Apollo (comics)

Apollo
Apollo Phil Jimenez, artist
Publication information
Publisher	Wildstorm (DC Comics)
First appearance	Stormwatch vol. 2 No. 4
Created by	Warren Ellis Bryan Hitch
In-story information
Alter ego	Andrew Pulaski
Team affiliations	The Authority Stormwatch
Partnerships	Midnighter
Notable aliases	Sun King
Abilities	Solar-based being capable of absorbing solar energy and converting it into immense physical strength and speed, nigh-invulnerability, flight, and release blasts of laser-like heat vision through his eyes

Apollo is a fictional character, a comic book superhero who first appeared in the Stormwatch series, but is best known for his role in The Authority. While visually distinct, Apollo is cast in the mould of the Superman archetype.

Apollo is notable for being among the first openly gay superheroes in print, although several years behind Marvel Comics' Northstar. He married fellow The Authority member Midnighter and both adopted Jenny Quantum.

Warren Ellis introduced the character shortly after taking over writing duties on the Stormwatch title, when he had Apollo and Midnighter encounter the then-active Stormwatch team. The story was set in 1998, immediately after Bendix's fall, when Christine Trelane had cracked Bendix's old files and discovered evidence that two rogue former Bendix agents remained alive. In flash-backs, Apollo was introduced as a member of a "black ops" Stormwatch team so secret that no-one but the first Weatherman, Henry Bendix, knew of its existence. Apollo's solar-powered abilities – including super-strength, heat vision, and a high degree of invulnerability – were presented as the consequence of Bendix's bioengineering.

The first story arc (collected in the Stormwatch trade paperback A Finer World) described how, of the seven-member team, only Apollo and The Midnighter survived, going rogue after their first Stormwatch Black mission and spending five years undercover fighting for a finer world in the alleyways of America. Jackson King intercepted them on a mission to seize weapons made in the "Nevada Garden", a leftover of the first Engineer. He ordered Fahrenheit and Hellstrike to tag them with fetishes so they could be transported into SkyWatch. At first Apollo and Midnighter attacked the Stormwatch team, believing them under Bendix's orders. However, they ceased the attack once they were told Bendix was dead. With King's help, they destroyed the Nevada Garden, and Trelane gave them new lives away from Stormwatch.