In a preview of Dead X-Men #3, the team arrive in a mysterious world that's quickly revealed to be Moira's ninth life - the one in which she allied herself with the mutant despot known as Apocalypse, aka En Sabah Nur. In this world, it's revealed that Apocalypse's experiments on the founding X-Man Warren Worthington III went even further, creating an entire flock of vicious Archangels he has named "the Host."

In Marvel's main canon, Apocalypse chose Warren, aka Angel, as his Horseman of Death. Apocalypse totally transformed Warren, using a Celestial Death Seed to grant him an enhanced physiology and deadly metal wings which can shoot diamond-piercing pinion feathers. While this made the newly reborn Archangel one of X-Men's deadliest , it also awoke a monster within Warren that he's struggled to control ever since, with Archangel essentially becoming an entirely separate persona which lives to kill and maim.

Dead X-Men #3
	Writer: Steve Foxe Artist: Bernard Chang, Javier Pina, Lynne Yoshii, David Baldeón Colorist: Frank Martin Letterer: Joe Sabino Cover Artist: Cory Petit

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Apocalypse Unleashes an Army of Archangels

The Dead X-Men Discover Angel's Most Terrifying Form

Formerly known as Moira MacTaggert, X-Men's recent 2019-2024 Krakoan Era rewrote Moira as secretly possessing a mutant resurrection power. Akin to Groundhog Day, Moira lives her life through from childhood to death, then reboots reality to do it all again, keeping the knowledge she gained from prior lives. However, as Moira lived life after life, she was horrified to realize that in every reality, humans and their AI creations eventually rendered mutants extinct. Moira tried to stop this cycle, working with Charles Xavier, then Magneto and then - out of desperation - eventually Apocalypse in different lives, but always with the same outcome. Marvel's current timeline is Moira's tenth and final life - one in which she gave up and ed the AI side - but the Dead X-Men are hoping they can find a way to defeat their machine attackers in Moira's previous cycles of existence.

Moira X Made Apocalypse Worse

Moira's Past Lives Are Revealing How Horrifying Her Legacy Actually Is

This process is a major treat for fans of the Krakoan Era, who are getting unprecedented insight into what Moira lived through and how she left the world in her prior lives. Here, it's revealed that Apocalypse's horrific experiments were made even worse with Moira by his side - not only did Apocalypse turn Warren into the Archangel in this world, but he also apparently cloned him into a personal guard of vicious predators. It's a horrific reveal, as the gentle and heroic Warren lives out multiple lifetimes serving a vicious dynasty which is destined to fall. What's even more disturbing is that this isn't some potential future timeline or different dimension: this is what happened to the X-Men fans know - the life Angel was forced to live - before Moira opted for yet another turn of the wheel.

Angel doesn't deserve to be turned into this flock of monsters, and yet as the Dead X-Men continue to search for some way to win, it's becoming clearer and clearer that Moira herself became a monster long ago, with the repeated extinction of mutantkind eroding her hope, morality, and respect for her fellow mutants. Hopefully, the Dead X-Men can find a way to free these Archangels before moving on to Moira's next life, finding a way to lessen the suffering and destruction their former ally left in her wake.

Dead X-Men #3 is available March 13 from Marvel Comics.