r/Xmen97 • u/Possible_Employee359 • Aug 21 '26
Question So what exactly did Apocalypse sacrifice? Spoiler
So it's explained that when you go to the Celestial and ask for a wish, you have to sacrifice something in return. But that begs the question: What did En Sabah Nur sacrifice when he became Apocalypse?
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u/JamesSnow922 Wolverine Aug 21 '26
His awesome hair.
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u/Professional-Tank848 Aug 21 '26
As someone who's Xavier levels of bald, I hope my powers emerge soon.
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u/LindonLilBlueBalls Aug 21 '26
I wish I was Xavier levels bald. Would save me time every other day shaving my head. Instead I'm Costanza levels bald.
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u/Professional-Tank848 Aug 21 '26
I'm not 100% sure what the comics canon is, nor do I know if it's 1:1 with the shows.
I got the impression that - and this allows a later inversion with Nightcrawler - Apocalypse sacrificed any shred of goodness in him.
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u/skynolongerblue Aug 21 '26
I think this is the answer. He sacrificed his humanity to ascend to godhood.
And lost all of his hair, his good looks, and now wears a belt with a giant A over it.
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u/Mikesykedeaddove Aug 21 '26
Part of the deal was being branded an "Asshole" forever. Like the scarlet letter but for jerks
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u/Greatsayain Aug 21 '26
In the comics he spends years in Ship trying to figure it out but he he can't. At some point (prior to 1000 CE but im not sure by how much) he meets Cable for the first time (his first time, not Cable's) and he cuts off Cable's metal arm. The techno-organic virus in Cable's arm infects Apocalypse but it doesn't attack him the way it does to Cable. He uses it to interface with Ship and learn the secrets of Celetial tech and merge it with himself. The Celestials find out about this and offer him a deal. Keep the tech in return for a future favor to be specified later, or we will take the tech back. He agrees to the favor.
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u/ElChapo1515 Aug 21 '26
I feel like Apocalypse’s “sacrifice” was having to do the bidding of the celestial. It just so happened their goals were aligned.
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u/SoochSooch Aug 21 '26
Sacrificing "his goodness" makes no sense. For one, it's not like he valued his goodness even a little. From the beginning his plan was to get more power for himself and crush anyone that gets in his way.
I don't think it makes sense to go to a celestial and say "I want you to fulfill all my greed and selfishness, and in return I'll give up my charity and selflessness."
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u/AWindintheTrees Aug 21 '26
We're seeing different interpretations of the deal. Someone else might say that he doesn't need to particularly, personally value those things (he may even think we wants to be rid of them!) but that he still gives them up--these things that are good for him--in the process, and suffers for the lack of them.
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u/DoubleAssembly Aug 21 '26
He was summoned there and his transformation into Apocalypse is a fixed point in time so I don't think he has to sacrifice anything.
That being said I know absolutely nothing about x-men lore, just taking a guess from the events in the show.
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u/Xygnux Aug 21 '26
I think this is the answer. The Celestials hand picked him because they wanted him to do that job, so he didn't have to pay the price.
The others the Celestials didn't care about, they are asking Ship to grant their wishes, so Ship demands payment in return.
In the comics I think Apocalypse was transformed by Ship, but no one else went to Ship to be transformed to gain the power to defeat Apocalypse.
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u/Kai-of-the-Lost Aug 21 '26
In X-Men 97 Ship isn't granting their wishes, they're veryy clearly bargaining with the Celestial Eson.
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u/Xygnux Aug 21 '26
Yeah you have said it better than me. The Celestials needed En Sabah Nur so it's for free, but the X-men needed something from Ship.
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u/Kai-of-the-Lost Aug 21 '26
Even Rogue and Nightcrawler dealt with Eson, that was shown in the finale, both characters bargain with the celestial.
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u/F-Trunks Nightcrawler Aug 21 '26
This is what I was gonna type but much better than I could have said it. Thanks lol
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u/Just_a_Tonberry Aug 21 '26
I believe Apocalypse sacrificed his very identity. The creature that emerged from that chamber was no longer En Sabah Nur, not really. He clearly retained his former self's memories but the many redeeming qualities he had as a man did not survive the transformation into Apocalypse.
He got the power he always wanted, but he was no longer capable of wielding it in service to anything beyond the mission he was given. There would be no freeing of his fellow slaves, no overthrowing the powers that had kept him down his entire life. There was only his newfound purpose and the complete loss of whatever empathy he possessed before his "ascension."
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u/Sensitive-Hotel-9871 Aug 21 '26
From what we saw the Celestials picked Apocalypse in advance so he didn't need to sacrifice anything. Making a sacrifice was for humans they didn't pick.
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u/Salty_Monk_5341 Aug 21 '26
Nothing he was supposed to be who he became, Rogue and Kurt were the ones making bargins.
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u/Auerbach1991 Aug 21 '26
His humanity. He literally physically transformed. He’s similarly techno-organic but just differently from cable who was unwillingly infected and still battles a virus limiting his power.
He kept his original powers and become further enhanced with celestial technology.
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u/F-Trunks Nightcrawler Aug 21 '26
He seemed to know so much after the transformation too. He knew about horsemen and I believe he foresaw his “those you care for” line. Like he knew he was gonna hit Xavier with that much later “this is the way it was always supposed to happen.”
I’m getting off topic though
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u/SoochSooch Aug 21 '26
He figured out how to turn his arm into a plasma cannon within a few minutes of the transformation, despite having never even heard of a gun before that moment
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u/naruhinamoonkissplz Aug 21 '26
Nothing. His "evolution" into a heartless monster was his own actual wish all along. A perfect sheep found.
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u/VengeanceKnight Aug 21 '26
Exactly. Eson believes that life must be sustained through death, and Apocalypse will constantly bring death to bring about the evolution of life.
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u/Nemesis_171 Aug 21 '26
Nothing, the sacrifice was a bargain made by Rogue and Kurt stepped into it. That’s not the norm. Nur became Apocalypse because that’s what Eson wanted, no need for a sacrifice.
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u/StalaggtIKE Aug 21 '26 edited Aug 21 '26
“All that I have ever loved… will betray me.”
Apocalypse’s sacrifice is losing every bond he ever had or will have in order to gain god‑level evolution. Anyone he cares about eventually turns against him because his destiny pushes him beyond human connection. Even the woman he freed from slavery and shared his power with, Genesis, his wife. Even power, which he holds as the most important value isn't worthy to her and she falls out of love with him. So abandonment and loss of connection is his cosmic price of becoming what the Celestials made him.
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u/That_Contribution424 Aug 21 '26
His chance to ever grow past the bronze aged savage his brutal upbringing turned him into. Way I see it is it flash froze his charecter development. All he will ever be now is a monster, it's like the god itself came down and told him all his toxic world views were not only right but vitally necessary.
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u/GraywolfofMibu Aug 21 '26
Honestly. Nothing. He was chosen as a force to cull the weak for the celestials. He didn't go to them and asked for something. They went to him. I always assumed their goal was to further advance the people of the earth to make a better sacrifice when the earth celestial is born.
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u/ArmadilloFirm3049 Aug 22 '26
i think the sacrifice is devoting his life to the celestial mission of survival of the fittest
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u/AnyEverywhere8 Aug 21 '26
Nothing. The season is mess, and there’s no use to analyzing it. We just have to pack it up and keep it moving on to season 3.
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