When it comes to thrills and adventures, the mutants from Marvel comics have never let us down. We are talking about the X-Men, of course. Characters like Wolverine, Charles Xaviers, and Magneto are worth going insane for because these mutants have a fascinating collection of skills and personalities, which was amplified by Hugh Jackman’s casting as Wolverine in the live-action X-Men films.
Villains from the series also contribute significantly to the series’ excitement, and today we will look at one such villain, ‘Onslaught,’ who has yet to be featured in the movie universe but has wreaked havoc in the comics.
Professor X’s dark side gave birth to the term “onslaught,” which denotes “a fierce or deadly attack.” The character was created by Scott Lobdell, Mark Waid, and Andy Kubert and first appeared as a cameo in X-Men Prime #1 in July 1995. In June 1996, he made his first full appearance in X-Men volume 2 issue 53. So, without further ado, let us dig into today’s film and learn more about Onslaught, an incredibly powerful and devastating X-Men enemy.
A MEMORABLE COMIC BOOK APPEARANCE
In X-Men volume 2, issue 53, we get Onslaught’s full appearance. The plot begins with Jean Grey shopping in Salem Centre. Being a telepath isn’t that easy as you constantly get to compare the words of regular ordinary people with their actual thoughts in mind, and she could read the minds of the shop attendants and customers calling her names as she is a mutant. However, she ignores them and enters a changing room where she finds herself transported to the Astral Plane by Onslaught, whom she has no clue about.
Onslaught confronts Jean Grey about the duplicity of humans and tells her that the professor’s dreams about establishing the perfect human-mutant bond are futile. He tells her that despite what happens, the human hatred for mutants will only keep growing till the point either of them perishes. To establish his point, he takes her to Graydon Creed’s campaign headquarters. Grayson was the child of Mystique and Sabretooth and was a mutant too, but he despised that and hated mutants.
He was a candidate for being the President on an anti-mutant platform, and Onslaught proved it by making Jean read his mind. Jean, however, was nonplussed as she strongly believes that people have their secrets, and she does not need to be affected by it as long as she is surrounded by her friends whom she can trust. Meanwhile, Juggernaut emerges from the shadows in a place inhabited by Archangel and Psylocke. He desperately tries to convey some crucial information but fails as someone has blocked him from accessing the information in his mind. Being overwhelmed by his frustration, he makes his way to meet Charles Xaviers, believing that he could help.
Onslaught still continues goading Jean grey, and they both reach the Xavier mansion, where he asks Jean if she trusted the professor. He showed her that the professor, despite being a fatherly figure, had romantic feelings for her, and that’s what was all about the professor, suppressing his emotions and urges throughout his lifetime. Jean is perplexed, and Onslaught asks her to join him as they both are raw power and capable enough to take over the world, to which Jean refuses.
Onslaught throws her back to the dressing room from where he had taken her, with his final words being, “I am a great and terrible force beyond the comprehension of the human mind. I am a God, and to those who know, do not worship me I am an angry god”. Jean Grey, after returning, looks at the mirror to see his name “Onslaught” being telepathically etched on her forehead.
HOW PROFESSOR X CREATED ONSLAUGHT!
The onslaught was one of the most significant Marvel Comics events of the 1990s, and it drastically altered the lives of the X-Men, Avengers, and Fantastic Four. He was one of Marvel’s most lethal villains in the 1990s, and the X-Men antagonist was blamed for the deaths of the Fantastic Four and the bulk of the Avengers. The onslaught was an amalgamation of Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto’s mind, a sentient psychic creature.
Wolverine cut Magneto during a confrontation between the X-Men and Magneto’s Acolytes, and Magneto pulled the Adamantium from Wolverine’s bones, gravely hurting him to the point that his healing factor had difficulties repairing him. This was the final straw for Professor Xavier. He eventually broke after tolerating all of Magneto’s horrible activities, including his latest actions that killed hundreds of people throughout the world in a single day. He utilized his telepathic abilities to render Magneto catatonic by shutting off his consciousness.
Magneto’s rage, sadness, and desire for vengeance invaded Professor Xavier’s head during the telepathic contact, blending with every long-suppressed unpleasant emotion the professor had felt during the previous 30 years. Professor Xavier then developed a distinct personality as a result of this aggregation For a long period, Onslaught was inert.
Xavier’s dissatisfaction with his ideal of mutant-human peace and harmony grew over time, compounded by the daily rise of anti-mutant hysteria, the deaths of scores of mutants from the deadly Legacy Virus, and his own unsuccessful attempt to rehabilitate the mutant sociopath known as Sabretooth. When anti-mutant humans killed a young mutant near the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, the X-secret Men’s base, Xavier hit his breaking point. Onslaught awoke within Xavier at this time and began to reveal himself to others.
ONSLAUGHT REBORN STORY ARC
Onslaught is a nigh-omnipotent villain who can absorb powers from a variety of different characters. He was created by Professor X and Magneto. Onslaught is well known for his role in the deaths of the Avengers, Fantastic Four, Hulk, and Doctor Doom, which resulted in the relaunch of Heroes Reborn. Marvel published this five-issue mini-series written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by Rob Liefeld to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the Onslaught event in 2006.
Scarlet Witch accidentally enabled the abilities of Charles Xavier and Magneto to clash, recreating Onslaught whose consciousness lingered after she used her powers to de-power Earth’s mutants. Franklin Richards and all the heroes he loathed became the targets of Onslaught’s vengeance.
He emerged in his gigantic, larger form. He sought to assassinate Franklin by taking control of both the Human Torch and Mr. Fantastic. Soon after, he is interrupted by Invisible Woman and Thing, who save Franklin. Franklin flees to Counter-Earth, but Onslaught pursues him. Onslaught grew in size and acquired his Magneto-like mask when he arrived at Counter-Earth.
He was soon pitted against the Avengers, and as he fell into the sea, he was considered vanquished. The Avengers began to doubt Franklin’s legitimacy as he claimed to be the son of both Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman, who is not married and had no children on Counter-Earth. Soon later, Onslaught takes control of the Hulk and uses him to battle Thor to test who is the most powerful hero. The onslaught shifted between the two heroes, eventually taking control of Thor and hitting the Hulk with lightning.
Thor lowered Mjolnir, no longer worthy, as the Onslaught possessed Thor was about to attack Hulk again. As a result, Onslaught reverted to Hulk and struck Thor high into the sky. The Avengers came just as he was about to take up the hammer, and a struggle erupted. Captain America then told Human Torch and Iron Man that they had sixty seconds to save Thor before he returned to his alter-ego.
They saved him in the time allocated, and Johnny returned Thor to the Baxter Building, where Mister Fantastic had determined that Franklin was really his son. Cap tells Hawkeye to look for Onslaught and tells him that he knows who is inside Hawkeye’s mask: Wolverine. Cap is tossed inside a building as they continue their confrontation with the demonic Hulk. Already in the atmosphere, Iron Man crashes down at full speed on the Hulk, hoping that Bruce will forgive him one day. Hulk is knocked out by a blow from him.
When Onslaught gains control of Iron Man and fights Cap, he and Cap discuss their next move. Rikki Barnes is babysitting Franklin in the Avengers Mansion, and the two of them are ready to eat breakfast when Loki, Executioner, Scarlet Witch, Enchantress, and Ultron V offer to assist them to destroy Onslaught.
Sue refuses to allow the villains hurt Franklin as they appear on a balcony as an invisible Ant-Man and Invisible Woman. Following a brief skirmish, the villains agree to work together to overcome Onslaught’s menace, but it was Rikki “Bucky” Barnes who ultimately beat him by sending them both through the Negative Zone barrier in Richard’s lab, locking them there. Franklin goes home, while Bucky finds herself on Earth 616, and Onslaught is spotted floating outside the Negative Zone’s Area 42 jail.
WHAT MADE ONSLAUGHT SO POWERFUL?
Professor X and Magneto’s mutant talents were united in the Onslaught. His abilities included the capacity to create illusions, mental or physical paralysis, memory loss, and complete forgetfulness. He could also send forth mind-numbing mental bolts and detect mutants within a short distance. Onslaught could also shape and manipulate natural and manmade magnetic fields. He’s also capable of projecting a wide range of electromagnetic radiation. His incredible power allows him to lift more than 100 tonnes. His endurance is also amazing.
Onslaught possesses near-omnipotent reality-warping abilities on a potentially limitless scale, maybe even cosmic scale. Telekinesis and astral projection were among the other powers he had. Even the most powerful telepaths are powerless against Onslaught’s ability to read minds and project his own ideas into the brains of others over great distances. Onslaught’s telekinetic abilities allow him to exert exquisite control over items; he can use explosives to destroy sophisticated equipment and reconstruct them just as swiftly and simply.
This has also given him the ability to become aware of and manipulate objects as small as individual electrons in an atom. For example, Onslaught could determine if a seal was hermetic or not by looking for penetrating oxygen molecules. He could even identify and distinguish individual oxygen molecules, as well as calculate a molecule’s atomic weight based on the number of atoms present. On higher levels, Onslaught can float massive weights into the hundreds of tonnes, but his ultimate limit is unknown. Onslaught possesses the ability to shape and manipulate magnetic fields, both natural and man-made.
He has the ability to either pull magnetic force from outside himself or make magnetic force within himself. The power of the Onslaught is psionic and physiological in origin. He has the ability to lift, move, and change items. Onslaught can levitate or control a person’s actions by manipulating the iron in their bloodstream, manipulate the iron-enriched blood flow to one’s brain to induce aneurysms or unconsciousness, redirect the flow of blood through one’s brain to alter thoughts and perceptions or blank a person’s mind completely, remove the iron from the bloodstream to cause aneurysms or unconsciousness, remove the iron from the bloodstream to cause aneurysms or unconscious.
Onslaught has the ability to manipulate ferrous particles in the atmosphere, change the Earth’s magnetic field, which extends into space as the magnetosphere, vastly boost his own strength to superhuman proportions, and do a variety of other feats. Onslaught possesses immense superhuman strength that is unfathomable. Without relying on his psionic, magnetic, telekinetic, or reality-altering abilities, Onslaught can effortlessly lift well over 100 tonnes.
The ultimate bounds of Onslaught’s strength are inconceivable while employing those powers to augment his strength. While not completely grown, he displayed enough strength to defeat a fully powered Juggernaut and knock him out with a single blow, knocking him out and sending him flying from Canada to New Jersey.
Later, he skewered the Juggernaut with his claws and ripped his Cyttorak jewel from his flesh. In his prime, Onslaught was physically capable of matching a furious Bannerless Hulk, who is incredibly strong at this level. Despite this astounding effort, Onslaught was eventually defeated when the Hulk’s fury reached its pinnacle. Onslaught’s armor is nearly indestructible and difficult to breach after complete physical development.
Only a strike from an irate Banner-less Hulk was an exception. When Onslaught was in an unstable susceptible mid-evolution flux, however, some were capable of causing damage. Finally, Onslaught took advantage of the Hulk’s incredible power to break his armor, allowing him to completely develop. As a result, it’s likely that he couldn’t grow on his own and that the Hulk had to conquer his abilities.
Onslaught, as a mental entity, has the capacity to absorb any mutant into his being and possess their talents forever. He ate two mutants, X-Man and Franklin Richards, to strengthen his immense power. When a person’s volition is less than the control exerted, they are entirely dominated without their agreement.
Onslaught holds both Charles Xavier’s and Magneto’s brilliant intellects, giving him the same competence and knowledge as either. He could handle his talents better than novice wielders like the reality manipulator Freedom Ring or the newborn Franklin Richards because of his super-genius brain and extensive history.