Warren Kenneth Worthington III / Angel / Archangel
Notable Aliases: Avenging Angel, Dark Angel, Death, Master of the Seven Seeds
Nationality: American, Krakoan
Species: Human mutant
First Appearance: X-Men #1 (September, 1963)
A beautiful, somewhat conceited wealthy young man who has wings which allow him to fly. Initially one of the proudest members of the group, became more and more progressively useless when several other mutants were introduced who could fly, as well as do many other useful things. Once lost his wings in a fight, which caused him to do a Face–Heel Turn to get cybernetic replacement wings. Sometime after that, he developed regenerative blood which caused anyone touching it (foremost himself, obviously) to heal from any injury. Recently, this wasn't seen as quite enough, so Angel was upgraded to have the ability to switch at will between feathered Angel and evil, razor-winged Archangel forms.
Angel provides examples of:
A-H
- Affably Evil: As the Dark Angel version of Archangel, he's calm, polite to allies and enemies alike, even a potential rival to the throne of Apocalypse in the form of 616's Holocaust, who he takes under his metaphorical wing, and maintains an entirely reasonable demeanor. He's also planning to wipe out all life on Earth and when 616 Holocaust's mother protests that Archangel is turning his son into a monster, he kills her.
- Alliterative Name: Warren Worthington. His middle name "Kenneth" is a later addition and is often left unmentioned.
- And an alliterative codename. According to his origin story, he was briefly a solo hero before joining the X-Men. His codename was Avenging Angel.
- All-Loving Hero: The amnesiac Angel claims to love everyone (platonically) and is trying to perform miracles for them. This does not prevent him from getting involved in fights.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Notably had blue skin for many years, even after he had lost the metallic wings.
- Amnesiacs are Innocent: The amnesiac Angel is no longer a vicious killer, instead showing love and care towards people he barely knows. Starting with Psylocke.
- Anti-Hero: Type V in Apocalypse-engineered mode.
- Arch-Enemy: Cameron Hodge, one of X-Factor's major foes, serves as one to Archangel. Highlights of his activities include the crossovers Extinction Agenda and Phalanx Covenant. Cameron has died a few times, but always seems to find a way to get Back from the Dead. Once through a Deal with the Devil, twice through the Phalanx's techno-organic virus restoring him.
- Artificial Limbs: He has his naturally-occurring wings amputated and replaced with razor-edged metallic wings that can shoot blades. As the procedure is done by an evil mad scientist, there are some side effects.
- Art Imitates Art: Text only use. In Wolverine and the X-Men (Marvel Comics) #10 (July, 2012), Rachel Grey describes the rapid learning the amnesiac Angel is displaying. He went from being unable to draw even a basic stick figure to producing a faithful recreation of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel on the walls of his room.
- Battle Couple: With Psylocke when they were together.
- Betty and Veronica: Veronica for Jean in the early days. He was the rich, arrogant suitor in comparison to the poor, humble Cyclops. Then he became the Betty to Psylocke's Archie with Fantomex being the Veronica.
- Black Gal on White Guy Drama: Averted. His lover Charlotte Jones is African-American, so this is a pairing of White Guy and a Black Gal. But neither of the two face derision and this is not played for drama.
- Blood Knight: In Apocalypse-engineered mode. He actively sought combat and the death of his opponents.
- Brainwashed: Even though he had willingly agreed to serve Apocalypse as Death, one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse in exchange for new wings (bear in mind he was borderline suicidal at the time, and everyone thought he was dead), Apocalypse still programmed him to be loyal though, however. He stayed under his control from X-Factor #21 to #25(October, 1987 - February, 1988). It wasn't thorough enough, though, and after apparently killing Iceman, he snaps out of it and attacks Apocalypse. Fortunately, the Iceman he destroyed was only an ice statue of the original and Warren rejoined X-Factor.
- Cast from Lifespan: Following his resurrection in 2012, Angel gained new energy powers. In Wolverine and the X-Men (Marvel Comics) #20 (January, 2013), Beast speculates that they come at a terrible price. Angel is using his own energy reserves to fight, and they are a limited resource. When they are exhausted, he will die.
- Chick Magnet: He is a blonde-haired hunk of a man and regularly attracts ladies. This goes as far back as X-Men #2 (November, 1963). The X-Men have recently defeated Magneto and have become celebrities. Anti-mutant sentiment was not introduced yet. So there is a scene where the Angel has trouble escaping his adoring fangirls. He has went on to have romances with several notable women, the dates given are the duration of the relationship: Candy Southern (1967-1986), Dazzler (1982-1983), Charlotte Jones (1990-1991), Psylocke (1994-2001), and Husk (2002-2005).
- In Uncanny X-Men #169-170 (May, 1983), Angel was kidnapped by the Morlocks. Their leader Callisto wanted to have him as her consort, since he was “the most beautiful man in all the world.” In Excalibur vol. 3 #13 (July, 2005), both Callisto and Viper express their lust towards Archangel.
- His teammate Stacy X had an unrequited crush on him. In Uncanny X-Men #413 (November 2002), Stacy and Husk fight over their common attraction to Archangel.
- In Uncanny X-Men #415 (January, 2003), Warren attracts the attentions of the empath Josette. She tries to seduce him, and he turns her down.
- In X-Men: First Class #7 (May, 2007), Angel has a brief relationship with the Scarlet Witch.
- In Uncanny X-Force #16 (November, 2011), Archangel has sex with Pestilence/Ichisumi. He impregnates her and she goes on to give birth to their twin children: Uriel and Eimin.
- The younger version of Angel, displaced to Earth-616, has a relationship with X-23.
- In Thunderbolts, even as the team is fighting him, Songbird says that she has "never in [her] life seen a guy that good-looking!"
- Clip Its Wings: Angel has large wings: during the Mutant Massacre storyline, his wings are mutilated and later develop gangrene so they're amputated. For a while, he uses artificial wings; later, real wings grow back.
- Combo Platter Powers: He's got enhanced strength and endurance, healing blood, flight...
- Crimefighting with Cash: He inherited a large fortune from his father, as well as the position of CEO of Worthington Industries.note The company is "an international conglomerate with holdings in advanced aviation technology, periodicals (at least one newspaper), experimental alternative fuels and fancy frozen yoghurts, with nearly uncountable net worth." He has used his fortune to bankroll the Defenders, X-Factor, and the X-Men.
- At one point, his old foe the Vanisher set up a company to sell drugs. Termed "designer genes," they were drugs distilled from mutants that gave their users temporary access to unique mutant powers. In Uncanny X-Men #409 (September, 2002), Archangel ended the threat by performing a hostile takeover of Vanisher's company.
- Death Is Cheap: In X-Factor #15 (April, 1987), his wings were amputated. He escaped the hospital and took off on a private plane. The plane explodes in to ball of flames, and Angel was declared deceased. His funeral was held in issue #17 (June, 1987). In issue #18 (July, 1987), it is revealed that Angel was teleported out of the plane moments before the explosion. His rescuer was Apocalypse, who wanted to convert him to his cause.
- In The Infinity Gauntlet #1 (July, 1991), Thanos wipes out of half the population of the Marvel Universe. In issue #2 (August, 1991), a list of "missing" (dead) heroes is read and Archangel was among them. Every casualty of the event was restored to life in issue #6 (December, 1991), Archangel included.
- In Uncanny X-Force #18 (February, 2012), Archangel is killed by Psylocke, who uses the Life Seed to stab him. The death did not even last the issue. The Life Seed immediately resurrects him, but wipes out his memory.
- Did Not Get the Girl: He was involved in a Love Triangle with Jean Grey and Cyclops. Both men wanted her, and Warren was more open about it. This subplot run for years in the original X-Men series. It was resolved in issue #31 (April, 1967), when Warren decided to drop the pursuit. He realized Jean was not returning his affection. That same issue introduced his Replacement Goldfish, Candy Southern.
- Discard and Draw: Due to the limitations of his original abilities in combat, Warren's powers have gone through a number of changes over the decades to the point that he rivals Psylocke in this trope. Originally, Warren started out as simply having wings that allowed him to fly. After he suffered an injury to these wings, he was transformed into Apocalypse's Horseman and gained techno-organic wings which fired poison tipped Feather Flechettes. He regained his organic wings and gained the ability to heal himself and others by mixing his blood with theirs. After some time, his metallic wings and the Archangel persona resurfaced. Following Psylocke killing him, his organic wings and healing powers returned. He also gained the ability to fire energy blasts from his hands and manifest a Laser Blade.
- Distressed Dude: Uncanny X-Men #169-170 (May, 1983), Angel was kidnapped by the Morlocks. Their leader Callisto wanted to have him as her consort, since he was "the most beautiful man in all the world." He spend both issues as a helpless captive, "silent and naked except for a loincloth, shackled, crucifixion-style, to a wall in Callisto's dungeon."
- Doomed Upgrade: Superpowered version. Various writers continue trying to upgrade him beyond "lame old flight," but nobody can agree on what that upgrade should be, so his powers have gone through at least three major revamps. The longest-lasting of these was being stints as Archangel with razor-sharp metal wings (permanently locked into the form from 1988 to 1996, able to shift at will between Angel and Archangel from 2008 to present).
- Dream Sequence: In Uncanny X-Force #18 (February, 2012), Archangel is dying and Psylocke uses her telepathy to give him an elaborate dream. In it, the two are a married couple, raising two daughters in Colorado. They grow old together, and Warren dies of natural causes. All those decades in a few minutes.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Yes, he's THAT hot. His former friend Cameron Hodge was obsessed with Warren. In X-Factor #34 (November, 1988), Cameron killed Candy Southern, Warren's actual lover. He explains his reasons for killing her: "She loved you. And you loved her. You turned from me and loved her." The motivation of a Stalker with a Crush who has decided to Murder the Hypotenuse.
- Evil Costume Switch: Angel, as Death of the Four Horsemen (he kept his costume after returning to X-Factor and becoming Archangel).
- Evil Former Friend: Cameron Hodge used to be his friend before becoming his Archenemy. Warren trusted him enough to have him serve as the public relations director to X-Factor.
- Evil Uncle: His paternal uncle Burtram "Burt" Worthington is the super-villain Dazzler. He killed first Warren's father and then his mother. All in an attempt to claim the family fortune. Unfortunately for him, Warren survived and became the actual heir. His appearances so far include Ka-Zar #2-3 (December, 1970 - March, 1971), Marvel Tales vol. 2 #30 (April, 1971), and X-Men: The Hidden Years #13-16 (December, 2000 - March, 2001).
- Face–Heel Turn: Angel, after being brainwashed by Apocalypse into becoming the Horseman of Death. He eventually returned to the side of good though.
- It happens again when his Death persona takes over and he becomes the successor to Apocalypse. Setting off the Dark Angel Saga in the pages of Uncanny X-Force.
- His first Face Heel Turn occurred back in Tales of Suspense #49 (January, 1964). Following an accidental exposure to radiation, Angel becomes an "evil mutant." He heads right to the Xavier Mansion and announces his resignation from the X-Men. His teammates attempt to restrain him until the Professor arrives. Instead, Angel easily knocks Beast and Cyclops off their feet, evading attacks by Iceman and Marvel Girl. He flies away just before Professor X arrives and casually ignores a mental command to return. Pointing he is no longer scared of Xavier. He then goes on trying to make contact with evil mutants. He instead gets into a fight with Iron Man. Iron Man fails to get the best of his opponent, but then tries another strategy. He pretends to fall out of the sky to his death. This snaps Angel out of his "evil mutant" persona and he goes to the rescue. He is a hero again and is welcomed by the X-Men.
- The Favourite: Of Apocalypse, as implied many times after his initial transformation, and confirmed in the lead-up to X of Swords. The Horsemen of Apocalypse are all Replacement Goldfish for the original Horsemen, his children, and while he liked a few well enough, none of them really measured up... except for Warren, who Apocalypse both liked and respected, once calling him "the greatest of my Horsemen". Unsurprisingly, Warren's not so wild about the idea.
- Feather Flechettes: In his Death/Archangel persona. Each flechette is tipped with a paralytic toxin that temporarily renders his victims immobile, physically "dead" and unable to access any conscious powers they may have.
- Fiction 500: His personal wealth places him as one of the richest men in the United States. He can always cover the expenses of entire teams
- Flight of Romance: This trope is taken to an extreme when Angel has sex with Husk in mid air in front of her mother, Nightcrawler, and several other people.
- Friend to All Children: In Wolverine and the X-Men (Marvel Comics) #10 (July, 2012), Rachel Grey reveals that Angel devotes part of his day to children. Specifically, he volunteers at the hospital and takes sick children on rides through the clouds.
- Good Wings, Evil Wings: Angel has white feathery wings during his early incarnation. Later, he is grabbed by Apocalypse and experimented upon, and his wings become metallic and retractable. Later the metal wings mysteriously fall off and reveal the old feathered wings have returned, and still later Warren gains the ability to shift at will between the feather-winged Angel and metal-winged Archangel. And in the latter form, he has to fight against the evil urges that have been imbued in him by Apocalypse, hence sticking with the weaker but entirely good Angel form whenever possible.
- Hand Blast: Following his resurrection in 2012, Angel gained new energy powers, being able to blast energy from his hands. However, this ended up being a case of Cast from Lifespan.
- Have We Met?: Amnesiac or not, Angel finds his teammate Genesis/Evan Sabahnur looks familiar and feels he should know more about him. Genesis is a clone of Apocalypse, Angel's former master.
- Healing Factor: When Chuck Austen revamped Archangel's powers, one of the new ones was a healing factor. In Uncanny X-Men #415 (January, 2003), Warren is completely healed after being severely injured. Even his broken bones are repaired. Warren surprises Iceman with his "rapid healing." Iceman suggests that Warren is turning into a copy of Wolverine: "So what’s next? You pop claws out of your forearms, develop a taste for beer and mousse your hair all pointy on the sides?"
- Healing Hands: Averted. While believing himself to be an actual Angel, Warren is convinced he has this power. In Wolverine and the X-Men (Marvel Comics) #8 (June, 2012), Warren tries to use this power on a paralyzed Wolverine. Nothing happens.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: He briefly wielded a sword that he took from a battle he won with an alternate reality Illyana Rasputin. It hasn't really been seen in a while, though he's proved himself a competent fencer with his wings.
- Honest Corporate Executive: He is the CEO of Worthington Industries and is not in favor of underhanded business methods or morally questionable investments. His board of directors, on the other hand, has invested money in the X-Ranch (a mutant brothel) and Lobo Technologies (a company illegally selling Stark Enterprises products under their logo).
I-Z
- I Believe I Can Fly: When Angel was introduced as a member of the X-Men, it was alongside the very flightless Cyclops and Beast, while Iceman's ice slides didn't offer the same level of maneuverability and Jean Grey couldn't levitate herself very far. But as the roster has expanded with characters who have flight as a side effect of their powers—Storm, Magneto, Rogue (after absorbing the right abilities), Mystique, Cannonball, Apocalypse, and so on—being stuck with huge feathered wings as a mutation must be annoying.
- In fairness, Angel has gained (and lost) a lot of powers over the years, such as vision on par with a hawk's, being physically capable of flight i.e. being both lighter and stronger than normal humans,
and recently universal donor blood with regenerative properties that, for some, can heal otherwise-doomed characters from fatal damage. And even when his power of flight was more exclusive, he always made it look like a lot of fun, like every childhood daydream you've had but better.
- In fairness, Angel has gained (and lost) a lot of powers over the years, such as vision on par with a hawk's, being physically capable of flight i.e. being both lighter and stronger than normal humans,
- Identity Amnesia: Following his resurrection in 2012, Angel lost all memories of his previous life. In Wolverine and the X-Men (Marvel Comics), Angel becomes just another student. He has to be taught the basics about being a mutant, doesn't answer to the name "Warren," and for a while believed he was an actual Angel.
- I Hate You, Vampire Dad: Considered Apocalypse his worst enemy after the latter made him a horseman.
- Impoverished Patrician: Following his amnesia, Angel spend a period when his bank accounts were frozen. This started in Wolverine and the X-Men (Marvel Comics) #5 (April, 2012). He also lost control of his company to its board of directors: "It is painfully obvious to the board of directors that their longtime CEO has suffered a mental breakdown and thus at present must be considered mentally unfit to run this company. They have no choice but to strip Mr. Worthington of all authority in regards to this company and to implore him to seek the medical attention he so desperately needs." ... "He is being called before a judge to demonstrate mental competence."
- Intergenerational Friendship:
- With Genesis/Evan Sabahnur. Angel is a full adult, Genesis is little more than a newborn clone. Justified in that Angel himself is functionally a child following his resurrection.
- Jerkass Has a Point: In X-Factor #24 (January, 1988), Warren serves as Death, a Horseman of the Apocalypse. He lists his reasons for his newfound hatred of humans: "They took away his wealth, beauty, name, pride, and even his wings." He is correct that hateful humans have caused his Trauma Conga Line, and his former teammates offer no argument against his reasoning.
- In Uncanny X-Men (2018), he reverts to his Archangel persona, being a Sociopathic Hero at best and flat out states that he is undecided on whether or not he is going to attack them or not. He also rips the X-Men a new one, because they are responsible for his reversion, as he'd been one of Nate Grey's 'Horsemen of Salvation' and they'd taken him out. However, as he pointed out, he'd been serving Nate more or less willingly, since Nate was helping him with the Archangel persona, and the X-Men had just returned him to his worst nightmare. Betsy - who was the one to do it - admits he's right.
- The Lancer: Full of himself, overconfident, and continued to contend with Scott for Jean long after Bobby and Hank lost interest.
- Laser Blade: Following his resurrection in 2012, Angel gained new energy powers. In Wolverine and the X-Men (Marvel Comics) #20 (January, 2013), he manifests an energy sword and has a brief Sword Fight with the second Silver Samurai. He bests his opponent.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Angel, after the Life Seed is used on him.
- Last of His Kind: Chuck Austen's storylines hinted that Warren is the last member of the Cheyarafim, an ancient Mutant sub-species with angelic looks and powers. They were the archenemies of the demonic-looking Neyaphem, a Mutant sub-species which includes Nightcrawler. Warren's blood, which heals others, burns Nightcrawler when used on him. This has been quietly ignored ever since.
- The Leader: Starting from Uncanny X-Men #395, the series featured a group of X-Men going on rescue missions. Under Joe Casey, the leader was Nightcrawler. Under Chuck Austen the leader was Archangel.
- Legacy Character: When Uncanny X-Force killed Apocalypse, the mantle was passed on to Archangel. Cue Archangel becoming the new Apocalypse.
- May–December Romance: His relationship with Husk fits the trope. She was said to be about 19 years old at the time. Archangel is in his 30s.
- His relationship with Pestilence/Ichisumi is a more extreme version. Her origin story in Uncanny X-Force #3 (February, 2011), depicts her as an adult in 1833. She is likely more than 150-years older than Archangel.
- The Medic: A grisly version, since he can use his blood to heal others.
- Mighty Whitey and Mellow Yellow: He had a brief relationship with Pestilence/Ichisumi, a Japanese woman, when he usurped Apocalypse's position. He was clearly the dominant partner, as she served his will.
- Mission from God: In Wolverine and the X-Men (Marvel Comics) #8 (June, 2012), Angel goes on a space mission to find a device able to heal a paralyzed Wolverine. He declares it a Mission From God.
- Mistaken for Cheating: In X-Factor #10 (November, 1986), Angel and Jean Grey bond for a while and embrace. His lover Candy Southern walks in on them and mistakes this for a lover's embrace. She chews them both out. Angel because this is not his first time philandering. Jean because her real powers are wrecking relationships, making men fall in love with her, and destroying the men who fall for her. She then dumps Warren, quits her job in Warren Industries, and walks out.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Warren has a slender figure and is not muscle-bound. However, his Handbook profiles list him as having "Peak Human Strength." "The Angel possesses greater physical strength than an ordinary human equal to him in body weight and can lift about 500 lbs (226,80 kilos)."
- Napoleon Delusion: For several issues of Wolverine and the X-Men (Marvel Comics), Warren thought himself to be an actual Angel and an agent of God. In issue #10 (July, 2012), his delusion almost kills him. He tries to fly up to Heaven and flies to a height where there is not enough oxygen for him to breath. He falls from the sky and has to be rescued by Genesis/Evan Sabahnur. When he wakes up, Angel realizes he is a mutant after all.
- Necromancer: Angel demonstrates new powers after his resurrection in 2012. One of them is the ability to bring back the recently deceased. In Wolverine and the X-Men (Marvel Comics) #4 (March, 2012), he first uses this power to bring a dead dog back to life.
- Never Learned to Read: As revealed by Rachel Grey in Wolverine and the X-Men (Marvel Comics) #10 (July, 2012), the amnesiac Angel "couldn’t read a word in any language." Due to his rapid learning, Angel goes from illiterate to having the highest marks among students of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, along with Quentin Quire.
- Old Money: His family has been wealthy and socially prominent since the 18th century. X-Men: The Hellfire Club #2 (February, 2000), features his ancestor Major-General Wallace Worthington as a key figure in the late years of The American Revolution.
- Our Angels Are Different: Angel is explicitly stated from the beginning to be a mutant who just happens to have various flying mutations including big white fluffy wings. Except, of course, later developments made him a descendant of the Cheyarafim, along with Icarus (Joshua Guthrie), and added healing blood to his powers.
- Out of Focus: Of all the original X-Men crew, he is unequivocally the one who has received less attention and representation in the last few years.
- Power Loss Depression: Warren had his wings amputated after they were mutilated by Harpoon, one of Mr Sinister's Marauders. This resulted in him falling into emotional turmoil, which Apocalypse took advantage of by offering to give him new wings in exchange for becoming one of his Four Horsemen.
- Preppy Name: He's from a wealthy family called Worthington, and is the third generation of the lineage to be named Warren.
- Pretty Boy: He is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed man who looks like a model. Not every artist can pull it off, of course, but he is supposed to be unnaturally, ethereally beautiful, to the point that the wings aren't what you notice first if you're close enough to make out his features. This even continued when he was blue-skinned. Amusingly, his time-displaced teenaged self jokingly acknowledges this while on a date with X-23, making himself out to be prettier than Jean Grey.Laura: Jean is prettier than me.
Warren: That's not true.
Laura: You're prettier than me.
Warren: That is true. - Razor Wings: As Archangel. His techno-organic wings can cut through flesh, and tend to be used for the mutilation or decapitation of his opponents.
- Restart the World: During his Face–Heel Turn in Uncanny X-Force The intent of the newly ascendant Archangel intends to raze the world using Willaim Rolfson AKA Genocide to burn the earth to the ground and then use the energies of the Celestial Life seed coupled with the Year Outside, Hour Inside nature of The World to create gardens on earth each exploding with possibilities' untold. Pity everyone will have to die for that to happen.
- Skin-Tone Disguise: Warren used to have blue skin as part of his mutation. He would use an image-inducer to look like the Caucasian man he is.
- The Smart Guy: Among the students of the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. He gets the highest marks among them, along with Quentin Quire.
- Sociopathic Hero/Villain Protagonist in Apocalypse-engineered mode. While heroic, Archangel is still extremely violent and kills on instinct. When his dark side wins out, he becomes an outright villain. Which does not prevent him from being the co-protagonist of X-Factor and X-Force Uncanny X-Force]].
- Superpowered Evil Side: Angel has Archangel, the persona he developed after being experimented on by Apocalypse. Warren usually has wings and average healing powers. Archangel has razor sharp, retractable wings that launch out metal feathers that are dipped in his natural poison. He is a killer. See Yo Yo Plot Point below.
- Super-Senses: Following his resurrection in 2012, Angel gains new powers. One of them gives him a version of enhanced vision. He is able to see the true essence of whomever he looks upon. He uses it twice in Wolverine and the X-Men (Marvel Comics) #10 (July, 2012)When he looks at himself (in the mirror), Angel sees himself glowing. Which makes him believe that he is so much more than a mutant. When he sees Genesis/Evan Sabahnur, Angel sees the adult Apocalypse.
- Token Flyer: Warren was this for the original team. As new members with flight (and other powers) were added, Warren's own powers had to be expanded in order to avoid redundancy.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: You try getting a shirt on over those things on a regular basis.
- The Worf Effect: It may seem absurd, considering that he was the weakest of all the X-Men, but back in the day when he wasn't QUITE so useless the first thing that would happen in most fights is that Angel would rush in and get his ass handed to him, after which he would either be totally taken out or have to retreat to be rescued by the others. In retrospective, his strength was somewhat justified in that one of the attempts to revamp his powers was to make him physically stronger due to his flight musculature.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Starting from X-Force vol. 3 #7 (November, 2008), Warren could willingly change from his white-skinned, feather-winged Angel form to his blue-skinned, techno-organic Archangel form.
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: The utter redundance of "just flight" as a power in such a fully realized superhero universe has caused numerous attempts to revamp him into a more serious combat threat (though there was the time around 2000 when they tried to up his usefulness by just focusing him on rescue in hazardous areas and situations). The most common variant is, as Archangel, Razor Wings, but he's also displayed the ability to launch feather projectiles in that form (exploding ones in the '90s animated series and razor-sharp ones in Wolverine and the X-Men (2009)).
- Winged Humanoid: He is a mutant with white feathered wings. He was later Retconned into having super-strength and unbreakable, ultra-light bones, to explain away the biological improbabilities (he also has eagle-keen vision, though no one seems to remember this). When transformed into the Horseman Death by Apocalypse, his previously amputated feathered wings were replaced by razor-sharp mechanical ones that shot poison-tipped feathers. His white-feathered wings returned eventually, having grown back underneath the metal ones.
- He can now switch between normal Angel and blue-skinned, metal-winged Archangel forms.
- Willfully Weak: As much crap as he gets in and out of universe when he’s just a guy that can fly in a world where people have flying as part of a bigger powerset, Warren would much rather be the guy with feathered wings flying around and enjoying the sky. Despite the big power up it gives him, he hates the Archangel form and the baggage it brings. It’s very seldom his choice but he very often tries to resist the Archangel form so he can just be Angel.
- Yo Yo Plot Point: The conflict between Warren and his Archangel persona. Every time it gets resolved and Warren either makes his peace or even rids himself of Archangel entirely, guaranteed a few months later it's going to be dragged back up again. This is lampshaded in Uncanny X-Men (2018), when Betsy 'frees' him of Nate Grey's control as a 'Horseman of Salvation', turning him into Archangel - again, something which he doesn't hesitate to call her out on (especially since he was voluntarily serving Nate, because Nate was helping him keep Archangel under control). It should be noted that a handful of other characters have been converted into Horsemen and besides Gambit none of them have shown a hint of relapsing - though that might have something to do with how deeply Apocalypse transformed him. Certainly, it's notable that aside from the original Horsemen (who were his children), he's by far Apocalypse's favourite.
Time-Displaced Angel
Angel/Warren Worthington III
Much like Jean, Angel arrives in the future to find himself subjected to a bad fate, but rather than fearing returning to the past, Warren initially is the most eager to return to where they belong. His lingering questions of just what happened to his future self continue to plague him, and again like Jean, he's determined to do whatever he needs to to avoid that fate. Unfortunately, he seems to be just repeating the mistakes of the past, albeit in new and interesting ways.
- Awesome, but Impractical: His fiery wings look impressive, but aren't always helpful. Like, for example, when the X-Men are in snowy woods, and the fire is melting everything around them (never mind the problem of trees and fire). Or when he sets a bar they're in on fire.
- Battle Couple: With Laura in All-New X-Men volume 2. Ish. They work together to track down the Ghosts of Cyclops, but Warren ends up more concerned about Laura's well-being than getting the job done.
- Domestic Abuse: Turns out to have serious shades of this: he's constantly harping on Laura about her actions, trivializes the hell she's been through all her life, berates her in front of their friends and teammates over her actions, and his first act after she gets her head pounded into mush by the Blob is to break up with her. In the middle of the fight. Afterwards he then ignores her entirely. And then it turns out that he's been going around behind Laura's back doing everything he was berating her for - though in the latter case, she calls him out hard for it, and he admits that the Black Vortex wings are driving him mad.
- Drunk on the Dark Side: All but stated to be the reason for his Jerkass behaviour following his Black Vortex empowerment.
- Future Me Scares Me: He's probably the most disturbed by what happens to him in the future, mostly because people don't seem to really care as much as they do about what happens to Jean and Scott (though admittedly, even Archangel is small potatoes compared to the Dark Phoenix). When given the chance, he deliberately changes himself as much as he can from his future self. Ironically, though, it seems that he's just turning himself into him, going about it in a different way, which is not lost on anyone around him.
- Hypocrite:
- Warren is extremely disturbed by his future self, especially because no one seems to want to tell him what happened. When offered a chance to change his future by embracing the Black Vortex, he leaps at the opportunity. Even though by doing so he more or less did exactly what eventually lead to his original future.note
- It gets worse in Volume 2, when in issue 6 he has a monologue rant that Laura thinks he doesn't understand what it is to have a dark side he can barely control, when he chose to take on the Vortex in the first place, even after he saw what it did to Beast.
- Laura finally calls him out on it in issue 12, when she discovers that Warren's Power Incontinence since his upgrades means he has to unleash his powers or else they'll burn him up. It turns out he's been sneaking off behind her back doing the exact same things he was yelling at her in front of their friends for. Warren does have the decency to fess up and acknowledge that accepting the Vortex was a mistake.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: He finally stops screwing around and cuts loose on Blob in issue 6. He completely tears him apart when he does, reminding everyone just how freakin' powerful he is since his cosmic upgrade.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In issues 1 and 2 of the second volume he's a tad...eager to "rescue" Laura when she's in danger of being injured. Even though her Healing Factor allows her to shrug it off. It ends up letting the Ghosts of Cyclops escape when he's more concerned about (unnecessarily) saving her than dealing with the situation at hand.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Claims this with Laura in issue 6, when he mentally rants about her recklessness and belief he doesn't understand what it is to have a dark side requiring great discipline to control. It falls flat considering their wildly different backgrounds (his was one of wealth and privilege, Laura's was one of abuse, torture, and loss), and the fact that Warren consciously chose the Vortex all because he was freaked out about the future, while Laura rejected its power.
- Pent-Up Power Peril: In issue 12 of the second volume of All-New X-Men, Warren reveals that his Vortex upgrades are actually burning him up from the inside (whether literally or figuratively wasn't made clear), and the only relief is for him to unleash them.
- Satellite Love Interest: Warren's role in volume 2 is pretty much relegated to worrying and/or griping about Laura constantly charging head-first into danger without thinking. He's also her taxi.
- Star-Crossed Lovers: With X-23. No matter how strong or not their relationship is, it will ultimately end because at some point he must return to his own time. Their final breakup doesn't even occur on panel, and when he does return home they don't even say goodbye.
- Time-Travel Romance: He and X23 are romantically involved.
- Took a Level in Badass: After being cosmically enhanced by The Black Vortex, Warren may be even more powerful than he was as Archangel.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: After the same cosmic enhancement, which is steadily twisting him.
- Took a Level in Kindness: He seems to have developed some common sense/niceness following his and Laura's break-up.
- Winged Humanoid: Unlike his future self, his wings are organic. At least, until the Black Vortex happens. They get replaced with Mimic's feathery wings by Kid Cable in Extermination, in preparation for the O5 being sent back.
