History Main / HorsemenOfTheApocalypse

** [[spoiler:Makima herself]] is Conquest, though this implication is somewhat LostInTranslation. [[spoiler:She's called the Devil of "control" in English, but "shihai (支配)" can also mean "conquest", and is how the Biblical figure's name is traditionally translated into Japanese.]] Their power is [[CompellingVoice to compel anyone to follow their commands to the letter]] as long as they view the other to be "inferior" to themselves ([[ItsAllAboutMe and they consider almost no one to be an equal, let alone a superior]]). They're also implied to be plotting the other Horsemen's downfall, stating death, war, and hunger as things [[spoiler:the Chainsaw Devil should erase]].

* In ''VideoGame/TownOfSalem'', if the Plaguebearer manages to infect every other player in the match, they become Pestilence who is a PurposefullyOverpowered role who is NighInvulnerable (only lynching kills them) and kills both a target of their choosing, anyone who visiting that person, and anyone who visits [[MuggingTheMonster or attacks]] Pestilence itself.

* An unfinished music video for the {{Music/Gorillaz}} song Rhinestone Eyes briefly shows the horsemen riding across a nondescript plane, with the [[BigBad Boogieman]] trotting behind them on a donkey.

* The cover of Music/{{Muse}} album [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BHARCOVER.jpg Black Holes and Revelations]] has the horsemen sitting at a table, upon which are their miniaturized horses.

* Literature/TheBible's ''Literature/BookOfRevelation'' is the TropeMaker, making this OlderThanFeudalism. Interestingly enough, the biblical Horsemen combined Pestilence and Death into the final horseman, with War being the second horseman and Famine being the third. The first horseman was Conquest (or possibly Strife), commonly believed to be the Antichrist. The idea of having Pestilence as a separate Horseman of the Apocalypse came later. It is inspired partially by the terrible suffering of the Black Death (a plague which killed roughly one third of Europe's population) and partially to avoid CastSpeciation with War. Mostly the former
** "I looked, and there was a white horse! Its rider had a bow; a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering and to conquer....And out came another horse, bright red; its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another; and he was given a great sword.....I looked, and there was a black horse! Its rider held a pair of scales in his hand, and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, 'A quart of wheat for a day's pay, and three quarts of barley for a day's pay, but do not damage the olive oil and the wine!'...I looked and there was a pale green horse! Its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed with him; they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and pestilence, and by the wild animals of the earth." from Revelation 6; the opening of the seven seals.
*** Some Biblical Archaeologists have theorized that Revelation is actually intended as a coded message to the Jewish people to resist the attempts by the Roman Emperors to enforce worship of himself on their people and to pray for the destruction of the Roman Empire, that a Jewish kingdom may be built from the ruins. In this theory, the Horsemen are actually allegories for the four most powerful enemies of the Roman Empire.
*** Also if they are interpreted by historical background of 1st Century: Death (pale green horse), Antonius (war, red horse), Brutus/Nero (corruption, black horse -- note this means political corruption), Caesar (conquest, white horse)

** The Death Devil [[spoiler:is revealed to be Nostradamus' [[GreaterScopeVillain "Great King of Terror"]] prophesized to end the world, with Fami's EvilPlan being to [[INeedYouStronger make Asa and Denji strong enough to defeat her]]]].

** The Famine Devil, who calls herself [[FluffyTheTerrible "Fami/Kiga"]], shows up while posing as a high school girl. She has ComboPlatterPowers that aren't obviously related to hunger, though they may be lent from other devils. Fami lives up to her name by [[spoiler:partnering with the Eternity Devil [[TheCorrupter to try to starve Asa into killing someone]]]]. Besides the eyes, she's distinguished by her earrings that look like scales. Asa suspects she's connected to [[TheGhost the Justice Devil]]. Funnily enough, as the AnthropomorphicPersonification of starvation she's also shown to be a BigEater as she orders ''thirty'' desserts at a cafe [[spoiler:and seeks to prevent the end of the world [[AliensLoveHumanFood solely because that would mean no more pizza]]]].

* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': Makima mentions a battle against the Four Horseman as being what [[spoiler:reduced the Chainsaw Devil to his [[SealedEvilInATeddyBear weakened form]] known as Pochita]]. In a world where people's fear power devils based on their names, the ones named after the horsemen would naturally be in a league above the rest. They can be identified by a common {{Exotic Eye Design|s}}: [[spoiler:concentric rings on their irises]]. And despite being called "Horse'''men'''", [[SheIsTheKing at least some of them are female]]. To make matters worse, the series takes place in 1998 and people are currently enthralled by UsefulNotes/{{Nostradamus}}' prophecy that the world would end in 1999, potentially making this a case of SelfFulfillingProphecy as they live in a universe that runs on ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve. [[spoiler:Ironically, three of the four horsemen are actively seeking to prevent this [[PragmaticVillainy as they've grown to enjoy the human world]].]]

* In ''Series/BabylonFive'', Londo Mollari refers to his three, much-hated wives as "Pestilence", "Famine", and "Death". The viewer is left to infer that Londo is, by exclusion, [[ForeShadowing War]]. WordOfGod confirms that this is quite deliberate.
* ''Series/Charmed1998'' featured them once, though they decided to go the biblical route and had Strife instead of Pestilence, as mentioned above, and War seemed to be their leader (as opposed to Death in most other media, assuming they even have any sort of hierarchy). It's hinted that they're responsible for every major disaster in history, and that any powerful warlock, demon, and possibly even human may be chosen by the Source to serve as a Horseman. The Source itself is also the only being capable of killing them, and routinely does so when the current incarnation of the quartet gives an unsatisfactory performance in their attempt to instigate the apocalypse (which [[CorruptCorporateExecutive the group]] that appeared in the episode treated like a business).
* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'': Season 6 features the Doomsday Killer, who fashions his victims' bodies into tableaux based on the Book of Revelation. DDK manages to create The Four Horsemen by [[spoiler: stitching the body parts of one victim onto four different mannequins, attaching the four complete "horsemen" to real life horses, then setting the horses (complete with Horsemen) free onto an unsuspecting downtown Miami.]]
* ''Series/{{Highlander}}'' had a group of Immortal villains that used this name, [[spoiler:including, at one time, Duncan's friend Methos]]. [[spoiler:Methos]] was Death, Kronos was Pestilence, Silas was War, and Caspian was Famine. It is explicitly stated that the Horsemen of the Bible were actually inspired by this Immortal group.
--> '''[[spoiler:Methos]]:''' I killed. But I didn't just kill fifty, I didn't kill a hundred. I killed a thousand. I killed '''ten''' thousand! And I was good at it. And it wasn't for vengeance, it wasn't for greed. It was because... I liked it. [[spoiler:Cassandra]] was nothing. Her village was nothing. Do you know who I was? I was Death. Death — Death on a horse. When mothers warned their children that the monster would get them, that monster was me. I was the nightmare that kept them awake at night.

--> '''Silas:''' I don't like this killing from a distance. I like to feel my axe in my hands. Look into my enemy's eyes before I strike.
** Fitting for Famine, Caspian is a [[IAmAHumanitarian cannibal]]. It's indicated in a deleted scene that he believes consuming the brains of others will make him smarter.

* ''Series/RedDwarf'', though there they were called "Gunmen of the Apocalypse," and they were actually computer viruses that had infected both the Navicomp and Kryten- who happened to envision his struggle with the virus as a Western.
* ''Series/TheMist'' has the Four Horsemen manifest before a priest who is testing his faith by entering the Mist. War impales him with a harpoon arrow and the four drag him away, presumably to his death.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' introduced the Four Horsemen in the 5th season as servants of Lucifer preparing the world for the apocalypse, with their steeds replaced by cars, named after horses. They serve as a kind of QuirkyMinibossSquad for the season, as the Winchesters and Castiel must track all four down and collect their powerful magic rings to serve as a key to Lucifer's cage.

* ''Series/TheYoungOnes'' featured the four horsemen Famine, Pestilence, Death, And... The Other One. They mostly sit around, bored to tears, playing Travel Scrabble and listening to Famine complain about how hungry he is. All except for Death, who is dead.
* ''Series/{{Misfits}}'': In the Season 4 finale, it turns out that [[spoiler: Nadine's]] superpower is to bring about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse when she sees people sinning, although in this version they are ninjas on bicycles. [[spoiler: The only way to stop them from killing everybody is to kill Nadine.]]
* ''Series/SleepyHollow'':
** [[HeadlessHorseman The Headless Horseman]] is interpreted as Death. And if he reclaims his skull, he'll be able to summon his companions and bring about TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. [[spoiler: It turns out to be Ichabod's former friend Abraham Van Brunt, who [[DealWithTheDevil sold his soul and services]] to [[BigBad Moloch]] in order to gain revenge of Ichabod for "stealing" Katrina from him.]]
** Conquest/Pestilence (who's actually referred to by both names), shows up in the episode "John Doe". It turns out he caused the disappearance of Roanoke Colony, as he infected them with a plague intended to kick-start the Apocalypse. They only survived by being guided to a safe place where TimeStandsStill by the spirit of Virginia Dare. In the present day, Pestilence lures a young boy out of the safe zone into Sleepy Hollow to try and spread the plague, which would allow him to spread across the world. [[spoiler: Fortunately, when Ichabod and Abbie return the boy, it seems Pestilence is banished again.]]
** The first season finale deals with the heroes attempting to stop the rise of the Horseman of War. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, he's already loose, as it turns out he's their [[EvilAllAlong supposed ally, Henry Parish the Sin-Eater]], who's actually Ichabod and Katrina's son Jeremy Crane, who agreed to serve Moloch in order to escape being BuriedAlive]].
* In ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'', God orders ArchangelMichael to kick start Armageddon by unleashing the Horsemen. In the end, the entire thing turned out to be a SecretTestOfCharacter for Hercules, and humanity in general.
* In the ''Series/GameOfThrones'' episode "Hardhome", four horse-riding White Walkers appear on the hill, possibly to invoke this.

* In ''Fanfic/FallOfStarfleetRebirthOfFriendship'', the [[BigBadEnsemble main villains]] have this as a motif. The most prominent one, [[ThePowerOfHate Dark Conquest]] namely represents Conquest. He grows stronger and heals from hate, and as such [[MultiversalConqueror invades worlds]] to inspire hate and grow more powerful. He can't die unless his killer has no hate whatsoever for him, which is difficult considering [[CardCarryingVillain how depraved he is]]. Interestingly, though, beyond leading his army- formed out of the enemies and victims of his targets- he has no real interest in ruling and mostly just seeks to RapePillageAndBurn. His [[VillainousFriendship best friend]] is [[{{Necromancer}}]], the horseman of Death, who is a lesser presence than him but still incredibly dangerous. Necromancer is a WalkingWasteland capable of laying waste to entire planets, and can revive [[ZombieApocalypse massive armies of the undead]]. And as it turns out, he's [[spoiler:Grogar]]. Then there's [[VillainWithGoodPublicity Grand Ruler]], whose allusions are less concrete but still prevalent. He focuses on ruling [[{{Dystopia}} United Equestria]], but is [[HeadInTheSandManagement laughably incompetent. His belief that WarIsGlorious and many, many, ''many'' enemies means that United Equestria is constantly under threat by some villain or another, and he manages these wars predominantly by cutting the budget to what he considers unimportant things such as food supply, meaning he alludes to the Horsemen of both War and Famine.

* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': Makima mentions a battle against the Four Horseman as being what [[spoiler:reduced the Chainsaw Devil to his [[SealedEvilInATeddyBear weakened form]] known as Pochita]]. In a world where people's fear power devils based on their names, the ones named after the horsemen would naturally be in a league above the rest. They can be identified by a common {{Exotic Eye Design|s}}: [[spoiler:concentric rings on their irises]]. And despite being called "Horse'''men'''", [[SheIsTheKing at least some of them are female]]. To make matters worse, the series takes place in 1998 and people are currently enthralled by UsefulNotes/{{Nostradamus}}' prophecy that the world would end in 1999, potentially making this a case of SelfFulfillingProphecy as they live in a universe that runs on ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve.

** The Famine Devil, who calls herself [[FluffyTheTerrible "Fami/Kiga"]], shows up while posing as a high school girl. She has ComboPlatterPowers that aren't obviously related to hunger, though they may be lent from other devils. Fami lives up to her name by [[spoiler:partnering with the Eternity Devil [[TheCorrupter to try to starve Asa into killing someone]]]]. Besides the eyes, she's distinguished by her earrings that look like scales. Asa suspects she's connected to [[TheGhost the Justice Devil]]. Funnily enough, as the AnthropomorphicPersonification of starvation she's also shown to be a BigEater as she orders ''thirty'' desserts at a cafe.

* Wrestling/{{WCW}}, and the Wrestling/{{N|ationalWrestlingAlliance}}WA before it, had a long-running {{heel}} stable called Wrestling/TheFourHorsemen. It was led in all its incarnations by Wrestling/RicFlair, although the name was coined by Wrestling/ArnAnderson. Of course, they were not actually depicted as the Horsemen Of The Apocalypse; the name was simply a symbolic reference. Their gang sign was holding up a hand, all four fingers on each spread apart (although, strangely, sometimes they'd hold up ''both'' hands in the 4-finger sign; with all four doing this, that of course signifies the coming of the 32 Horsemen of the Apocalypse).
* WWE refers to Wrestling/{{Charlotte}}, Wrestling/SashaBanks, Wrestling/{{Bayley}} and Wrestling/BeckyLynch as the "Four Horsewomen".

* The 2013 Denver Broncos team was known for having an incredibly lethal passing offense thanks to their four receivers: Demaryius Thomas, Eric Decker, Wes Welker, and tight end Julius Thomas. All of them have since retired from playing, though Wes Welker is the wide receivers coach for the [=49ers=].

* In 2019, President Donald Trump got into a media spat with four left-wing Democratic congresswomen, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, and Ilhan Omar. They adopted the moniker "The Squad" during a press conference lambasting Trump, but right-wing commentators quickly dubbed them "The Four Horsewomen of the Democrat Apocalypse". They would add two more members following the 2020 election, adding Cori Bush and [[TheOneGuy Jamaal Bowman]].

* ''Webcomic/{{Masquerade}}'' has this, with the Deadly Sins for added flavour!

** ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'' introduces the fifth member, [[spoiler:Kaos, a.k.a. Ronnie Soak the dairyman]], [[ThePeteBest who quit the Horsemen before they got famous]]. [[spoiler:After gathering together, the Four Horsemen decide they like the world too much and decide to try and save it from being destroyed. Hey, the prophesy just says they'll ride out; nothing in there says ''against whom''.]]

* In ''Film/{{Elf}}'', the four rangers of Central Park show up to arrest SantaClaus, [[DisproportionateRetribution for putting them]][[ThisIsUnforgivable on the Naughty list]]. The way they are depicted make them seem like they actually are the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.

*** Pestilence: [[spoiler: [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-027 SCP-027,]] an unknown phenomenon currently possessing a man, who attracts vermin to him.]]

** The Famine Devil, who calls herself [[FluffyTheTerrible "Fami/Kiga"]], shows up while posing as a high school girl. She has ComboPlatterPowers that aren't obviously related to hunger, though they may be lent from other devils. Fami lives up to her name by [[spoiler:partnering with the Eternity Devil [[TheCorrupter to try to starve Asa into killing someone]]]]. Besides the eyes, she's distinguished by her earrings that look like scales. Asa suspects she's connected to [[TheGhost the Justice Devil]].

** Death, the leader of the Horsemen, first appeared on-screen in the episode: "Two Minutes To Midnight". He drives a white 1959 Cadillac. A man drops dead in the street after bumping into him, and an entire pizzeria dies just because he fancies a slice. Dean talks to him extensively, and Death reveals that he is at least as old as God, if not older (since he says that [[TheFogOfAges neither he nor God can remember any more]]), and that in the end even God will be reaped by him. Rather than being a willing servant of Lucifer (as the others are implied to be), Death reveals that he is far more powerful (as he's a natural force in the universe), and only serves because he is bound to Lucifer by a spell. Death later becomes something of a recurring character; the Winchesters are prone to calling him up when they have a problem that even the angels can't solve (for example, [[spoiler: saving Sam's soul from the depths of Hell]]). Oddly, Death has an affinity for human junk food.

* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': Makima mentions a battle against the Four Horseman as being what [[spoiler:reduced the Chainsaw Devil to his [[SealedEvilInATeddyBear weakened form]] known as Pochita]]. In a world where people's fear power devils based on their names, the ones named after the horsemen would naturally be in a league above the rest. They can be identified by a common {{Exotic Eye Design|s}}: [[spoiler:concentric rings on their irises]]. And despite being called "Horse'''men'''", [[SheIsTheKing at least some of them are female]].

*** Creator/JonathanHickman's ''ComicBook/XMen'' [[ComicBook/XMenTheKrakoanAge run]] reveals that all of the Horsemen featured throughout Marvel's history are just [[ReplacementGoldfish pale imitations]] of the ''original'' Horsemen, who were Apocalypse's very own children. Said original Horsemen serve as the main antagonists of the first major arc of that run, ''ComicBook/XOfSwords''.

** ''Franchise/XMen'':
*** ComicBook/{{Apocalypse}} appropriately has had a rotating cast of minions under the names of the Four Horsemen, whose job was to wreak havoc in his name as a way of culling the weak from the strong. Several heroes have been brainwashed into serving him; Angel becoming Death and later Archangel is the best-known example. Most of his Horsemen join him by choice, however; in that case, Apocalypse recruits each one via a DealWithTheDevil (like telling Autumn that he'd give her more attention than her neglectful parents to convince her become Famine, or offering to heal the ailing Abraham Kieros and then making him War). The first four introduced in the comics had three being eponymous with the Bible ones, the aforementioned Famine (an anorexic who could disintegrate organic matter and induce extreme hunger) and War ([[HavingABlast who could create explosions]]), along with Pestilence (a PoisonousPerson formerly known as Plague); the fourth was Archangel as Death (probably because [[TheGrimReaper there is a Death in the Marvel Universe]], [[DontFearTheReaper and she's not much evil]]).
*** ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} was kidnapped by Skrulls working with Apocalypse and brainwashed, turned into Death, too. He did it gambling that he would be able to break free somehow--and also to get the adamantium Sabretooth had recently been upgraded with away from him (Magneto had ripped out Logan's skeleton years earlier; his getting adamantium-laced bones back was part of the deal to become Death). He was even sent after [[ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk The Hulk]] in order to subdue him, so he could be War. Hulk refused, but ended up as War at another time, leaving after hurting Rick Jones by accident.
*** After the M-Day event, ComicBook/{{Gambit}} voluntarily joined Apocalypse to become the new Death. He had been planning to play TheMole, but the brainwashing used to turn him proved too strong. By the time Gambit shook it off, he felt he couldn't go back to the X-Men.

*** [[Creator/JonathanHickman Jonathan Hickman's]] [[ComicBook/XMenTheKrakoanAge X-Men run]] reveals that all of the Horsemen featured throughout Marvel's history are just [[ReplacementGoldfish pale imitations]] of the ''original'' Horsemen, who were Apocalypse's very own children. Said original Horsemen serve as the main antagonists of the first major arc of that run, ''ComicBook/XOfSwords''.

* ''Webcomic/AndShineHeavenNow'''s universe has the ''Literature/GoodOmens'' Horsepersons as their horsemen, except for Death, who is from ''ComicBook/TheSandman''.

[[quoteright:350: https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Apocalypse_vasnetsov-resized2_6142.jpg]]

** [[spoiler:Makima herself]] is most likely Conquest, though this implication is somewhat LostInTranslation. [[spoiler:She's called the Devil of "control" in English, but "shihai (支配)" can also mean "conquest", and is how the Biblical figure's name is traditionally translated into Japanese.]] Their power is [[CompellingVoice to compel anyone to follow their commands to the letter]] as long as they view the other to be "inferior" to themselves ([[ItsAllAboutMe and they consider almost no one to be an equal, let alone a superior]]). They're also implied to be plotting the other Horsemen's downfall, stating death, war, and hunger as things [[spoiler:the Chainsaw Devil should erase]].