Cover to Excalibur #11. Art by Aaron Lopresti

Archangel (Warren Kenneth Worthington III) is a comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe. He is a mutant and is a member of the X-Men and (formerly) X-Factor. He was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and first appeared in X-Men #1 (1963).

Archangel was originally known as The Angel, and has also been known as The Avenging Angel, Dark Angel, and The Archangel of Death. In recent years he has returned to the codename "Angel."

Fictional biography

Worthington was born in Centerport, New York to Kathryn Worthington and Warren Worthington Jr. He was attending a private school in his adolescence when white, feathered wings began to grow from his shoulder blades. At first he felt he was a freak, but once he learned that he could use his wings to fly and to help people (he saved several people from a fire in his dormitory), he came to enjoy his power. He soon learned that he in fact was a mutant.

He began attending the Xavier School For Gifted Youngsters, where Professor Charles Xavier trained young mutants to control their powers and use them for good. Taking the code name The Angel, Worthington became one of the original members of the superhero team the X-Men.

Much later, having joined his teammates as a member of X-Factor, Warren's wings were severely damaged during the Mutant Massacre, and his friend Cameron Hodge – who was secretly anti-mutant – had his wings amputated. Depressed, Warren tried comitting suicide by blowing up his ultralight airplane, but was spirited away by the ancient mutant Apocalypse.

Apocalypse gave Warren large metallic wings and altered his appearance, giving him the title of Death, the leader of his Horsemen. When it appeared as though Death had killed his former teammate Iceman, he overcame Apocalypse's brainwashing and rejoined X-Factor, this time as "Dark Angel." After the events of Inferno, Dark Angel changed his codename to Archangel.

Archangel was romantically involved with Psylocke for a time, during which his feathered wings grew back within his metal wings and broke them apart. In a fight with Black Tom Cassidy, Archangel experienced a "secondary mutation." His blood gained advanced healing properties, and his blue pallor changed back to a healthy pink. He has since renamed himself "Angel" and is now romantically involved with Husk (Paige Guthrie). The two took an extended leave of absence, but have since then returned. Angel is now expected to show up in Genosha, where he will help Xavier in its rebuilding.

Powers

Archangel's primary power is that of flight. His wings have superhuman strength and can create enough lift to enable him to carry at least 500 pounds in addition to his own weight. They have a very flexible skeletal structure, enabling 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, he processes food more efficiently than normal humans and does not store any fat, and he possesses a greater proportionate muscle mass than normal. His eyes can regenerate extra thick lachrymose fluids to withstand high-speed winds which would damage the average human eye. He possesses a special membrane in his lungs which allows him to extract oxygen from the air at high velocities or altitudes.

He generally flies below the height of clouds (6,500 feet), but Archangel can reach a height of 10,000 feet with little effort. At his absolute maximum he can reach the highest recorded altitude of a bird in flight - about 29,000 feet, or about the height above sea level of Mount Everest, but he can only remain that high for several minutes. He can fly nonstop under his own power for a maximum of twelve hours.

As the result of a secondary mutation, Archangel also developed a "healing factor" and can heal others by mixing his blood with theirs, although this mutation is limited in potency and cannot aid the terminally wounded.