Ben Grimm and his long time friend Susan Storm helped attempt one of the earliest escapes from Manhattan Island. He piloted the ship full of contingent of human refugees that hoped to evacuate America, but a mutant saboteur interfered with the launch and his friends and fellow crewmates Reed Richards and Johnny Storm sacrificed themselve to save the others from the forces of Apocalypse.

He and Susan joined the Human High Council as hired muscle. They were sent to the Eurasian Security Field Command Center to retrive Bruce Banner, the scientist who worked on the nuclear warhead project that made the Council's pre-emptive nuclear strike possible. But they found the facilities barraged and run over by a Thing. The two were able to defeat the monster and retrive Banner so that they could board Mikhail Rasputin's mothership as one of a few select representatives allowed to board the Horseman's vessel as part of a false peace convoy.

The humans were hoodwinked and held captive on the ship until Tony Stark, another captive on Mikhail's vessel, short circuited the craft with his mechanized heart. After they were freed, Ben and Susan helped with the evacuation of the humans with Ben saving a baby orphan named Frankie in the process. Though he would play a major part in making the escape of the humans into outer space possible, he would never enjoy the fruits of his labor as he was killed in action.