Four Horsemen of Apokolips: Bio, Origin & History

Name: Four Horsemen of Apokolips

Founding Members: Death, Famine, Pestilence, and War

First Appearance: 52 #38 (January, 2007)

Created By: Geoff Johns, Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka, and Mark Waid

Did You Know: The Marvel version of the team debuted nearly 20 years before.

A Little History

Originally created by Chang Tzu’s Science Squad, the Four Horsemen made their first appearance with the intent to kill the Black Marvel Family.

The first of the four to be created was Famine and it was his responsibility to infiltrate the Black Family. Once he had successfully done this, the other members of the Four Horsemen of Apokolips were to join. And this is exactly what happened. With the Family infiltrated, Death, War, and Pestilence joined Famine and began to terrorize the country of Kahndaq.

As though laying waste to the country that Black Adam ruled weren’t enough, while there, the four slaughtered Osiris, the brother to the wife (Isis) of Black Adam. In an act of vengeance, Black Adam killed both Famine and War while Isis confronted Pestilence. Unfortunately, while he was successful, a disease from Pestilence infected her. This infection made her an easy target for Death and sadly, he didn’t waste any time in killing her.

Now, without his wife or brother-in-law, Black Adam killed Pestilence and gave chase to Death. The two made their way to Biayla and as a consequence of the battle; thousands of innocent people were killed. Even though this act gave Death an unnatural boost in power, they were still no match for the infuriated Black Adam. He quickly and not so quietly made short work of his adversary.