One of the new heroic teams coming in season two of X-Men ’97 is the militaristic mutant freedom fighters known as X-Force. Although the X-Force we’re introduced to in the series, led by the cyborg mutant Cable, isn’t a roster from the pages of Marvel Comics, it is based on several different versions of the team. But X-Force has a long and strange history in the Marvel Universe, going back to the early ’90s. Although their genesis really goes back well before that, to one of the very first X-Men spin-off teams, the New Mutants.
The New Mutants Laid the Foundation for X-Force
To truly understand the origins of X-Force, we have to go back a decade earlier, to Uncanny X-Men’s first spin-off series, The New Mutants. Launched with a graphic novel in 1982, The New Mutants was created by X-Men architect Chris Claremont as a junior X-Men team. However, they were formed as a response to the apparent death of the X-Men. (They’d have a few of those.) A distraught Professor Charles Xavier gathers young mutants just coming into their own power from across the globe. But unlike the X-Men, they were meant to be trained in controlling their abilities only, not becoming mutant heroes. However, that plan didn’t quite work out. These kids got into all kinds of trouble.
The original New Mutants consisted of teenagers Cannonball (Sam Guthrie), Sunspot (Roberto DaCosta), Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair), Mirage (Dani Moonstar), and Karma (Xuân Cao Manh). They were soon joined by Colossus’ sister Illyana, now called Magik, and Doug Ramey (Cypher), the alien Warlock, and Magma (Amara Aquila). But Xavier eventually left for outer space after nearly dying, leaving his old friend/rival Magneto in charge. Needless to say, that didn’t work out, and Magneto eventually returned to his terrorist ways. By the late ‘80s, the New Mutants were without a mentor, and without a home after the X-Mansion was destroyed. After a brief time with the original five X-Men, now called X-Factor, they fused their rescued young mutant charges, like Boom-Boom and Rictor, with the New Mutants.
The Cyborg Soldier Cable Transforms the New Mutants into X-Force
The New Mutants was still one of Marvel’s best sellers, thanks to writer Louise Simonson. But by 1989, it was running out of steam. So, Marvel hired a young artist named Rob Liefeld, tasked with bringing youthful energy to the series. He created a cyborg soldier named Cable, militant like Magneto, but believed in mutant/human coexistence like Xavier. He felt Xavier was too soft with his students, and molded them into a paramilitary unit. Introduced in New Mutants #87 in 1990, Cable proved instantly popular, giving The New Mutants new buzz.
As New Mutants‘ centennial issue approached, the “New” part of the title no longer applied. After issue #100, Marvel re-branded the title as X-Force with an all-new first issue, written by Fabian Nicieza. It sold a staggering 5 million copies, a world record at the time, broken a mere two months later by X-Men #1. We should note, a very important Marvel character emerged in the buildup to X-Force. New Mutants #98 was a Marvel milestone, as it introduced Deadpool to the Marvel Universe. Originally, he was meant to be a villain, but years later, he’d join a version of X-Force. Even more than the X-Men, Deadpool would forever have ties to the team.
X-Force Becomes A Marvel Comics Bestseller
X-Force only retained two members from the New Mutants, Cannonball and Boom-Boom. Another young mutant, the Native-American Warpath, brother of the long-dead X-Man Thundebird, also joined. Liefeld created all the rest of the members, including the alien mutant Shatterstar, the lucky Domino, and the catlike Feral. Former New Mutants like Rictor and Sunspot would soon rejoin, along with Banshee’s daughter Siryn. At the height of the ’90s comics boom, X-Force was selling hundreds of thousands of copies monthly, outstripping any previous sales from its former incarnation as New Mutants.
Cable remained mysterious for a time, but within a year, Marvel revealed him as the son of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor, sent to the future as an infant. After growing up in this dangerous future, he went back in time as an older man. His goal was to return to the era of his birth to stop the rise of the villain Apocalypse, who ruled his future with an iron grip. X-Force was a very “of its era” series, with lots of big battles, big guns, and big shoulder pads. It also had a lot of teen soap opera elements. Think 90210, with powers. But while it sold well, the writing was often lackluster, with a far bigger focus on art and big action. When the trend of “extreme” comics died late in the decade, X-Force felt like a relic of an earlier era. One that was slightly cringe.
X-Force’s Brief Off-Brand Era
By the early 2000s, the ‘90s style of X-Men comics, pioneered by Jim Lee and Liefeld, had grown stale. Especially as Lee and Liefeld had left to form Image Comics years earlier. New Marvel EIC Joe Quesada decided Marvel needed an injection of indie comics energy, and with issue #116, X-Force totally transformed. Madman creator Mike Allred created a whole new team called X-Force, stars in a reality TV show. This concept proved popular, but it really wasn’t X-Force in any way. So, after the original X-Force show up demanding their name back, they rebranded as X-Statix. But technically, they were an X-Force team, so we had to mention them.
X-Force: The X-Men’s Secret Black Ops Team
In 2007, a proper X-Force returned in a new series by Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost. Cable’s father, Cyclops, reformed the team as a secret strike force to hit the X-Men’s enemies first. And, to use lethal force if necessary. This team was formed after the Scarlet Witch removed the power of most mutants, now an endangered species. Cyclops recruited Wolverine, X-23, Angel, former members Warpath, Wolfsbane, Caliban, and others. This team lasted about three years, ending in 2010. But this time, X-Force would be back much sooner. But it was during this era that the concept of X-Force shifted from a group of teen mutants to a deadly unit made up of established, adult X-Men. And that has remained ever since.
Uncanny X-Force Becomes the Team’s Best Iteration
In 2010, Uncanny X-Force launched, with Wolverine returning once again as leader. This team featured several A-list X-Men, like Archangel, Psylocke, Deadpool, and Fantomex. Wolverine formed this team behind Cyclops’ back, created in order to stop emerging threats like Apocalypse. Thus, going back to the original intent of the team. This became the most critically acclaimed version of X-Force, thanks largely to Rick Remender’s writing, and art by Jerome Opeña and Esad Ribić. This version of the team lasted about two years. But it remains the most beloved run. A new version of Uncanny X-Force launched with Psylocke, Storm, Bishop, Spiral, and Alpha Flight’s Puck soon after. But this version only lasted a couple of years as well.
Cable Leads a Competing X-Force Title
Oddly, there was a second X-Force series at the same time as Uncanny X-Force, which once again featured a team led by Cable. In Cable and X-Force, Nathan Summers gathers a team consisting of Colossus, Domino, Forge, and Dr. Nemesis. This was a bit more like the original ’90s X-Force, with Cable and his unit coming into conflict with the Avengers. This was the only time that X-Force was a franchise of its own, with two separate teams using the same name, with separate missions. In 2018, the original X-Force reunited in a new series by Ed Brisson and illustrated by Dylan Burnet, and that series ran about 10 issues only.
X-Force in the Modern Marvel Comics Era
In the 2020s, X-Force evolved yet again. In the Dawn of X/Krakoa era from writer Jonathan Hickman, when mutants lived in a prosperous island nation for their kind only, a new X-Force formed as a kind of CIA-style team designed to go after Krakoa’s enemies, despite the nation’s official stance of “harm no human.” This team consisted of X-Men founders Jean Grey, Beast, original X-Forcer Domino, Sage, Kid Omega, and Colossus. More than any previous X-Force, this version did a lot of shady things.
Post-Krakoa, X-Force became yet another proactive militaristic team, featuring well-known mutants like Betsy Braddock, Rachel Summers, Forge, Colossus, Sage, and other established X-Men. The current Inglorious X-Force comic has gone back to its roots once more, with Cable going back in time and assembling a mutant kill squad with members like Archangel, Hellverine, and original member Boom-Boom. It seems that X-Force, in some iteration, will always exist as long as Marvel publishes X-Men comics.
X-Force in X-Men ’97
In X-Men ’97, we’re introduced to a version of X-Force inspired by several versions of the team. Cable is clearly the leader, just as he was back in the day. He recruits Sunspot, a former student of Xavier’s, who matched the original 1991 concept. Archangel and Psylocke represent the popular Uncanny X-Force team. Jubilee, however, was never an X-Forcer in the comics. Will they add other classic members to their ranks? We know Colossus is in the season, so it’s possible. We’re excited to see how this quintessentially ’90s Marvel team meshes with the world established in the X-Men: The Animated Series universe. We wouldn’t be shocked if the animated version is one of the best iterations in the team’s long history.
The post The Marvel Comics History of X-MEN ’97’s X-Force appeared first on Nerdist.
This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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