Sabretooth can regenerate damaged or destroyed areas of his cellular structure at a rate far greater than that of an ordinary human being. His fast healing ability makes him virtually immune to poisons and to most drugs. Sabretooth also has a limited immunity to the fatigue poisons generated by bodily activity, hence he has greater endurance than any ordinary human being. Sabretooth has superhumanly acute senses, comparable to those of certain animals with a heightened sense of sight, smell, and taste. Sabretooth's claws and teeth are strong enough to rend through substances as durable as bone.

Sabretooth's history is as sordid as it is noble. The feral mutant was one of Apocalypse's initial recruits. With no place else to go, and happy to be welcomed anywhere following a nomad-like existence. Sabretooth embraced his newfound role. In the early days, Sabretooth used his animal ferocity to move up Apocalypse's chain of command to become a Horseman.

Sabretooth was Apocalypse's leading hound. He was in charge of finding mutants and bringing them back for training or, unknown to Sabretooth, to be deposited into Sinister's Breeding Pens for genetic experiments. While leading a team of Infinites on a "recruiting" mission in Chicago, Sinister encountered a young girl named Kitty Pryde. The girl was raw but aggressive and gave Sabretooth a great deal of trouble. He finally cornered the girl when the X-Men arrived. Sabretooth and Colossus battled viciously: Sabretooth retreated when his Infinite forces were destroyed. He returned to Apocalypse beaten.

During his time back at Apocalypse's home base, Sabretooth began to question the treatment of his fellow mutants in the Breeding Pens. Not willing to actually voice his dissension, Sabretooth continued on as Apocalypse's hound. He would lead a raid of the United States Nuclear Defense Arsenel in Florida along with four of Apocalypse's other Horsemen to seize the nuclear armaments in that region. Unknown to Sabretooth, the Horsemen were actually going to launch the missiles at different sites around the world. When the true nature of the mission was revealed, Sabretooth tried to prevent it from happening, He proved himself to be weak when he refused to use the nuclear missiles and his role as leader was taken over by Candra who encased him in a telekinetic bubble. When the X-Men arrived on the scene, Candra temporarily let Sabretooth loose on a short leash so he could help protect Gideon and their cause. However, he was easily defeated by Weapon X who severed his spine and was taken back to Apocalypse to heal.

Sabretooth was punished but Apocalypse knew the mutant's worth and returned him to his job of tracking new mutants. While in California, Sabretooth discovered a group of young children hiding beneath the sports arena called the Forum. Realizing if any of the other Horsemen discovered the children they would be killed, Sabretooth attempted to lead them to safety. He failed and was discovered by Holocaust, Sabretooth fought his fellow Horseman in an attempt to give the children time to escape. Some of them did, but most were killed or captured.

Holocaust beat Sabretooth severely and delivered him to Alcatraz, which was used to punish traitors to Apocalypse's cause. Sabretooth was deposited in the same cell as a young feral mutant named Wild Child. Holocaust knew that what Creed feared the most was the uncontrollable animal lurking inside of him. He thought that jailing Sabretooth with Wild Child might unleash the beast within him. The two of them fought for three days straight. It was not until Sabretooth completely unleashed his animal side that he was he able to defeat Wild Child. He asserted that he was the new alpha male by communicating with Wild Child in the only way he would understand, by marking his territory like a dog. Surprisingly, Wild Child became completely obedient to Sabretooth following this beating. The two of them escaped Alcatraz and fought their way out of the country. Sabretooth made his way to Wundagore Mountain and, following a tense moment during which Weapon X was ready to murder him, he was accepted into the X-Men fold.

As a member of the X-Men, Sabretooth would immediately prove his worth. He led the X-Men to many of Apocalypse's secret mutant breeding areas. At one of these areas he and Weapon X were escaping from a burning building when Creed picked up the scent of a person still trapped. Sabretooth refused to leave someone inside the buiding to burn to death and discovered a young Blink. He took her under his wing, raising her as his own, and she would become like a daughter to him, the two of them would provide each other with the family neither one ever had.

When Blink and Sunfire discovered that cullings were still active, Sabretooth signed up for the wrecking crew that was going to bring them to a halt, feeling guilty for his past crimes. In order to give the X-Men as much time as possible to stop the cullings in Chicago, Sabretooth had Blink teleport him and Wild Child to the location of the Horseman in charge, his old nemesis Holocaust. Before the two titans locked horns, Sabretooth dispatched Wild Child back to the X-Men in Chicago to relay the location of Holocaust's Infinite Processing Plant in Indianapolis. In the melee, Sabretooth was defeated, gutted, and shackled.

Though Sabretooth was able to tear off a part of Holocaust's armor before he was defeated, Holocaust was unaffected and left Sabretooth for dead. Wild Child returned with the X-Men and they were able to give Holocaust enough of a fight where he began to waiver and teleported back to Apocalypse's Citadel. Sabretooth would recover in time and, after regrouping in Westchester, he would join the party of X-Men that infiltrated Apocalypse's base of operations. During the battle, Sabretooth mysteriously disappeared. Sabretooth had in fact become displaced in time and his adventures continued on in Exiles.