Kaleb "Revenant" Cross
| “ | I've seen the other side, skinsuit. There's nothing. You're nothing.
— Revenant
|
” |
Revenant, once known as Kaleb Cross, is a Legend introduced in Season 4 of Apex Legends. A prolific mercenary revived as a simulacrum, he was placed in the Apex Games to stop his rampage against the employees of Hammond Robotics.
Biography
Synthetic Nightmare
Revenant used to be human. He used to be the greatest hitman the Mercenary Syndicate ever had. He used to look in the mirror and see his human face looking back. However time changes everything, and when his programming finally failed, he saw what he had become at the hands of the Mercenary Syndicate and Hammond Robotics: a walking nightmare of steel and vestigial flesh. His masters resurrected him as a simulacrum, snatching him from death’s embrace again and again and programming him to forget.
He swore he would hunt down every last person who did this to him, but more than two centuries have passed, and they're all gone… or so he thought. The return of Hammond Robotics to the Outlands has renewed his thirst for vengeance, and he won’t stop until everyone connected to Hammond Robotics is dead. Of course, he doesn’t mind eviscerating a few of the Legends along the way. He used to need a reason to kill… but he’s not that man any more.
Origins
Kaleb Cross was born in 2356 on Solace. Cross had a rough relationship with his father, and was possibly abused by him. Cross was known as the greatest assassin the Mercenary Syndicate had ever employed. A man with no morals, Cross would effortlessly eliminate any target presented to him. He had a natural talent in this unsavory line of work. Soon, he became the best the Syndicate had to offer when it came to assassinating someone in the Outlands.
In the year 2400, a man named Bob Woods witnessed an extortion by members of the Syndicate that resulted in a man dying. Believing these actors to be rogue Syndicate members, he told his wife what he had seen, and she told him to report it to the Syndicate. However, this was an intended action by the Syndicate, and they could not risk this information getting out. Placing a target on Woods’ back, Cross was contacted to eliminate him.
When Woods returned home that evening, he found his wife’s dismembered face in his house’s entryway, with Cross patiently waiting for him. Horrified, Woods frantically went to retrieve his children from school and left the planet for Gaea. Despite the state of mind that he and his family were safe, Woods awoke to find his children murdered by Cross. With assistance from the Gaea Global Task Force, Cross was arrested for the homicide. Soon after, the Syndicate was able to free Cross from imprisonment.
Woods, hearing about this, plotted his revenge against Cross. Poisoning the latter’s liquor, he took his family’s slaughterer to a sewage facility and gleefully drowned him. The Syndicate immediately killed Woods for this act, quickly retrieving Cross’s body for delivery to the nearest Hammond Robotics facility.
Whether or not this account is entirely true is unknown. Revenant is an unreliable narrator, and he told the story to Pathfinder as an attempt to scare the MRVN into thinking he killed his creators.
Development of Revenant
Experiments quickly began to attempt to preserve Cross’s consciousness in a robotic body. Initial tests were very unsuccessful, with side effects ranging from data corruption to hysteria of the subject. Eventually, the researchers decided to mitigate this by storing Cross’s “source code”, or the biological remains of his brain, separately from the robotic body they were testing. This remote access proved successful. Despite this, the issue of data degradation upon transfer between bodies could not be resolved. After twenty years of testing, the first simulacrum Revenant first booted up in 2420. For nearly three hundred years, he was used as a versatile hitman by the Mercenary Syndicate. He was the perfect assassin - one with all of the violent tendencies of Kaleb Cross, but without the mortality or limitations of a human body. A cult supposedly followed Revenant in the 2560's.
Season 4
In 2708, Revenant was contracted to kill the notorious thief Marcos Andrade. Attacking Tenmei, a restaurant on Olympus, he swiftly and violently killed Andrade and his entourage, additionally killing his wife Alanza after she fired at him in self defence. Preparing to leave Tenmei, he walked past a mirror, sensing something was amiss when he noticed a large shard of glass lodged in his neck, as well as the lack of a tongue in his reflection. The glass had damaged his Ego Retention System, a mechanism that prevented him from realizing his lack of humanity. Pulling the shard out, the illusion fell apart, showing his true robotic form. At that moment, the memories and pain of all of his deaths returned to him, a result of the corruption of so many faulty data transfers. Noticing the Hammond Robotics emblem on the back of his left hand, he shattered his reflection and swore revenge on all those who had done this to him.
This event left a single survivor - Loba Andrade, the daughter of Marcos and Alanza.
After learning of his true nature, Revenant relentlessly pursued those within the Mercenary Syndicate and Hammond Robotics. He first attacked a man named Lowell, a member of the Syndicate, who told Revenant of the mechanics of his killings. He next targets a Hammond worker, who tells him of his “deaths”, “rebirths”, and memory wipes, and informs him of when his operations began - 288 years ago. Finding that his creators and torturers are all long gone, he shifts the focus of his revenge - not against a specific person, but against all “skinsuits.” Revenant continued to attack Hammond Robotics installations, including a facility outside of World's Edge on Talos. This led to a great amount of unease among Hammond employees, resulting in Syndicate officials using various loopholes to induct Revenant into the Apex Games in order to satiate his unending bloodlust.
Up Close and Personal
In 2733, 5-time Hyper Fighting Federation Champion James McCormick, sponsored by Hammond Robotics was named the newest entry for the 4th season of Apex Games. A week before the start of the new season, McCormick had a live interview regarding his participation on OTV. During the telecast, Revenant snuck into the studio and murdered McCormick before the broadcast was quickly cut. Later in the afternoon, in an OTV press release, it was confirmed that McCormick was attacked by an unknown assailant and pronounced dead at the scene. The next day, it was officially announced by the Syndicate that the simulacrum known only as Revenant would be participating in the Apex Games, replacing the recently deceased James McCormick.
Season 5
When Loba Andrade was informed that Revenant had joined the Games, she immediately worked to join in order to exact revenge. Infiltrating a hidden facility below Skull Town on Kings Canyon, Loba discovered that it was filled with copies of Revenant’s body. Finding his source code at the centre, she impulsively attempts to shoot it, causing it to be transported to a separate facility on Psamathe and activating the corps of Spectres within. Fighting her way out, she destroys the facility, causing it and Skull Town to collapse into the Duchess River. As she climbs out of the debris, she comes face to face with Revenant.
The Broken Ghost
After joining the Games, Loba enlists the help of the other Legends to retrieve the pieces of an artefact from the Shadowfall dimension, where the Shadow Revenant rules. Caustic enlisted himself as a mole within the group to provide Revenant with intel. During their quest, Revenant shows up on multiple occasions to threaten or intimidate the Legends. After Wattson was injured during a trip to the Shadowfall realm, he shows up to act menacing toward the injured Legend, while revealing that there is a traitor among the group and that he wants nothing to do with the Shadow Revenant, as he “can’t think of anything more pathetic than being King of the Skinbags.” He later appears through Crypto’s drone, which was previously thought unhackable, in an attempt to frame him as the mole and to sow further distrust among the Legends.
After the legends retrieve the final piece of the artefact, Revenant follows Loba to her ship, revealing his wish to finally truly die. He proposes a deal with Loba to find his source code, allowing both to get what they have been seeking: for Revenant, death; for Loba, revenge.
Overtime
One Saturday in 2733, Revenant accepted a contract from Boss Willis to retrieve a stolen communications unit from Crypto in exchange for the deactivation of his source code. He attacked the Legend inside the Paradise Lounge and pursued Crypto and Mirage through the streets of Solace City. The chase eventually ended on a rooftop, where Revenant captured Crypto before Mirage escaped with the briefcase.
Revenant brought Crypto to Willis, who took them and Mirage aboard his aircraft. The ship crashed into a local hospital after a fight aboard the vessel, levelling it and burying Revenant. After most of the patients were rescued, Revenant breaks out of the rubble and impales Willis, reminding him that he had promised death. He then handed the now-damaged communications unit to Crypto.
Season 7
During a meeting with Loba, she reveals that she has found Revenant’s source code. However, rather than destroying it as he wishes, she sent it through a phase runner to Gridiron, as she wants Revenant to suffer like she has. Enraged, a fight breaks out between the two, with Loba emerging victorious. As she walks away, Revenant declares that, when Loba finds something or someone she loves with all her heart, he will destroy it.
Pathfinder's Quest
Revenant begrudgingly met with Pathfinder during the latter’s search for his creators. He spoke of his history as an assassin and of his unending bloodlust. Near the end of their conversation, Revenant manages to briefly convince Pathfinder that he killed his creators. This was later proved false.
Season 9
The Legacy Antigen
After the Legends stopped the Medusa epidemic on Olympus, Loba was devastated to hear Bangalore say that the two are “just friends.” Valkyrie, also seemingly vying for Loba’s attention, comforted her and offered to “catch [her] again.” Revenant, wanting to make good on his promise to make Loba suffer, mused over whether he would kill Bangalore or Valkyrie first.
Season 10
Revenant encountered and attacked Horizon as she entered the destroyed facility beneath Skull Town under Kings Canyon. Breaking free of his grasp, she reveals that she wishes to know how to awaken the original personality of a simulacrum, as Revenant was the first to ever do such a thing. He tells her that it was a “design flaw” that caused his awakening, and that modern simulacra hold codes within their systems that are required to bring back their original identity.
Horizon departs in an attempt to crack these codes, and he follows. Upon arriving, he attacks Ash in an attempt to kill her, fracturing her faceplate. He frames this as an act of merciful euthanasia, as he considers his knowledge of his true self to be hell. He fails, however, and Ash fully awakens to her original personality.
Season 11
On a particular evening, Revenant goes inside Bangalore’s apartment wanting to strike a deal with the Legend. Believing that Jackson must be dead or hiding, he suggests that they combine their funds to reduce the typical 20-year journey duration to Gridiron, thus enabling Bangalore to reunite with her surviving relatives, while also planning to search for his source code. He meets her again on the Apex Games dropship to restate his offer. Later, Revenant starts following Loba, Valkyrie, and Jaime to a carnival, where the simulacrum specifically targets the latter.
The Williams Sendoff
Bangalore, after learning of her brother's "death" and breaking ties with Loba, agreed to join Revenant on a journey to Gridiron to destroy his source code.
Season 13
After attending Bangalore's retirement party against his will, Revenant was enraged when the Legend later withdrew from their agreement.
Season 17
Kill Code Part 2
Many, including Ash, noticed that Revenant's programming seemed to be degrading, highly impacting his performance in the Apex Games and causing issues such as preventing his Death Totem from being summoned. A team of researchers corroborated this, releasing a report that, out of 297 confirmed deaths in 2734, over 77% of them were deemed preventable.
After a series of failures, Torres Silva and Hammond Robotics began experimenting and constructing new bodies for Revenant, with his source code falling back into the hands of the latter. This research culminated in 2735 with a redesigned chassis for the simulacrum.
After Loba took out an eye from one of the simulacrum's heads in a facility on Salvo, Revenant was able to view through it after it was reactivated by Crypto. A bewildered Revenant broke into the Legends' hideout and attacked Crypto, asking what was happening to him.
Personality and traits
Revenant in either form is a extremely competent hitman and killer, with high proficiency with various weapons as well as poisons. He is shown to have no morals and to take relish in his kills.
Physical appearance
Kaleb Cross, represented as a human, is shown as a tall man with blonde hair and blue eyes. However, as a simulacrum, he stands at six feet and eight inches with yellow eyes. His black and red chassis is designed as a tribute to the suit he previously wore while serving as a hitman.
Relationships
Revenant has no positive relationships with anyone and shows particular hatred for his creators as well as anyone who double crosses him such as Loba and Bangalore. He will work with only those who can further his agenda.
Apex Legends
Abilities
| Tactical Ability | Passive Ability | Ultimate Ability |
|---|---|---|
 Shadow Pounce |
 Assassin's Instinct |
 Forged Shadows |
| Unleash a powerful pounce forwards. Hold to charge for further distance. | Highlights nearby visible enemies that are low on health. You crouch-walk faster and have improved wall climbing. | Forge a shroud of hardened shadows around you that block damage and regenerate. Your shadows and tactical are refreshed on knockdowns. |
Customization
- Main article: Kaleb "Revenant" Cross/Customization
Quotes
- Main article: Kaleb "Revenant" Cross/Quotes
Behind the scenes
Appearances
|
Update History
Gallery
Videos
- AL SFTO Up Close and Personal
- Meet Revenant – Apex Legends Character Trailer
Revenant Character Trailer
- Apex Legends Season 4 – Assimilation Launch Trailer
Assimilation Launch Trailer
Images
OTV Press Release
Project 617
Exposed Emails
Apex Sidestories
- ApexQuests SideStory A fate worse than death
A fate worse than death
Trivia
- An alternate dimension's version Revenant was the announcer for the games during the Fight or Fright event in the 3rd season of Apex Legends.
- Revenant was introduced in the 4th season of Apex Legends.
- Some original leaks before his release referred to Revenant as "Blackout". These leaks were out as early as 2019, and had the original rendering of revenant.
- All of Revenant's original legendary skins were modelled after the Egyptian deity- Ra. Ra would have a Ram's head in the underworld and a bird's head in the sky.
- Revenant's real name was only revealed one year after his release within his respective chapter of the "Pathfinder's Quest" lorebook.
- Revenant is currently the tallest character in the Legend's roster.
- Revenant still exhibits many human senses despite being a simulacrum. He can still feel pain, and once stated that he could taste the copper that made up his faceplate. Several voice lines also suggests that Revenant still has a sense of smell.
- Revenant's scythe has the Hammond Robotics logo scratched out out of it.
- Revenant's scythe has the message "reaping burns calories" written on the underside.
- Revenant has no home, and instead chooses to live inside the underground tunnels beneath King's Canyon.
- Revenant remembers every death he was originally programmed to forget as a simulacrum, as well as the pain associated with each death.
| Legends |
|---|
| Ash • Bangalore • Ballistic • Bloodhound •Catalyst •Caustic • Conduit • Crypto • Fade • Fuse • Gibraltar • Horizon • Loba • Lifeline • Mad Maggie • Mirage • Newcastle • Octane • Pathfinder • Rampart • Revenant • Rhapsody •Seer • Valkyrie•Vantage • Wattson • Wraith |