The Four Horsemen
Apocalypse's first foot soldiers, the Horsemen were named, individually and collectively, for the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Revelations, last chapter of the Gospel of John). All except Death I rode mechanical flying horses. They were fought most often by the original X-Factor, and were supplanted by the Dark Riders, although both groups existed together for some time. During the X-Cutioner's Song, the Horsemen were actually being controlled by Sinister, who was masquerading as Apocalypse. With the gathering of The Twelve, a new set of Horsemen appeared, all of whom were old allies or enemies of the X-Men. One by one, the Horsemen tracked down and captured the 12 powerful mutants and brought them to their master. All except for Death III, who broke his conditioning, were transported to another dimension by Mikhail Rasputin during the ensuing battle.
* Pestilence II was once Death II. War II never served with the Horsemen.
After M-Day, Apocalypse created new Horsemen from surviving mutants, and tried to force other mutants to join him as he planned to decimate the human population as well.
Leaders
 Apocalypse |
Members
(*=Founding Member)
(#=Current Member)
 Death I * |  Death III |  Death IV # |
 Famine * |  Famine II |  Famine III # |
 Pestilence I * (D) |  Pestilence II |  Pestilence III # |
 War I * |  War III |  War IV # |
 Death IV (possible future) |