After awakening from his millennia-long hibernation in X-Men: Apocalypse, the eponymous X-Men baddie will set out to remake 1980s civilization as he sees fit, which will entail wiping out humanity. However, as powerful as Apocalypse is, he’ll need help accomplishing this mission, and that’s where his Four Horsemen come in. We’ve seen his mutant underlings in previews and photos, but a new poster is putting them front and center with a little more than two months to go until the movie’s release.
Ready to bend the world to their will, this X-Men: Apocalypsee poster (released via Yahoo!) features Magneto, Psylocke, Storm and (Arch)Angel, with Apocalypse looming high above them. With those four mutants by his side, Apocalypse will set out to rebuild the world, and when the X-Men inevitably oppose him, the Four Horsemen will assist him in making sure they can’t screw up his schemes. So yeah, as cool as they may look posing in their costumes, they shouldn’t be taken lightly.
In the comics, Apocalypse recruits mutants to his cause either through manipulation or forcibly brainwashing them. After going through physical enhancement, these four warriors are given titles based after the Horsemen from the Bible: Death, Famine, Pestilence and War (rather than Conquest). The Four Horsemen were seen watching over the young En Sabah Nur in the X-Men: Days of Future Past post-credits scene, but in the 1980s, it will be the above familiar faces serving him, and each has useful talents. Magneto is the master of magnetism, Storm can control the weather, Psylocke’s telekinetic and telepathic abilities balance nicely with her swordplay and Angel’s flying abilities will be enhanced when his wings are coated in metal.
In X-Men: Apocalypse, Oscar Isaac’s version of the Egyptian mutant will harness a superpowered kind of persuasion to bring the mutants to his cause. So while the "brainwashing" is still somewhat in effect, he’s also preying on people who are at low points in their lives and have no other options. Even Charles Xavier was seen being susceptible to Apocalypse’s powers while using Cerebro in the teaser trailer. Since the world hasn’t been wiped clean in the present day X-Men universe, we know Apocalypse will be stopped, but it remains to be seen what will happen to the Four Horsemen afterwards. If we’re looking at the original X-Men movies for guidance, then we can infer that at least Magneto will start building his Brotherhood, while Storm will join Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. However, following Wolverine’s tampering in X-Men: Days of Future Past, this is a new timeline, so the same future may not be in store for them anymore.
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X-Men: Apocalypse hits theaters on May 27.
