History
Born in Centerport, New York, to Kathryn Worthington and Warren Worthington Jr., he was attending a private school in his adolescence when white, feathered wings began to grow from his shoulder blades. At first he felt he was a freak, but once he learned that he could use his wings to fly and to help people (he saved several people from a fire in his dormitory), he came to enjoy his power. He soon learned that he in fact was a mutant.
He began attending Charles Xavier's "school for gifted youngsters", where Xavier - himself a mutant - trained young mutants to control their powers and use them for good. Taking the code-name The Angel, Worthington became one of the original members of the superhero team The X-Men.
Much later, having joined his teammates as a member of X-Factor, Worthington was wingless for a time, having sustained damaging injuries during a battle and having his wings amputated. He sold out to the mutant Apocalypse for a pair of metallic wings and for a time served Apocalypse as one of his "four horsemen". Eventually he left Apocalypse and became a hero once again, adopting the name Archangel. At this time, fully feathered wings began to grow back from under his metal ones. Archangel is currently a member of the X-Factor, along with his girlfriend Psylocke.
Angel's wings have superhuman strength and can create enough lift to enable him to carry at least 500 pounds in addition to his own weight. They have a very flexible skeletal structure, enabling him to press them to the back of his torso and legs with only the slightest bulge visible under his clothing. His bones are hollow, he processes food more efficiently than normal humans and does not store any fat, and he posesses a greater proportionate muscle mass than normal. His eyes can regenerate extra thick lachrymose fluids to withstand high-speed winds which would damage the average human eye. He possesses a special membrane in his lungs which allows him to extract oxygen from the air at high velocities or altitudes.
He generally flies below the height of clouds (6,500 feet), but the Angel can reach a height of 10,000 feet with little effort. At his absolute maximum he can reach the highest recorded altitude of a bird in flight - about 29,000 feet, or about the height above sea level of Mount Everest, but he can only remain that high for several minutes. He can fly nonstop under his own power for a maximum of twelve hours.
Recently he developed a secondary mutation, developing the new found power of a healing factor and can cure others by mixing his blood with theirs.
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