Apollo
Apollo is a comic book character that first appeared in Stormwatch #4
Apollo is a solar-powered, nearly godlike superbeing created by Henry Bendix. He and his husband the Midnighter are the only two survivors of their original team, and are now members of the Authority.
Origin
Unlike his lover, the Midnighter, Apollo may have volunteered willingly for the implant procedures that gave him his powers. Apollo has also lost all memory of who he was before his recruitment into the team. Apollo, alongside Midnighter, Lamplight, Crow Jane, Amaze, Impetus, and Stalker, formed the ill-fated team that would be sent to their deaths by Bendix on their first mission. Apollo served as team leader, but proved ineffective when he witnessed the death of his peers and became paralyzed with traumatic shock, leaving Midnighter to get them both out alive. However, when Midnighter and Apollo sought extraction during this mission, it was only to discover that Bendix had no intention of wasting time or resources to save them when he could so easily replace them with more "super soldiers." Betrayed, Apollo and Midnighter used their abilities to escape with their lives, but would spend the next five years hiding on the streets, attempting to remain invisible to the Weatherman's ever-watchful eye from the Stormwatch headquarters orbiting the Earth. During this time, the team members fought to better the world on a smaller scale, and came together as lovers. Because of their self imposed exile, both Midnighter and Apollo were ignorant of Stormwatch's battle against Henry Bendix, and of his supposed death at the hands of Jenny Sparks. Only when Jackson King, the new Weatherman, discovered them on radar and brought them in for questioning (ultimately testing their loyalties by sending them on a mission) did the pair realize they were free to live in the open again as normal human beings. All files related to whom both Midnighter and Apollo were before their introduction into the team were believed to be lost, and since neither man could remember, Jackson King instead gave them new identities with which to retire from the super soldier business.
The Authority
Violation
In the Fourth story-arc (Authority, Vol 1 #14), The Authority battled for possession of Baby Jenny, the reincarnation of Jenny Sparks who would eventually grow up to be Jenny Quantum. During this battle, Apollo faces off with a character known as The Commander, an overly-macho testosterone driven meta-human who sexually assaults innocent people in the hospitals that he searches. Apollo is beaten badly by The Commander and his two companions, and the comic strongly implies that he is then raped against the hood of a car, his body left to be discovered by the Midnighter, who is seen holding Apollo and crying.
Following this scene in Authority, Vol 1 #14, Apollo is seen pensively watching TV when the Midnighter comes into their rooms. When asked what he's doing, he admits to thinking, "...about how I'm going to snap every bone in thats clown's body and shove his friend's mace so far he's going to need eight years physiotherapy and a good proctologist to walk again."
To which Midnighter replies, "God, I just love you to bits sometimes."
When Apollo encounters The Commander at the end of the story-arc, he quickly gains the upper hand. But when The Commander suggests that Apollo can't kill him because he "gives him feelings he only read about in Cosmopolitan Magazine," Apollo tells him: "Don't be Ridiculous. I just promised you to a friend."
The scene concludes with Midnighter standing over The Commander's now paraplegic body, holding a large jackhammer.
Soon the Authority would finally take over the American government after they caused the deaths of an alien group traveling through the Bleed. The team was able to take power without out any trouble. However keeping that power was far more troublesome. Enemies such as Stormwatch: Team Achilles did not approve of the takeover and Midnighter and Apollo were sent on a mission to raid their base which almost ended with them losing their lives in the process. They were then given the task of dismantling the American training camp for SPBs. Soon Midnighter was visited by a future Apollo, warning him that he would become a tyrant and he needed to break up the team to stop this from coming to pass. Meanwhile a group of former heroes called the Sons of Liberty had caused Americans to become upset with the teams rule and decided to riot. This eventually ended with a nuclear explosion in Washington and the team ultimately disbanded and Midnighter left Apollo to raise Jenny on his won. However after three years Jenny decided to speed up her age going from 8 to 14, rebuilt the team and it discovered this was all a plot made by Henry Bendix and a revived Rose Tattoo. Bendix revealed he had secretly taken control of Midnighter using nanites and forced to attack and beat the team including Apollo. However he was able to slightly gain control asking Apollo to take his life, but Jenny and Engineer were able to free him and in revenge he killed Bendix himself.
Utopian
Along with the rest of the team he was trapped in an alternate dimension were there were no superheroes or any major power sources. While attempting to recharge flying over Afghanistan he was shot down. Midnighter showed up attempted to defeat the soldiers responsible.
World's End
During a fight with Incubites Apollo was infected with the disease known as the Warhol virus. It provides a person with a deformed giant body and super strength but they die 15 minutes later and cause the virus to spread. Apollo went back to the sun in hopes of purging it out him however the disease strength was increased by the heat. IT become some powerful that it became self aware and took over Apollo. The disease renamed itself the Burn and attacked the Carrier hoping to get into the Bleed to spread. The team couldn't kill Apollo so Engineer froze Apollo and locked him aware, but the Burn is still active inside him.
Powers
-Super Strength
-Flight
-Near Invulnerability
-Solar blasts which shoot from his eyes
After the events of World's End, Apollo has been greatly changed. His solar charge now depletes much faster and leaves him weaker than it ever did before. For this reason he constantly stays in the sun, only coming down to Earth when necessary. Because of this, Apollo is only capable of fighting for short periods of time before needing a recharge. His recharging, however, seems much more effective as it has been shown that he can reform bone by being in the sun.
| Super Name: | Apollo |
| Real Name: | None |
| Aliases: |
Sun King |
| Publisher: | Wildstorm |
| Gender: | Male |
| Character Type: | Other |
| 1st Appearance: | Stormwatch #4 |
| Appears in: | 134 issues |
| Birthday: | |
| Died: |
