10 Times Apocalypse Corrupted Marvel’s Strongest Heroes & Made Them Impossibly Powerful — Explained
Apocalypse has been one of the X-Men’s most dangerous and persistent villains for years. He debuted in X-Factor #5 by Bob Layton and Jackson Guice before making his first full appearance in X-Factor #6 by Louise Simonson and Guice. This made him the signature villain for the original X-Men as they worked on a new team that saw them pretending to be government agents hunting mutants. However, Apocalypse grew out of that substantially when “Age of Apocalypse” showed a timeline where he conquered Earth and ruled over all. He has rarely worked alone, and his signature move is to corrupt other mutants and turn them into his evil Horsemen of Apocalypse.
With so many big-name heroes corrupted by Apocalypse over the years, and a few who were turned thanks to Apocalypse’s machinations, even if it wasn’t him who turned them, here are the strongest heroes who became Horsemen of Apocalypse.
10) Polaris (Pestilence)
After “House of M,” the Scarlet Witch cast a large-scale spell and stripped almost every mutant on Earth of their powers. This included Polaris, and she decided to leave the X-Men. While she was dating Iceman at the time, it was Havoc who went with her to keep her safe. The problem was that he failed to do so. When Polaris befriended an alien-like creature known as Daap, it grabbed her and flew away before delivering her to Apocalypse.
When Apocalypse attacked after this, he was hiding his biggest plan. He had brought in War and Famine, and then Gambit joined him. What no one knew was that Polaris was one of the first that Apocalypse had chosen, and he turned her into Pestilence. His goal was to use her to create a plague that would kill 90% of all humanity and let the final 10% battle the remaining mutants for superiority. All that stopped her from doing so was Apocalypse’s defeat.
9) Banshee (Death)
Banshee was one of the earliest members of the X-Men, debuting in X-Men #28 by Roy Thomas and Werner Roth. Banshee was one of the mutants who died after M-Day, when Scarlet Witch stripped most of Earth’s mutants of their powers. However, Banshee lost his powers before that because Mystique slit his throat, and that destroyed his vocal cords, which depowered him. As a depowered mutant, he tried to help the X-Men in other ways.
This got him killed. He was headed to Muir Island to look for notes to help Professor X with the depowered mutants, but he was rammed by a Blackbird plane and killed. It wasn’t Apocalypse who brought Banshee back to life, but it was the Apocalypse Twins, which still ties back into Apocalypse in the end. He was named one of their Horsemen of Death, along with Sentry, Grim Reaper, and Daken. Banshee ended up in a coma after the Apocalypse Twins were defeated.
8) Caliban (Pestilence)
Caliban was a mutant who joined the Morlocks and helped Callisto locate other mutants to offer a home in her underground community. He made his debut in Uncanny X-Men #148 by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum. He is best known as the mutant who fell in love with Kitty Pryde and tried to force her to marry him. Caliban was an interesting case because when X-Factor battled Apocalypse, Caliban offered to become a Horseman if Apocalypse would grant him superhuman powers, and Apocalypse accepted.
Apocalypse used advanced genetic engineering methods to increase Caliban’s size and strength, and the mutant tyrant named him Hellhound. Caliban later took on the name Death, and he continued to operate as a villain devoted to Apocalypse. In Cable #73 by Joe Pruett and Rob Liefeld, Caliban was back, and this was when he took on the role of Pestilence, a monstrous mutant villain.
7) Gambit (Death)
Gambit is another mutant who went to Apocalypse and agreed to become a Horseman, which helped tear the X-Men apart. This happened during the “Blood of Apocalypse” storyline, which was when Sunfire and Polaris were also turned into Horsemen. At this time, Mystique was trying to keep Rogue and Gambit apart and introduced Rogue to a new mutant who Rogue could touch, named Pulse. She also tried to convince Gambit to do what was best for Rogue.
During Apocalypse’s attack, Gambit went to him and offered his services. Gambit believed he was strong enough to withstand Apocalypse’s corruption, but when he became the new Death, he realized he hadn’t. That said, Gambit fought as much as he could, especially when facing off against Rogue. When Apocalypse fell in defeat, Sunfire and Gambit left together, with Gambit still possessing the power of Death, but he proved to be strong enough to withstand Apocalypse’s corruption more than almost anyone else.
6) Sunfire (Famine)
Sunfire was one of the X-Men introduced during the title’s reboot in the 1970s, at the same time that names like Colossus, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and Storm joined. Sunfire was also someone who Apocalypse healed to convince him to become a Horseman. Before the “Blood of Apocalypse” storyline, Sunfire had a fierce battle with Lady Deathstrike, and she inflicted life-threatening damage on him. By the end of the battle, Sunfire was in a coma, and he had both legs amputated.
When Sunfire said he would rather die than live with prosthetics, Apocalypse showed up and made him an offer. He used his tech to return Sunfire’s legs and turned him into Famine. However, Sunfire did something that was almost unheard of for a Horseman of Apocalypse. He rebelled during the battle. Sunfire refused to continue to follow Apocalypse and betrayed his master. In the end, he still possessed the trauma from the experience and left with Gambit to find their place in the world.
5) Psylocke (Death)
Psylocke is another X-Men member who was turned into a Horseman by someone other than Apocalypse, but it was still all based on Apocalypse’s fate and villainous journey. Apocalypse had turned Angel into Archangel as one of his first Horsemen in Marvel Comics history. X-Force went to find Apocalypse when they heard he had been resurrected, but when they saw he was a child, Psylocke protected the boy, only for Fantomex to kill him.
The twist was that, with Apocalypse dead, an ascension protocol was triggered, and Archangel became the new heir to Apocalypse. Psylocke tried to join Archangel to save him, and he turned her into the Horseman known as Death. The “Age of Apocalypse” X-Men joined with the main timeline versions to stop Archangel, who planned to kill all life on Earth and replace it with something better. Her power was immense, as her already considerable telepathic powers were heightened, and it was she who eventually killed Archangel to end his threat.
4) Hulk (War)
Not all the Horsemen of Apocalypse are mutants. Sometimes, Apocalypse wants someone stronger, since his goal was always the survival of the strongest, and in one case, he chose the strongest Marvel hero there is. Hulk had shrapnel in his brain, and he wanted more than anything to get it out because it was constantly causing him to lose control. He knew he had no choice, so he agreed to serve Apocalypse if the mutant would remove the shrapnel.
Apocalypse agreed and turned Hulk into the Horseman known as War. As War, Hulk battled Absorbing Man and Juggernaut while using the power of the Celestials. He almost killed both of these enemies, showing his power was immense, and his sense of right and wrong was gone. However, when Rick Jones tried to help Hulk, and Hulk hit and crippled his friend, it shocked him into breaking free of Apocalypse. Not only is Hulk one of the most powerful heroes Apocalypse corrupted, but he was also strong enough to break the control.
3) Archangel (Death)
Archangel is the most famous case of Apocalypse turning an X-Men member into a Horseman. It was also a long and painful road for the founding X-Men member. Angel was a part of X-Factor when Apocalypse first showed up in Marvel Comics. During the same time, Mister Sinister had sent his Marauders on a mission to kill all the Morlocks, and in this battle, Angel was severely injured and had to have his wings amputated.
Following this, he got onto his private jet, and when it exploded, everyone thought he had died by suicide since he had lost his powers. However, it was his friend Cameron Hodge who blew up the jet to kill Angel. Right before the explosion, Apocalypse teleported Angel out of it, brainwashed him, and turned him into an Angel of Death. Even when he broke free of Apocalypse’s control, Angel remained Archangel, keeping his new powers, and the high-flying mutant became a man willing to kill when the need arose.
2) Wolverine (Death)
Apocalypse abducted Wolverine during an X-Men adventure in space and replaced him with a Skrull. Apocalypse was looking for a new Death for his Horsemen, and he forced Sabretooth and Wolverine to fight for the role. While Wolverine would never do this voluntarily, he knew that Sabretooth would become almost unstoppable with Apocalypse at his back. Wolverine beat Sabretooth, believing he could withstand Apocalypse’s control.
What happened next reverted Wolverine back to his old self when Apocalypse rebonded the adamantium to Wolverine’s skeleton a few years after Wolverine had it ripped out of him. Wolverine then took on the role of Death and completed several missions for Apocalypse, including fighting the Hulk. Wolverine also killed the Skrull imposter who replaced him in the X-Men before Psylocke, Archangel, Kitty Pryde, and Jubilee helped him break free of Apocalypse’s control. Wolverine was another case where a hero thought they were strong enough to withstand Apocalypse, but then became an unstoppable monster for the ancient mutant.
1) Sentry (Death)
Sentry is one of the most powerful characters in Marvel Comics on his own. In fact, stories have indicated that he might be the only person who can actually stop the Hulk. He is also one of the most unbalanced and dangerous since his mental health issues have caused him to revert to the Void more than once. He was also someone that Apocalypse didn’t directly turn, but who Apocalypse was still responsible for corrupting. The Apocalypse Twins are who turned Sentry into Death.
Sentry served alongside Banshee, Grim Reaper, and Daken as the Horsemen of Death. This happened after Thor killed Sentry after the hero begged for his death after leaving a path of destruction as the Void. The problem was that the Apocalypse Twins resurrecting him had the unintended effect of making Sentry think he was the heir of Apocalypse. Sentry showed his true power when he rebelled against the Twins and then helped the Avengers beat a Celestial named Exitar the Executioner.
