X-Men: The History Of Apocalypse’s Four Horsemen

This week brought the first official looks at the villain Apocalypse and most of his Horsemen in X-Men: Apocalypse. With that in mind, this seemed like a good time to recap some of the history behind this formidable group of foes

Apocalypse has been creating new versions of his Horsemen since at least the 11th century, but most likely from before then. He chooses individuals, usually mutants, augments their power with new abilities and a name based on the biblical Horsemen of the Apocalypse. That augmentation comes with some brainwashing that instills total loyalty to Apocalypse.

Apocalypse uses the Horsemen as soldiers to help him push his agenda of “survival of the fittest.” They carry out his tasks, fight his enemies, and generally do his bidding. Basically, if the Horsemen show up in a story, you know things are about to get ugly.

Here’s a recap of the different versions of the Horsemen who have appeared in comics since Apocalypse made his debut (the mainstream Marvel Universe timeline only).

And hat tip to UncannyXmen.net, an invaluable resource for X-Men reference and research.

The Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Apocalypse’s original four horsemen – or at least the first to appear on page – were introduced in X-Factor. The Morlock called Plague became the Horseman Pestilence. Abraham Lincoln Kieros, a soldier with the ability to cause explosions just by clapping his hands, became War. Autumn Roffson, a girl with an eating disorder, became famine.

Angel lost his wings during the bloody battle in the Morlock sewers as part of the “Mutant Massacre” event, and then – somewhat ironically – appeared to die in an airplane explosion. He reemerged as the Horseman of Death to battle X-Factor. During the battle, Caliban – a Morlock who had been allied with X-Factor, asked Apocalypse to augment him. He became Apocalypse’s mutant tracking hellhound.

“Killing” one of Iceman’s ice duplicates snaped Archangel out of Apocalypse’s brainwashing. He then helped X-Factor defeat Apocalypse, Caliban, and the remaining Horsemen, and X-Factor took over Apocalypse’s Ship as a new base of operations.

The Twelve

Apocalypse would eventually reform his Horsemen. He first turned the Hulk into War, but the Hulk fought off Apocalypse’s control. Apocalypse replaced Hulk with the renegade Shi’ar Deathbird. Caliban was promoted from hellhound to Horseman of Pestilence. Rory Campbell, the mutant who would become the villain Ahab in certain future timelines, was made into the new Famine. Wolverine became the new Death, regaining the adamantium skeleton Magneto had stripped from him during the “Fatal Attractions” event.

These Horsemen were part of Apocalypse’s incredibly convoluted plan to gain omnipotence in the “The Twelve” storyline. Cyclops foiled the plan by allowing himself, instead of Nate Grey, to become possessed by Apocalypse. With Wolverine free of Apocalypse’s control, the X-Men routed the remaining Horsemen, and “The Search for Cyclops” began.

Blood of Apocalypse

Following the events of M-Day, Cable resurrected Apocalypse to give the remaining 200 or so mutants a common enemy to unify against. Apocalypse recruited the depowered mutants Gazer, to become War, and Poiaris, to become Pestilence, granting them powers to replace the ones they lost. He also recruited Sunfire to become Famine by promising to restore his legs, which were previously amputated by Lady Deathstrike (Sunfire comes to look as he did in the Age of Apocalypse storyline’s reality). Gambit volunteered to become the new Horseman of Death, with plans to aid the X-Men by turning Apocalypse’s power against him, but but he wasn’t strong enough to resist Apocalypse’s brainwashing. He emerged with pitch black skin and pale white hair as Apocalypse’s loyal servant.

When Apocalypse was finally defeated, the X-Men tended to Polaris. She had kept her restored magnetic powers, but chose to leave both the X-Men and the Horsemen behind. Sunfire and Gambit decided to cut ties to both groups as well, and later reemerged as members of Mister Sinister’s Marauders, with Gambit’s original appearance restored.

The Final Horsemen

Wolverine’s X-Force squad infiltrated Clann Akkaba and went up against a version of the Horsemen that Apocalypse had collected over hundreds of years. He dubbed them the Final Horsemen, and planned only to unleash them as a last resort. A Roman Minotaur named Decimus Furious became war. A Japanese Geisha named Ichisumi became Pestilence. A confederate soldier from the American Civil War named Jeb Lee was Famine. Finally, a malicious Middle Eastern prince named Sanjar Javeed was made Death.

Angel had previously been transformed back into his Archangel persona. He then ascended, taking his place as the new Apocalypse during “The Dark Angel Saga.” After X-Force, with the assistance of Deathlok, killed Javeed, Archangel abducted Psylocke and transformed her into the new Death. X-Force travelled to the Age of Apocalypse timeline to get some help from that world’s remaining X-Men. Together, they defeated Archangel, and the Age of Apocalypse Jean Grey was able to purge Psylocke of the Death persona.

The Four Horsemen of Death

During his time as the new Apocalypse, Archangel mated with Pestilence in order to continue his bloodline. She bore twins, Uriel and Elmin. They were taken to the future and raised by Kang the Conqueror, but returned in the pages of Uncanny Avengers.

The Apocalypse Twins formed their own Horsemen, but broke with tradition by making each of them Horsemen of Death. To fill their ranks, the Twins chose to resurrect deceased friends and foes of the X-Men and Avengers: Daken, Grim Reaper, Sentry, and Banshee. They were only defeated with the assistance of Kang’s allies from across the multiverse, and a whole lot of time travel.

Magneto, Psylocke, Angel, and Storm will become Apocalypse’s cinematic Horsemen in X-Men: Apocalypse. Check out when X-Men: Apocalypse and other movies are coming out in ComicBook.com’s Movie Release Schedule.