APOCALYPSE VS. RAMA-TUT
Although Apocalypse already had grey skin and super-strength, his mutant abilities kept evolving as he grew into adulthood. When a vision of the goddess Isis activated some of his powers, Apocalypse was discovered and taken to Rama-Tut, who asked him to be his heir in RISE OF APOCALYPSE (1996) #3. But when Apocalypse rejected Rama-Tut, the pharaoh killed one of Apocalypse’s only allies, an adviser named Logos, and revealed his face to Nephri, the woman he was romantically interested in, who subsequently rejected him. Finally, the pharaoh shot him with a device that had recently depowered the time-traveling Fantastic Four.
When Apocalypse was thrown into a pit full of snakes with Nephri in RISE OF APOCALYPSE (1996) #4, his shape-shifting and size-changing powers emerged. Rama-Tut fought the Fantastic Four, giving Apocalypse the opening he needed to claim the pharaoh’s ship. As Rama-Tut and the Fantastic Four returned to their respective futures, Apocalypse remained in Egypt. And as soon as Apocalypse emerged from Rama-Tut’s Sphinx, the pharaoh’s servants bowed to him, and Nephri tried to take him back. However, Apocalypse rejected them all for their perceived weakness, and the ancient mutant returned decades later to mock an elderly Nephri with his immortality.
