Fictional biography
The group consists of four individuals (usually mutants) that have been genetically altered and mentally conditioned to serve the ancient mutant, Apocalypse, either willingly or forcibly. They are enhanced or endowed with new abilities, and are always given the same titles based upon the biblical Four Horsemen Death, Famine, Pestilence (replacing the biblical Conquest), and War. While Apocalypse has empowered other individuals to do his bidding, the Four Horsemen remain his elite minions, always playing a key role in his plans.
Before Apocalypse assembled his first modern incarnation (according to date of real world publication) of Horsemen, it was revealed that there were other, lesser known groups of Horsemen.
1st incarnation
The original Four Horsemen were all Apocalypse's biological children, whose names reflected their mutant abilities. Thousands of years ago, they resided on a sentient island called Okkara where mutants have created an advanced society. To celebrate their births, their maternal aunt, Isca the Unbeaten forged the Scarab, a sword in four parts. Eventually Okkara was attacked by an enemy wielding the Twilight Sword which divided the sentient island into two creatures, Krakoa and Arakko, and Apocalypse and his first horsemen fought the invaders. To stop the onslaught, Arakko and the strongest mutants of the land, including Apocalypse's wife Genesis and the Four Horsemen, went beyond the breach and sealed it from the other side.[1]
11th century incarnation
Having special fondness for the originals, Apocalypse assembled a new incarnation of the Horsemen during the 11th century and sent them to kill a pagan named Folkbern Logan in medieval London. To fill the role of Pestilence, Apocalypse recruited Phantom Bats of the Twelve Minds, a mutant that greatly resembles Orb with his arms replaced by wings which allowed him to fly. For the role of Famine, Apocalypse had chosen a Native American female. For the role of War, Apocalypse had recruited a mutant that resembled a mummy. For the role of Death, Apocalypse recruited a mutant who seemed to possess a gas-like body which allowed him to fly and wears a robe and cloak that covers his entire body like the Grim Reaper. Thor comes to Folkbern's aid and kills the Horsemen of Apocalypse single-handedly.[2]
15th century incarnation
In X-Men: Apocalypse vs. Dracula #1, Apocalypse began assembling a new cadre of Horsemen as he had chosen a new Horseman to fill the position of War. This Horseman led the Riders of the Dark, an army of Apocalyse's followers and rode among them as well. This army was so strong and powerful that some were led to believe that they were just a myth to scare soldiers even before their first battle. Possessing a horse clad in armor that he rode into battle and a pair of battle axes which he could link at the butt and throw, turning them into a sort of bladed boomerang that seemed to return to him, War single-handedly defeated the pre-vampire Dracula's army as well as Dracula himself.[3]
First modern incarnation
Fall of Mutants
In the 20th century, Apocalypse recruits Plague, a member of the Morlocks, during the "Mutant Massacre" to fill the role of Pestilence. He approaches ex-soldier Abraham Lincoln Kieros and grants him the position of War. An anorexic girl named Autumn Rolfson is Apocalypse's third choice and Autumn is given the position of Famine. Apocalypse afterwards saved the de-winged Angel from his sabotaged exploding plane and chooses him to be his fourth and final Horseman, Death.
The Four Horsemen were forced to battle one another for leadership and Death emerges victorious. In their first battle against X-Factor, the Horsemen were nearly defeated until Death appeared, shocking his former comrades. While X-Factor is strapped down, the Four Horsemen are sent out by Apocalypse to destroy New York City. Meanwhile, Caliban confronts Apocalypse and asks for power to avenge his fellow Morlocks.
X-Factor frees themselves and take on the Four Horsemen; Pestilence is accidentally slain by Power Pack in the battle and Archangel comes back to his senses after assuming he killed his former comrade Iceman. Apocalypse retreats with his remaining Horsemen and the newly recruited and powerful Caliban.
X-Cutioner's Song
While Apocalypse heals from his recent defeat on the moon, Mister Sinister disguises himself as Apocalypse and orders the Horsemen War, Famine, and Caliban, who was transformed by Apocalypse and replaced Angel as Death, to capture Jean Grey and Cyclops. The X-Men later defeat the Horsemen when they discover their hideout.
Hulk
After a battle with the X-Men in their mansion, Hulk is taken by Apocalypse and becomes the new incarnation of War, being supplied with weaponry and a helmet that shields Hulk from his father's abusive and severely distracting spirit. Apocalypse set Hulk against the Juggernaut to test the latter's strength. Hulk was able to stop and overcome the Juggernaut, after being empowered by energy from Franklin Richards' "Heroes Reborn" pocket universe. He likewise overloaded the Absorbing Man, but came to his senses after he had injured his friend Rick Jones.
Second incarnation
The Twelve
During "The Twelve" saga, Apocalypse selected a new group of Horsemen to collect the chosen mutants written in Destiny's Diary. This new group featured the cybernetic mutant Ahab as Famine, the Shi'ar Deathbird as War, and the Morlock, Caliban, this time as Pestilence. As the Horseman of Death, Apocalypse had abducted Wolverine and replaced him with a Skrull to prevent his absence being noted. Apocalypse then pitted Wolverine against Sabretooth. The winner of the battle would become his Horseman of Death. Believing himself a better candidate to overcome the programming, Wolverine defeats Sabretooth, and Apocalypse strips the adamantium from the latter and bonds it to Wolverine's skeleton.[4] As Death, Wolverine was sent to destroy the Mannites, a group of artificially-created children, since Apocalypse believed that their presence was a threat to the mutant's existence. He partially destroys a captured Bastion and then attempt to kill the children, but one of the Mannites, Nina was able to request the assistance of the X-Men and after a brief battle, Death kills his Skrull imposter.
When Death captured Mikhail Rasputin and failed to teleport out with him, he was chased into the Morlock Tunnels by the X-Men. He battled them and regained his memory, thanks to the efforts of Jubilee, Shadowcat, Archangel, and Psylocke. The rest of the Horsemen are teleported to another dimension by Mikhail.
Third incarnation
Blood of Apocalypse
Following the House of M and M-Day, Apocalypse resurrected, assembling a new cadre of Horsemen with the purpose of wiping out 90% of the baseline human population. Apocalypse's new Horsemen were Gazer as War, Sunfire as Famine, Polaris as Pestilence, and Gambit as Death.
Gazer was saved from death and forced to battle an archaeologist for the mantle of War, which he won with the aid of Apocalypse's scribe Ozymandias. Both Sunfire, who had lost his legs at the hands of Lady Deathstrike and his powers to Rogue, and Polaris, an M-Day victim, were captured, and reluctantly altered into Famine and Pestilence, respectively. Gambit, however, submitted himself willingly to be transformed into Death, as he had come to believe Apocalypse could be helpful to the mutant cause, though he would need to be watched. Sunfire was able to break free of Apocalypse's control with the help of Emma Frost, although he was weakened by the experience, and Gambit retained a large portion of his former self, stating to Apocalypse, "I'm both Death and Gambit", and he also remembered his love for Rogue as he could not bring himself to kill her. Polaris was knocked out by Iceman in the final battle. She was abandoned, saved by Havok, and freed from her brainwashing by the X-Men. Gazer died defending Apocalypse, having been stabbed in the back by Ozymandias.[5]
The Final Horsemen
When the Clan Akkaba finally resurrects En Sabah Nur, albeit in the form of a child, it is revealed that centuries ago Apocalypse had created the self-proclaimed "Final Horsemen". This cadre of Horsemen had been assembled one by one through time by Apocalypse and Ozymandias and would only be awoken when all other approaches had failed. They comprise the following members:
- Decimus Furius - Collected during the 3rd Century, he is the son of a philosopher that was originally alive in Rome during the 200s. When his father committed suicide and his mother died shortly after, he was left homeless, without any money. While slowly starving to death in an alley, he transformed into his mutant self, the mythological Minotaur. When he was seen, the human civilians attempted to kill him. He slaughtered dozens before being brought down. Eventually, after being imprisoned for years, he was offered freedom, providing he was able to defeat all others in the arena. With his axe, he slaughtered all who opposed him. He was then worshipped as the Dark God Minotaur. He was found by Apocalypse and Ozymandias and he was appointed as War. Along with immense strength and durability, War's axe seems to psionically infect all it touches with a berserker rage and a cold thirst for destruction. His hide seems to have a resemblance to that of stone that makes him look like a statue when not moving. Decimus was later killed by the Apocalypse Twins.[6]
- Sanjar Javeed - Collected during the 4th Century, he is the bastard son and servant of the once king of Persia Shapur II. When the King could not let out that he had this son, Sanjar turned to thievery to get the attention of his father. However, this was when Sanjar's powers developed. He gained an ailment aura that could transmit a spectrum of terminal diseases depending on what variety of metal he touches. He began to poison the entire kingdom by spreading diseases through the stolen treasures. On his deathbed King Shapur named his son "The Seraph of Death". Soon Sanjar was collected by Apocalypse as his horseman, Death. Sanjar was killed by Deathlok while X-Force tried to stop Archangel from destroying the human race. He later cameos during Destiny of X.[7]
- Jeb Lee - Collected during the 19th Century, he is a Confederate spy that fought during the American Civil War. He marched behind enemy lines disguised as a Union drummer, gathering information. After the war he returned home, mistakenly wearing his Union uniform. The Confederates believed him to be a traitor and burned his family alive in front of him. This stimulated his latent mutant powers, the ability to use percussive sound to create a bioauditory cancer, a "living sound" that feeds on the flesh of those who hear it. He was approached by Apocalypse and Ozymandias and appointed as Famine. Famine was later captured by X-Force and tortured by Deathlok for many hours while his host took control, revealing the location of Archangel to the team. Wolverine then cut off his hands, effectively removing his ability to use his powers. He later received artificial replacement hands,[8] but was killed by the Apocalypse Twins.[6]
- Ichisumi - Collected during the 19th Century, she's a geisha that first lived in Kumamoto, Japan in the year 1893 AD. Ichisumi was jealous of all the more beautiful and intelligent women around her; as she suffered from a severe inferiority complex. Her father was a samurai who would get mad whenever she would fail. Stemming from her repressed rage and the disapproval of her father, she savagely ravaged the other geisha's after releasing a swarm of "yume beetles" from her mouth. The beetles consume thoughts and memories along with flesh and Ichisumi gains these when the beetles return to her. This is when Ichisumi's powers first manifested leading to her "collection" by Apocalypse, as his Pestilence. Pestilence was later seen in some intimate moments with Archangel who assigned her to guard Psylocke. She was later defeated by Psylocke when she stabbed Ichisumi through the mouth with her own parasol. Pestilence was later revealed to be pregnant with Archangel's child which apparently will be the new Apocalypse. She has since given birth to twins, Eimin and Uriel, known as the Apocalypse Twins.[8]
- Psylocke - Chosen during the 21st Century by Archangel to replace Sanjar Javeed. Archangel used the Celestial tool known as the Death Seed to transform Betsy into the new Horseman of Death but her time as a Horseman lasts only for a very short time since she was freed from Archangel's control by the Jean Grey of Earth-295.
Fifth incarnation
The Four Horsemen of Death
As part of the Marvel NOW! event, a new incarnation of Horsemen of Apocalypse appeared, all dead characters resurrected by the Apocalypse Twins.[9] and sent after a key member of the Avengers Unity Squad that they have some personal ties to. Its members being:
- Banshee - Resurrected by the use of a Death Seed, he was sent after Havok (the brother of his killer Vulcan).
- Daken - Resurrected by the use of a Death Seed, he was naturally sent after his father Wolverine.
- Grim Reaper - Resurrected by the use of a Death Seed, he targeted his brother Wonder Man.
- The Sentry - Resurrected by the use of a Death Seed and was sent after his killer Thor.[10]
Their goal is to destroy Earth and teleport all mutants to Planet X.[11] Although this plan succeeds, the Avengers Unity Squad are able to undo their victory by transferring their minds into the body of their past selves after the Horsemen's victory, providing Rogue with sufficient power to force the Celestial away while her teammates confront Daken, the Reaper and Banshee, while also resulting in Sentry's Horseman programming being broken. While Sentry takes the dead body of the Celestial Executioner into deep space somewhere far away from Earth, Daken and Grim Reaper get away while Banshee ends up in the X-Men's custody as Beast concludes that healing Banshee of the Death Seed energy that made him a Horseman of Death will take years as well as highly advanced technology.[12]
Sixth incarnation
Apocalypse Wars
When Cerebra detected the sudden appearance of six hundred new mutant signatures in Tokyo, Storm sent Colossus and his team of young mutants – composed of Anole, Ernst, Glob, and No-Girl – to investigate, only to learn that the signatures was the work of the Sugar Man who had genetically engineered six hundred mutant embryos in total isolation from the Terrigen Mists and planned to send them to the future, where they would be safe from the M-Pox caused by the Mists and would grow to become the next generation of mutants, with him as their leader. Sugar Man was about to teleport the ark and himself to the future when Colossus and the young X-Men arrived. Their interference resulted in Sugar Man being separated from his ark and their teleportation along the ark to the future. Soon afterwards, the X-Men arrived and, upon discovering what had happened, used Cerebra to track and follow Colossus and his team through the timestream. Arriving a thousand years into Earth's future, the X-Men found themselves in a destroyed New York City. The X-Men soon found their young members, but Colossus was not with them anymore, and they were somewhat different as they had arrived some time before Storm's team. They were in possession of the ark containing the mutant embryos and were also protecting it. When the older X-Men asked what had happened to Colossus, Cerebra warned them of the incoming threat: the Horsemen of Apocalypse which was composed of Deadpool, the Venom Symbiote, a female version of Moon Knight and Colossus himself after he had taken the place of Man-Thing.[13][14]
While several X-Men battled Colossus, Deadpool and the Venom Symbiote, Nightcrawler took Storm to the interior of Apocalypse's Pyramid, only to be ambushed by Moon Knight, but Nightcrawler quickly dealt with her by throwing her into a pit full of spikes they almost fell into while exploring the pyramid. At the top of the pyramid, Storm and Nightcrawler met Apocalypse, who revealed to them that the planet they are on, dubbed Omega World, was his body and him its heart, with his Horsemen functioning like antibodies. Apocalypse also revealed he had already destroyed the ark, which led Nightcrawler to stab him in the back while he fought Storm. With Apocalypse fatally wounded, Omega World started to crumble.[15]
After defeating Deadpool and Venom, the X-Men tried to take Colossus down, but were no match for him. Only Magik, who had just arrived to rescue them, was able to knock Colossus out. Seeing Apocalypse as the only person capable of transforming Colossus back to normal, Storm took him with them back to the present, but he teleported Colossus away as soon as they arrived in X-Haven. Somewhere else, Colossus was found by Clan Akkaba and revealed to be the Horseman of War.[16]
Simultaneously in the present, there is a new group of Uncanny X-Men which is led by Magneto and includes Psylocke, Monet St. Croix, a reformed Sabretooth, and a newly re-emergent Archangel who seems to have been rendered a responsively inert drone, though, under Psylocke's psychic leash, Archangel became a heavy hitter in Magneto's X-Men, the group is also secretly backed by Mystique and Fantomex. After investigating a rash of mutant healer murders perpetrated by a long thought dead old foe whose talents had been hired out by an as of yet unknown benefactor, both Magnus and Elizabeth eventually discover a hidden Clan Akkaba base hidden under a religious rally orchestrated by "Angel" (the new person Warren became after being stabbed by the Celestial Life Seed), who in turn was being manipulated by both the clan's lord and the mercenary groups backer Genocide. As it turns out Angel had made a deal with Genocide and the Clan Akkaba to ensure that he would never become the Dark Angel again, and so they were able to split apart Angel from his Archangel persona into separate bodies; however Archangel's mind was altered during the process and, as a result, reduced him to little more than a mindless drone. It is also revealed that Genocide had been using "Angel"'s T.O. infected wings to create an army of clones modeled after his horseman Persona dubbing them his Death-Flight; Techno-Organic winged Archangels to be led by Angel's fused Archangel self in order to raze the world in his pursuit of Darwinism via culling the tainted flesh.[17] Psylocke attacked the Death-Flight to protect the citizens of Green Ridge, and was eventually joined by Fantomex, Mystique and Magneto, who had just killed Genocide. Magneto and Psylocke then watched as Angel and Archangel merged with all their clones to create a new being. This new Archangel was unsure of who or what he now was, but was determined to find out. He swore off all violence and returned with Magneto's X-Men to their base in the Savage Land.
The First incarnation returns
Following the transformation of Krakoa into a sovereign nation-state for mutants, Apocalypse traveled to the island and eventually revealed to those present more of his past history with Krakoa. Later a mysterious island known as Arak Coral appeared off the southern coast of Krakoa and eventually both landmasses merged into one. With Arak Coral came also the High Summoner of Arakko, who was revealed to be the son of Apocalypse's first Horsemen of War.[18] The Summoner pleads to Apocalypse to save them from their enemy and in his efforts to recover Arakko and his horsemen, Apocalypse calls a meeting with his fellows Externals inside the Eternal Caldera on the Arak Coral. Thanks to Rictor, Apocalypse murders Crule, Saul, Nicodemus and Candra. With the aid of Selene, Gideon, and Absalom, Apocalypse sacrificed their corpses to create the Krakoan side of the External Gate. With Excalibur planting the partner Gateway in Otherworld, Apocalypse successfully secured the large gate connecting Krakoa and Otherworld.
X of Swords
Later it is discovered that the first incarnation of the Horsemen are actually the biological children of Apocalypse and his wife Genesis, who was also sent with Arakko.[19] Following that, Apocalypse went to the Summoner and directed him to the portal to Otherworld where he could return to Arakko, while being accompanied by Unus and Banshee. However, what Apocalypse did not expected was that this was all an elaborated plan created by his own children so they could return and overthrow Krakoa with their fellow Arakki mutants and Daemon army. Apocalypse himself was soon attacked and critically injured by his daughter War, being forced to retreat back to Krakoa to heal their wounds and prepare for war between the two group. Apocalypse later acknowledges that he’s formed plenty of Horsemen groups in the past, all named after the four children who he lost when Arakko was severed from Earth, and he claims to have had a hand in adding their names to “the sacred texts of humankind”, or in other words, the Book of Revelation.[20]
