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William Rolfson (Earth-616)

Like the refuse who once lived on this ground--all will burn at the touch of Genocide!

—Genocide[source]

William Rolfson, named Genocide by Archangel, was the teenage son of Apocalypse and a former Famine. He was enlisted by Archangel after the latter had ascended as Apocalypse's heir.[8] Following Archangel's defeat,[4] he gained control of Clan Akkaba,[9] until his death.[5]

Origin[]

William Rolfson was the son of Autumn Rolfson and Apocalypse. During her time serving as a Horseman, William's mother had an affair with Apocalypse, leading to his birth. Fearing Apocalypse would view her son as a threat and kill him, Autumn and her son went into hiding and made their way to Akkaba Metropolis. At some point, William's mutant powers manifested, making him extremely powerful, but trapping him in a suit designed to contain his essence.[8]

William Rolfson (Earth-616) and Warren Worthington III (Earth-616) from Uncanny X-Force Vol 1 14 001

Genocide recruited by Archangel

Dark Angel Saga[]

William and his mother remained in hiding with Clan Akkaba until they were found by Archangel after his ascension as Apocalypse's replacement. He recruited William to help him cleanse the world and restart evolution. As a test, he had Genocide destroy a small town in Montana to create Tabula Rasa.[10] When William's mother learned of what her former teammate was doing with her son, she lashed out at him, and Archangel killed her.[1]

Apocalypse Twins[]

Willing to take his father's place as the new Caretaker of Earth, Genocide, accompanied by his Horsemen, went to the Starcore Station to use its broadcast magnification chamber to send a message to the gods his father once served.

As the Celestial Genocide summoned appeared before him to give him the Death Seed, the Apocalypse Twins appeared and attacked them. While Uriel was killing the Celestial using Thor's enchanted axe Jarnbjorn, Eimin saved their mother and killed the other Genocide's Horsemen. Genocide was later confronted by Uriel after he finished killing the Celestial.[9] Genocide somehow survived his encounter with Eimin and Uriel and returned to Earth.

Apocalypse Wars[]

Seeking to purge the world from the weak, Genocide convinced Warren Worthington III that Clan Akkaba could prevent him from ever becoming Apocalypse again by removing his wings. Using Warren's wings, Clan Akkaba was able to create an army of Archangel clones Genocide would use to raze the world.[11]

Genocide was eventually confronted by Magneto and Psylocke, who had discovered his secret base at Green Ridge thanks to the Archangel on their team. However, he managed to defeat them.[12] When Magneto and Mystique discovered his plans and tried to foil them by killing Warren, Genocide felt his Death-Flight awakening as result of Psylocke summoning Archangel, their leader, after escaping her cell.[13] In his subsequent battle against Magneto, Genocide was killed and his Death-Flight stopped.[5]

Heir of Apocalypse[]

After the end of the Krakoan Age, Apocalypse decided to leave Earth and choose an heir capable of continuing his mission and ideals in his absence, deciding between twelve mutants who would face trials of his devising, at the end of which the winner would be nominated the new Apocalypse. William, who had returned to life in the meantime, wasn't one of the twelve mutants and, enraged, decided to take revenge on his father by attacking the participants of the contest.[6] He seemingly managed to kill Armaggedon Girl and Rictor, infuritaing the other contestants. Genocide was distracted by Penance and then collapsed in an hyper-dense orb by Exodus.[7]

Armored Exo-Shell: Genocide relies upon an exoskeleton / containment suit to keep his devastating bio-energies under control. The raw energy his body produces will explode outwards if his armor is breached. The suit increases Genocide's physical strength and is highly resistant to damage or penetration. It also provides an arm-cannon for channeling his radioactive plasma into directional blasts.

  • As of Uncanny Avengers #7, Genocide is only a bit older than fifteen.
  • Genocide's mother, Autumn Rolfson, was roughly the age of the youngest New Mutants when she debuted in X-Factor #12. Even assuming Apocalypse and Famine conceived William naturally, fifteen years of Marvel time has not passed since the Fall of the Mutants. The Dark Beast and Clan Akkaba conceivably had access to age acceleration technology (Nate Grey was artificially accelerated to a teen by Sinister),[14] but officially his age remains unexplained.
  • Genocide appears to be the Earth-616 counterpart of Nemesis/Holocaust from the Age of Apocalypse. However, it's unlikely they are exact counterparts. Holocaust, as Nemesis, was already an adult in X-Men Chronicles #1, when the original X-Men were still teens. As mentioned above, Autumn Rolfson was in the New Mutants age range, and so would have been seven years older or younger when Nemesis debuted in the AOA.