After X-Men's Wolverine had all of the adamantium removed from his body by Magneto, it was the nearly omnipotent Apocalypse who was able to re-graft the signature metal to Logan's skeleton... but it came at a price. Having gone through a long period of recovery and reflection after the traumatic event, Wolverine agreed to this deal with the devil because the alternatives were too terrible to consider. While Apocalypse was successful where others failed, his condition was that Wolverine would join him as his latest Horseman, the cloaked assassin called Death.

When the X-Men faced Magneto in 1994's "Fatal Attractions" storyline, Wolverine saw an opening to attack the terrorist responsible for the deaths of millions and prevent him from killing his estranged son Quicksilver. Magneto retaliated by forcibly removing all the adamantium coating Logan's skeleton, exhausting his healing factor in keeping him alive. Wolverine's pain and suffering continued when Tyler Dayspring - aka Genesis - tried and failed to re-bond adamantium to his skeleton, leaving Logan in a feral state. Although he was able to recover physically and mentally from this experience, Wolverine then rejoined the X-Men for a mission in space which saw them attacked and boarded by a group of Skrulls. While one Skrull took Wolverine's place without his teammates' knowledge, the others took the real Logan to meet with their master, the man known to the world as Apocalypse.

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In Wolverine #145 by Erik Larsen and Leinil Francis Yu, Wolverine meets with Apocalypse, who gives him the chance to become one of his Horsemen. When Logan scoffs at the idea of working for Apocalypse, he learns that this isn't a job offer but actually an audition, as someone he knows very well also wants the position. Wolverine is set to battle his old nemesis Sabretooth - who has an adamantium-laced skeleton along with his savage powers - for the honor of becoming Death.

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Wolverine losing his powers, whether his adamantium or his healing factor, is generally considered a low point in his extremely long life and this was one of the worst. While his healing factor, training, and bone claws still made him a formidable opponent, the absence of his adamantium was noticeable, and others tried and failed to re-bond the rare metal to his skeleton and claws. When Apocalypse made his offer, Wolverine was faced with a hero's dilemma; would he allow himself to be conditioned and controlled as a killing machine in hopes of one day breaking free, or let someone even more ruthless and feral take his place among Apocalypse's Horsemen? Despite Sabretooth's advantages, Logan was able to defeat his longtime nemesis and earn the right to become Death, thinking his previous experience with such matters would allow him to resist his reprogramming, which was not the case.

Using adamantium taken directly from Sabretooth, Apocalypse subjected Wolverine to another re-bonding process but unlike with Genesis, this time it was successful. Logan operated as Death for Apocalypse for a while, completing missions while seemingly unable to resist Apocalypse's conditioning. When his Skrull impostor's ruse was eventually revealed, it took all of the X-Men to help Wolverine break Apocalypse's control. Although he wasn't the first of the X-Men to have found themselves under Apocalypse's thumb, Logan struggled deeply with his actions as Death. Sadly, the only way for Wolverine to recover from Magneto's brutal assault was to become indebted to an even worse villain.

NEXT: Wolverine Finally Gets Back At Magneto For Removing His Metal