X-Men: Heir of Apocalypse

X-Men: Heir of Apocalypse #1-4

by Steve Foxe, Netho Diaz (Illustrator), J. P. Mayer (Illustrator)

Who Will Inherit The Sacred Responsibility Of Apocalypse?

For centuries, Apocalypse tested the mutants of Earth to guarantee that only the strong would survive. Now, as he takes his throne on Arakko, another must rise in his place and ensure the mutants of Earth do not grow weak in his absence! Twelve mutants chosen from among the X-Men's greatest heroes--and villains--will compete for the honor, but only one can become the heir of Apocalypse! Among them stand Cable, Exodus, Emma Frost, Forge, Mirage, and Wolverine--but when a thirteenth contender crashes the tournament, endangering the lives of thousands in the process, will any survive to carry on in Apocalypse's footsteps? Not if Mister Sinister has anything to say about it! Meanwhile, Archangel takes it upon himself to make sure no one else suffers at En Sabah Nur's hands!

Collecting X-Men: Heir of Apocalypse #1-4--by Steve Foxe, Netho Diaz, JP Mayer, Sean Parsons, Lorenzo Ruggiero, and Alex Sinclair.

Genres: X Men, Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Superheroes

112 pages, Paperback

First published February 18, 2025

Reviews

[Khurram · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got to say I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. I have felt let down by the tournament style X-books so far, this one delivered.

The story is good. The artwork is great, but the only thing that let it down for me is that it was a bit too short, making it too rushed or too cramed. It is annoying that X of Swords was twelve plus issues, and this one was done in four.

For generations Apocalypse has tested mutants, his creed of survival of the fittest, ment that one strong would survive and lead.Now he has taken his throne on Arakko so he wants an heir to carry on his work for Earth. Twelve are selected by him and a couple of wild cards. Each has their own reason for taking the title. Greed, destiny, or just to make sure nobody else takes it.

It's a good book. That shows the changes in the characters since the fall of Krakoa, and if done right, they will have ramifications later. I also lije that the book took time to highlight characters that might have been overlooked in the past and might have potential that has been untapped. Who will become the Heir of Apocalypse, and if I am not mistaken, some hints at their horsemen as well. The book finishes with a varient covers gallery.

[Frédéric · Rating 1 out of 5]

This mini-series is relentlessly rubbish: the "winner" is an easy guess as soon as the cast is presented - the one who obviously has no reason to be there, the "tests" are pitiful and worthy of a Disney Channel series, and the said winner sees his personality seemingly totally screwed up once he's been chosen. Decades of a character thrown down the bog on a whim. Just like that.
Want another ladleful of bullshit? The drawing sucks big time. This Netho Diaz is a fraud.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

For years, Apocalypse has "watched" over mutantkind, hoping to create the ideal world for them. That was reached for a short period of time during the Krakoa Saga, when Krakoa and Arrako remerged to create the mutant nation. However, since officially moving to Arrako (on Mars) and working on legacy there, he has decided to hold a tournament to find out who is worthy to become his heir on Earth. Contestants: Armageddon Girl, Cable, Cypher, Emma Frost, Exodus, Forge, Gorgon, Sinister, Mirage, Penance, Rictor, and Laura Kinney. Archangel tries to stop it all from happening, as his grudge against Apocalypse is the strongest.
In the end, only one surviving contestant has the guts to be a steward while the others are defeated. Doug Ramsey becomes Revelation, taking on an appearance similar to Apocalypse, except gold and white. Definitely excited to see where this goes as we head into a new era of X-Men
Recommend. Fast and fun read.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.9 stars.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75
This was actually decent. I thought the winner worked to a degree. A little more development would have made it work better. The character redesign is pretty terrible.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A primeira coisa que li por Steve Foxe, uma minissérie de X-Men '92, me agradou bastante. Depois, li outros materiais que ele fez, principalmente para os universos do Homem-Aranha e dos X-Men, e achei qualquer nota. Então estava com um pé atrás neste X-Men: Herdeiro do Apocalipse, escrito por ele e desenhado pelo brasileiro Netho Diaz. Mas me surpreendi positivamente. Ele consegue imprimir um ritmo legal para a história, contemplar todos os personagens que se propõem a trabalhar, e traz alguns momentos de ação e aventura e conflitos pessoais interessantes e recompensadores para leitores antigos de X-Men. A arte de Neyho Diaz, no entanto, me causou estranheza, fica entre um Ian Churchill (de que gosto) e um Brett Booth (de que odeio) e me parece meio fluida no sentido de inconstante. Talvez essa sensação tenha vindo porque ele foi finalizado por cinco pessoas diferentes nesta publicação. Dito isso tudo, X-Men: Herdeiro do Apocalipse é uma peça importante para o que está acontecendo atualmente nos Estados Unidos com os mutantes, então deve reverberar dentro de sua cronologia.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heir to Apocalypse struck me as a gimmicky one-shot, so I skipped over it when I was wrapping up my Krakoa reading. Foolish me: this book is actually an essential coda that leads right into the current big crossover event for X-Men comics. It's also pretty darn good, even as it definitely is a gimmick!

Basically, Apocalypse has left Earth behind, preferring to sort things out among the Arakkans on Mars. But he still wants to make sure mutants on Earth are "cared for" by an Apocalypse-style being, so he pulls together a bunch of mutants in a sort of Contest of Champions.

The contest plays out in a predictable, yet fun Hunger Games event. Each participant gets a moment or two to shine, which is nice. And then the big reveal of Apocalypse's heir is...surprising? It certainly has me intrigued to dive into Age of Revelation.

[Cristhian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah.

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was actually enjoying this until the end. The last issue reveals who the heir is and they look so stupid. This feels pointless for now but I know it’ll come back in a big way and I kept sooner rather than later.

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very singular plot, which arguably is to the benefit of this short series. My problem is that I didn’t feel like I had a specific character I would want to see as “Apocalypse’s Heir,” which would have made a bit more sense. Wasn’t sure who Armageddon Girl was (an Arraki?), but I thought some of the Arrako folks should have been in the mix for this. Also, given all of Rictor’s storyline in the Krakoa era, he seemed the best fit. I don’t think Doug coming out as Revelation was a bad choice…I just didn’t love the character design and how swiftly he seemed to give into rage regarding the fate of Krakoa (it makes sense, but seeing him tip towards negate as a slow burn throughout the series would have been an improvement).

Is it apparent the writers are struggling with death and wanting to go back to the well of being able to resurrect characters on demand within the rules of the current status quo? I think they might be…

[Subham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Its a decent storyline which happened after Krakoa and before from the ashes and kinda sets the vol 3 of Mackays run where revelation plays a big part into the event and I just read it because of that like its an alright story where Apocalypse is controlling Arakko aka Mars and he wants his heir to be born to evolve mutants on earth for when Krakoa returns and all that and its a decent story where like 12 mutants face off against each other or the threats and it goes as expected as you can guess in these stories well! The big issue is one vs Genocide and that one was fun but the others are other trials and what not.. they are decent nothing spectacular.. Archangel vs Apocalypse moments were okayish.. its just like a one time read but the end point pretty much establishes Doug Ramsey aka Cypher as his legacy.. Revelation so thats the big one anyways!

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the wake of the demise of Krakoa, Apocalypse has one last piece of business to attend to - he needs an heir, and it's up to the merry mutants themselves to choose who it is.

I thought this'd be more of a trial by numbers kinda book with characters losing one by one, but Steve Foxe's narrative zigs when it looks like it's gonna zag and surprised me the entire way through. There are some clear favourites here (Who doesn't love Mister Sinister at this point?), but there are some unexpected gems included too, like Gorgon, and Nature Girl, who get to have some fun along the way too.

The final resolution is as unexpected as everything else, and I'm very curious to see where the winner of the competition shows up next.

[Ross · Rating 2 out of 5]

At the end of the Krakoan Age, Apocalypse threw a tantrum and thought the mutants would follow him...

Rejected, this looks like his backup plan. Gather those that fought hardest against him (or have the most potential) to take his place.

Who'd he grab?
- Forge
- Emma Frost
- Exodus
- Penance
- Rictor
- Armageddon Girl
- Doug Ramsey (Cypher?)
- Cable
- Danielle Moonstar
- Mr. Sinister
- The Gorgon
- Laura Kinney (Wolverine)
- Archangel
- Sunfire

----
A deadly bunch of 'American Gladiator' games later, and we get to the final 'Revelation'...
and it's SO STUPID. Pale blue albino Apocalypse swapped for pale yellow 'Revelation'? Hard pass.

[Daniel Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Marvel não sabe o que fazer com os X-men pós kRAKOA
hora quer superar a fase mais emblemática dos mutantes nos últimos anos, hora quer nos lembrar do quão inovador essa fase foi, Apocalipse o grande pilar de Arakko agora procura um sucesso para conduzir a mutandade , pra isso seleciona 12 mutantes e começa um "processo seletivo" a idéia não é de todo ruim, mas poderia ser melhor executada - ~não chega a ser ruim como a "saga dos 12" mas fica anos luz de uma preparação para algo como a Era do Apocalipse, o elenco escolhido poderia ser melhor trabalhado e a arte apesar de competente não entrega nada de novo, e falha miseravelmente na reconstrução visual do escolhido .

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book could have been so much more. But in the end, it ended up being a load of fluff, that probably couldn't have been reduced to a 1 shot.

A lot could could have been said, could have been explored, but nope. Due to the new editorial team coming in, sadly this wasal rushed and clearly shorted to fit in before the new era began.

Revelation could have been a great reveal and that character design... Awful. Hopefully, in their next appearance he has an updated look.

[Travis Duke · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cool idea, with a silly plot but ultimately a cool ending? Look I get that Apocalypse turned good guy at Krakoa, thats cool with me. But for all these mutants to want to become his heir, is a really silly idea... Cable, X-23, Emma, Forge, etc... want to be his heir? I really dont buy it.... The ending is cool though, I thought the winner was a cool idea. Art is ok, I liked seeing Angel have a hissy fit, after all Apocalypse did to him, nice tie in

[Ezgi Kantarcı Oğuz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed that each character got at least a few pages focusing on their motivations and reasons for joining the event. It was a good way to highlight every character.
Especially highlighting Doug's grief for Kraoka is a good touch. He was cheerful for most of the Kraoka run and even the almost certainly getting killed in the X of Swords storyline was not particularly upsetting, and came with a happy ending. This is a good beginning to his "joining the dark side" arc.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty forced, but the conceit drives you forward. The fact that my favorite character was one of the twelve had me more engaged than the book deserved. It’s too short to do anything worthwhile. And that level of effort wasn’t given (nor expected). The Heir fits coming out of the Krakoan Era. Will it payoff is the question.

Could easily receive one star.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

It isn't really much of a "tournament," though the ultimate winner is something of a surprise. Will be interesting to see what that character gets up to next. The art is sometimes a bit sketchy, but isn't bad on the whole.

[Daniel Parsons · Rating 2 out of 5]

I went in knowing who got named the Heir and wasn't expecting much, just curious how they justified the choice. I would've rather had a 4 issue story driven build up to the cheap action this mini got filled with.

[Rickey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story was very 90's throwbackish, which is what you would expect for anything involving Apocalypse. It ended fairly quickly and I did love the end result of who became the heir. Marvel and DC need to build newer villains and Revelation could be a fun one.

[Tor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terribad.

[Fazun · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

[Harry Alliss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought this was a pretty strong start Post-Krakoa, the characterisation is for the most part spot on (Exodus and Cable especially). Looking forward to seeing where it goes.

[Rafael Suleiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good graphic novel.

[Brendan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one had its moments but they were few and far between.

[Daniel Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad acc! I'm interested to see how this sets up what is to come. This was a fun read but I might not have bothered if not wanting to be a completionist for the From the Ashes era.

Okay - 6/10

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

i'm glad doug will still have an important solid role in everything after krakoa but WHYYYY ARE THEY ALWAYS MAKING ALL THESE CHARACTERS BALD I CANT TAKE IT ANYMORE

[Shannon Boreham · Rating 3 out of 5]

I miss Krakoa....

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a comic battle royale that bridges into future X-stories. It serves to explain something next. But this is pretty standard comic fare.