Death possesses the ability to override the thought processes of other brains around him, although the potency of this power varies greatly over time. At its peak, Death can overtake the minds of others. While he is capable of numbing the minds of as many people as there are within a 20-foot radius of him, he can only direct one sort of behavior at a time. He can impose a certain behavior on either a single individual or as many people as are in his radius. Death is especially good at controlling the actions of the limitedly intelligent Alpha Primitives worker class. Death's power can even cause short-term amnesia if he overpowers a mind with sufficient force. He can blank people's minds or control their actions for as long as he so concentrates: they revert to normal as soon as he stops.

He served for some time as the most dreaded Horseman of Apocalypse. When the High Lord was recovering from severe wounds suffered during an encounter with the X-Men, Death plotted to take the throne from En Sabah Nur. When he turned over the Terrigen Mists, a catalyst with mutagenic effects on humans, to Apocalypse, he claimed control of the Horseman while Apocalypse was still at rest, for however long that might be.

While on his perch on Apocalypse's Celestial Ship, he encountered the very same X-Men who En Sabah Nur was unable to defeat and, along with his army of Inhumans, was able to emerge victorious. However, his plans to usurp Apocalypse's power were thwarted when Cyclops aided Blink in the rescue of the X-Men and the destruction of Ship. Black Bolt, Death, and the rest of the Inhumans were killed when Sunfire's powers flared out of control and incinerated Ship.