The Archmage was an ancient evil buried deep under the Sorceror's world Zerox.
History
The Archmage is an intelligent entity of vast supernatural power that has been alive for centuries, if not millennia, and that it once ran roughshod over a large portion of the space that, by the time of the 30th Century, was home to the inhabited worlds of the United Planets. At some point in its history, the Archmage was imprisoned under the surface of the planet known as Gemworld by forces unknown. Sometime between the 21st and 30th centuries, Gemworld was renamed Zerox, and became home to a race of sorcerers, who devoted their lives to the continued study and use of magic. The people of Zerox did not know, however, that the Archmage was imprisoned inside their planet, or that his continued imprisonment depended on Zerox remaining within its own dimension and having little, if any, contact with the dimension that Earth and the United Planets are in.
Thus it was that, in the 30th century when Zerox teleported itself into the UP dimension and began limited trade with other worlds that the force keeping the Archmage prisoner began to weaken. When the most powerful sorceress on Zerox, Mysa Nal, left her homeworld to become a permanent member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, this weakened the bonds further. Finally, when the sorcerer Mordru, who at the time ruled Zerox, used a magically-powered fleet of ships to try to conquer the galaxy for himself, this use of magic allowed the bonds holding the Archmage to break, freeing him to once more wreak magical havoc. As the Archmage gathered its power, scientific devices galaxy-wide began to malfunction, and long-dormant magical devices began to work real magic once again.
The Legion of Super-Heroes investigated these events and learned of the Archmage's power. As the Archmage sought revenge on Zerox by imprisoning the entire planet in a magical bubble, which would only open at the cost of someone's life, the Legion fought to restore the rule of science to the galaxy. They managed to succeed, and Zerox was set free when one of the Legion members, Magnetic Kid, sacrificed his life to break the magical bubble. In retaliation, the Archmage threatened to destroy Zerox, and the people of that world bade the Legion to allow this to happen. The Archmage blasted Zerox into asteroid-sized fragments, not realizing that his long imprisonment there had mystically tied his own life force to the planet. Thus, by destroying Zerox, the Archmage apparently destroyed himself.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Notes
- This version of the Archmage is no longer considered part of canon continuity. All history and corresponding appearances of the Archmage were erased from continuity following the events of the limited series Zero Hour: Crisis in Time (1994). They were brought back into the main continuity in The Lightning Saga (2007), up until DC Rebirth (2016). Even though versions of the character may have since appeared, this information does not apply to those versions.
Related
- 6 Appearances of Archmage (Pre-Zero Hour)
- 1 Images featuring Archmage (Pre-Zero Hour)
- Quotations by or about Archmage (Pre-Zero Hour)
- Character Gallery: Archmage (Pre-Zero Hour)
Footnotes
  This character or group of characters is or was primarily an enemy of the Legion of Super-Heroes from the 31st Century, and may have existed in any of the various Legion continuities, including but not limited to the Original Legion, Reboot Legion, and the Prime Legion. This template will categorize articles that include it into the "Legion of Super-Heroes villains" category. |