Apex (comics)
| Apex | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Avengers Arena #1 (December 2012) |
| Created by | Dennis Hopeless Kev Walker |
| In-story information | |
| Full name | Katy Bashir |
| Abilities | Technopath |
Apex (Katy Bashir) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
Contents
Publication history
Apex first appeared in issue #1 of the Avengers Arena series as part of the Marvel NOW! event, and was created by Dennis Hopeless and Kev Walker.
Fictional character biography
Apex is one of sixteen teenagers kidnapped by Arcade who forces them to fight each other to the death in his latest version of Murderworld.[1] She is part of the Braddock Academy group (consisting of Kid Briton, Anachronism, Bloodstone and Nara) which is joined by Death Locket despite death threats from Kid Briton and Nara. Death Locket started bonding with Apex as she introduces her to the rest of the Braddock Academy.[2]
There is discord in the Braddock Academy's ranks as Anachronism and Kid Briton get into an argument. An earthquake then separates Bloodstone and Anachronism from Apex, Nara, Kid Briton, and Death Locket. Death Locket goes dormant as her cybernetics take over and she blasts Nara off a cliff and into the ocean. Kid Briton is enraged by this and tries to kill her until Apex orders him not to, revealing that she knew about his affair with Nara back at the Braddock Academy and that "we're here now and I'm done sharing."[3]
Nara, Anachronism, and Bloodstone manage to survive falling into the chasm and come to the conclusion that Apex is manipulating Death Locket and Kid Briton to her own ends. The trio is then teleported by Arcade to the supply cache at Quadrant 2 just as Apex, Death Locket, and Kid Briton arrive. Nara and Apex start arguing and Apex confirms that she was the one who ordered Death Locket to attack Nara. Kid Briton tries to intervene as Nara continues calling him a "weak puppet." An irate Kid Briton attempts to kill Nara for insulting him only to be beheaded by Anachronism.[4]
In a flashback, it was shown that Apex is actually the twins Katy and Tim who ended up sharing a body following an experiment by their parents gone wrong. Since then, both of them were unaware that they share the same body. The battle between Chase Stein as Darkhawk and Juston Seyfert was aborted when Tim's technopathic powers and the group's vote for Tim/Katy's life or death. Juston was among those who voted for death. When Tim reverted to Katy, Juston is murdered by Apex who breaks his neck and then steals his Sentinel.[5]
After being injured by Apex, Nico sacrifices herself by staying behind in order to get some of the other survivors to safety. Nico is killed by Chase and Juston Seyfert's Sentinel (both of whom were under Apex's control).[6] Nico is resurrected by the Staff of One and powered up sufficiently to defeat Apex and trap her and Death Locket underground. However, this had the unintended side effect of sending them underneath the Arena into Arcade's lair.[7]
Death
At the conclusion of the Avengers Arena storyline/series, Arcade escapes when confronted by Apex, Death Locket, and the (now de-powered) Darkhawk, but manages to secretly convince Apex to run Murderworld to its conclusion by killing off the remaining heroes and then telling the world how she was the tragic sole survivor.[8]
As she gloats of her impending victory to Death Locket - still under her control - and tells the cyborg how she'll unfortunately have to die as well to keep Apex's secret and make the story sound plausible, Tim regains enough mental strength to take over one last time. He eventually convinces Death Locket to kill the Tim/Katy gestalt before his sister comes back and takes over the body once and for all—he implies that she has grown far too strong by now for him to ever displace her again—and uses Murderworld to kill off everyone else (by this time, Apex had already set off Murderworld's remaining traps and defenses, all at once, to eliminate the survivors). Apex is then killed by Death Locket off-panel.[9]
Powers and abilities
Apex is a technopath capable of manipulating and reforming machines at will. While the extent of these powers is unknown, she can manipulate several machines at once, including the complex alien Darkhawk armor.[volume & issue needed] She is also capable of self-propelled flight although she can't reach high speeds in the air. She is also a great manipulator and can——as she says herself—talk people into almost anything. She shares her body with her brother Tim and each struggles to gain control of it.[volume & issue needed]
