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For the team of assassin mutants, see: X-Force (Strike Team)

X-Force was a band of outlaw mutants who were usually led and trained by the extremist agent known as Cable. Most of its recurrent members were former Xavier's students of the New Mutants class who were taken under Cable's wing.[1] Over the years, X-Force acted evading the law, with or without Cable, to ensure the liberty of mutants.[2] The team disbanded and reformed many times, usually when Cable was shown to be in need of agents to help him in his terrorist activities.[3][4][5][6]

History

A Force to be Reckoned With[]

The outlaw group of outlaw mutants named X-Force was born from the radicalization of the New Mutants, a group of former students enrolled at the Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.[7] The New Mutants crossed paths with the cyborg independent soldier known as Cable for they shared enemies in the form of the government sponsored Freedom Force and the terrorist Mutant Liberation Front.[8] After discussing matters with Dr. Moira MacTaggert, Cable took the unattended young mutants under his wing, being based at the ruins of the Xavier's School.[9]

Under Cable's tutelage, the New Mutants experienced unprecedented pain and embraced his extreme and proactive ways to deal with mutant-related incidents, especially against Cable's main adversary, the leader of the Mutant Liberation Front, Stryfe.[10] However, his group of protégés changed drastically. When the New Mutants were abducted to Genosha by Cameron Hodge, the team lost Warlock and Wolfsbane.[11] This led Rictor to depart, for he did not trust Cable. Subsequently, following the demise of his magnate father, Sunspot left with the mysterious Gideon. In between these changes, Cable invited his former ally Domino to help him guide the youngsters, even though the only ones left were the loyal Cannonball and the undisciplined Boom Boom. During this time, they learned the evil Mr. Tolliver wished to punish Cable, having the mercenary Deadpool target him and his group.[12] Moreover, unbeknownst to Cable, Domino had been in fact replaced by the shapeshifter Vanessa under Tolliver's orders.[13]

The team was apparently falling apart, but unexpectedly counted with new addictions. They took in a vengeful James Proudstar, who accepted to join Cable's operation as Warpath after witnessing his ancestral home defiled by the Hellfire Club, the deadly warrior from Mojoworld named Shatterstar, who happened upon them in their training site, the Danger Room, and the erratic Feral, who sought for protection from Masque and his radical sewer-dweller Morlocks. Considering the Xavier's School to be an unsafe place to hide from Tolliver, Cable choose to leave with his team, rebranding it as X-Force.[7]

Where the other X-teams believed in protecting humans from evil mutants, X-Force adopted a proactive and harsh attitude towards mutant terrorists. Their first mission was to directly strike the Mutant Liberation Front. Their brutal ways put S.H.I.E.L.D. agent G. W. Bridge on their track. X-Force ironically hid at the abandoned anti-mutant Sentinel Headquarters.[14] Soon after, the criminals Black Tom and the Juggernaut took Sunspot and Gideon hostages and attempted to destroy the World Trade Center twin towers in New York. The gracious Siryn wished to stop them, and joined Cable and X-Force for it.[15] With Spider-Man's assistance,[16] X-Force brutally put the terrorists down, but Deadpool was able to furtively capture them. In the aftermath, Bridge tried to arrest X-Force, but the mutants escaped.[17] However, Gideon blamed X-Force for the incident, reinforcing their reputation as terrorists.[18]

Wishing for revenge against X-Force, Masque's Morlocks formed an alliance with Toad's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. The Brotherhood surprised X-Force in their base.[19] During the fight between the two groups, Cannonball was mortally wounded by Sauron.[20] Cable responded with lethal force, while Shatterstar finished Masque. Cannonball miraculously survived[21] and Cable displayed Masque's lifeless body to other Morlocks as a warning for them not to mess with X-Force.[22]

Deadpool tormented Vanessa about her association with Tolliver.[22] X-Force confronted her without being aware she was not the real Domino, forcing her to lead them to Tolliver. Simultaneously, Bridge was able to intercept X-Force with his own team Weapon P.R.I.M.E., which counted with Rictor as a member.[13] X-Force defeated Weapon P.R.I.M.E., but, before they could go back to tracking Tolliver, he detonated a trap Vanessa had set up.[23] This caused Cable and Vanessa to get separated from X-Force. Without Cable, Rictor defected and chose to join his former allies. In order to escape Bridge, X-Force went to the reservation Warpath lived in Camp Verde, but they were intercepted by Crule due to Gideon's machinations.[24] After defeating Crule, X-Force decided to save Sunspot from Gideon, who had been performing experiments on him. Meanwhile, Cable and Vanessa found Tolliver, Deadpool and the real Domino. Finally reunited, Cable and Domino knocked their enemies out. Cable chose to take Mr. Tolliver by himself, leaving Domino behind. Both Cable and Tolliver vanished, and X-Force was left with not mentors.[25]

No More Cable[]

When Stryfe made an assassination attempt on Professor Charles Xavier, he was in the guise of Cable. Assuming Cable was the assassin, X-Factor and the X-Men hunted X-Force. A fight ensued and X-Force was defeated. X-Force's members were taken prisoner and locked up in the X-Men's Danger Room for a time. They were later released after learning that they had no idea of Cable's whereabouts and that they could help with the search for the Mutant Liberation Front.[citation needed] X-Force continued its status as an outlaw band of mutants, dodging both their enemies and the government agents of Operation: Zero Tolerance.[citation needed]

X-Force eventually crossed paths with the British spy Pete Wisdom, who trained them and channelled their power for his interests. His schemes eventually culminated with X-Force being disbanded.[26] The name X-Force was adopted by the cast of a reality show featuring mutants without permission.[27] Feeling degraded, the original team confronted the poseurs over the name with no success since it had been trademarked.[28] Eventually, the reality show team renamed themselves as X-Statix.[29] Around this period, Cable reassembled some former members of X-Force for his Underground in order to oppose the revival of the Weapon X program, which violated mutant rights in their experiments.[30]

Black Ops X-Force[]

When the first new mutant was born since M-Day, Cyclops ordered the reforming of X-Force. Wolverine led the team to hunt down Cable and the newborn mutant. Later, Cyclops secretly organized a new X-Force, with all of the best trackers at his disposal.[31] This team operated with a similar philosophy as the old one, that of targeting potential threats before they had the chance to become dangerous. Instead of simply targeting evil mutants however, this incarnation of X-Force targeted any potential threat to mutantkind.[32]

For detailed information about the killer squad team of X-Force, see X-Force

Most Wanted: Mutant Terrorists[]

In his final mission, Cable brought the first mutant born after M-Day he had named Hope back to the present, he sacrificed his own life, by surrendering his body to the techno-organic virus infection, to protect her from Bastion and his Council.[33] In fact, he timeslid to the future, being saved by his guardian Blaquesmith. He learned the Avengers would pose a threat to Hope and the X-Men in the present and travelled in time to hunt them down, even though his infected body was in terminal condition.[34] Hope and Cyclops intervened.[35] Cable failed in his attempt by having succumbed to the virus. After being brought to Utopia, he had the virus purged from his organism thanks to Hope, who wielded the Phoenix Force.[36] Cable's predictions turned out to be true, since a war between the Avengers and X-Men erupted. During the crisis, he left Utopia unnoticed.[37]

No longer having his psychic powers limited by the techno-organic virus, he experienced an exponential growth in power in the form of precognitive visions about imminent threats. The premonitions led him to return to his extremist methods.[4] He sought out the insane inventor Forge in China and fixed his fractured mind in order for him to join his mission.[38] They set base in a junkyard in Nebraska. Cable later recruited the genius Doctor Nemesis. However, Hope was able to get to him through his associate Domino.[4] Together, Domino and Hope successfully dealt with the outbreak of a Transmode Virus attack in Miami Beach while Cable struggled with his changing mind. After that, the former X-Man Colossus, who had problems with his powers, was recruited by Cable. The vigilante X-Force was fully reformed to help Cable stop all the disasters he foresaw.[39]

As their first mission, X-Force intended to prevent the Eat-More fast-food chain's owner Teresa Payton from releasing an infectious disease that would damage the public opinion about mutants. Cable inadvertently kicked Hope out of the team before the operation.[39] In a processing plant in Sedona, Cable and X-Force dealt with the infected victims with lethal force using the Transmode Virus.[40] The Avengers Unity Division, which dealt with mutant-human relations intervened, leading to a brief confrontation between the two groups followed by X-Force escaping.[4] As a result, the media labelled X-Force as mutant terrorists. The fugitives retreated to Mexico. When Cable was assigning the outlaw X-Force a new mission, Colossus decided to turn himself in to the authorities.[41]

Colossus was locked up at the Raft, where the alien Kliktok was secretly kept by S.W.O.R.D.. Cable's plan was to free Kliktok in order to prevent him from escaping and causing a murderous spree on Earth. This led X-Force to steal S.W.O.R.D. equipment to accomplish their mission, during which Cable counted with the moral support of Cyclops. Meanwhile, Domino and Boom-Boom broke into the Raft, freeing Colossus and Kliktok; the latter took them hostage. As a result, S.W.O.R.D. commander Abigail Brand arrested Cable and Colossus for having contributed to liberate such a dangerous mass-murderer. After learning their reasons, Brand extra-officially helped X-Force rescue their teammates and kill Kliktok. X-Force then stole Brand's ship and abandoned in outer space before she could take action against them.[42]

Brand reported X-Force to the Avengers Unity Division, which made imperative for them to capture the mutant terrorists. Following a brutal fight, X-Force was able to escape, but Cable got captured by the Unity Division. Even without their leader, X-Force kept following his agenda. Domino and Boom Boom impeded a mutant boy from causing an accidental massacre at a hospital that Cable had predicted. In Zurich, Domino and Colossus acquired an artifact to summon a devilish horde of monsters and eliminate them proactively. Still, freeing Cable was eventually made a priority, and X-Force raided the Avengers Mansion, fighting the Avengers Unity Division in the process. Simultaneously, Hope wished to help Cable by herself. She contacted Blaquesmith, who sent her to the future for answers. She learned that a future version of herself, Stryfe, had been responsible for linking Cable's mind to the predictive brain of a Deathlok, inflicting the premonitions. Her intention was to prevent a dystopic future from happening. However, they learned the intervention caused Cable's powers to develop dangerously and trigger the tragic future. Back to the present, Hope stopped the fight between X-Force and the Avengers Unity Division. Wielding a Psimitar, she cured Cable. Realizing Cable's work was necessary in its way, Unity Division's leader Havok set him free.[43]

X-Force could operate more freely without being actively hunted by the Avengers. They dismantled different operations. Cable and Hope dealt with the Reavers in Australia while Domino and Colossus acted on Trask Sentinels in Colorado. However, during these missions, X-Force noticed that Forge acted erratically, with his systems causing them problems to the team. Soon, it was revealed Forge had been tormented by his long-term nemesis, the entity known as the Adversary. In their headquarters, Doctor Nemesis and Boom Boom fought the Adversary.[44] Doctor Nemesis was able to trick the Adversary with his mind. After dealing with the respective crises, X-Force members reassembled at their headquarters.[45]

The Ends Justify the Means[]

In one of Cable's premonitions, Hope noticed Bishop's presence. Bishop had attempted to kill Hope since she was born, being the pure representation of her nightmares. She pinpointed his location and found him in Los Angeles with the other X-Force team, at the time run by the X-Men Psylocke and Storm, who had removed the memories about Hope from his mind. When Hope made her move against Bishop, a vengeful Stryfe took the opportunity to kidnap them.[46] Looking for their respective teammates, the two groups of X-Force clashed with each other. After Cable was teleported away by Spiral to Stryfe's hideout,[47] the two teams called a truce to locate and rescue their missing teammates.[48] They found Hope and Bishop, who had put their sorrowful past behind and joined forces to evade Stryfe and save Cable. Stryfe was mortally wounded by Cable and vanished, but not before augmenting Hope's powers to dangerous levels. Bishop saved her by rechannelling the excessive energies. In the aftermath, Storm and Psylocke disbanded their X-Force, but Psylocke saw in Cable's team an opportunity to carry on her need for a cause.[49]

Cable and Hope witnessed the "Alexandria Incident", an attack on a defence symposium in the city of Alexandria, an incident tied to a mutant. Cable reformulated X-Force as a black ops team to protect the interests of the mutant community. To this end, he had Psylocke, Doctor Nemesis, Fantomex, and Marrow at his side.[5]

Sins of the Past[]

Extermination Vol 1 3 Textless

Jean Grey and X-Force search for Cable's murderer

When the anti-mutant cyborg Ahab started to hunt the time-displaced original X-Men, Cable attempted to protect them. He failed, however, being oddly executed by a teenage version of himself.[50] His demise hit the original members of X-Force hard, prompting them to seek revenge against their leader's killer. The X-Men, on the other hand, wished to be cautious and hide the original X-Men from Ahab. The teenage Cable still managed to overcome them, though. The past version of Jean Grey then decided to ally herself with X-Force instead in order to find Cable. Being able to turn some mutants into Hounds, Ahab had Shatterstar turn against X-Force, but Cannonball stopped him in time, returning to the X-Men at the Xavier Institute. Meanwhile, Jean Grey and X-Force eventually made it to Cable's hideout[51] where Cable explained that his older version did not protect the timeline properly by returning the time-displaced X-Men to their past, where they would be safe from Ahab. Realizing the possible outcome of Ahab's actions, Jean Grey and X-Force then decided to help the young Cable restore the order of the timeline.[52] With Cable's help, the original X-Men returned to their timeline. However, Ahab, having a permanent hold on Rachel Grey, was able to escape, much alike Cable, who also vanished.[53]

X-Force still wished for explanations and investigated Cable's whereabouts, being led to Transia. Transia had become an apparent haven to mutants, but eradicated them in violent ways under Commandant Constantin's rule. Cable and Deathlok had infiltrated in the Transian army to stop the secret murderous policies and learn the true origins of the futuristic weapons used there. Their cover was destroyed when Deathlok got captured, but the duo was ultimately saved by X-Force. In Bulgaria, as Cable explained to X-Force the situation in Transia, Constantin killed the president of Transia and blamed Cable and X-Force of the crime.[6] In fact, Constantin was working in coalition with a jailed Ahab, who had searched for ways to travel in time again,[54] and a teenage version of Stryfe, who wished to prevent Cable from erasing the dystopic timeline he came from.[55]

X-Force Vol 5 2 Textless

The young Cable joins X-Force

As international terrorists, X-Force actively rescued several mutants in Transia, creating a hidden refugee camp. In one of their raids, they met a mutant infiltrated in the Transian army, the pyrokinetic Andrei. Deathlok and Andrei returned to the Transian Federal House disguised as Transian soldiers.[54] However, Constantin's forces ambushed X-Force at their hideout, a result of Andrei's betrayal for he in fact worked with Stryfe. Simultaneously, Ahab turned against Constantin and managed to capture Deathlok to empower himself.[56] X-Force directed their force directly at a Transian military base, from where Cable wished to rescue Rachel Grey. In a brutal duel, Ahab and Constantin destroyed each other, leading X-Force to learn Rachel Grey was trapped in the future. With the mutant prisoners freed, Stryfe introduced himself and his Mutant Liberation Army to X-Force.[57] Learning that Stryfe had Rachel Grey and Cable's Clan Chosen captured in the future, Cable surrendered and left X-Force.[55]

X-Force was able to craft a portal to the future in order to rescue Cable and Rachel Grey.[58] There, they met the followers of the Clan Askani. The Mutant Liberation Army attacked them, but Stryfe lost his influence over his minions due to directing his power to control Rachel Grey, the founder of Clan Askani. Afraid of losing the battle, Stryfe released Rachel Grey to overpower X-Force and the Clan Askani.[59] With Blaquesmith's assistance, X-Force found Cable and the Clan Chosen, severely debilitated due to his techno-organic virus infection.[60] However, Rachel Grey was free and represented a chance against Stryfe by severing his influence over the Mutant Liberation Army. Cable spared Stryfe's life in order not to change history to his personal gain. Instead, they imprisoned Stryfe and wiped out his memories about the present. No longer bound to a mission, X-Force disbanded as they returned to the present, but not before sharing they came to respect the young Cable.[61] Soon after, in the mutant nation of Krakoa, a new X-Force operation was established as a governmental intelligence institution.[62]

For detailed information about the Krakoan X-Force, see X-Force

Notes

  • X-Force co-creator Rob Liefeld has expressed that the team was created to contrast the "mopey group" that the X-Men had become at the time, and it was envisioned as a much a more aggressive arm of the X-Men. He believed that "somewhere between Xavier's pacifists views and Magneto's terrorist views there had to be an activist view."[63]

See Also

Links and References

References

  1. X-Force #1
  2. X-Force #19
  3. X-Force (Vol. 2) #1
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Cable and X-Force #1
  5. 5.0 5.1 X-Force (Vol. 4) #1
  6. 6.0 6.1 X-Force (Vol. 5) #1
  7. 7.0 7.1 New Mutants #100
  8. New Mutants #8688
  9. New Mutants #89
  10. New Mutants #9094
  11. X-Tinction Agenda
  12. New Mutants #98
  13. 13.0 13.1 X-Force #12
  14. X-Force #12
  15. X-Force #3
  16. Spider-Man #16
  17. X-Force #4
  18. X-Force #5
  19. X-Force #6
  20. X-Force #7
  21. X-Force #910
  22. 22.0 22.1 X-Force #11
  23. X-Force #13
  24. X-Force #14
  25. X-Force #15
  26. X-Force #115
  27. X-Force #116
  28. X-Force #117
  29. X-Force #129
  30. Weapon X (Vol. 2) #6
  31. Uncanny X-Men #493
  32. X-Force (Vol. 3)
  33. Second Coming
  34. Avengers: X-Sanction #12
  35. Avengers: X-Sanction #3
  36. Avengers: X-Sanction #4
  37. AVX: Consequences #1
  38. Marvel NOW! Point One #1
  39. 39.0 39.1 Cable and X-Force #3
  40. Cable and X-Force #4
  41. Cable and X-Force #5
  42. Cable and X-Force #68
  43. Cable and X-Force #914
  44. Cable and X-Force #1516
  45. Cable and X-Force #17
  46. Cable and X-Force #18
  47. Uncanny X-Force (Vol. 2) #16
  48. Cable and X-Force #19
  49. Uncanny X-Force (Vol. 2) #17
  50. Extermination #1
  51. Extermination #23
  52. Extermination #4
  53. Extermination #5
  54. 54.0 54.1 X-Force (Vol. 5) #2
  55. 55.0 55.1 X-Force (Vol. 5) #56
  56. X-Force (Vol. 5) #3
  57. X-Force (Vol. 5) #4
  58. X-Force (Vol. 5) #7
  59. X-Force (Vol. 5) #8
  60. X-Force (Vol. 5) #9
  61. X-Force (Vol. 5) #10
  62. X-Force (Vol. 4) #6
  63. Davis, Erik (19 April 2018) Get 'Deadpool' Tickets Now, Plus: How You Can Snag This Exclusive Poster from 'Deadpool' Creator Rob Liefeld Fandango. Retrieved on 23 April 2018.
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