APOCRYPHUS
Earth-1952

Real Name: Apocryphus

Identity/Class: Alternate reality (Earth-1952) sub-species of humanity (Eternal)

Occupation: Servant of Kang

Group Membership: The Anachronauts (Black Knight/Raston of Earth-616, Deathunt 9000 of Earth-928, Raa of Earth-616, Ssith of Earth-616, Tyndar of Earth-616, Wildrun of Earth-616, many others)

Affiliations: The Anachronauts, Prof. Justin Alphonse Gamble, Strike Fireteam Decimal Four;
    Earth-6311 natives: Kang the Conqueror (Nathaniel Richards), Terminatrix (Ravonna Renslayer)

Enemies: Immortus (temporal counterpart of Nathaniel Richards of Earth-6311), Incinerators;
    Earth-616 natives: the Avengers (Black Knight/Dane Whitman, Captain America/Steve Rogers, Crystal/Crystalia Maximoff, Hercules/Heracles, Sersi, Thor/Eric Masterson, Vision/"Victor Shade"), Doctor Druid (Anthony Druid), Fantastic Four (Human Torch/Johnny Storm, Invisible Woman/Susan Richards, Mister Fantastic/Reed Richards, Thing/Ben Grimm), Force Works (Moonraker, Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff, Spider-Woman/Julia Carpenter), Kim, Fisher Todd

Known Relatives: Sersi (mother)

Aliases: "Boy" (insult from Earth-616's Sersi), "the Last Eternal" (title for himself); "Lord" (called by other Anachronauts)

Base of Operations: Chronopolis

First Appearance: (unidentified) Fantastic Four I Annual#25 (1992);
    (identified) Avengers I Annual#21 (1992)

Powers/Abilities: Apocryphus presumably had all the usual powers of an Eternal but only ever displayed the ability to fly and project energy blasts from his eyes.

    He wore wristbands capable of opening Temportals from Kang's Chronopolis base to the various time periods housed within Chronopolis.

Height: Unrevealed (approximately 5'9")
Weight: Unrevealed (approximately 160 lbs.)
Eyes: White
Hair: Black

History:
(Avengers I Annual#21 (fb) - BTS / Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z HC Vol. 1 - Anachronauts entry - BTS) - Apocryphus was the last and "mightiest" of the Earth Eternals in Reality-1952, son of Sersi. Aware of the heroic Hercules from legends and hoping that he might someday be able to kill such a legend, Apocryphus was defeated in battle by the time-traveling Earth-6311 conqueror Kang and he pledged fealty to Kang, joining the similarly-situated other Anachronauts from across the timestream.

(All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z I#1 - Anachronauts entry - BTS) - Apocryphus and the other Anachronauts were occasionally assisted by Kang's army of soldiers such as Strike Fireteam Decimal Four.

(Fantastic Four I Annual#25) - When the Temptress stranded both the Fantastic Four and Avengers in Chronopolis, Apocryphus and the other Anachronauts were sent to Chronopolis via a temporal portal, followed shortly by Earth-6311's Kang the Conqueror, who ordered the Anachronauts to secure both teams of heroes. Despite being the son of his reality's Sersi, Apocryphus did not seem to recognize her when he met her Earth-616 counterpart.

(Avengers I Annual#21) - Mr. Fantastic attempted to calm the situation and bide time for the Avengers and Fantastic Four to rest but an angry Hercules announced that the Anachronauts didn't have the authority to force their surrender, prompting Apocryphus and the Anachronauts to charge into battle. Invisible Woman immediately erected an invisible force field, repelling and holding back Apocryphus and the others while the two heroic teams decided on their next course of action. The Fantastic Four and Avengers ultimately decided to surrender in an effort to have the Anachronauts capture and bring them to Kang's lair, where they hoped to find the missing Vision, Captain America and Thor. After Invisible Woman lowered her shield, the two teams engaged the Anachronauts to give the impression of fighting back while secretly waiting on their ally Doctor Druid's signal to surrender and in the ensuing battle, Apocryphus went after Hercules and Invisible Woman. Apocryphus boasted of wanting to kill a legend, namely the legendarily clumsy Hercules, and he picked up the Olympian demigod but was quickly encased in an invisible force bubble by the Invisible Woman. Doctor Druid soon gave the signal when the Anachronaut Raa held him at spear-point and after the two teams surrender, Apocryphus warned everyone to stay back as he activated the Temportal. The Anachronauts then led the Avengers and Fantastic Four into Kang's citadel, where Apocryphus activated a Hyper-Cube to imprison the two teams while Kang (actually one of his many temporal counterparts) gloated about his conquest of various centuries. After Kang teleported the missing Captain America, Vision and Thor into the Hyper-Cube as well, he continued his rant until Temptress emerged from behind his throne and stabbed him with her Vibra-Knife, much to the surprise of both Apocryphus and his teammate Ssith. The presumably prime Kang then appeared, announcing that the Temptress had slain only another temporal counterpart of his, and he became intrigued at the Temptress' ruthlessness, challenging her to a duel while ordering Apocryphus and the other Anachronauts to form a circle around them. The Temptress accepted Kang's terms of being allowed to kill Kang if she won or joining Apocryphus and the other Anachronauts if she lost and she armored up, announcing herself as Terminatrix.

    During Kang and Terminatrix's duel, Sersi, having secretly switched forms with Raa, set the Avengers and Fantastic Four free, prompting Apocryphus and the other Anachronauts to leap into battle to subdue them. Apocryphus soon engaged Sersi, recognizing her ability to change the form of herself and others as an Eternal ability. When Sersi introduced herself by projecting energy beams from her eyes, a surprised Apocryphus met her eye beams with his but halted when he realized who she was. Apocryphus remarked "Motherrrrrr..." as a shocked Sersi successfully downed him with her eye beams and wondered aloud what Apocryphus had said.

(Avengers I Annual#22 / 2) - In Kang's Chronopolis, the Anachronauts practiced against one another, with Apocryphus battling Ssith while Sir Raston fought Wildrun and Deathunt 9000 fought Raa. Tyndar monitored the battle, noting that Apocryphus was winning and that Tyndar himself would face the victor. During his fight against Ssith, Apocryphus noted that brute strength could be turned against its user as he flipped Ssith over and he refused to acknowledge Ssith to be the superior of the last Earth Eternal. Following Ssith's defeat, Tyndar immediately jumped into the battle against Apocryphus but the battles were quickly ended with the arrival of Terminatrix, who was now ruling Chronopolis in the injured Kang's stead. When Terminatrix questioned whether any of the Anachronauts had been opening random Temportals and after Sir Raston noted that his Ebony Blade had become ghostly, Apocryphus and the others watched as Terminatrix examined the anomaly of Raston's sword. To investigate the potential danger to Chronopolis and further examine the sword, Terminatrix led Apocryphus and the other Anachronauts through a portal to the age of Camelot, where they witnessed the fall of the Starstone. They were all soon trapped there due to a temporal anomaly caused by a strange cottage that seemingly appeared out of nowhere and they witnessed robotic Incinerators emerge from the cottage and abscond with the fallen Starstone. Venturing inside the cottage, Apocryphus and the other Anachronauts were surprised to find the inside to be an expansive time travel vehicle. Soon finding the captured Prof. Justin Alphonse Gamble, the Anachronauts were quickly attacked by the Incinerators and while some of the Anachronauts fought them off, Apocryphus, Deathunt 9000 and Terminatrix freed Prof. Gamble. The time traveler Gamble thanked the group for the rescue and revealed that while they were meeting him for the first time, he had met them once before in their own future. After Gamble explained the Incinerators' plan to utilize the Starstone to power a Time Incinerator device, he fled as the Incinerators returned in force, forcing Apocryphus and the others to fight back.

    Noting the ease in which the Anachronauts tore apart the Incinerators, Apocryphus admitted that despite the Incinerators' ease of defeat, he and the other Anachronauts seemed to be more hard pressed the longer they fought. Terminatrix quickly realized that the Incinerators truly were endless, as they kept replicating more and more of themselves until Prof. Gamble interjected to remove all Incinerators from his time travel vehicle. Apocryphus and the Anachronauts got to their feet as the elimination of the Incinerators had repaired the temporal anomaly they had traveled to Camelot to investigate. With the timeline repaired, Terminatrix led the Anachronauts in departing the age of Camelot and Apocryphus grumbled as they exited Prof. Gamble's cottage.

(All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z I#1 - Anachronauts entry - BTS) - Apocryphus and several other Anachronauts were tricked by Kang's future incarnation Immortus, who had assumed Kang's form, into assisting him in a plot to keep the Avengers preoccupied. As part of this plot, Apocryphus was sent to Earth-616's modern era Vietnam to guard a temporal weapon housed there.

(Force Works I#17) - After an Earth-616 Vietnamese boy named Kim found himself transported into an unfamiliar forest near the weapon, Apocryphus and a few other Anachronauts spotted him as Kim doubled over in pain. Apocryphus scanned the boy and informed the other Anachronauts that Kim appeared to be "turning," ordering the other Anachronauts to inform "control" that they had found another positive.

(Force Works I#18) - When the Anachronauts noticed a fire in the distance, Deathunt 9000 ordered the others to ready their weapons to investigate and he asked Apocryphus what they should do with Kim, whose "turning" had not yet completed. Apocryphus ordered the others to bring Kim along before hurrying the group, noting that time was a'wasting. As they subsequently approached the fire, Apocryphus used binoculars to check on the fire, only to spot Force Works at the scene. Reporting to the other Anachronauts that the presence of Avengers would not do, Apocryphus ordered the other Anachronauts to ready themselves, as the humans could not be allowed to leave alive. Apocryphus then ordered one of the Anachronauts to watch over Kim before leading the others in attacking the heroes. Force Works' ally Fisher Todd downed one of the Anachronauts but Apocryphus retaliated by delivered a devastating punch to Fisher before focusing his attention on Scarlet Witch, who recognized him from the Avengers' files. Kicking Apocryphus, Scarlet Witch demanded to know if the attack was the work of Apocryphus' master but a smiling Apocryphus only replied that his master's work was none of the Scarlet Witch's concern. He then turned his attention towards Spider-Woman but was hit by Moonraker before he could attack, who jumpkicked Apocryphus before announcing that time itself had been turned into a weapon that threatened to destroy the future.

(Force Works I#19) - With Apocryphus and the other Anachronauts downed, Scarlet Witch demanded Moonraker explained himself, as he now claimed to be old Avengers foe Gustav Brandt rather than Slade Truman, whom he had previously claimed to be.

(All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z I#1 - Anachronauts entry - BTS) - Following the Anachronauts' role in Immortus' plot, the true Kang reassumed command of Apocryphus and the other Anachronauts.

(Avengers Forever I#3 (fb) - BTS) - During an attack by Immortus on Chronopolis, during which Terminatrix fell, Apocryphus and most of the Anachronauts were slaughtered by a time-twisting explosion caused by Immortus when they tried to rally by Terminatrix's side, leaving only their temporal shadows and the surviving Wildrun behind.

(Avengers Forever I#3 - BTS) - During the time-spanning Destiny War, a group of time-displaced Avengers arrived in Chronopolis, where they met Wildrun, who informed them of Apocryphus and his other teammates' deaths. As Wildrun spoke, temporal shadows of Ssith, Apocryphus, Tyndar, Raa and Sir Raston appeared around them in ghostly form, all talking about how dark it had become.

(All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z I#1 - Anachronauts entry - BTS) - It remained unclear whether Apocryphus and the other deceased Anachronauts were truly and permanently dead, given Kang's ability to alter time and obtain counterparts (whether alternate or temporally divergent) of his forces.

Comments: Created by Mark Gruenwald, Dan Panosian (see comment below), Herb Trimpe and Brad Vancata.

    While the Anachronauts first appeared in an issue by Mark Gruenwald, Herb Trimpe and Brad Vancata, the pinup page in Avengers I Annual#21 reveals that artist Dan Panosian had designed the Anachronauts.

    This profile was originally a subprofile under the Anachronauts profile by Gauntlet: Dark Rider. I tried to include as much of the original subprofile text as possible, hence the dual writing credit.

    This profile was completed on 09/29/2026 but its publication was delayed, as it was intended for the Appendix's 25th anniversary celebratory event.

Profile by Proto-Man and Gauntlet: Dark Rider.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Earth-1952's Apocryphus should be distinguished from:

• APOCALEDON - magical guardian of the Pillar of Smoke, put there by witches who settled there, apparently destroyed by Chad Barrow--Spellbinders I#4
• APOCALOFF, NIKOLAI of Earth-93060 - see WOLF--Night Man I#7
• APOCALOPIAN of Earth-9997 - see CABLE--Universe X Special: Ironmen
• APOCALYPSE (En Sabah Nur) - ancient mutant, master of Ozymandias, employs/mutates Horsemen, X-Men foe--X-Factor I#5
• APOCALYPSE (Kazarian) - leader of Demon-Fire--Vampire Tales I#7
• APOCALYPSE BEAST - ancient giant monster--Fantastic Four/Iron Man: Big in Japan#1
• APOCALYPSE-HUNTERS - anti-Apocalypse cultists, targeted Polaris for having served as one of his Horsemen--Uncanny X-Men I#475
• APOKOLYPSE (En Sabah Nur) of Earth-17413 - mutant despot--Spider-Man II#13
  
• other "Apocryphus" characters, groups, items, races or events
  

Appearances:
Fantastic Four I Annual#25 (1992) - "Citizen Kang, Part 3: Twice Upon a Time" story - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Herb Trimpe (pencils), Brad Vancata (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Avengers I Annual#21 (1992) - "Citizen Kang, Part 4: Kang's World" story - Mark Gruenwald (writer), Herb Trimpe (breakdowns), Charles Barnett, Brad Vancata (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Avengers I Annual#22 (1993) - "A Gamble with Time" story - Roy Thomas, R.J.M. Lofficier (writers), Al Milgrom (pencils), Mark Stegbauer (inks), Ralph Macchio (editor)
Force Works I#17 (November, 1995) - Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning (writers), Jim Cheung (pencils), Rey Garcia (inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Force Works I#18 (December, 1995) - Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning (writers), Yancey Labat (pencils), Rey Garcia (inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Force Works I#19 (January, 1996) - Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning (writers), Hector Oliveira (pencils), Glass House Graphics, Rey Garcia (inks), Nel Yomtov (editor)
Avengers Forever I#3 (February, 1999) - Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern (writers), Carlos Pacheco (pencils), Jesus Merino (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z I#1 (2006) - Jeff Christiansen (head writer, coordinator), Sean McQuaid, Eric J. Moreels, Michael Hoskin, Ronald Byrd, Mark O'English, Anthony Flamini, Barry Reese, Mike Fichera, Stuart Vandal, Bill Lentz, Madison Carter, Chris Biggs (writers), Dan Panosian (Anachronauts entry art), Pond Scum, Jerron Quality Color (art reconstruction), Jeff Youngquist, Jennifer Grunwald (editors)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z HC Vol. 1 (2008) - Jeff Christiansen (head writer, coordinator), Mike Fichera, Stuart Vandal, Mark O'English, Sean McQuaid, Madison Carter, Michael Hoskin, Ronald Byrd, Eric J. Moreels, David Wiltfong, Chad Anderson, Anthony Flamini, Jacob Rougemont, Gabriel Shechter, Rich Green, Chris Biggs, Al Sjoerdsma, David Sexton, Bill Lentz, Barry Reese, Jonathan Couper-Smartt, Mike Raicht, Stephen Faulkner (writers), Dan Panosian (Anachronauts entry art), Pond Scum (art reconstruction), Jeff Youngquist, Jennifer Grunwald (editors)

First posted: 09/30/2026
Last updated: 09/29/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

Back to Characters