X-Men: 10 Most Powerful Horseman of Apocalypse in the Comics, Ranked By Power

The X-Men have been dealing with the most dangerous threats to mutants and humanity since the beginning. Their villains are some of the most dangerous out there, but there is one who every member has a healthy fear of – even Wolverine – and that’s Apocalypse. He’s basically the Thanos of the mutant villain world, a powerful manipulator who can show up at any time and devastate his foes. Where ever he goes, the Horsemen of Apocalypse follow him. The Horsemen of the Apocalypse are a deadly force, mutants, humans, and aliens that En Sabah Nur has molded into warriors who can fulfill his terrible purpose using the Celestial technology that has made him so unstoppable.

There have been many Horsemen of Apocalypse over the years, but some stand head and shoulders above the rest. These versions of Death, Famine, War, and Pestilence can be superlatively powerful, challenging even the most potent heroes, their powers enhanced to an even higher level than they were before. These are the ten most powerful Horsemen of Apocalypse in comics, the most dangerous servants of the X-Men’s most dangerous enemy.

10) Archangel

Archangel was the first Death that fans ever met and it was an immediate upgrade on Warren Worthington III. His bladed wings are an extremely deadly weapon, allowing him to fire poison-coated razor-sharp flechettes at his foes. The wings themselves have a mind of them, meaning they can lash out and slice anyone to ribbons. He could fly much faster than before, and his body was enhanced in numerous ways. He was a supreme physical threat as Death and proved to be a dangerous foe, both as a servant of Apocalypse or as an X-Man. He would eventually regain his feathered wings, then gained the ability to change between Angel and Archangel forms. He would eventually even become the new Apocalypse, with powerful Celestial armor. Becoming a Horseman has been a huge problem for Warren, but it did make him more powerful.

9) Wolverine

Wolverine is the best there is at what he does and Apocalypse decided to take advantage of that in “The Twelve”. When the X-Men were sent to the past, dropped smack dab in the middle of Galactus devouring the Skrull Homeworld, a group of the aliens allied with Apocalypse captured him while the team was in stasis, and brought him to En Sabah Nur. He had Wolvie fight the adamantium skeleton-having Sabretooth (they never explained where he got it; I think it was supposed to be Apocalypse, but I don’t remember it ever being overtly revealed) to see who would be the new Death. Logan won, his adamantium skeleton was restored to him, and he immediately was sent on a mission that put him up against a team of X-Men including Cyclops, Jean Grey, X-Man, Archangel, Cable, and the Skrull Wolverine, whom he killed. He smacked that group around despite their high power level, and battled the X-Men and the Hulk (who was able to get away from him). He was stronger and faster, able to vie with the stronger enemies, but Archangel was able to help him overcome the Death programming.

8) Jeb Lee

Uncanny X-Force was a sensational book and it kicked off by introducing the Final Horsemen. This was an extremely powerful group, formed to protect the final clone of Apocalypse. In a lot of ways, they were the most dangerous group of Horsemen, able to overpower X-Force, with Jeb Lee being one of the most dangerous. Jeb was a Confederate Civil War drummer boy and manifested the power to create a bio-auditory cancer, and was made into Famine. Basically, he played his drums and it weakened anyone who heard it, draining their vitality completely. He can take down anyone in seconds, allowing the other members of the group to take the advantage. Wolverine cut off his hands to stop him using his powers, but he still was able to figure out a way to use his powers. Jeb was such a powerful yet underrated villain and could be a team beater on his own if he returns.

7) Ichisumi

Jeb was dangerous, but he didn’t have anything on Ichisumi. The Japanese woman was Pestilence of the Final Horsemen and she seemed to be the weakest member of the group. However, this was far from the truth. Ichisumi’s mutant powers allowed her to release a swarm of omnivorous yume beetles, which she could mentally control. They could eat through just about anything, and her control of them meant that any one who fights her that’s made of flesh is going to have a really tough day. Later, when Archangel became the new Apocalypse they started a relationship (Warren was dating Psylocke at the time and was using her) and got pregnant, birthing the Apocalypse Twins.

6) Polaris

Polaris lost her powers on M-Day, so when Apocalypse came to her and offered to make her a Horseman of Apocalypse, returning her powers to her. She regained her powers and got the requisite physical enhancements of a Horseman. Polaris’s magnetic powers are potent, but she doesn’t have the mastery of her father Magneto. So, while she’s certainly powerful, she doesn’t have the skill to take advantage of it. However, she was still extremely dangerous as Pestilence, challenging the X-Men. She eventually broke her programming and rejoined the X-Men, and since no one has brought up that she’s not really a mutant anymore.

5) Famine of the First Horsemen

The First Horsemen were the children of Apocalypse and Genesis, born on Okkara, the mutant super-continent that would be broken into Krakoa and Arakko. They were almost all Omegas, but the most powerful was easily Famine. This version of Famine had water manipulation powers, allowing him to shape water into anything he wanted. He could create tidal waves that could devastate entire cities, and mastered his control of water over thousands of years of war with the demons of Amenth.

4) Sunfire

Sunfire doesn’t really get the credit he deserves for how powerful he is. He’s basically a mini-star and becoming Famine made him more powerful than ever. He had lost his legs in battle and was at his most desperate when Apocalypse came to him, offering to give him back what he had lost. He got the requisite amped up powers and was given one of “Age of Apocalypse”‘s greatest costumes. After the X-Men defeated Apocalypse in “Blood of Apocalypse”, he ended up keeping his amped powers and his legs, with him and Gambit joining Mister Sinister’s Marauders before betraying them to help the X-Men defeat the villain team.

3) Holocaust

The Four Horsemen from “Age of Apocalypse” were all pretty formidable, but the only one who had the feats is Holocaust. Originally named Nemesis, he was the son of En Sabah Nur and was responsible for the death of Scarlet Witch, who Magneto had left behind when taking his X-Men on their first mission. At some point he was nearly killed in battle and was given the containment armor that defined him. His energy manipulating powers were quite formidable, allowing him to fry basically anyone in front of him. He was able to fight it out with X-Man, who was Cable with his full psi-powers, which is way more of an impressive feat than it seems. He was the most powerful Horseman in his universe and would have been on Earth-616 if it wasn’t for these last two.

2) The Sentry

The Sentry is Robert Reynolds, a former drug addict who ended up injecting himself with a serum that made him akin to a god. He was given the power of a million exploding suns, manifesting in vast superhuman strength and durability, flight, sensory powers, energy manipulating abilities, super speed, telepathy, and more, all which were revealed to be the result of reality-shaping powers. This created the Void inside of him, and his superhero career was marred by his dark side, forcing his fellow heroes to erase the memory of him from the world, before returning and doing his best as a superhero. He was killed at the end of Siege, but was resurrected by the Apocalypse Twins as Death, using Death Seeds from another universe. This made him even more powerful than ever, and he was able to smack Thor around and helped save the Earth from a Celestial with Rogue. He was ridiculously powerful.

1) Hulk

Hulk is the strongest one there is, able to run through basically every hero and villain on Earth. He has infinite strength potential; the madder he gets, the stronger he gets and he’s basically made of rage. Many bad guys have tried to harness his power over the years, and he has always proved to be uncontrollable on a long enough timeline; his rage makes mental control almost impossible. Apocalypse was able to do it, molding the Jade Giant into a new War, in preparation for “The Twelve”. It’s kind of hard to amp the Hulk, since he’s already ridiculously powerful; his base strength was increased to a higher level and he was armed with powerful weapons. He’d eventually break free from Apocalypse, who would try one more time to make him a Horseman, but that fizzled out. The Hulk and Sentry are basically interchangeable here; either of them could be number one, but the Green Goliath usually gets the nod on a tie in my opinion.

Who’s your favorite Horsemen of Apocalypse? Leave a comment in the comment section below and join the conversation on the ComicBook Forums!

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