Meet Genesis, the Long-Lost Wife of Apocalypse

Long before he fought the X-Men, Apocalypse endured several lifetimes of battle. While those battles made Apocalypse one of the most feared mutants in the Marvel Universe, Genesis—his beloved wife and long-serving leader of Arakko—forged an even more impressive legend of her own. 

While Apocalypse tested the mutants of Earth, Genesis spent thousands of years fighting the demonic hordes of Amenth, before taking on the corrupting power of Annihilation in X OF SWORDS. While Apocalypse and Genesis eventually reunited after eons apart, the Arakki tried to form a kinder, gentler civilization on Mars. Now, Genesis has returned to the mutants she once commanded, and she is not happy about what she found.

As FALL OF X descends on the Marvel Universe, let's take a closer look at Genesis, who just pushed Storm and the other mutants of Arakko into civil war. We'll break down her relationships with Apocalypse and Annihilation, as well as her role in X OF SWORDS, as her attack on Arakko gets underway in X-MEN: RED (2022) #14 by Al Ewing, Yildiray Çinar, Federico Blee, and VC's Ariana Maher.

GENESIS AND APOCALYPSE

In the lead-up to X OF SWORDS, Genesis first appeared during a prophetic vision in Jonathan Hickman, Tini Howard, and Pepe Larraz's FREE COMIC BOOK DAY: X-MEN (2020) #1 story. As revealed during Genesis' full debut in X-MEN (2019) #12 by Hickman and Leinil Francis Yu, she and Apocalypse met on Okkara, where an ancient civilization of mutants lived in peace. 

Together with Apocalypse, Genesis ruled Okkara and had four children—Famine, War, Pestilence, and Death—which they named after concepts that had been defeated in their land. Even though Okkara was peaceful, Genesis and her family still considered themselves warriors who were waiting for their next battle.

However, Okkara's peace was shattered by Daemons from the hellish dimension Amenth, as led by Annihilation, a mysterious ancient entity embodied by a golden helm. Genesis took charge in the fight against the Daemons with her Omega-level mutant powers, which give her immense control over vegetation. 

Over years of battle against Annihilation, Genesis and her family all became legendary warriors. But when Annihilation gave Genesis a chance to end the war and close the portal to Amenth, she refused, since she believed she and her family were meant for wartime battles that fulfilled her 'survival-of-the-fittest' philosophy.

When Annihilation attacked Okkara with the Twilight Sword, Okkara was split into two lands: Krakoa and Arakko. As the tide of battle turned towards Amenth, Isca the Unbeaten—Genesis' sister—joined the invading forces, with her mutant power to never lose effectively securing their victory. 

As a last resort, Genesis, her children, and the mutants of Okkara decided to take Arakko to Amenth and close the portal to Earth. While Genesis and her forces were trapped fighting the Daemons, Apocalypse was be separated from his family and remained on Earth, where he prepared future generations of mutants for war.

X OF SWORDS

Despite lifetimes of war with Annihilation, Genesis eventually fell under the sway of the ancient evil spirit. As Arakko waged war in Amenth, Genesis and Annihilation finally faced each other in one-on-one combat—only for Genesis to kill Annihilation, as revealed in X-MEN (2019) #14 by Jonathan Hickman, Mahmud Asrar, and Leinil Francis Yu. But when Amenth's leaderless Daemons hordes threatened to overrun Arakko, Genesis put on Annihilation's helmet and fell under its corrupting influence in order to take control of the Daemons. 

Under Annihilation's influence, Genesis made plans to attack and invade Earth by crossing through the mystical realm Otherworld, where all realities intersect. As the mutant and Daemon armies marched on Otherworld, Annihilation manipulated Apocalypse into helping by convincing him to open a path from Otherworld for the invasion force with the promise of reuniting Arakko and Krakoa. But when Apocalypse walked through the portal, expecting to reunite with his family, his children—the original Horsemen of Apocalypse—attacked him in X OF SWORDS: CREATION (2020) #1 by Hickman, Tini Howard, and Pepe Larraz.  

Just as fighting broke out between Krakoa's mutants and Annihilation's forces, Saturnyne—the ruler of Otherworld—stopped the conflict and proposed a tournament to settle their disagreement. Over the course of several matches, the champions of Krakoa and Arakko fought across different battlefields until they were tied going into the last bout. 

After Apocalypse learned what happened between Annihilation and Genesis, he faced his Annihilation-possessed wife in the final battle of the X OF SWORDS tournament in X-MEN (2019) #15 by Hickman and Asrar. Apocalypse defeated Genesis in combat, but Annihilation attacked Otherworld with Amenth's armies anyway. 

As the X-Men and the Captain Britain Corps held off Amenth's armies, Apocalypse ripped Annihilation's helmet off his wife's head and merged with it himself. Standing strong in the face of Annihilation's influence, Apocalypse surrendered on behalf of Arakko in X OF SWORDS: DESTRUCTION (2020) #1 by Hickman, Howard, and Larraz.

GENESIS AND APOCALYPSE REUNITED

When the hostilities of X OF SWORDS ceased, Genesis stood free of Annihilation's influence and reunited with Apocalypse. Saturnyne refashioned the helm of Annihilation into a golden staff, which made Annihilation's whispers less overtly corrupting, and returned it to a more clear-headed Genesis. As a show of good faith, Saturnyne also made Krakoa and Amenth exchange one 'prisoner' to live in the other's land. Genesis chose Apocalypse to rejoin their family in Amenth, while Apocalypse sent the living land of Arakko—as well as its mutant population—to Earth.  

As the Arakki mutants built a new Arakko on Mars with help from Krakoa, the insidious influence of the Annihilation staff drove Genesis and her family to battle once more. After the remaining Amenthi surrendered to Genesis, an Amenthi Summoner offered Genesis some updates on the Arakki in X-MEN: BEFORE THE FALL - HERALDS OF APOCALYPSE (2023) #1 by Al Ewing, Luca Pizzari, Stefano Landini, and Raphael Pimento. The Summoner told Genesis her old comrade Tarn the Uncaring had been killed, leading Apocalypse to reveal he had also been keeping watch over Arakko and its mutants. 

Just as Apocalypse told Genesis about his observations, they were greeted by an astral projection from Marianna Stern, a member of Coven Akkaba and ally to the mutant-hating organization Orchis. As part of Orchis' efforts to destabilize mutantkind, she revealed Arakko had embraced some of Kraoka's more peaceful philosophies under the leadership of Storm. Stern also told Genesis about Uranos, an Eternal who launched a devastating attack on Arakko during A.X.E.: JUDGMENT DAY (2022) #1 by Kieron Gillen and Valerio Schiti.

Incensed by all of this, Genesis prepared to wage war on Arakko. Her armies took down the White Sword, their former ally and a powerful mutant healer who possessed a stronghold in Amenth and an undying army of One Hundred Champions. Under the corrupting pull of Annihilation, Genesis fought Apocalypse again, and the longtime X-Men villain created a portal to Arakko to test its mutants and ensure their strength. Meanwhile, the White Sword sent a warning to Arakko in the form of Jon Ironfire in X-MEN: RED (2022) #12 by Ewing and Jacopo Camagni.

THE GENESIS WAR

In the wake of an Orchis attack on the Hellfire Gala that destroyed Krakoa and left most of the world's mutants missing or in hiding, Genesis kicked off a civil war on Arakko. Just as Ironfire started to warn Storm and the other leaders of the Great Ring of Arakko about the approaching Amenthi threat, Genesis interrupted and confronted them in X-MEN RED (2022) #13 by Al Ewing and Jacopo Camagni. 

As Genesis challenged the council, her Annihilation staff influenced some of the Great Ring's members, including Sobunar of the Depths. While the challenges were issued, Lactuca the Knower teleported Storm, Lodus Logos, Kobak-Never-Held, Xilo, and Ironfire away from the Great Ring at the urging of Lodus. In the eyes of the Arakki culture, this was a supreme insult, and it became the inciting moment in the Genesis War between Genesis' forces and those loyal to Storm and her vision for a more peaceful Arakko.    

After taking command over the remaining members of the Great Ring, Genesis used her mutant powers to awaken Arakko's sentience in X-MEN RED (2022) #14 by Ewing and Yildiray Çinar. With tensions running high across the mutant planet, Genesis invited the Arakki to wage war, while non-combatants claimed their own territory. 

From their base in the cosmic harbor Port Prometheus, Storm worked with her Arakki allies and heroes like Sunspot and Nova to defend their vision for Arakko. Even though the fight for the Red Planet is far from over, Genesis has already started making plans to conquer Earth after making every mutant on Arakko loyal to her and Annihilation.

See how the Genesis War unfolds in X-MEN RED #14, now on sale!

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