Ending Alt 295: Age of Apocalypse

Alt 295: A

It all ends with X-Men: Omega. Each of the storylines come together as the X-Men confront Apocalypse in a final, epic battle while the human's nuclear armada approaches.

Several characters escape the Age of Apocalypse making their way into the "normal" reality.

• Beast: The psychopathic Beast returns to our continuity, and we learn that he has been playing a much bigger behind-the-scenes role in the X-Men mythos. In addition to his successful attempt assume the real Beast's life for a time, we discover his involvement with the Morlocks and the infamous Mutant Massacre. To distinguish between the two Beasts, the AoA Beast is often referred to Dark Beast. 
• Bishop: Already displaced in time, Bishop returns with locked memories of his time in AoA slowly revealed later.
• Holocaust: Found in space by the Acolytes in X-Men (1991) #42. He was not used as much as I thought he might've been. 
• Sugar Man: I was surprised to see this unusual character make the leap into the normal continuity. We later learn that the Sugar Man has also been a player in the Genoshian shadows for 20 years responsible for the mutate bonding process.  
• X-Man: X-Man (1995) is the only series to continue after the events of X-Men: Omega.  

I recently heard complaints about comics being written by "committee". I think they can be entertaining when telling a big tale with so many moving parts. The Age of Apocalypse was a comprehensive story that required the coordination and collaboration of the entire team.

• Astonishing X-Men (A+): Scott Lobdell & Joe Madureira
• X-Calibre (B): Warren Ellis & Ken Lashley
• Factor X (B): John Francis Moore & Steve Epting
• Generation Next (A+): Scott Lobdell & Chris Bachalo
• Amazing X-Men (A+): Fabian Nicieza & Andy Kubert
• Weapon X (A-): Larry Hama & Adam Kubert
• X-Man (A-): Jeph Loeb & Steve Skroce
• X-Universe (B): Terry Kavanagh & Carlos Pacheco

They created a completely immersive reality using familiar characters, and it was popular enough to spawn more stories. We will return to the Age of Apocalypse two more times. The first will encompass the various stand-alone books and series (mostly prequel) from 1996 to the 10 Year Anniversary in 2005. The second will be AoA after Apocalypse as told in the ongoing series Age of Apocalypse (2012).

The Age of Apocalypse really is one of my favorite X-Men events. It describes a horrifying possibility in which the oppressed wrest the power from their oppressors and choose to repay cruelty with even more cruelty. More importantly, it reaffirms that the dream of harmony is not single-sided but rather represents equality regardless of who is in power.