diff --git a/base/essentials.jl b/base/essentials.jl
index 3fedb9b5f85d52..77fa385348dd21 100644
--- a/base/essentials.jl
+++ b/base/essentials.jl
@@ -261,4 +261,4 @@ in which case obsolete versions of `f` may otherwise be called.
 (The drawback is that `invokelatest` is somewhat slower than calling
 `f` directly, and the type of the result cannot be inferred by the compiler.)
 """
-invokelatest(f, args...) = ccall(:jl_invoke_latest, Any, (Any,Any), f, args)
+invokelatest(f, args...) = Core._apply_latest(f, args)
diff --git a/src/builtin_proto.h b/src/builtin_proto.h
index 0cd436157fc7d0..b3b663a1dce492 100644
--- a/src/builtin_proto.h
+++ b/src/builtin_proto.h
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ DECLARE_BUILTIN(throw);      DECLARE_BUILTIN(is);
 DECLARE_BUILTIN(typeof);     DECLARE_BUILTIN(sizeof);
 DECLARE_BUILTIN(issubtype);  DECLARE_BUILTIN(isa);
 DECLARE_BUILTIN(_apply);     DECLARE_BUILTIN(_apply_pure);
+DECLARE_BUILTIN(_apply_latest);
 DECLARE_BUILTIN(isdefined);  DECLARE_BUILTIN(nfields);
 DECLARE_BUILTIN(tuple);      DECLARE_BUILTIN(svec);
 DECLARE_BUILTIN(getfield);   DECLARE_BUILTIN(setfield);
diff --git a/src/builtins.c b/src/builtins.c
index 721e6270d21cae..c55d499ff715b5 100644
--- a/src/builtins.c
+++ b/src/builtins.c
@@ -576,6 +576,17 @@ JL_CALLABLE(jl_f__apply_pure)
     return ret;
 }
 
+// this is like `_apply`, but always runs in the newest world
+JL_CALLABLE(jl_f__apply_latest)
+{
+    jl_ptls_t ptls = jl_get_ptls_states();
+    size_t last_age = ptls->world_age;
+    ptls->world_age = jl_world_counter;
+    jl_value_t *ret = jl_f__apply(NULL, args, nargs);
+    ptls->world_age = last_age;
+    return ret;
+}
+
 // eval -----------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 JL_DLLEXPORT jl_value_t *jl_toplevel_eval_in(jl_module_t *m, jl_value_t *ex)
@@ -1174,6 +1185,7 @@ void jl_init_primitives(void)
     add_builtin_func("apply_type", jl_f_apply_type);
     add_builtin_func("_apply", jl_f__apply);
     add_builtin_func("_apply_pure", jl_f__apply_pure);
+    add_builtin_func("_apply_latest", jl_f__apply_latest);
     add_builtin_func("_expr", jl_f__expr);
     add_builtin_func("svec", jl_f_svec);
 
diff --git a/src/codegen.cpp b/src/codegen.cpp
index 7e953346d02a6e..db97d268aae2b6 100644
--- a/src/codegen.cpp
+++ b/src/codegen.cpp
@@ -5730,6 +5730,7 @@ static void init_julia_llvm_env(Module *m)
     builtin_func_map[jl_f_typeassert] = jlcall_func_to_llvm("jl_f_typeassert", &jl_f_typeassert, m);
     builtin_func_map[jl_f__apply] = jlcall_func_to_llvm("jl_f__apply", &jl_f__apply, m);
     builtin_func_map[jl_f__apply_pure] = jlcall_func_to_llvm("jl_f__apply_pure", &jl_f__apply_pure, m);
+    builtin_func_map[jl_f__apply_latest] = jlcall_func_to_llvm("jl_f__apply_latest", &jl_f__apply_latest, m);
     builtin_func_map[jl_f_throw] = jlcall_func_to_llvm("jl_f_throw", &jl_f_throw, m);
     builtin_func_map[jl_f_tuple] = jlcall_func_to_llvm("jl_f_tuple", &jl_f_tuple, m);
     builtin_func_map[jl_f_svec] = jlcall_func_to_llvm("jl_f_svec", &jl_f_svec, m);
diff --git a/src/dump.c b/src/dump.c
index 1a1668c06b71fa..c4800f57cd9517 100644
--- a/src/dump.c
+++ b/src/dump.c
@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@ static htable_t fptr_to_id;
 static const jl_fptr_t id_to_fptrs[] = {
   NULL, NULL,
   jl_f_throw, jl_f_is, jl_f_typeof, jl_f_issubtype, jl_f_isa,
-  jl_f_typeassert, jl_f__apply, jl_f__apply_pure, jl_f_isdefined,
+  jl_f_typeassert, jl_f__apply, jl_f__apply_pure, jl_f__apply_latest, jl_f_isdefined,
   jl_f_tuple, jl_f_svec, jl_f_intrinsic_call,
   jl_f_getfield, jl_f_setfield, jl_f_fieldtype, jl_f_nfields,
   jl_f_arrayref, jl_f_arrayset, jl_f_arraysize, jl_f_apply_type,
diff --git a/src/gf.c b/src/gf.c
index 5ed4c2677e75bf..60d98366878f68 100644
--- a/src/gf.c
+++ b/src/gf.c
@@ -2197,24 +2197,6 @@ JL_DLLEXPORT jl_value_t *jl_apply_generic(jl_value_t **args, uint32_t nargs)
     return verify_type(res);
 }
 
-JL_DLLEXPORT jl_value_t *jl_invoke_latest(jl_value_t *f, jl_value_t *argtuple)
-{
-    assert(jl_is_tuple(argtuple));
-    size_t nargs = jl_nfields(argtuple);
-    jl_value_t **argv;
-    JL_GC_PUSHARGS(argv, nargs+1);
-    argv[0] = f;
-    for(int i=1; i<nargs+1; i++)
-        argv[i] = jl_fieldref(argtuple, i-1);
-    jl_ptls_t ptls = jl_get_ptls_states();
-    size_t last_age = ptls->world_age;
-    ptls->world_age = jl_world_counter;
-    jl_value_t *v = jl_apply(argv, nargs+1);
-    ptls->world_age = last_age;
-    JL_GC_POP();
-    return v;
-}
-
 JL_DLLEXPORT jl_value_t *jl_gf_invoke_lookup(jl_datatype_t *types, size_t world)
 {
     jl_methtable_t *mt = ((jl_datatype_t*)jl_tparam0(types))->name->mt;