Angel

__** Warren Worthington III / "Angel" **__



__**History **__

Born into an extremely wealthy family, young Warren attended a prestigious East Coast boarding school where he roomed with Cameron Hodge. Warren's life changed forever the day he began sprouting wings from his shoulder blades, and he hid them under his clothes. Later, when fire struck his dormitory, Warren discovered while escaping that his wings enabled him to fly. Donning a blond wig and long nightshirt to disguise himself as an anonymous "angel," Warren saved the other students. Warren soon became the costumed crime-fighting Avenging Angel and attracted the attention of Professor Xavier, who recruited him as a founding member of the heroic, mutant X-Men team. After the young telepath Jean Grey joined the X-Men, Warren was instantly attracted to her. Eventually realizing that Jean loved their teammate Cyclops, Warren stopped pursuing her. Soon after, Warren rekindled his old college flame Candy Southern and the pair became inseparable. After his father was killed by agents of the criminal Dazzler, Warren investigated and was shocked to learn that the Dazzler was his uncle Burt, who had been using his brother's company as a cover for his crimes. In the ensuing battle, Warren dropped the Dazzler from a great height and presumed him dead; but Burt survived, and plotted to marry Warren's mother Kathryn in an effort to secure the family fortune. Furthermore, Burt had arranged for Kathryn to be secretly, gradually poisoned. Warren and the X-Men foiled Burt's plan, though too late to save Kathryn.

When the sentient island Krakoa captured the X-Men, Professor X assembled a new squad of X-Men to rescue them. After this, most of the original students - including Warren - left the team. Warren inherited his family fortune and used a portion of it to fund a Los Angeles-based super-team, the Champions. Warren revealed to the general public that he was the Angel, though his connection to Xavier's school remained secret. After the Champions disbanded, Warren eventually rejoined the X-Men, but his constant clashes with Wolverine soon led him to quit.

Once leaving the X-Men, Warren was involved in several super teams. He joined the Defenders, helped form X-Factor, and became Apocalypse’s Horseman Death. In this new guise as Archangel, Warren teamed with Spider-Man, the New Warriors, the Avengers, and others. Later, when Professor X disbanded the X-Men in an attempt to ferret out an alien impostor, Warren joined an ad-hoc team of X-Men to help the young mutant Mannites battle Apocalypse's latest Horseman Death. Warren then returned to the X-Men as a reservist, his responsibilities as head of Worthington Industries taking precedence.

After Professor X was publicly exposed as a mutant, Warren took a more public role in his business activities, speaking to the G8 summit about mutants in the world economy. When the X-Men were captured by the plant-like mutant Black Tom Cassidy, Warren's skin reverted to normal after Tom drained some of his life-force. Subsequently recovering from his injuries, Warren underwent a secondary mutation that gave his blood healing properties. After Cyclops became co-headmaster of the Institute, he asked Warren to establish a high-profile charity to improve mutantkind's image. Inspired by Robert A. Heinlein's story, "The Menace from Earth," Warren established "Wings over the World," a recreation center wherein visitors don artificial wings and fly by means of anti-gravity. Warren later also established "Mutantes Sans Frontières," a global outreach organization that sends trained mutant volunteers to places where the X-Men have no official presence.

Warren continues to live at Academy X as a reserve X-Men member. He oversees the school (along with Nightcrawler) while the X-Men are away on missions. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of both Xavier’s school and Academy X. He also handles his various charities, including Wings over the World, Mutantes San Frontières, and X-Corporation.

__**Powers and Abilities **__

Warren’s primary mutant ability is his feathered wings that allow him to fly. His wings have superhuman strength, and they have a very flexible skeletal structure that enables him to press them to the back of his torso and legs with only the slightest bulge visible under his clothing. His bones are hollow, his body processes food more efficiently than a normal human body and does not store any excess fat, and he possesses a greater proportionate muscle mass than normal. As a result, his strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, eyesight, and hearing are at their peak. Elements of his anatomy are comparable to those of birds. His superhumanly sharp eyes can withstand high-speed winds which would damage the average human eye. He can breathe at high velocities or altitudes, and he can cope with the reduced temperatures at high altitudes for prolonged periods of time, giving him a greater-than-normal capacity to endure low temperatures in areas such as the Arctic. The strength in his natural wings can easily break a man's arm or leg, or even put someone through a wall.

Warren possesses a secondary mutant ability that gives him a healing factor. He can also use his blood to heal others.

On top of his powers, Warren is an accomplished hand-to-hand combatant and a skilled businessman.