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X-Force was a comic book series, published from 1991 until 2002, one of many titles spun-off from Marvel Comics’ mega-popular X-Men. Like the X-Men, the first X-Force, the team most often associated with the name, was a team of mutant superheroes defending a world that hates and fears them. X-Force was significantly more aggressive than the X-Men, however. A common analogy compared the X-Men to a family and X-Force to a platoon. The team consisting mostly of former members of the X-Men’s 1980s era junior team The New Mutants, under the leadership of the war hawk Cable.
In 2001, Marvel introduced a new, sardonically-toned X-Force, resembling the original only in name. That team was made up of teenage mutants gathered together and publicized to be media stars by a corporation. That team changed its name to X-Statix in 2002 and it better known by that name.
In August 2004, Marvel plans to revive the original version of the team.
The Liefeld Period
X-Force was concocted by illustrator Rob Liefeld, who started penciling The New Mutants in 1987. The immense popularity of Liefeld’s art allowed him to grapple creative control over the book, introducing Cable and several over hard-edged characters in the late 1980s. With help from writer Fabian Nicieza, who provided the dialogue for Liefeld’s plots, Liefeld transformed The New Mutants into X-Force in 1991. The line-up of the early team included:
- Cable (Nathan Summers), originally a mysterious gun-toting anti-hero, Cable was later revealed to be the son of the X-Man Cyclops and his first wife Madelyne Pryor, a clone of Jean Grey. In 1991, the supervillain Apocalypse captured the child and infected him with a “techno-organic” virus. A time-traveler called Askani took the child 2,000 years into the future to be treated. There he grew up to become Cable, leader of the Askani rebel band, and eventually traveled back to the 20th Century, following his arch-enemy Stryfe. Cable’s mutant powers included telepathy and telekinesis but he often relied on firearms and guerrilla war tactics as well.
- Domino, a former world-class mercenary who possessed “luck powers,” allowing probability to turn in her favor and who was Cable’s lover.
- Cannonball (Sam Guthrie), a Kentuckian who flew at jet speeds while protected in a force field. Cannonball was a founding member of The New Mutants and was X-Force’s second-in-command.
- Sunspot (Roberto DaCosta), a Brazilian who absorbed and rechanneled solar energy and who was also a founding member of The New Mutants
- Siryn (Theresa Rourke), the daughter of the Irish X-Man Banshee who inherited her father’s “sonic scream” and ability to fly
- Shatterstar, a warrior who hailed from an alien dimension and who possessed superb hand-to-hand combat and sword-fighting skills
- Boom Boom (Tabitha Smith), a Pennsylvanian teenager who could produce “plasma bombs”
- Warpath (James Proudstar), who, like his brother, the shortly lived Navajo X-Man Thunderbird, possessed super strength and speed
- Rictor (Julio Estaban Richter), a Mexican who produced powerful shockwaves
- Feral (Maria Callasantos), a former member of the Morlocks, a group of unsightly mutants who hid in New York City’s sewer system. Feral possessed claws, fangs and a dense coat of fur.
The main opponents of X-Force during its first year were the terrorist Mutant Liberation Front, lead by Stryfe, a masked mutant with a mysterious link to Cable. Early issues also featured a new version of The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, the X-Men’s oldest enemy group, Deadpool a wise-cracking mutant mercenary with an infatuation with Siryn, and the Externals, a group of power-hungry immortal mutants.
Propelled by the wildly popular art of Liefeld, X-Force became one of Marvel’s best-selling comic books almost immediately after its debut. The series rivaled Amazing Spider-Man and its own parent Uncanny X-Men in popularity, particularly with the adolescent demographic. Toy Biz responded by introducing an X-Force action figure line, along with its X-Men line, a rarity for a comic book property not adapted into a television program or movie.
Many comic book fans were critical of the series, though, complaining that it relied on big guns, big muscles and big explosions rather than plot (a criticism that would be made of latter Liefeld comic books as well). Many also noted similarities between the Externals and the immortals featured in the television series Highlander and between Deadpool and Deathstroke, an assassin featured in DC Comics' Teen Titans.
Unfortunately for these fans, the success of Liefeld and X-Force lead to a slew of hard-edged, action-orientated super hero teams in the early 1990s. In 1996, writer Mark Waid and painter Alex Ross parodied the trend in the popular DC Comics mini-series Kingdom Come which portrayed a future where a generation of violent anti-heroes had replaced the familiar DC battalion. Their leader Magog bore an intentional resemblance to Shatterstar and Cable.
Post-Liefeld Period
Liefeld’s tenure on X-Force did not last long, issue #9 being the last he drew and #12 the last he provided the story for. The artist was upset that he did not own the characters he created and that his art was being used on a variety of merchandize while he received little royalties. Along with six other popular Marvel artists, Liefeld left the company to form Image Comics in 1992.
X-Force continued with Nicieza and artist Greg Capullo. Nicieza, who also wrote X-Men, helped plot the “X-Cutioner’s Song” storyline that overlapped into most X-Books in the fall of 1992. In that story, Stryfe frames Cable for an assassination attempt on the X-Men’s founder Professor X, leading to a clash between the X-Men and X-Force. Meanwhile, Stryfe captures and torments Cyclops and Jean Grey. At the story’s end, it was revealed that Stryfe and Cable are identical and one is Nathan Summers and the other his clone (Cable would later be revealed to be the actual son of Cyclops). “X-cutioner’s Song” helped jolt Cable to new popularity and his own solo series was launched in 1993, lasting until 2002.
After "X-Cutioner’s Song" X-Force continued under Nicieza and Capullo with stories featuring a new Mutant Liberation Front lead by the mysterious Reignfire, who was revealed to be a corrupted Sunfire. However without Liefeld, sales dipped and the new creative team of writer Jeph Loeb and illustrator Adam Pollina significantly revised the team in X-Force #44 (1995).
The new team was outfitted in purple and yellow uniforms and moved into the X-Mansion in upstate New York, home of the X-Men and previously The New Mutants. Feral and Rictor left and Cannonball was recruited into the X-Men. Siryn took his place as second-in-command. Caliban, a super strong, albino mutant who possessed the mind of a child joined the team. Stories were more character-based, rather than action-based, including revelations concerning Shattershar’s origin and Boom Boom’s transformation into the more aggressive Meltdown. Fan reaction was generally accepting.
Post-Cable Period
In 1997, under writer John Francis Moore, X-Force broke away from Cable and the X-Men. Moore portrayed X-Force as carefree 20-somethings exploring the open road. The roster of that incarnation was Meltdown, Sunspot, Warpath, Siryn and Danielle Moonstar, a former New Mutant who could create apparitions of her opponent’s deepest fears. Many fans felt the series had become directionless and sales dropped.
In late 1998, Moore and new artist Jimmy Chueng established X-Force’s headquarters in San Francisco, returned Cannonball and later Domino to the team, and added Bedlam, a mutant who could disrupt electronic equipment.
In 2000, writer Warren Ellis, who was known for his dark, sarcastic style on the X-Book Excalibur and other comics, was hired to revamp X-Force as well as Generation X and X-Man under the group title of "Counter X." His stint on X-Force, co-written by Ian Edginton and illustrated by Whilce Portacio saw Bedlam, Meltdown, Cannonball and Warpath under the leadership of Pete Wisdom, a somewhat snotty British mutant who was once an intelligence operative and a member of Ellis’ Excalibur. Wisdom could turn his fingertips into red-hot blades, and was an almost unmitigated critical and commercial failure, causing the title to be completely revamped.
X-Force II/X-Statix
About a year after Ellis’s stint began, Marvel’s new editor-in-chief Joe Quesada cancelled many X-Books, arguing that so many titles featuring superhero mutants was redundant. X-Force continued but featured an entire different group of mutants.
In X-Force #115, Warpath, Bedlam, Meltdown and Cannonball all apparently died in an explosion. Issue #116 saw the introduction of writer Peter Milligan and artist Mike Alfred’s new, sardonically-toned X-Force, starring a group of colorfully dressed but emotionally immature teenage mutants put together and marketed to be superstars by media mogul Spike Freeman. A full team roster is unimportant as Milligan and Alfred routinely killed off characters as a running gag (including most of the original new X-Force in the first issue), but some of the longer-running members included:
- Orphan (Guy Smith), who possessed heightened senses, purple skin and two antennae protruding from his forehead.
- Anarchist (Tike Alicar), who sweat an acid-like substance
- U-Go Girl (Edie Swayer), who could teleport but immediately fell asleep after doing so
- Dead Girl, who could “read” dead bodies and who did not need to eat or breathe
- Phat (Billy Bob Reilly), an openly gay mutant who could harden, soften and increase the size of any part of his body
- Vivisector (Myles Alfred), who could transform into a wolf-like creature and who was Phat’s lover
- Doop, a green, floating glob that videotaped X-Force’s adventures
Of course such a dramatic revision was not universally accepted, but many readers acclaimed the book for its black humor and its daringness. X-Force ended with issue #129 (2002) when the team was renamed X-Statix (today, the second X-Force is better known by that name) and a series by that name was launched in X-Force‘s place. X-Statix lasted until issue #26 (2004); canceled because of low sales.
X-Force Revival?
Although all members of the final version of the first X-Force were apparently killed in an explosion, it was later revealed that they survived but disbanded.
In 2001, New X-Men writer Grant Morrison introduced X-Corporation, an international mutant rescue mission. Since then, many former members of X-Force have been seen in various X-Books as X-Corp operatives: Sunspot in its Los Angeles branch, Domino in its Beijing branch, Cannonball, Rictor and Siryn in its Paris branch and Warpath and Feral in its Mumbai branch.
In 2004, Marvel plans to release a new X-Force mini-series, once again plotted & illustrated by Liefeld, with dialogue by Nicieza, that will gather-up many of the characters featured in the first X-Force. Marvel may begin a new, unlimited X-Force series if the mini-series sells well. Meanwhile, Nicieza writes the mismatched buddy series Cable and Deadpool, for which Liefeld drew covers for the first four issues.
External link
- X-Force v2 #1 (http://www.milehighcomics.com/firstlook/marvel/xforce1/)
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