Onslaught
Onslaught as depicted inX-Men vol. 2, #53 (June 1996). Art byAndy Kubert.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
First appearance	X-Men vol. 2 #53 (May 1996)[1]
Created by	Scott Lobdell Mark Waid Andy Kubert
In-story information
Full name	None
Species	Psionic entitymutant
Team affiliations	Dark Descendants
Notable aliases	Charles Xavier Patchwork Man Dark Xavier Death The Entity Magneto "That Which Shall Survive"
Abilities	See list Psychicomnipotence Powerful psychic abilities, includingESP,telepathy,telekinesis,astral projection, and mental-manipulation Magnetismmanipulation Defying gravity with magnetism (flight) Matter andenergy manipulation Energy projection Psychometry Superhuman strength Size manipulation Mutant absorption Helmet shields against telepathic attacks Reality manipulation

Onslaught is a character appearing inAmerican comic books published byMarvel Comics. Created by writersScott Lobdell andMark Waid, and artistAndy Kubert, he first appeared in 1996 as a cameo inX-Men: Prime #1 before making his first full appearance inX-Men vol. 2, #53, where he would eventually serve as the main antagonist of the "Onslaught" storyline from then onward.

Onslaught was written as a sentientpsionic entity created from the subconsciousness of two mutants:Professor Charles Xavier andMagneto. During a battle between theX-Men and Magneto'sAcolytes, Professor Xavier used histelepathic powers to shut down Magneto's mind, rendering him catatonic. It was explained through the Onslaught crossover series that the darkest aspect of Magneto's mind escaped into Xavier's subconscious, where it "merged" with Xavier's own darker nature to eventually grow into a separate persona of its own.

Onslaught was created by writersScott Lobdell,Mark Waid, and artistAndy Kubert. The character first appeared in cameo inX-Men: Prime #1 (July 1995), named inUncanny X-Men #322 and made his first full appearance inX-Men vol. 2, #53 (June 1996).^[2] He was written and introduced as a villain that was part of the effect of events in the 1993 "Fatal Attractions" storyline. The "Onslaught" storyline was acrossover event with tie-ins among other Marvel books, includingAvengers,Fantastic Four andThe Amazing Spider-Man.

Onslaught is a psionic entity created from the subconsciousness of Professor Charles Xavier and Magneto. During a battle between the X-Men and Magneto's Acolytes, Magneto used his powers to remove theadamantium fromWolverine's skeleton. Xavier used his telepathy to shut down Magneto's mind and render himcatatonic. During the psionic contact, Magneto's anger, grief, and lust for vengeance entered Xavier's consciousness, mingling with every long-suppressed negative yearnings Xavier had endured during the last 30 years. This result created the being known as Onslaught.

After gaining an independent body, Onslaught possesses Xavier and kidnaps him after being forced to leave his body.^[3][4] Onslaught also capturesNate Grey, intending to use his power to transform the human race into acollective consciousness.^[5] Several members of theAvengers andFantastic Four sacrifice themselves to stop Onslaught by entering his energy field, causing him to be destroyed.^[6] It is later revealed that the heroes survived, but were transported to apocket universe created byFranklin Richards and rendered amnesiac.^[7]

A five-issuelimited series,Onslaught Reborn, was released in 2006 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the "Onslaught" storyline; it is written byJeph Loeb, with art byRob Liefeld.^[8][9]

AfterScarlet Witch removes the powers of most of Earth's mutants, the powers of Charles Xavier and Magneto combine to reform Onslaught, whose consciousness survived after his death. Onslaught swears revenge on Franklin Richards and other heroes, transforming into a monstrous form with a skull-like face. However, he is defeated byRikki Barnes, who transports herself and Onslaught to theNegative Zone.^[10]

Some time later, Rikki Barnes, now known asNomad, begins having nightmares set in the jungles of South America. When her teammateToro is kidnapped, Rikki begins to suspect that her nightmares are something more sinister than she first thought. Later, while investigatingRoxxon, theSecret Avengers come across the plans Project Power, a deadly power source developed in Colombia. As the Secret Avengers investigate the facility,Beast andAnt-Man find the source of the energy to be from the Negative Zone. As Rikki races inside the facility to locate Toro, she stumbles into the control room instead.^[11]

Onslaught possesses Rikki and reveals that she is a construct created to act as his host, with the real Rikki having died in the Negative Zone. Rikki hasGravity kill her so that Onslaught cannot return.^[12]

A clone ofRed Skull later exhumes Charles Xavier's corpse and grafts part of his brain onto his own. He gains Xavier's psychic abilities and becomes known as Red Onslaught.^[13] Red Onslaught is defeated byScarlet Witch andDoctor Doom, who attempt to use their magic to invert his morals, but their efforts backfire, causing everyone present to morally invert from their usual behavior.^[14] With the Skull reverted to a human body, he is hidden from the Avengers byEdwin Jarvis until Steve Rogers can retrieve him.^[15] Working with the inverted villains — now referring to themselves as the 'Astonishing Avengers' — and withBrother Voodoo possessing Scarlet Witch, the White Skull is able to undo the inversion.^[16]

Following the establishment ofKrakoa as a mutant nation,Nightcrawler becomes aware that a dark presence is haunting Krakoa, which is dubbed "Patchwork Man". Believing the culprit to be his sonLegion, Xavier recruits Nightcrawler to investigate and bring Legion to Krakoa. Nightcrawler rescues Legion fromOrchis and learns that the Patchwork Man is Onslaught, who was restored and weaponized by Orchis.^[17] Nightcrawler and Legion embrace Onslaught instead of fighting him, weakening Onslaught and enabling Nightcrawler to kill him.^[18]

Onslaught is a psionic entity with superior physical and mental power; possessing the combined abilities ofProfessor X andMagneto. He is capable of telepathy, telekinesis, energy projection, sensing mutant presences, manipulating magnetic fields, mind control, flight, mental manipulation, possession, astral projection, perceiving magnetic and electrical energy, absorbing any mutant into his being, and affecting reality itself. Onslaught can also enhance his physical size and strength.

After fully evolving into his own, separate consciousness and having Professor X ripped from him in the Astral Plane, Onslaught evolved into a second, cybernetic form. In this form, thanks to adding the full potential of Franklin Richards and Nate Grey combined, his powers were increased to god-like levels, including the ability to create and reshape matter at will, and apparentomniscience.

During the "One World Under Doom" storyline, Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Doom hadKristoff Vernard use the Time Platform to summon several superheroes from a possible future designated as Chrono Signature Anno Doom +128. One of the heroes is a skull-headed Onslaught who became a member of the Superior Avengers.Ghost tells Vernard that Onslaught was born from the mutant rage and pain following the disastrous SecondKrakoan Age, was rumored to be the remains of anomega-level mutant with a "legion of different world-ending powers", and became the mutant personification of death. During the fight with theAnnihilus from Chrono Signature Anno Doom +128, Doom removes Onslaught's helmet, which exposes him to endless thoughts. Using a war hammer made from one half ofMalekith, Doommercy kills Onslaught.^[19]

When an alternate Phoenix recruits the original X-Men to stop yet another Phoenix who is using its powers to influence its world, they learn that she was from a universe where she and the X-Men stopped Magneto, but not before he killed Professor X. In response, they began using more decisive methods to bring peace between mutants and humankind. While they stopped threats likeUltron and Annihilus, Phoenix also began controlling her allies like Tony Stark, and set her eyes on ways to increase her powers.

After being teleported to Earth-696, the original X-Men initially clashed with their older counterparts, whom they were able to convince to help them stop the Phoenix.

During the battle against theShadow King (who was possessingCassandra Nova) in theSecret Wars storyline, Professor X faced Shadow King on the Astral Plane in the form of Onslaught.^[20]

• Onslaught appears as a boss and playable character inMarvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, voiced byMaurice Dean Wint.
• Onslaught appears inMarvel Super Hero Squad Online, voiced byTravis Willingham.
• Red Onslaught appears as a boss inMarvel Heroes.
• Onslaught appears as an unlockable playable character inMarvel Puzzle Quest.
• Onslaught appears inMarvel Contest of Champions.
• Onslaught appears as a collectable card inMarvel Snap.^[21]
• Onslaught was proposed as the main villain in the cancelledX-Men Legends 3.^[22]

• Onslaught atMarvel.com
• In-depth analysis on the creation of Onslaught
• Article on the Onslaught crossover

• Characters created by Andy Kubert
• Characters created by Mark Waid
• Characters created by Scott Lobdell
• Comics characters introduced in 1996
• Fictional characters who can change size
• Fictional characters who can levitate
• Fictional characters with body or mind control abilities
• Fictional characters with electric or magnetic abilities
• Fictional characters with elemental transmutation abilities
• Fictional characters with energy-manipulation abilities
• Fictional characters with metal abilities
• Fictional empaths
• Magneto (Marvel Comics)
• Marvel Comics characters with superhuman senses
• Marvel Comics characters with superhuman strength
• Marvel Comics giants
• Marvel Comics male supervillains
• Marvel Comics mutants
• Marvel Comics psychics
• Marvel Comics shapeshifters
• Marvel Comics telekinetics
• Marvel Comics telepaths
• Merged fictional characters

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from February 2024
• Use American English from February 2024
• All Wikipedia articles written in American English
• Converted comics character infoboxes