Four Horsemen

Patterned after the apocalypse's biblical riders, the group draws together four of the manga's most powerful devils, those embodying War, Famine, Control, and Death. Control was the first of them to surface, wearing the human guise of Makima, and she hinted at her three siblings long before any debuted. Each takes the shape of a young woman or girl, embodies a concept humanity dreads, and treats the others as kin, with Death ranking eldest and strongest, Fami next, and Yoru and Nayuta youngest. The sisters are thought to have waged a vicious war in Hell against the devil that devils fear most, Chainsaw Man, until he slipped away to Earth. Almost uniquely, they still recall the names of the devils he devoured, among them the Nuclear Weapons Devil and the World War II Devil, though such memories blur over time. They share odd traits too, navigating by scent because faces mean nothing to them, and skipping the usual devil craving for human flesh in favor of regular meals.

Far from unified, the sisters work at cross purposes, yet every scheme somehow involves Chainsaw Man. As the former Control Devil, Makima buried herself inside Japan's Public Safety and plotted to claim the Chainsaw Devil so she could erase her siblings and their concepts, all while crushing Denji into a docile servant. Her reincarnation Nayuta, taken in by Denji, largely ignored the family's plots and lived as a human child, though she once toyed with joining the devils' ranks. Yoru, the War Devil, at first hunted Pochita for revenge after he ate a piece of her, then threw in with Denji to oppose Death. The Death Devil, posing as Fami, devoted herself to averting the Nostradamus apocalypse by building up War and Chainsaw Man until they could kill her, founding the Chainsaw Man Church toward that goal and even enslaving the primal Falling Devil. The true Famine Devil, by contrast, hopes to rescue humanity through death, which she deems salvation. Their signature abilities largely grant dominion over the living and the dead alike: Control bends those she judges weaker, War turns anything she calls hers into weaponry, Death enslaves whatever she has slain, and Famine siphons the life from anyone she touches.

Control debuted as Makima, who headed Special Division 4 before dying and returning as Nayuta, a girl from China whom Denji raised. War began as a half-dead nightjar, then seized the dying Asa Mitaka and named herself Yoru, her weapons' might scaling to Asa's guilt. Death, the eldest and the feared Great King of Terror named in Nostradamus' prophecy, hid behind the Fami alias and lives on even after tearing out every one of her organs. The genuine Famine Devil, likewise nicknamed Fami, ranks as the least destructive sister, leaning on crude fists and life-draining while shrugging off lethal wounds. After Pochita ultimately erases himself and reshapes reality, Nayuta comes back as Japan's new Public Safety chief, while where her sisters ended up stays a mystery.