Angel

Real name: Warren Kenneth Worthington III

Occupation: Adventurer

Identity: It is publicly known that Warren Worthington was the Angel, but not that he was the being called Death.

Legal status: Citizen of the United States with no criminal record

Other aliases: Archangel, The Avenging Angel, Death

Place of birth: Centerport, Long Island, New York

Marital status: Single

Known relatives: Warren K. (grandfather, deceased), Warren K. Jr. (father, deceased), Kathryn (mother, deceased), Burt (paternal uncle)

Group affiliation: (current) X-Men, (former) X-Factor, Defenders, Champions, Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Base of operations: Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, Salem Center, Westchester, New York

First appearance: X-MEN (Vol. 1) #1

History: Warren Worthington III was attending a private school in his adolescence when wings began to grow from his shoulder blades. The wings reached their full adult size within months, but Worthington kept them a secret by strapping them tightly to his back and concealing them under clothes. At first he thought himself a freak. However, Worthington learned that he could use his wings to fly and came to enjoy his newfound ability. Then one night there was a fire in his dormitory, and he resolved to use his flying power to rescue the people inside. To conceal his identity, Worthington wore a long blonde wig and a long nightshirt, so that he looked like an angel. The rescue was successful and his identity remained a secret.

Shortly thereafter, Worthington became a costumed crime fighter in New York City under the name the Avenging Angel. He was then contacted by the X-Men, a team of superhuman mutants, and agreed to join them, becoming one of the group's original members. Years later, shortly after Professor Charles Xavier, the founder of the X-Men, recruited several new members for the group, the Angel decided to leave the team. After his parents' death, Worthington inherited a vast fortune, and he used part of it to found a Los Angeles-based organization of superhumans called the Champions. Worthington also publicly revealed that he was the Angel, although he and Xavier managed to keep secret Worthington's connection with Xavier's school, the cover and home base for the X-Men. When the Champions failed as an organization, Worthington decided to devote his time from then on to his business duties and to his girlfriend Candace "Candy" Southern. Worthington also briefly returned to the X-Men.

The Angel later joined another team of superhuman adventurers, the Defenders, and remained with them after the Beast, another of the original X-Men, reorganized the group. The Defenders used the mansion and estate that Worthington and Southern jointly owned in the Colorado Rocky Mountains as their base of operations.

After several of the Defenders seemingly perished in a battle against Moondragon and the Dragon of the Moon, the Angel joined four other original members of the X-Men in founding X-Factor, an organization that would seek out and aid superhuman mutants under the pretense of hunting down "mutant menaces." Worthington brought in a friend from school, Cameron Hodge, to act as X-Factor's public relations director. Unknown to Worthington, Hodge was the leader of an organization called The Right and intended to use X-Factor to exacerbate anti-mutant sentiments in the general public.

Mystique, leader of Freedom Force, discovered that Worthington, a known mutant, was secretly the financial backer of X-Factor, which was publicly believed to be a mutant-hunting organization, and leaked this information to the news media, generating great controversy. Subsequently, in a battle with the Marauders during their massacre of the mutant Morlocks, the Angel was caught by Blockbuster. Another Marauder, Harpoon, then impaled the Angel's wings with his weapons. The thunder god Thor rescued the Angel, but the bones of the Angel's wings had been permanently crippled, and his wounds became infected. As a result, surgeons amputated Worthington's wings.

Worthington changed his will, leaving his fortune to X-Factor, thereby unwittingly playing into Hodge's plans. Shortly afterwards, in despair over the loss of his wings, his breakup with Southern, and the controversy plaguing X-Factor, Worthington apparently committed suicide in a small aircraft that exploded.

In fact, however, Worthington was teleported to safety by the mutant Apocalypse who, through genetic manipulation, caused the Angel's wings to grow back in a new form. His views towards the world radically altered by his recent traumatic experiences, Worthington became one of Apocalypse's warriors, the so-called Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and took the name Death. As Death, he battled the other four founding members of X-Factor, but he was shocked into ending his attack when one of the X-Factor members, Iceman, faked his own demise. Abandoning both Apocalypse and X-Factor, Worthington flew off to live a solitary life. He then rejoined X-Factor and adopted the new name of Archangel.

Recently Warren underwent yet another transformation. This time Archangel "shed" his metallic wings which gave way to his older, more familiar feathered wings. The mystery surrounding this change is yet uncovered, but Warren fears it could be the next step in some higher plan that Apocalypse may have in store for him. This transformation was seemingly triggered by injuries he suffered to his wings inflicted by Sabretooth.

His newfound relationship with his fellow X-Man, Psylocke (see Psylocke), has been the anchor he needs while dealing with his current changes. It's no surprise that Warren is also providing the same comfort to Betsy as she deals with her own "evolution" as a result of her exposure to the life-saving Crimson Dawn.

Height: 6'

Weight: 150 lbs.

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Blonde

Other distinguishing features: Angel possesses large wings with a sixteen foot wingspan from wing tip to wing tip, resembling those of a bird. Due to Apocalypse's genetic engineering, Archangel has blue skin, and formerly his wings were composed of a hard, sharp organic material that resembles the "organic steel" of the mutant Colossus.

Strength level: Apart from his wings, Angel possesses the normal strength of a man of his age, height, and build who engages in intensive regular exercise. His wings have superhuman strength and can create enough lift to enable him to carry aloft at least 500 pounds in addition to his own weight.

Known superhuman powers: Angel is a mutant who can fly by means of his natural. Fully feathered like a bird's, the wings have a very flexible skeletal structure, enabling him to press them to the back of his torso and legs with only the slightest bulge visible under his clothing. Angel's entire anatomy is naturally adapted to flying. His bones are hollow like a bird's, making him weigh far less than usual for a man of his build. His body is virtually devoid of fat and possesses greater proportionate muscle mass than an ordinary human does. His eyes are specially adapted to withstand high-speed winds which would hurt the average human eye. He possesses a special membrane in his respiratory system enabling him to extract oxygen from the air at high velocities or altitudes. Angel flies by flapping his wings, as a bird does. Though he generally flies below the height of clouds (6,500 feet), Angel can reach a height of 10,000 feet with little effort. With severe strain he can reach the highest recorded altitude of a bird in flight (African geese at 29,000 feet above sea level), but he can only remain that high for several minutes. He can fly nonstop under his own power for a maximum of approximately twelve hours. Contrary to some reports, he could not make a transatlantic flight solely under his own power. However, since his genetic alteration by Apocalypse, Angel may be able to fly for longer periods non-stop than he could previously.