APE
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Human mutant (Morlocks)
Occupation: None
Group Membership: Drain Dwellers (Annalee, Beautiful Dreamer, Erg, Leech, Piper, Tar Baby), Morlocks (Berzeker, Blowhard, Caliban, Callisto, Carapace, Chicken Wings, Cybelle, Feral/Maria Callasantos, Healer, Marrow, Masque, Matchstick Girl, Mole, Plague, Poser, Scaleface, Sunder, Tommy, Zeek, unrevealed others)
Affiliations: New Mutants (Boom-Boom/Tabitha Smith, Cannonball/Sam Guthrie, Magik/Illyana Rasputin, Psyche/Dani Moonstar, Rictor/Julio Rictor, Rusty/Russell Collins, Skids/Sally Blevins, Sunspot/Roberto Da Costa, Warlock, Wolfsbane/Rahne Sinclair), Artie Maddicks, Power Pack (Energizer/Katie Power, Gee/Alex Power, Lightspeed/Julie Power, Mass Master/Jack Power), X-Factor (Angel/Warren Worthington III, Beast/Henry McCoy, Cyclops/Scott Summers, Iceman/Robert Drake, Marvel Girl/Jean Grey)
Enemies: Horsemen of Apocalypse (Caliban, Famine/Autumn Rolfson, War/Abraham Kieros), Marauders (Arclight/Philippa Sontag, Blockbuster/Michael Baer, Prism/Robbie, Scrambler/Kim Il Sung, Vertigo), Sentinels, Weapon X Program;
formerly Power Pack (Energizer/Katie Power, Gee/Alex Power, Lightspeed/Julie Power, Mass Master/Jack Power), X-Men (Lockheed, Nightcrawler/Kurt Wagner, Shadowcat/Kitty Pryde)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: "The Alley", Morlock tunnels, Manhattan, New York;
temporarily X-Factor Headquarters, Manhattan, New York
First Appearance: (behind-the-scenes): Power Pack I#11 (June, 1985);
(fully seen): Power Pack I#12 (July, 1985)
Powers/Abilities: Ape could alter his form to resemble, or "ape" a variety of forms. He had been seen mimicking versions of objects like jars, mirrors and bulldozers. The exact range of Ape's shapeshifting abilities was not revealed, though it seemed his lack of intelligence and poor imagination were the major limitations. Simple minded but inherently kind, Ape often had to be told by his fellow Drain Dwellers what to do.
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 200 lbs
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Grey
History: (Power Pack I#11 - BTS) - Through unrevealed circumstances, perhaps in part due to his mental disability, the mutant who would become known as Ape was cast out of regular society. He found his way to the Morlocks, an underground mutant community who lived in the sewer tunnels of New York. Ape befriended a group of wayward Morlocks that stuck relatively close to the surface world who called themselves the Drain Dwellers.
(Power Pack I#12 - BTS) - The empathic Annalee experienced severe emotional distress after the loss of her children (killed by the Marauder Scalphunter, unbeknownst to her). Her misery subconsciously started influencing the mood of her fellow Drain Dwellers Ape, Erg, Tar Baby and the Piper. Feeling responsible for the kids' death, the band of Morlocks felt obligated to replace them. In the hopes of attracting children, the Piper controlled a cat. After tying a tin can to the cat's tail so it would seem in distress, Piper used his control over animals to send the cat running around the streets of Manhattan in the hopes of attracting children.
(Power Pack I#11 - BTS) - Spotting the cat, the heroic preteens known as Power Pack decided to help and rescue the poor animal. It lured them into the sewers (undoubtedly thanks to the Piper's influence). When the super powered siblings were surprised and split up by suddenly rising water levels, Jack and Julie Power got attacked by alligators who where under the Piper's control. Alex and Katie managed to track down their family and fought off the alligators so they could escape from the sewers with the cat in tow. However, during the chaos the children lost their backpacks and text books. Ape and the others found them and figured the children would return to search for their belongings. They took the books and vowed to wait for their return.
(Power Pack I#12) - When Power Pack realized their backpacks were still in the sewers, they decided to go back and collect them. Immediately upon returning to the sewers, they were approached by Ape and his fellow Morlock Drain Dwellers Erg, Tar Baby and the Piper. After a brief struggle, the Morlocks managed to capture Power Pack when Ape transformed himself into a jar big enough to capture Julie and Jack. Alex and Katie were taken by the others and brought to Annalee,who was thrilled to have new children to take care off. The Drain Dwellers summoned Masque to change the children's' features as part of the ritual of turning them into full fledged Morlocks. As soon as Masque arrived, Power Pack managed to escape and fought the Morlocks with the help of X-Men members Nightcrawler and Shadowcat, who happened to be visiting the Morlocks at the time. Ape followed Tar Baby's suggestion and transformed himself into a pink Pac-Man to "gobble them up like Pac-Man's little dots." He was defeated by Nightcrawler and after the intense struggle, the children were freed. The Drain Dwellers begged the two X-Men not to tell Callisto what they had done, fearing what she might do to them. As a sign of good will, the schoolbooks were returned to the children as they were leaving while the cat stayed behind and became Leech's pet.
(Uncanny X-Men I#195) - As Callisto was away from the Alley, Masque took charge in another attempt to force Power Pack to become Annalee's children. After Beautiful Dreamer had altered their parents' memories, the Power children sensed Beautiful Dreamer to be involved and returned to the Alley to investigate. After entering the tunnels, the team was jumped by Ape, Erg, Tar Baby and Masque. Only little Katie Power managed to escape the Morlocks but not before her face was horribly disfigured by Masque. After Kitty Pryde saw a news report on the little girl being apprehended by local authorities, she realized it was Katie and called on the other X-Men (Rogue, Wolverine and Rachel Grey) to help. As the X-Men and Katie Power managed to find Annalee, a big fight broke out between the X-Men and Morlocks. Ape and Tar Baby, however, were not seen during the fight. When Callisto returned she forced Beautiful Dreamer to undo the effects of her powers and the Power kids were safely returned home.
(Power Pack I#19) - While in the Alley, Ape noticed Leech's cat scratching at a nearby wooden crate. Thinking it must have spotted a mouse, Ape opened the crate to find Leech inside. The power dampening young mutant had been trapped there by Annalee. Leech ran away, leaving a confused Ape behind.
(X-Factor I#10) - When the Marauders were sent by Mister Sinister to massacre the Morlocks, Ape and Tar Baby found themselves under attack from Blockbuster and Vertigo, who used her powers to disorient Ape, making him so dizzy he literally turned into a twister. Blockbuster stopped him by throwing the sticky Tar Baby at Ape. With both Morlocks incapacitated, Blockbuster readied himself for a killing blow. He was stopped by the arriving X-Factor members Iceman, Beast and Cyclops, who provided protection from the Marauders as they continued to search for survivors. Next, the group stumbled upon the Marauders Arclight, Prism and Scrambler, who were defeated by X-Factor when they were shortly thereafter joined by Angel and Marvel Girl.
(Power Pack I#27) - Ape, resembling a walking bed, carried the unconscious Beautiful Dreamer when they and the other surviving Drain Dwellers finally arrived at X-Factor's headquarters. Fellow Morlock Skids had already arrived and helped them settle into the base while X-Factor returned to the Alley in the hopes of finding more survivors.
(X-Factor I#11) - Ape witnessed the arrival of a group of Morlocks called the Tunnelers (Bezerker, Blow-Hard, Masque and Scaleface) to X-Factor's base. The Drain Dwellers were less than happy to see them, given their long standing rivalry and dislike of each other.
(X-Factor I#12) - Ape and the other Morlocks, now living with X-Factor, gathered for breakfast. Ape and his friend Tar Baby helped serve the food. Tar Baby stuck plates all over his body and Ape shifted his form into a side table to carry more plates. However, when Leech arrived for breakfast, his powers canceled out those of Ape and Tar Baby, causing them to inadvertently drop everything. Displeased, Ape hoped X-Factor would one day teach Leech how to control his powers.
(X-Factor I#13) - While running after each other, Leech and Artie broke a small table and lamp at the X-Factor's base. To help out, Ape transformed himself into a small steam shovel to clean up the mess.
(X-Factor I#15) - Ape and the other Morlocks eventually decided to leave X-Factor and return to the Alley in the hopes of rebuilding their society and locating more survivors.
(X-Men Legends I#11) - Ape, Beautiful Dreamer, Chicken Wings and Mole made their way through the Tunnels when suddenly Apocalypse's Horsemen Caliban, Famine and War appeared. Apocalypse's hound had brought Famine and War with him to show the Morlocks were worthy to produce a replacement Horsemen following the loss of Death and Pestilence. Beautiful Dreamer and the Morlocks misstook the trio for Marauders and fled. But while Caliban went off on his own to track more powerful Morlock, War and Famine managed to capture Ape and Dreamer and began torturing them to pass the time. Meanwhile Chicken Wings and Mole ran into the New Mutants during their escape. The team agreed to help them and arrived to stop War and Famine from killing Ape and Dreamer. However, they were no real match for Apocalypse's forces. Famine instantly drained Cannonball and Wolfsbane of their energies while War took down everyone but Boom-Boom and Rictor with his kinetic shockwaves.
(X-Men Legends I#11 - BTS) - Using his enhanced hound senses, Caliban located Erg, Feral, Masque and Healer but before he could make contact with them, he felt the impact of War's sonic boom, which threatened to destabilize the Tunnels.
(X-Men Legends I#11) - Ape and most of the New Mutants had already been defeated by the Horsemen when Caliban returned, pleading with them to stop the senseless assault. The Horsemen refused to take orders from "Apocalypse's jumped-up pet" and turned on him, planning to destroy the Tunnels and burying him and the others in the rubble. Danielle Moonstar fought back by manifesting War's biggest fear, which allowed Erg, Feral, Masque and Healer to arrive and join the fight. Erg successfully defeated Famine with his electrically-charged eye-blast while Masque took out War by gruesomely rearranging his face. Still loyal to Apocalypse, Caliban made his offer to the Morlocks and the New Mutants, but found no takers. Before Masque could turn against his former Morlock ally, Caliban teleported himself and the Horsemen back to the Ship where they found Apocalypse waiting for them. Ape and the others were then revived by the Healer.
(Wolverine II#900/3 (fb)) - Due to unrevealed circumstances, three off-line Sentinels were suddenly powered up. Eager to resume their hunt for mutants, they headed straight for the Morlock tunnels. Luckily, the X-Men Beast and Wolverine gained early intel on the situation and arrived to rescue the Morlocks. One of the Morlocks, Carapace, was badly injured as she tried to save her friend Poser from an attack. While on the run from the Sentinels, Ape carried fellow Morlock Matchstick Girl as the tunnels suddenly collapsed around them. Wolverine and Beast were stuck in a small cavern with Marrow and her fellow Morlocks Ape, Matchstick Girl, Poser and the badly injured Carapace. Beast needed to operate on Carapace if she was to survive and he asked all the Morlocks to help out. Ape transformed into a mirror to allow Matchstick Girl's fire power to light up the entire cavern. The surgery went well and not too long afterwards, Marrow rescued them by extending her bone growths into the rubble and blasting it apart. Now free, Ape and the other Morlocks went their own way.
(Weapon X II#5) - Ape and his friend Tar Baby were eventually captured by the Weapon X Program and placed in their concentration camp called Neverland. After genetic testing, Ape was one of dozens of mutants deemed useless for their projects. Like the others, he was branded with a red letter "M" on his hand, signifying his imminent termination. Not long thereafter, Ape, his friend Tar Baby, Maggott and other red letter mutants were executed.
SECRET WARS III HAPPENED
(Hellions#10 - BTS) - When the Hellions were captured by Arcade and Mastermind, Scalphunter was submerged into a scenario where he killed a group of civilians in a war. However, the civilians then changed into the Morlocks, Scalphunter was shocked to see Ape, Cybelle, Erg, Masque, Tommy and others dead. However, Tommy and Cybelle turned into blood-thirsty zombies who then fed on Scalphunter.
Comments: Created by Louise Simonson, June Brigman, and Bob Wiacek.
Ape, as part of the Morlocks, was profiled in The
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition#9 and Marvel
Encyclopedia HC Vol. 2: X-Men.
I've always liked Ape. If you're like me, you
probably first encountered him in an episode of the 90s X-Men cartoon
series, famous for casually introducing a variety of obscure mutants
throughout its run. The thing I love about Ape is the fact that he was
allowed to be dim-witted, constantly advised by his friend Tar Baby,
without him acting stupid or foolish. That his limited intelligence
held him back is a refreshing change of pace compared to how mutants
are written today. Everyone seems to realize their full potential and
knows all the ins and outs of their powers well before they're even
allowed to drive. Ape could potentially become everything he could
think of, if only he could think! Having him turn into the most crude,
child-like versions of objects was a nice touch that subtly showed the
character's state of mind.
The Louise Simonson penned story in X-Men Legends I#11 takes place before the events of New Mutants I#77. It's a little odd to see War and Famine balk at the idea of making a Morlock a member of the Horsemen when you consider that the original Pestilence was the elderly Morlock Plague.
Profile by MarvellousLuke
CLARIFICATIONS:
Ape has no known connections to
images: (without ads)
Power Pack I#12, cover (main image)
Power Pack I#12, p7, pan4,5&6 (as a jar)
X-Factor I#10, p12, pan1&2 (attacked by the Marauders)
X-Factor I#12, p2, pan1 (as a table)
Weapon X II#5, p15, pan1 (at Neverland)
Appearances:
Power Pack I#11 (June, 1985) - Louise Simonson (writer), June Brigman
(pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Carl Potts, Pat Blevins (editors)
Power Pack I#12 (July, 1985) - Louise Simonson (writer), June Brigman
(pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Carl Potts, Pat Blevins (editors)
Uncanny X-Men I#195 (July, 1985) - Chris Claremont (writer), John Romita Jr. (pencils), Dan Green (inks), Ann Nocenti (editor)
Power Pack I#19 (February, 1986) - Louise Simonson (writer), Brent
Anderson (pencils, Scott Williams (pencils, inks), Terry Austin, Sam de
la Rosa (inkers), Carl Potts (editor)
X-Factor I#10 (November, 1986) - Louise Simonson (writer), Walter Simonson (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Power Pack I#27 (December, 1986) - Louise Simonson (writer), Jon Bogdanove (pencils), Al Gordon (inks), Carl Potts (editor)
X-Factor I#11 (December, 1986) - Louise Simonson (writer), Walter Simonson (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Factor I#12 (January, 1987) - Louise Simonson (writer), Marc Silvestri (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Factor I#13 (February, 1987) - Louise Simonson (writer), Walter Simonson (pencils), Dan Green (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Deluxe Edition#18 (October, 1987) - Mark Gruenwald, Peter Sanderson (writers), Josef Rubinstein (inks), Mark Gruenwald, Howard Mackie (editors)
X-Factor I#15 (November, 1987) - Louise Simonson (writer), Walter Simonson (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Robert Harras (editor)
Weapon X II#5 (March, 2003) - Frank Tieri (writer), Georges Jeanty
(pencils), Dexter Vines (inks), Mike Marts, Mike Raicht, Nova Red Suma
(editors)
Wolverine II#900 (July, 2010) - Todd Dezago (writer), Jason Craig (pencils. inks), Chris Allo, John Barber (editors)
Hellions#10 (March, 2021) - Zeb Wells (writer), Stephen Segovia (pencils, inks), Mark Basso, Lauren Amaro, Jordan D. White (editors)
X-Men Legends I#11 (February, 2022) - Louise Simonson (writer), Walter Simonson (pencils, inks), Mark Basso (editor)
First Posted: 08/19/2014
Last Updated: 05/09/2022
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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