X-Factor
X-Factor was a
comic book series, published by
Marvel Comics from 1985 until 1998. It was one of many spin-offs of the mega-popular
mutant superhero team the
X-Men. The first X-Factor consisted of the same line-up as the original X-Men and were known to the public as mutant hunters but actually intended to help the mutants they were assigned to track down. Many of their “targets” joined a subteam of young wards. The second X-Factor, launched in 1991 was a government-sponsored mutant team that incorporated many secondary characters from various X-Books.
X-Factor I (1985-1991)
\nThe line-up of the original X-Factor all debuted in X-Men #1 (1963) as the original X-Men, teenaged students of the telepathic Professor X. By the time X-Factor #1 was published in 1985, all of the original X-Men had entered adulthood and each a unique history. They included:\n* Cyclops (Scott Summers), who emitted powerful "optic blasts" from his eyes. Cyclops was the X-Men’s leader but retired to marry Madelyne Prior (an Alaskan woman who bore a strange resemblance to Cyclops first love, the supposedly deceased X-Man Jean Grey) and raise their son Nathan. He returned to costume adventuring to lead X-Factor.\n*Iceman (Bobby Drake), who could freeze the moisture around him and turn his body into solid ice. \n*Angel (Warren Worthington III), who flew from two feathery wings extending from his back. Angel served as CEO of his family’s multimillion dollar company Worthington Enterprises.\n*Beast (Hank McCoy), who possessed talons, blue fur and ape-like strength and agility. Since leaving the X-Men, Beast had become a respected scientist and a member of the superhero team The Avengers.\n*Jean Grey, who possessed telepathic and telekinetic powers. In “Phoenix Saga” (1976) in Uncanny X-Men Jean apparently bonded with a cosmic entity called Phoenix and died in the “Dark Phoenix Saga” (1980). Apparently though, Phoenix only took Grey’s identity and did not bond with her, keeping her safe in a cocoon-like structure at the bottom of the Hudson River. After being freed, Grey joined X-Factor. The decision to bring back this character was very controversial at the time.
The original team debuted as mutant-hunters for hire, headquartered in downtown New York City but secretly planned to help the mutants they captured. Because of this they recruited a group of teenaged wards including:
- Boom Boom (Tabitha Smith), who created "plasma bombs"\n* Rictor (Julio Estaban Richter), who produced powerful shockwaves\n* Skids (Sally Blevins), who projected a protective force field around her body\n* Rusty Collins, who could control flames\n* Leech, who dampened the mutant powers of those around him and who possessed green skin. Leech, and his best friend Artie, were the only two young children in X-Factor’s junior division, the rest being teenagers\n* Artie, a mute child who could project hologram-like images of his thoughts and who possessed purple skin
X-Factor #6 (1986) introduced their arch-nemesis
Apocalypse, a 2,000-year old super mutant, potrayed as a god of death in several ancient mythologies, who was determined to remake the world to fit his mad
Darwinist philosophy.
Apocalypse operated out of Ship, a huge, floating fortress run by a sentiment computer. However, in an early issue of
X-Factor, Beast convinced Ship to abandon Apocalypse and the fortress served as a base and important ally to X-Factor.
Bob Clayton wrote the first few issues of
X-Factor but soon turned over writing duties to Louise Simonson, whose husband Walt illustrated the series. During the first two years of
X-Factor, the Simonsons crafted a plotline that had a significant effect on Angel. In
X-Factor #10, the Marauders, a group of savage mutant mercenaries, severely injured Angel’s wings and later they were amputated. Despondent, he attempted to commit
suicide by crashing his airliner but Apocalypse rescued him from the wreckage and transformed into Death, one his “four horsemen.” Death was a fearsome creature, loyal to Apocalypse, who possessed metal wings and blue skin. Angel escaped Apocalypse’ control but the physical changes to his body remained. He became known as Archangel and became a much darker character.
In the 1989 X-Over "Inferno," Madelyne Prior was revealed to be a clone of Jean Grey created by the nefarious mutant geneticist
Mr. Sinister and, as the
Goblin Queen, she allied herself with a group of demons and planned to sacfrice Nathan to open an interdimensional portal. X-Factor teamed up with the X-Men to defeat Goblin Queen and rescue Nathan.
Shortly after "Inferno," most of X-Factor’s teenage wards left to join the X-Men’s junior team
The New Mutants.
In the last major storyline of the first X-Factor, published in early 1991 and illustrated by Whilce Portacio, Apocalypse kidnapped Nathan Summers, sensing that he would grow-up to be a powerful mutant and possible threat. X-Factor rescued Nathan from Apocalypse’s lunar base, but found him infected with a “techno-organic” virus that could not be treated in the present time. A clan of rebels from the future, known as the Askani, sent a representative named Jen to the present time in order to bring Nathan Christopher 2,000 years into the future to be treated (Fully grown, he would return to the 20th Century as the anti-hero Cable).
Shortly after this, X-Factor and the X-Men teamed up to fight the telepathic
Shadow King. Afterwards, the members of X-Factor rejoined the X-Men.
X-Factor II (1991-1998)
\nRather than end a successful series, Marvel hired writer Peter David and illustrator Larry Strohman to recreate X-Factor with new members, all of whom were already friends of the X-Men. The new X-Factor worked for
the Pentagon, a relationship that was often strained and complicated. The new X-Factor, debuting in issue #71 (1991), included:
- Havok (Alex Summers), a former X-Man and brother of Cyclops who could generate powerful "plasma blasts." Havok served as X-Factor’s leader.\n* Polaris (Lorna Dane), Havok’s longtime lover and also a former X-Man who could control magnetism\n* Wolfsbane (Rahne Sinclair) a Scottish former New Mutant who could transform into a wolf-like creature\n* Multiple Man (Jamie Maddrox), who could create duplicates of himself\n* Strong Guy (Guido Carosella), a wise-cracking character who could rechannel physical energy aimed at him, transforming it into physical girth\n* Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff), who possessed super speed. Quicksilver had been a member of the X-Men’s adversaries The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants but reformed and served as a member of The Avengers\n* Dr. Valerie Cooper, a non-mutant who held the office of Special Chair of Mutant Affairs and acted as a liaison between X-Factor and the government
The team often battled The Nasty Boys, a mutant criminal team lead by Mr. Sinister. However, the action/adventure element of the series did not gain as much notice as David’s use of humor and cultural references and his ability to flesh out characters who had previously been only been background characters of the X-Books.
David left in 1993. The series continued under writer J.M. De Matteis and artist Jan Duursema. During this time, Cooper was replaced with
Forge, a governor weapons contractor whose mutant powers were his brilliant engineering skills.
By 1995, Multiple Man apparently died of the Legacy Virus, a deadly illness that attacked mutant genes (It was later revealed only one of his duplicates died), Strong Guy left after suffering a heart attack, Wolfsbane transferred to the European X-Team Excalibur and Havok left to infiltrate a mutant terrorist ring.
Writer John Francis Moore and illustrator Jeff Matsuda introduced a new X-Factor, consisting of Forge, the team’s new leader, Polaris and the following new recruits:\n* Wild Child (Kyle Gibney), who possessed heightened senses, fangs and claws\n*
Shard, a
holographic computer program that took on the personality of the X-Man
Bishop’s deceased sister of the same name. Bishop was a time-traveler from a distant future, where was a member the X-Men descendents the Xavier Security Enforcers. The original Shard was also a member of X.S.E. but died on a mission. The computer Shard was brought to the 20th Century with Bishop.\n*
Mystique (Raven Darkholm), a
shapeshifting mutant criminal and master of espionage. Mystique was forced to join X-Factor after being captured by federal agents. Forge attempted to use mechanical implants to keep her in line. \n* Sabretooth (Victor Creed), a murderous mutant criminal who possessed talons, heightened senses and the ability to heal rabidly. Sabretooth had been taken in by Professor X in a bid to cure his homicidal instincts, but found him incurable, Professor X and turned him over the federal government who placed him in X-Factor. As with Mystique, Forge used special technology to control Sabretooth
During the election year of 1996, writer Howard Mackie, taking over from Moore, helped write a plotline, in conjunction with other X-Book writers, in which
Graydon Creed, son of Mystique and Sabretooth from a long-ago affair and an anti-mutant movement leader, launched a presidential campaign but was mysteriously assassinated in
X-Factor #130. Afterwards, suspecting that forces in the government were responsible for Creed's killing in addition to other secretive and manipulative behavior, the team went underground.
By 1997, many fans had lost interest in
X-Factor. Sabretooth and Mystique, two popular X-Man villains had failed to draw in more readers. In
X-Factor #140, Mackie and artist Jaime Mendoza introduced yet another revision of X-Factor, consisting of Havok, Polaris, Multiple Man, Shard and several other members of the X.S.E., brought to the 20th Century:
- Archer, who could transmute his body into living energy\n* Fixx, who possessed telepathic and telekinetic powers\n* Greystone, a mentally unsound mutant who could increase his body mass and strength
However, this version of the team failed to catch on and X-Factor was cancelled with issue #149 (1998). In that issue, Greystone built a time machine meant to take he and his compatriots back to their own time. However, the device exploded, killing Greystone and apparently Havok. Afterwards, X-Factor disbanded.
In actuality, though, the time machine transported Havok to a strange alternate dimension, populated by twisted versions of Marvel characters. He explored this strange world in the series
Mutant X, which lasted from 1998 until 2001.
X-Factor Mini-Series (2001)
\nAn X-Factor limited series was launched in 2001. This series focused on a government Mutant Civil Rights Task Force, humans who investigated anti-mutant hate crimes and inadvertently discovered an anti-mutant conspiracy within their own ranks. This series focused heavily on the “mutants as metaphor for minorities” aspects of the X-Men concept.
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