X-Force is a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the X-Men. Conceived by writer/illustrator Rob Liefeld, the team first appeared in New Mutants #100 (April 1991) and soon afterwards was featured in its own series called X-Force. The group was originally a revamped version of the 1980s team the New Mutants.
X-Force's first leader was the mutant Cable. An offshoot of the X-Men, X-Force takes a more militant and aggressive approach towards its enemies compared to the X-Men.
An alternate incarnation of X-Force appears in the 2018 film Deadpool 2 as part of the X-Men film series. A planned X-Force film adaptation was in production at 20th Century Fox, but canceled after Disney acquired the studio.
Publication history Publication
The X-Force series was successful in the early 1990s, with its popularity holding steady after Liefeld left. As with other X-titles in the 90s, Marvel implemented various reforms to the title throughout its run until 2001, with varying degrees of success. Declining sales on the X-Force series eventually prompted Marvel to revamp the title in 2001 with a new cast in the form of a group of self-interested young mutants who were gathered together by a corporation to become media stars and used the name X-Force. X-Force was canceled with #129 and relaunched as X-Statix, which coincided with a similar rebranding of the team in the story. After X-Statix was canceled with #26, Marvel reunited the original X-Force team for a six-issue 2004 miniseries plotted and drawn by Liefeld.
In 2007–2008, during the Messiah Complex crossover event, a new version of the X-Force team was formed with Wolverine leading a militaristic black ops branch of the X-Men. This squad would form the basis for a new X-Force series starting February 2008 by writers Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost, plus Clayton Crain as the artist. The series came to a conclusion in September 2010 as part of the Second Coming storyline that ran through various X-titles. The title was then relaunched in October 2010 as Uncanny X-Force with Rick Remender and Jerome Opeña as the creative team and Wolverine, Psylocke, Deadpool, Archangel, Fantomex, and E.V.A. as the initial roster.
The Uncanny X-Force series ended at issue #35 in 2012 and was once again relaunched as Uncanny X-Force (vol. 2) as part of Marvel NOW!, with a new team led by Storm and Psylocke, written by Sam Humphries. A concurrent X-Force book written by Dennis Hopeless, Cable and X-Force, was released at the same time, bringing Cable back into the X-Force fold. The two series ended in 2014 after a crossover between the two titled "Vendetta". A new X-Force (vol. 4), written by X-Men: Legacy writer Simon Spurrier, was launched featuring a black ops squad consisting of Cable, Psylocke, Fantomex, and Marrow.
Uncanny X-Force
X-Force was replaced in October 2010 with Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender and Jerome Opeña. This new series introduces team members Psylocke, Fantomex, and Deadpool. According to Remender, "This is a group of characters that have had their souls stained by evil forces in the past, a common thread connecting them. They've already made the hard compromises in the past; they've all taken life."
The title had a three-issue "Fear Itself" tie-in miniseries, written by Rob Williams, with art by Simone Bianchi. As of issue #34, thirty-one characters were killed and 14 of them were from the "Age of Apocalypse" timeline.
Uncanny X-Force (vol. 2): 2013–2014
As part of Marvel NOW!, two new X-Force series would replace Remender's Uncanny X-Force. Prior to their announcement, the two titles were teased by a single word and the book's creative team: "Wanted" with Dennis Hopeless and Salvador Larroca and "Killers" with Sam Humphries and Ron Garney. "Wanted" was first revealed to be the brand new "Cable and X-Force", with "Killers" later revealed to be a relaunched "Uncanny X-Force."
Cable and X-Force, written by Dennis Hopeless and penciled by Salvador Larroca, featured Cable on the run after awakening from a coma in the post-AvX world. Harkening back to the early days of the original X-Force, Cable leads an outlaw X-Force team consisting of Domino, Colossus, Forge, Doctor Nemesis and Boom-Boom, whose missions of stopping tragedies before they happen puts them at odds with the newly formed Uncanny Avengers, led by Cable's uncle Havok.
The relaunched Uncanny X-Force was written by Sam Humphries and penciled by Ron Garney, and featured a Psylocke-led team with an initial roster of Storm, Puck, and Cluster. They would be joined by Spiral and Bishop as they sought to locate a psychic mutant girl who had been kidnapped.
Fictional history X-Force (vol. 3) Angels and Demons
The Purifiers, led by Matthew Risman and Eli Bard, resurrect Bastion by attaching his head to a Nimrod unit. Bastion retrieves an offspring of Magus from the ocean floor and revives several deceased X-Men enemies, including Cameron Hodge, Bolivar Trask, and Graydon Creed, by infecting their corpses with the Transmode Virus. The virus allows Bastion a degree of mental control over the revived corpses. He also infects two living subjects with the virus: Donald Pierce and the Leper Queen.
During X-Force's raid on a Purifier base, Risman holds Wolfsbane hostage. While Wolverine calls for the team to stand down, X-23 decides Risman is bluffing and activates a concealed detonator that sets off a series of powerful explosives. The explosion brings most of the base down around them, but Risman escapes with Wolfsbane during the chaos. After interrogating and killing numerous Purifiers, X-Force finds Wolfsbane held in a warehouse, barely alive. Angel retrieves Elixir to heal Wolfsbane, who wakes up soon after. Wolfsbane savagely attacks X-23 and Laura before handing over Angel's wings to the Purifiers.
Elixir heals both his and Angel's wounds, then discovers that Angel's wings are not organic and cannot be regrown. Angel transforms into Archangel, complete with metallic wings. Archangel wounds Wolverine and X-23 before taking off toward the Purifiers' base, sensing his old wings. Meanwhile, the Purifiers use samples of Angel's stolen wings to develop techno-organic wings for their soldiers, giving them similar abilities to Archangel. The group of Purifiers given wings is dubbed the Choir. X-Force pursues Archangel to the Purifiers' base and slaughters most of the Choir, while Risman discovers Bard absorbing the Technarch offspring. X-23 kills Risman and briefly fights Bard. Bard overpowers her, but is prevented from killing her when Warpath stabs him, causing him to flee. Wolverine takes on Bastion, who deems the threat posed by Wolverine "unacceptable" and retreats. Afterwards, X-Force finds Archangel unconscious and in human form, complete with feathered wings. Wolverine informs Cyclops of the turn of events, and Cyclops asks which of X-Force's targets should be next.X-Force #1–6
Old Ghosts Once X-Force regroups at Angel's Aerie, they test the reactions of Wolfsbane and Angel to one another. Wolfsbane reverts to full feral form upon seeing Angel, who responds by transforming into Archangel. Wolverine and Elixir restrain Wolfsbane while Cyclops talks down Archangel, who has trouble controlling his Apocalypse-like mentality while transformed. Laura calls in the Stepford Cuckoos to erase Elixir's memories of X-Force, to help them remain covert. Cyclops assembles X-Force, including Elixir, and unexpectedly declares Vanisher as their next target.
While in pursuit of Vanisher, the team runs into Domino, who joins forces with them to recover the Legacy Virus. After cornering Vanisher, Elixir gives him an inoperable brain tumor to ensure his cooperation. Vanisher reveals he lost the virus while escaping from a horde of Marauder clones that were awakened after the death of Sinister. Domino retrieves the virus, only to be confronted by shocktroopers who have come to take the virus for themselves. X-23 is injected with the virus while doing battle, but is healed by Elixir. With Vanisher in tow, X-Force returns home.X-Force #7–10
Meanwhile, Warpath returns to his tribe's reservation at Camp Verde to visit his brother's grave, but discovers the empty graves of his entire tribe before being violently attacked by the Demon Bear. As he is about to be killed, Warpath is saved by Ghost Rider, who offers to teach him how to kill a demon. After engaging the Demon Bear in battle once more, Ghost Rider realizes the demon is reacting to pain caused by a dagger embedded in its body. Once Warpath removes the dagger, the demon is revealed to be the spirit guides of Warpath's tribe, corrupted by black magic. The spirits grant Warpath a vision that reveals the history of the man responsible for digging up the graves of his tribe: Eli Bard. Warpath returns home and tells X-Force what the spirits showed him, which ends with the revelation that Bard is using the Transmode Virus to revive dead mutants as an offering to his queen, Selene.X-Force #11
Beautiful Dreamer and Fever Pitch are killed in separate incidents after losing control of their powers and killing hundreds of civilians. Cyclops realizes this was likely caused by the mutated Legacy Virus, and assembles X-Force to deal with the situation. Hellion and Surge are captured and injected with the altered Legacy Virus. As Wolverine questions the Leper Queen, Cyclops informs him that Cable has been found and X-Force is being sent after him. Despite Wolverine's protests, Cyclops activates the time-travel devices, sending X-Force forward in time before they can kill the Leper Queen.X-Force #12–13
Messiah War
X-Force is involuntarily sent to the future to retrieve Cable and Hope. The landscape is a barren, ravaged area, and the team quickly encounters danger. Apocalypse has been defeated, and Stryfe controls this future. X-Force and Cable struggle to save Hope from Bishop and Stryfe.
Not Forgotten Not Forgotten takes place directly after X-Force's return to the present. X-23 emerges from the timestream just in time to save Boom-Boom from being killed by the Leper Queen. Seconds after she kills the Leper Queen, both she and Boom-Boom are taken into custody by agents of H.A.M.M.E.R. At the United Nations, Hellion and Surge are rescued from the Sapien League by Wolverine, Archangel, and Elixir. Boom-Boom is freed from H.A.M.M.E.R. custody by Warpath, while X-23 is returned to The Facility. She wakes up to find her left arm severed by Kimura, wielding a chain saw. Before she can cut off the right arm, Kimura is shot by Agent Morales. Agent Young is revealed to be a member of The Facility that infiltrated H.A.M.M.E.R. to acquire the intel that Morales had on X-23. When Young tries to recruit Morales into The Facility, she rejects his offer by beating him unconscious. In the present, X-23 and Morales make their way to a Facility lab that holds mass amounts of the chemical trigger that forces X-23 to kill. While still in the room, X-23 cuts open her severed arm to remove the claws and she gives the claws to Morales to keep them safe. She improvises a Molotov cocktail and uses it to activate the sprinkler system. The soldiers of the Facility cut through to X-23 but Kimura notices that the sprinklers are instead spraying trigger scent. Laura becomes feral and kills the soldiers and goes to the office of the Facility head, where the sprinklers begin spraying water, which washes away the trigger scent. Kimura is able to club Laura from behind to knock her out and then murders the Facility head, to frame Laura for his death. Morales then arrives and lights Kimura on fire so she will be distracted while Morales and Laura escape. Morales reveals that she rigged the building to explode but they are able to get out before the explosion. The other members of X-Force arrive and they take Laura home with her severed claws.
Necrosha