also seemingly disappeared. Holocaust assured his father he needn't worry about Essex, he had already sent operative to track the turncoat down.

(Astonishing X-Men I#1 - BTS) - While on a reconnaissance mission, Blink and Sunfire learned the cullings had resumed with Holocaust in charge and already eyeing Chicago. The X-Men decided to take action.

(Weapon X I#1) - Holocaust and Abyss 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 that required Hank McCoy to break out a bonesaw. Holocaust chided Abyss for making light of the situation.

(Astonishing X-Men I#2 - BTS) - Rogue took a team of X-Men to Chicago where Holocaust had already launched a battalion of probes to cause mass hysteria among the population. As soon as the people were out on the streets, he would send in his reapers to begin the killing in earnest. The X-men took down the probes, but needed time to evacuate the city. Despite Rogue's protests, Sabretooth convinced Blink to teleport him and Wild Child to the villain so they could distract him.

(Astonishing X-Men I#2) - Sabretooth and Wild Child appeared near Holocaust in Indianapolis. Overly confident and unaware of Sabretooth's strategy, Holocaust gleefully revealed his plans and even mentioned the location of the Infinite factory. Wild Child then made a run for it to get the information back to the X-Men, dodging the strafing fire from Holocaust's bio cannon. Sabretooth attacked Holocaust, rattling him by taunting his new armored form. During the fight Sabretooth worked himself up into a berserker rage and succeeded in tearing off the top of his enemy's life preserving armor. Watching the energy fizzle out, he collapsed confident that he'd won. Moments after his opponent lost consciousness, Holocaust reformed himself with a chilling chuckle: "Nice try, Victor."

(Astonishing X-Men I#3) - By the time Sabretooth woke up, Holocaust had brought him to the Infinite production plant. He proudly showed off the facility, hoping to break his enemy's spirit. However, when Sabretooth continued to mock him, Holocaust brutally beat him again. Sabretooth was left for dead, chained up and crucified on a pole outside the factory. Inside, Holocaust inspected the latest batch of produced Infinites, reveling in the deeds his army were about to achieve. In the landscape he would create none were fit enough to survive.

(Astonishing X-Men I#3 - BTS) - Blink discovered her mentor Sabretooth chained up and unresponsive outside the factory. She quickly went from sad to mad.

(Astonishing X-Men I#4 - BTS) - Holocaust learned that Apocalypse and his forces had captured both Magneto, his young son Charles and the mysterious Bishop.

Astonishing X-Men I#4) - While the X-Men attacked the plant, Blink faced Holocaust who mocked her for showing emotion over the fate of Sabretooth. After trading a few blows, Blink used her teleportation powers to dump Holocaust into one of the massive vats of acid stored at the plant. That didn't hold Holocaust for long, he broke out, causing a massive spill of corrosive acid that nearly hit the X-Men. Holocaust soon faced down the entire team, holding his own until he angered Rogue by taunting her with her son's capture and the promise Charles was to become his personal plaything. Rogue flew into a rage and actually managed to crack Holocaust's armor. He lured her to a teleportation platform that would take them both to Apocalypse's citadel, but Rogue was pulled back by Iceman.

(X-Men Omega I#1 - BTS) - After arriving at Apocalypse's citadel, Holocaust had the cracks in his armor fixed before joining his father who was occupied with the interrogation of Magneto.

(X-Men Omega I#1) - Apocalypse enjoyed watching Holocaust torture Magneto, especially when he sensed the master of magnetism's resolve was weakening. He then asked his assistant Rex to confirm that the trap had been set. Magneto boastfully proclaimed that the X-Men would continue without him, leading Apocalypse to calmly tell him he was aware of Magnus' masterplan after the Madri read Bishop's mind. He then presented him with the M'Kraan crystal that had recently been delivered to him by Guido, his double agent within the X-Ternals. Before knocking Magneto out, Apocalypse told him the X-Men would be coming for the crystal and he was ready to stop their attempt to wipe out this timeline.

(X-Men Omega I#1 - BTS) - Warren Worthington sacrificed his life to blow up the forcefield generator protecting Apocalypse's citadel. As a result, Nate Grey and the X-Men were free to enter the base. Without the forcefield, Apocalypse's citadel was vulnerable to the Human High Council's impending bombing raid.

(X-Men Omega I#1) - Magneto regained consciousness in time to hear Rex confirm the Shadow King's shocked announcement that the Human High Council had managed to sneak their atomic bombs past the Atlantic Defense wall. As a result, the entire midwest was now a radioactive crater. This caught Apocalypse off guard long enough for Nate Grey to join the fray, liberating Magneto and handing him his helmet. X-Man focused on Holocaust and the two of them crashed through the floor, landing near the M'Kraan crystal. X-Man eventually stabbed his opponent with a dagger-like fragment of M'kraan, inadvertently activating the crystal's reality warping powers. Both men vanished from Earth-295.

(X-Men Prime I#1 (fb) - BTS) - Holocaust arrived in orbit of Earth-616 encased in ice and parts of M'Kraan crystal, which kept his damaged, inert form from dissipating. His arrival was picked up by the Acolytes aboard their nearby space sanctuary Avalon. Exodus sent Colossus and a team out to investigate this mysterious object that appeared on their sensors.

(X-Men Prime I#1) - After spotting the barely alive Holocaust inside the frozen crystal, Colossus and the Acolytes were ordered to bring him to Avalon for treatment.

(X-Men II#42) - Exodus ordered the electropathic Acolyte Milan to scan the mind of their unidentified visitor. Late at night, Milan connected to Holocaust's psyche was quickly overcome by his memories of the dystopian past of Earth-295. Holocaust then fed off the Acolyte's life energy to partially restore himself. After draining Rusty Collins dry as well, he was strong enough to break out of the damaged containment unit. Unaware he had switched realities, Holocaust confronted Exodus in the belief he was still an X-Man. The misunderstanding escalated into a fight that severely damaged Avalon, but Holocaust was more concerned with finding and killing Magneto.

(X-Men II#42 - BTS) - While Exodus and Holocaust continued to fight, Amelia Voght went to get help and teleported in Jean Grey and Scott Summers.

(Marauders II#4-5) - The confrontation between Holocaust and the Acolytes was briefly interrupted by the arrival of a band of time traveling mutants known as the Marauders. They had come to retrieve a timedrive from Avalon's systems. Unaware and uncaring, Holocaust attacked the newcomers, but he proved no match for Red Bishop who drained enough of his energies to render him powerless so the Marauders could leave. As soon as they left, Holocaust and the Acolytes lost all memory of their encounter.

(X-Men II#43) - When even Scott Summers didn't recognize him, Holocaust began to realize he wasn't home. After casually killing off the Acolyte Javitz, he faced Exodus again. This led to Avalon's destruction. Marveling at Exodus' strength and resilience, Holocaust continued to lash out at his opponent on a piece of debris that was falling towards Earth.

(X-Force I#48- BTS) - Holocaust landed on an island in the South Seas where he began to feed on the indigenous population.

(X-Force I#48) - After Holocaust had killed off the last of the locals, he was approached by Sebastian Shaw who had come to offer a partnership. When Shaw proved capable of matching him blow for blow, Holocaust was willing to listen to the mutant businessman's proposal.

(X-Force I#49 - BTS) - Shaw used his considerable influence to have a new containment suit built for Holocaust similar to his old one. To have a modicum of control over his volatile, dangerous new ally Shaw asked his mentat Tessa to exert mental control over him (see comments).

(X-Force I#49) - Holocaust was pleased with his new containment armor, instantly testing its abilities by blasting lab equipment and draining the life of one of Shaw's scientists. Tessa prevented a fight between Shaw and Holocaust by mentally calming him down. He was then sent out to gather members of X-Force starting with Sunspot and Caliban. He later assisted Shaw in retrieving Boomer.

(X-Force I#50 - BTS) - Holocaust patiently watched and waited while Shaw had Tessa mentally sway the captured X-Force members to do his bidding. He wanted to control them so they would hunt down and kill their mentor Cable.

(X-Force I#50) - When X-Force was sufficiently indoctrinated, they were sent out. Holocaust watched their progress along with Shaw and Tessa aboard a cloaked flying hovercraft over New York. Holocaust insisted that he could have killed Cable on his own and later was ready to kill Shatterstar when he was defeated. Shaw talked him down and kept him out of the conflict, even when they lost control over X-Force and had to beat a strategic retreat. Holocaust

(Cable I#31) - Holocaust was with Sebastian Shaw in one of his New York safehouses when he was hit by the psionic aftershocks of Nate Grey's fight with Cable. While Shaw looked on, Holocaust realized his old enemy was alive on this new world.

(X-Man I#15) - While Sebastian Shaw and his mentat Tessa were meeting with Holocaust, they were psionically knocked out by Onslaught who offered him power beyond his wildest dreams if he delivered Nate Grey to him. Holocaust accepted and was granted psychic defenses that shielded his psionic presence. Holocaust caught up with Grey and his ladyfriend Threnody on an island in Greece.

(X-Man I#16) - Though initially startled to see his old enemy, X-Man quickly rallied and attacked. Holocaust tried to reason with Grey during the fight, but got nowhere as more and more of the island was destroyed. Holocaust got his opponent to surrender when he held Threnody hostage.

(X-Man I#17) - X-Man ended the hostage situation by telekinetically releasing Threnody's built-up death energy, leading to a giant explosion that sent Holocaust flying for several miles. When he returned, the fight continued. After X-Man blocked a deadly blast meant for Threnody, they had it out until Nate managed to break Holocaust's armor. In danger of dissipating, Holocaust was forced to retreat, while threatening X-Man that Onslaught himself would be coming after him now.

(Avengers I#402) - When Onslaught realized the Avengers had succeeded in crafting rudimentary psionic armor to defend against his power, he sent Holocaust and Post to Times Square where the heroes had gathered. While Post kept them both cloaked, Holocaust caught the team's attention by firing his cannon and hitting Thor in the back. The overwhelmed heroes had a hard time dealing with the duo until Captain America tricked Holocaust into accidentally blasting his ally. With Post down for the count, the Avengers ganged up on Holocaust who eventually went down while crowds of New Yorkers cheered Earth's mightiest on.

(X-Man Annual '97 (fb) - BTS) - The fact that Holocaust, Sugar Man, Nate Grey and Dark Beast all traveled from Earth-295 to Earth-616 using the M'Kraan Crystal turned them into living, breathing drains on the crystal's unique energies. Eventually, the Shi'ar took notice of this effect. Warned by the crystal's guardian Jahf, Lilandra sent commander Kai'tra and her forces to Earth to deal with them. They first caught up with Sugar Man who cleverly convinced the Shi'ar to spare him. He offered up his crystal energies and in return he'd lead them to the other three who he held no particular love for, especially Holocaust who always treated him like a joke. Sugar Man helped design weapons that could bring the trio down.