Angelus (comics) - Fictional Character Biography

Fictional Character Biography

The Angelus is an ageless power dating back beyond human history that represents the light of creation and is the divine embodiment of totalitarian law and order. She is immortal and has been worshiped as a sun goddess by the Inca Empire and the Shinto. The Angelus replaces the soul of its host (which is a female) in order to carry out her life's mission on Earth. The Angelus has been in a war with her male counterpart, the Darkness, since the dawn of time. However, the Angelus and the Darkness created a sexual truce in order to avert mutual destruction and conceived a child, the Witchblade. The Angelus is known to have destroyed the Tower of Babel, torn down the Walls of Jerusalem, and ripped apart Krakatoa. She claims that both God and Jesus Christ are redundant in her presence.

Her main goal is to rid the world of the Darkness. This has put her at odds with the current Darkness host, Jackie Estacado. Eventually the Angelus was defeated by Jackie, and was hostless for some time until Sonatine summoned her and tried to convince the entity to join with Appolonia Franchetti. Because Appolonia desired the entity too much, the Angelus chose her catatonic mother, Lauren Franchetti, instead. Soon after, the newly reborn Angelus was fooled into thinking she had finally killed the Darkness after Jackie made a copy of himself. She soon fled with Appolonia to an ancient temple in the Amazon rainforest, where Lauren gave herself completely to the Angelus entity. The Angelus came in contact with the Magdalena, Sister Mariella. The Magdalena was seeking to reforge the Spear of Destiny which had been shattered during her first encounter with the Darkness. The fight ended with no clear winner but the Angelus ordered Appolonia to leave because she was touched too deeply by the Darkness and that should they meet again, she would kill her.

The Angelus would once again attempt to kill the Darkness and would also come into conflict with the new Magdalena, Patience. During the fight, Appolonia ran the Angelus through with the Spear of Destiny. The Angelus temporarily takes possession of Patience, but the spirit is forced out of Patience's body by her strong will and benevolence.

During the time the Angelus was without a host, her followers sensed that the balance between the light and the dark has been tipped in favor of Jackie Estacado, and had begun preparing for war while the Angelus searched for a new host. She first takes possession of Velocity but is forced out by members of Cyberforce. She then takes possession of convicted murderer Celestine Wright. Shortly after the birth of Hope Pezzini (daughter to Sara Pezzini and Jackie), the Angelus claims her only to have a mystical explosion occur. After the event, only the Angelus and her foes remain. Celestine and the Angelus co-exist as separate entities, with Celestine able to become the Angelus as needed but retaining her own free will. Celestine, however, knew that the Angelus does have the ability to submerge her will at any point, but the Angelus chose not to after her encounter with Hope.

Celestine later returned to fight Jackie Estacado. While caught in the middle of a fight between the hosts of the Glacier Stone and Ember Stone, Celestine was decapitated with the Bloodsword wielded by Jackie Estacado.

The Angelus was once again without a host until she came across Finch, friend of Danielle Baptiste, and possesses her. During a fight with Sara Pezzini (hosting the Darkness portion of the Witchblade and corrupted by it), she attempts to kill the bearer of the Angelus portion of the Witchblade, Dani. After emerging victorious, Sara absorbed the remaining half of the Witchblade into herself while still being corrupted. Sara was on the brink of killing Dani when an Angelus-possessed Finch swoops in to save Dani from death, and the Angelus transfers hosts from Finch to Dani. However, Dani is able to resist the Angelus' possessive personality, and instead of killing Sara, she is able to use the powers of the Angelus to purify Sara of the corrupting forces of Darkness. The fact that the Angelus allowed Dani to retain her free will caused come unrest among her followers, particularly her lieutenant Sabine, who desired for the Angelus to choose her as its host.

Sabine later attempted a coup to overthrow Dani and become the new Angelus host. Sabine then acquired the Wheel of Shadows, one of the other thirteen Artifacts, and battled Dani, but was defeated. Later, Dani united with several other Artifact bearers to combat the Survivor to prevent him from gathering the thirteen Artifacts and ending the universe. They failed, but Jackie Estacado gained the ability to restart the universe and took the opportunity to make a few changes.

Following the recreation of the universe, Dani never became the Angelus. Instead, the Angelus possesses the various Angelus Warriors, creating a hive mind in the process. The Angelus soon reassembles itself and chooses Finch as its newest host, restarting the war between it and the Darkness. Like Celestine and Danielle, the Angelus allows Finch to retain her free will and control over it except for battle where it takes over her completely.