FAMINE
Real Name: Autumn Rolfson
Identity/Class: Depowered human mutant
Occupation: Mother;
formerly student
Group Membership: Clan Akkaba (Archangel/Warren Worthington III, Dark Beast/Henry McCoy of Earth-295, Ozymandias), Horsemen of Apocalypse (Death/Warren Worthington III, Death/Caliban, Pestilence/Plague, War/Abraham Kieros)
Affiliations: Apocalypse (En Sabah Nur), Mr. Sinister (Nathaniel Essex)
Enemies: Captain (Steve Rogers), D-Man (Dennis Dunphy), Falcon (Sam Wilson), Morlocks (Ape, Beautiful Dreamer, Chicken Wings, Erg, Feral/Maria Callasantos, Healer, Masque, Mole), New Mutants (Boom-Boom/Tabitha Smith, Cannonball/Sam Guthrie, Magik/Illyana Rasputin, Psyche/Dani Moonstar, Rictor/Julio Rictor, Rusty/Russell Collins, Skids/Sally Blevins, Sunspot/Roberto Da Costa, Warlock, Wolfsbane/Rahne Sinclair), Nomad (Jack Monroe), X-Factor (Beast/Hank McCoy, Cyclops/Scott Summers, Iceman/Bobby Drake, Marvel Girl/Jean Grey), X-Men (Archangel/Warren Worthington III, Beast/Hank McCoy, Colossus/Piotr Rasputin, Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff, Storm/Ororo Munroe)
Known Relatives: Genocide (William Rolfson, son), unidentified parents
Aliases: "Ungrateful brat" (nickname used by her father), "Ugly skeleton girl" (nickname used by War), "Bag-of-bones" (nickname used by Nomad)
Base of Operations: Unrevealed;
formerly Akkaba
Metropolis, North Pole;
formerly Apocalypse's
chalet, San Diego, California;
formerly a warehouse
near Chesapeake Bay, New York
formerly Apocalypse's
remote mountain hideout;
formerly Apocalypse's
Celestial Ship;
formerly her family
home, Cleveland, Ohio
First Appearance: X-Factor I#12 (January, 1987)
Powers/Abilities: Autumn Rolfson possessed no known superhuman powers. Before she was depowered, she had two specific supernatural abilities. She could disintegrate organic matter, shooting energy rays that immediately withered all it hit. She could also induce extreme hunger pangs in humans, which forced whoever she afflicted to instinctly stuff themselves with food. If she touched people, she could cause an extremely emaciated state which invariably led to her victims' death. However, if she used this power on someone immune to hunger, she was forced to feed on her already starved form. Apocalypse enhanced her mutant powers, teaching her how to melt human flesh as well. Rolfson suffered from anorexia nervosa, a mental condition that caused her to develop a systemic aversion to eating, deathly afraid of gaining weight and feeling she was already morbidly obese when, in fact, she was severly malnourished.
Height: 5'2"History:
(X-Factor I#12 (fb) - BTS) - Ohio teenager Autumn Rolfson grew up with dominating parents who controlled every aspect of her life. Eventually, she started to suffer from anorexia. The eating disorder started to affect her life. Her grades started to slip, which worried her parents who wanted her to get into a good college so she could have a better life than them.
(X-Factor I#25 (fb) - BTS) - When Autumn's mutant powers manifested themselves, her parents were horrified and ashamed, worried what the neighbors might say if they found out.
(X-Factor I#12) - Apocalypse, in search of people worthy of becoming his Horsemen, learned of Autumn and decided to pay her a visit just as she was sitting down to dinner with her parents. Autumn refused to eat and even disintegrated all the food on the table. Her father became furious at his daughter's refusal to eat. Apocalypse's arrival stunned her folks, but Autumn happily accepted the villain's offer to become one of his Horsemen.
(X-Factor I#15 - BTS) - Apocalypse used the technologies of the Celestials to transform the skinny teenage girl into his servant Famine. The precocious teen also met En Sabah Nur's new recruits: the elderly Morlock Plague who became Pestilence and the paraplegic veteran Abraham Kieros who adopted the War identity.
(X-FactorI#25 (fb) - BTS) - Apocalypse taught his horseman how she could use her abilities to affect human flesh. Autumn found it was just as easy to melt away as food, it just took a little longer. She became convinced that only Apocalypse truly loved her (which might also have been a side effect of the drugs Apocalypse used to cloud the minds of his Horsemen).
(X-Factor I#15) - Apocalypse's Celestial
ship hovered over Manhattan, rendered invisible thanks to Space God
technology. Apocalypse summoned Famine and the others, telling them
the time was ripe to pluck their fourth member.
(X-Factor I#15 - BTS) - Apocalypse secretly abducted Warren
Worthington, who had become traumatized in recent times after losing
his wings following a fight with the Marauders.
(X-Factor I#17) - Famine and the other Horsemen watched Warren on
board Apocalypse's Celestial Ship. She wasn't too impressed with
this latest recruit, commenting that he looked like a drowned cat.
Apocalypse shot back that appearances can be deceiving, after all
not many would see an instrument of destruction in her when she was
still a skinny teen. But Apocalypse did and he now saw similar
potential in Worthington.
(X-Factor I#19) - Famine and War got into a heated argument when
Kieros was sitting down to eat and his anorexic teammate warned him
that he'd soon be too fat to squeeze into his armor, let alone walk.
She then added that she could hardly believe Apocalypse chose him
for a Horseman which angered Abraham tremendously. He smashed the
dinner table and threatened that "no ugly skeleton girl" was going
to stop him. Furious at being called ugly, Famine used her powers to
rot away the hamburger War was about to have. In retaliation, Kieros
clapped his hands at her. Apocalypse encouraged Pestilence to
intervene and break up the fight, which she did with a mere touch.
Not eager to have half of his underlings die, Apocalypse injected
them with the antidote. He then sent all three to face off against
X-Factor, while he continued work on the fourth Horseman, Death. The
three Horsemen mounted their flying beasts and attacked X-Factor in
their New York headquarters. War thought himself in command, barking
orders as they approached their enemies. However, Famine told him he
wasn't the boss of them and attacked on her own. Annoyed, he used
his hand claps to cause part of the builing to collapse on Beast,
Iceman and the visiting Caliban. War broke off one of Iceman's
iceslides, and when Iceman, Beast and Caliban aimed their fall for a
tree, Famine fired a beam that turned it to dust, causing the
mutants to fall to the floor Figuring the odds were against them,
Cyclops ordered Iceman to push his power to the limit and flash
freeze Famine and the other two Horsemen. He complied but moments
after that, all the Horsemen were teleported back to Apocalypse, who
figured this encounter had taught his underlings the benefits of
teamwork far better than he'd ever could. Soon, with the fourth and
final Horseman joining them, they'd try again.
(X-Factor I#21) - Apocalypse and his Horsemen, including Death,
watched from the undetectable Celestial ship how X-Factor's former
public relations manager Cameron Hodge openly denounced mutants on
live television. Apocalypse was delighted, calling Hodge a human of
rare conviction, narrow passions and poisonous hatred... all in all
an adversary worthy to test the strength of mutantkind.
(X-Factor I#22) - Famine, Pestilence and War attended the first full
test of Death's capabilities since the construction of his new wings
had been completed. Famine and the others weren't too impressed at
first, figuring that wings merely meant he could fly, which is what
they all could do on their beasts in addition to their actual
powers. Just then, Death took wing and destroyed the obstacle course
Apocalypse had set out for him within seconds. En Sabah Nur was more
than satisfied, though the other horsemen were visibly taken aback
by Death's destructive potential.
(X-Factor I#25 (fb) - BTS) - Apocalypse promised Famine that if she served him well, she was allowed to destroy America's bread basket, to melt the fat off this land forever.
(X-Factor I#23) - Apocalypse monitored X-Factor's struggle against Cameron Hodge and the Right, realizing that while the anti-mutant group was indirectly serving his goals by testing the mutants' mettle, they might inadvertently end up killing them. He then turned his attention to another matter: in order to determine who of his four horsemen would be allowed to lead the group, he had them fight each other. Within moments, War, Pestilence and Famine were overcome and defeated by Death who used his strength, speed and techno-organic wings to achieve victory. Pleased, Apocalypse announced Death was the horsemen's new leader. Not too long after the leadership battle, Apocalypse decided it was time to make his move: he ordered his horsemen to stand ready for X-Factor's true testing. He then used Celestial technology to kidnap the mutants, including Caliban, teleporting them to his Celestial Ship.
(X-Factor I#24) - The
members of X-Factor were surprised to suddenly find themselves in
unfamiliar surroundings. Apocalypse showed himself to offer insights
on their present location, as well as a brief account of his origin,
before attacking X-Factor. Following a brief, violent battle
Apocalypse ended the confrontation by officially introducing
Pestilence, War and Famine who donned their golden masks and
attacked. X-Factor first managed to beat War, while Apocalypse
observed and commented that it was a natural cycle. Then, Famine
tried to defeat Iceman only to wind up flash frozen. Pestilence
finally faced Beast, surprised he had survived their previous
encounter. Beast managed to knock out Pestilence from a distance,
using a piece of pillar he had broken off. But the team was ill
prepared for the arrival of Death, who they almost immediately
recognized as their old teammate Warren. Death knocked X-Factor out
with considerable ease. And, while the mutants were put in
restraints aboard Apocalypse's ship, Famine and the other Horsemen
readied themselves to begin the Apocalypse mandated culling of
Manhattan.
(X-Factor I#25) - The helpless X-Factor
team was forced to watch how Famine and the other Horsemen rained
death and destruction on an unsuspecting Manhattan. High up in the
sky, astride on her mount, Famine fired her emaciation blasts.
(X-Factor I#25 - BTS) - Beast managed to free X-Factor by disabling
the belt buckle that kept Iceman's powers in check. Bobby instantly
and rather inadvertently produced enough ice to free himself. After
briefly fighting off Apocalypse, X-Factor escaped and started to
pursue the Horsemen.
(Daredevil I#252) - The arrival of the Horsemen in Manhattan was
noticed by a great number of New Yorkers. In Hell's Kitchen, the
effect of Famine's emaciation powers were felt as well.
(X-Factor I#25) - In Central Park, Famine blasted people near a hotdog cart, cursing them for being fat. She was opposed by Marvel Girl who tried to fight her, but also fell prey to her hunger generating powers. Jean couldn't resist the urge to blindly stuff herself with hotdogs while Famine yelled to Apocalypse to keep his promise: she had beaten Grey and now deserved to destroy America's breadbasket. In response, she was teleported away to the heartland.
(X-Factor I#25 - BTS) - With Famine missing and Pestilence dead, X-Factor eventually gained the upperhand as they faced Apocalypse and the Horsemen aboard the Ship. In the end, En Sabah Nur teleported War away and flew off with Caliban who had agreed to serve him. Apocalypse left X-Factor his ship as a parting gift, figuring the mysteries of the vessel would test the team.
(Captain America I#339) - Famine considered herself unopposed in the heartland, spending the better part of the day flying over the midwest, destroying corn, wheat and barely as she encountered it. However, a chance encounter with the Captain and his allies Nomad, D-Man, Falcon and Redwing led to her eventual defeat. Apocalypse teleported her away.
(X-Factor I#26) - Famine found herself reunited with
Apocalypse, War and Caliban in another one of En Sabah Nur's
strongholds. Together, they watched how X-Factor attempted to cope with
being in command of the giant Ship they'd "inherited". The vessel only
allowed mutants to enter it, which Apocalypse was sure would lead to
strife and conflict. However, in the days that followed, Apocalypse was
surprised to learn X-Factor had won mankind's trust and that they were
being honored with a parade for their assistance in protecting New York
City. Still, he was sure that the Ship's power would ultimately corrupt
the team and make the common man envious.
(Uncanny X-Force I#14 (fb) - BTS) - Famine had an affair
with Apocalypse and became pregnant. Fearing Apocalypse might consider
the child a threat, she kept quiet. When her son William Rolfson was
born, she raised him in secret.
(X-Factor I#27) - Apocalypse, War and the others continued to observe X-Factor from their remote mountain hideout. En Sabah Nur was especially delighted when the Ship finished its self repair sequence on Christmas Eve, remarking that the vessel had improved itself in the process. He ominously mentioned that X-Factor would soon be tempted to explore his "gift", before leading War and his other Horsemen in raising a glass and wishing the team a merry Christmas.
(X-Men Legends I#11) - Following the loss of Death and Pestilence, Apocalypse was looking for replacement Horsemen. The surviving Famine and War ridiculed Caliban's suggestion to recruit among the surviving Morlocks. Eager to show them Morlocks were indeed worthy, Apocalypse's hound forcibly made them accompany him into the tunnels. Arriving via teleportation, they were spotted by several Morlocks (Ape, Beautiful Dreamer, Chicken Wings and Mole) who mistook the trio for Marauders and fled. Caliban went off on his own to track more powerful Morlock, but War and Famine managed to capture Ape and Dreamer and began torturing them to pass the time. Meanwhile Chicken Wings and Mole ran into the New Mutants during their escape. The team agreed to help them and arrived to stop War and Famine from killing Ape and Dreamer. However, they were no real match for Apocalypse's forces. Famine instantly drained Cannonball and Wolfsbane of their energies while War took down everyone but Boom-Boom and Rictor with his kinetic shockwaves.
(X-Men Legends I#11 - BTS) - Using his enhanced hound senses, Caliban located Erg, Feral, Masque and Healer but before he could make contact with them, he felt the impact of War's sonic boom, which threatened to destabilize the Tunnels.
(X-Men Legends I#11) - Caliban returned to War and Famine and pleaded with them to stop the senseless assault. The Horsemen refused to take orders from "Apocalypse's jumped-up pet" and turned on him, planning to destroy the Tunnels and burying him and the others in the rubble. Danielle Moonstar fought back by manifesting War's biggest fear, which allowed Erg, Feral, Masque and Healer to arrive and join the fight. Erg successfully defeated Famine with his electrically-charged eye-blast while Masque took out War by gruesomely rearranging his face. Still loyal to Apocalypse, Caliban made his offer to the Morlocks and the New Mutants, but found no takers. Before Masque could turn against his former Morlock ally, Caliban teleported himself and the Horsemen back to the Ship where they found Apocalypse waiting for them. En Sabah Nur had witnessed the confrontation and ordered Caliban to take the injured Horsemen to the restoration chambers, adding that from now on Caliban was to hunt alone.
(Uncanny X-Men I#294 - BTS) - Eager to get his hands on Cyclops and Phoenix's DNA, Mr. Sinister posed as the recently deceased Apocalypse and sought out his Horsemen War, Famine and Caliban, now known as Death. He ordered them to retrieve the two mutants.
(Uncanny X-Men I#294) - Caliban used his tracking ability to locate Scott and Jean in Salem Center's pub Harry Hideaway. He immediately attacked them, which caught the attention of Colossus and Iceman who had just finished grocery shopping. Before they could aid their teammates, War and Famine arrived on the scene and attacked the mutants. Famine tried to use her starvation powers on Colossus, but because the Russian powerhouse doesn't require food in his armored form she was forced to feed on herself. War grew enraged and charged Colossus, who knocked the Horseman out with a single blow. Caliban meanwhile had overpowered Jean and Scott, their objective completed, the Horsemen were teleported away.
(X-Factor I#84) - War, Famine and Death delivered Scott
and Jean to "Apocalypse", he thanked them and sent the Horsemen away.
(X-Force I#16 - BTS) - War, Famine and Death returned to a
warehouse near the Chesapeake Bay where they were soon "visited" by the
X-Men who traced them down using Cerebro. They quickly defeated Famine,
Caliban and (presumably) War (see
comments).
(Uncanny X-Men I#295 - BTS) - The X-Men, convinced
Apocalypse was behind the kidnapping of Scott and Jean, took War, Famine
and Death along with them while they travelled to San Diego where the
villain had a chalet.
(Uncanny X-Men I#295) - As luck would have it, the X-Men did not have to wait long for Apocalypse to show up in his San Diego hideout. They presented the severly weakened Apocalypse (he had been forced out of hibernation prematurely) with his henchmen before attacking him. In the end, they were convinced En Sabah Nur had nothing to do with the abduction of their teammates.
(House Of M I#8 - BTS) - Autumn lost her mutant abilities when the Scarlet Witch warped reality and shut off the mutant gene in all but roughly 200 mutants worldwide.
(Uncanny X-Force I#14 - BTS) - Archangel, after taking over leadership of Clan Akkaba and determined he was the new Apocalypse, learned of Rolfson's son and had her and the super powered teenager brought to the Clan's hideout on the North Pole.
(Uncanny X-Force I#14) - Autumn was reunited with Archangel when he came to meet her son. The two former Horsemen briefly reconnected, thinking back on the time they both served Apocalypse. Archangel confirmed that Autumn did the right thing by hiding her son for En Sabah Nur, because he most likely would have killed him.
(Uncanny X-Force I#16) - Autumn was furious with Archangel for using her son for evil (now known as Genocide, Archangel had him kill an entire town). She pulled a gun on him, but in response Worthington flicked his wing and tore Rolfson apart without giving her death a second thought.
Comments: Created by Louise Simonson, Marc Silvestri and Bob Wiacek.
Apart from the fact that Famine, as a person, really was little more than an annoying brat, what's truly offensive is the allusion that Apocalypse impregnated her when she was barely 15 years old. To quote that immortal line from Golden Girls: "Just because the plumbing is in, doesn't mean the house is ready to occupy." Amen, Bea Arthur.
Also, while anorexia is a serious affliction and by no means a laughing matter, one can't help but smile when Nomad punches her in the face, yelling "have a knuckle sandwich". Delicous irony, really.
Famine and Death were the only two Horsemen who faced the X-Men in X-Force I#16, but War was there as well, as seen in the next chapter of the X-Cutioner's Song crossover.
The Louise Simonson penned story in X-Men Legends I#11 takes place before the events of New Mutants I#77. It's a little odd to see War and Famine balk at the idea of making a Morlock a member of the Horsemen when you consider that the original Pestilence was the elderly Morlock Plague.
Profile by Norvo.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Famine should not be confused with
images: (without ads)
Captain America I#239, p2, pan1 (main image)
X-Factor I#12, p15, pan6 (recruited by Apocalypse)
X-Factor I#15, p17, pan4 (first outfit)
X-Factor I#24, p8, pans5&6 (transformed from Autumn to Horseman)
X-Factor I#25, p11, pan5 (takes a stand against fastfood)
Captain America I#339, p13, pan4 (has a knuckle sandwich)
Uncanny X-Force I#14, p4, pan4 (reunited with Archangel)
Uncanny X-Force I#16, p12, pan4 (killed by Archangel)
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Update '89#1, Apocalypse's Horsemen entry (Famine Handbook image)
Appearances:
X-Factor I#12 (January, 1987) - Louise Simonson (writer), Marc Silvestri
(pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Factor I#15 (April, 1987) - Louise
Simonson (writer), Walter Simonson (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Bob
Harras (editor)
X-Factor I#17 (June, 1987) - Louise Simonson
(writer), Walter Simonson (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Bob Harras
(editor)
X-Factor I#19 (August, 1987) - Louise Simonson (writer), Walter Simonson (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Bob
Harras (editor)
X-Factor I#21 (October, 1987) - Louise
Simonson (writer), Walter Simonson (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Bob
Harras (editor)
X-Factor I#22 (November, 1987) - Louise Simonson (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Bob
Harras (editor)
X-Factor I#23 (December, 1987) - Louise
Simonson (writer), Walter Simonson (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Bob
Harras (editor)
X-Factor I#24 (January, 1988) - Louise Simonson (writer), Walter Simonson (pencils), Bob
Wiacek (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Factor I#25 (February, 1988) - Louise Simonson
(writer), Walter Simonson (pencils), Bob Wiacek (inks), Bob
Harras (editor)
Captain America I#339 (March, 1988) - Mark Gruenwald (writer),
Kieron Dwyer (pencils), Tony DeZuniga (inks), Ralph Macchio
(editor)
Daredevil I#252 (March, 1988) - Ann Nocenti (writer), John
Romita Jr. (pencils), Al Williamson (inks), Ralph Macchio
(editor)
X-Factor I#26 (March, 1988) - Louise Simonson (writer), Walter Simonson (pencils), Bob Wiacek
(inks), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Factor
I#27 (April, 1988) - Louise
Simonson (writer), Walter Simonson (pencils), Bob
Wiacek (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Uncanny X-Men I#294 (November, 1992) - Scott Lobdell (writer), Brandon
Peterson (pencils), Terry Austin (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
X-Factor I#84 (November, 1992) - Peter David (writer), Jae Lee
(pencils), Al Milgrom (inks), Kelly Corvese (editor)
X-Force I#16 (November, 1992) - Fabian Nicieza (writer), Greg Capullo
(pencils), Harry Candelario (inks), Bob Harras (editor)
Uncanny X-Men I#295 (December, 1992) - Scott
Lobdell (writer), Brandon Peterson (pencils), Terry Austin (inks), Bob
Harras (editor)
Uncanny X-Force I#14 (October, 2011) - Rick Remender (writer), Jerome
Opeña (pencils & inks), Jody Leheup (editor)
Uncanny X-Force I#16 (December, 2011)
- Rick Remender (writer), Jerome Opeña (pencils & inks), Jody
Leheup (editor)
X-Men Legends I#11 (February, 2022) - Louise Simonson (writer), Walter Simonson (pencils, inks), Mark Basso (editor)
First Posted: 12/01/2014
Last Updated: 04/25/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com