X-Force



X-Force has been the name of four different Marvel Universe Superhero teams and comics, with few common members and very little generally to link them except for being closely tied to the X-Men, with varying degrees of cooperation between the two at different times.

The original X-Force was created when Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza were given control of the New Mutants book and made it Darker and Edgier. Adding several badasses and making them more of an "ends justify the means" group, they became a militant strike force very different in attitude from the X-Men. The title was at first extremely popular, with the first issue becoming the #2-selling comic of all time. Liefeld however quickly became frustrated by working with characters he didn't own, and soon left Marvel to form Image Comics in 1992. Nicieza continued to write up through the Age of Apocalypse storyline of 1995, afterwards leaving and being replaced by Jeph Loeb.

Loeb moved the team back to the Xavier Mansion and focused more on character development than fighting. After Loeb's departure in 1997, John Francis Moore took over writing duties and sent X-Force on a roadtrip to San Francisco, where they would reunite with former members Cannonball and Domino, but sales of the book began to fall. In 2000, Warren Ellis was brought in and portrayed the team as a covert group under the leadership of his character Pete Wisdom, but only made the decline worse as far as alienating more fans than before.



The second major incarnation of X-Force began in 2001, continuing the same issue numbering. The new creative team of writer Peter Milligan and artist Mike Allred, after the previous creative team ended their run with the team caught in an explosion that led to the media declaring the team dead, created a new team of X-Forcers who were shockingly killed at the end of the first issue. The series continued, with a famously rapid turnover of characters, as a satirical superhero series based around the idea of second-division superheroes as vapid and self-centered celebrities out for fame, fortune and kicks. The series explained the change-over with the notion of a millionaire software king creating his own team of super-heroes, with the X-Force name being taken from the previous team without permission. Around a third of the way through the run, the title was changed to X-Statix when Cable (off-camera) sued the new team over the use of the title (in truth however, the revamp was a huge hit and Marvel wanted to cash in on it via a relaunch). Unfortunately, the relaunch came with the killing off of the book's most popular character (U-Go Girl), which became a topic of fairly frequent discussion within the story itself. Further complications involved a planned storyline involving the resurrection of Princess Di, who was changed into a pop idol when Marvel chickened out at the last minute. Sales tanked and led to the book's cancellation in late 2004. Despite the deaths of all the surviving characters in the last issue, there was a later Dead Girl Spin-Off mini-series that had many of the dead team members involved in an adventure in the after life with Doctor Strange, satirising the Death Is Cheap nature of the Marvel universe.

Also in 2004, Marvel brought Liefeld and Nicieza back for a six-issue X-Force miniseries returning to the original characters, which posted decent sales despite a critical drubbing and Liefeld's using some of his previously unused art for other titles in the book. A Shatterstar miniseries followed, but neither was extended.



In early 2006, former X Men Evolution writing team Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost took over the teen team New X-Men, bringing with them their creation Laura "X-23" Kinney. They took that team through the aftermath of the House of M storyline and introduced The Purifiers, Reverand William Stryker's fanatical mutant-hating army of followers. After the cancellation of New X-Men, Kyle and Yost launched a third incarnation of X-Force as a black ops team sanctioned by Cyclops to combat The Purifiers in a way that the X-Men - who are trying to re-establish themselves as a respectable, law-abiding superhero team - never could. He puts Wolverine in charge of the new group, with members James "Warpath" Proudstar, X-23 and Rahne "Wolfsbane" Sinclair, and the team is soon joined by Warren "Angel/Archangel" Worthington, Neena "Domino" Thurman and Josh "Elixir" Foley. Reaction to this series was extremely mixed, with the book consistently rating in the top 30 for monthly sales, but many critics seeing it as an example of Darker and Edgier taken to self-parodic lengths.



The title is currently undergoing another, albeit smaller, relaunch as the Uncanny X-Force, continuing on the work done by the previous team but with a slightly different roster consisting of Wolverine, Archangel (the only members from retained from the last team) and adding Fantomex, Psylocke and Deadpool. The previous team was disbanded by Cyclops, who decided they are no longer needed, this one is a result of Wolverine and Archangel thinking otherwise. As Logan states, it has only one rule - no one can know about them. While reaction to X-Force vol. 3 was decidedly mixed, Uncanny X-Force as been hailed as a modern classic.

The first series contains examples of:

 * Action Girl: Domino; BoomBoom, Feral and Siryn to lesser extents.
 * Anti-Hero: Cable.
 * Animal-Themed Superbeing: Feral as the Darker and Edgier Wolfsbane.
 * AwesomeMcCoolname: Freaking Shatterstar.
 * Badass Normal: Cable, who despite being a mutant, can't really use his powers on any significant scale without risking death. In lieu of reading people's thoughts and throwing them through the air with his mind, he relies on his...
 * BFG: Cable had a lot of these, and wasn't shy about using them.
 * Big Bad: The MLF, Stryfe.
 * Blessed With Suck: Cable, potentially the single most powerful telepath and telekinetic in the Marvel Universe, has to use all but a tiny smidge of those powers to keep the techno-virus infesting half his body from devouring the other half.
 * Body Horror: Cable is mostly human on his right side, mostly techno-organic on the left. And if it weren't for his powers, he'd be consumed by the TO virus and die.
 * Cain and Abel: Cable and his evil clone Stryfe.
 * Code Name: Played straight, to the point where Cable and Domino's real names weren't revealed for years. Justified in Cable's case, since revealing his name would spoil a pretty juicy plot twist.
 * Darker and Edgier: This was the defining characteristic of the comic in the beginning.
 * During the War: Virtually all of Cable's backstory relates to his battling the forces of Apocalypse a thousand years in the future.
 * Guns Akimbo: Domino was particularly fond of this.
 * Gun Fu: Domino, though her "luck" power also had a lot to do with it.
 * Gun Kata: This completes Domino's trifecta of gun-related tropes, though again, her powers really helped her out.
 * Heroic Albino: Domino is described as being an albino, even though she has black hair.
 * It's Personal: Cable's hatred for Stryfe stems only partly from the fact that Stryfe has killed everyone Cable loved; most of it is from Stryfe's raping and impregnating his wife with a son that Cable had mixed feelings towards at best.
 * Just Friends: Cable and Domino have a long history, during which they've been everything from genuinely just friends to teammates to Friends With Benefits to fully lovers; currently, they seem to be in a "just friends" phase.
 * Knight Templar: Cable was very much "ends justify the means" in the beginning; later writers softened him considerably, though it's still not a very good idea to make him mad.
 * Retcon: Cable wasn't Scott and Madelyne's son until plotting an end for X-Cutioner's Song led Fabian Nicieza to realize that making Cable their son would tie up a lot of plot holes very nicely.
 * The Something Force
 * Superhero Packing Heat: Cable
 * Token Evil Teammate: Feral. Nobody was very surprised to see her make a Face Heel Turn in the middle of a battle.
 * Why Won't You Die?: It took Cable several tries to put Stryfe down for the count.

The second series / X-Statix contains examples of

 * All of the Other Reindeer: Inverted, in that this was pretty much the only series that showed how rich, hot teenagers with cool superpowers would be showered with adoration rather than shunned.
 * Anyone Can Die: The first issue killed off the entire team except for Tike and U-Go Girl. Then new recruits Bloke and Saint Anna, then the Spike, then U-Go Girl, then the Mysterious Fanboy, then El Guapo, then Phat, until the surviving members were all killed in the last issue of X-Statix.
 * Broken Pedestal: One of the later issues revealed that.
 * Captain Ethnic: Parodied with EuroTrash, Spike Freeman's side project superteam that he deliberately designed to follow this mold. Also La Nuit, one of the members killed in the first issue, a French mutant with green skin and blemishes that make him look rather amphibian. And Bloke, who was an amalgamation of every gay stereotype you've ever heard. A pink (formerly rainbow) skinned gym rat who lives in San Francisco and has great taste in soft furnishings... yeah.
 * Companion Cube: El Guapo's skateboard may genuinely have a mind of its own, though.
 * Dead Star Walking: Literally with Dead Girl, but more traditionally with the entire cast in the first issue.
 * Decoy Protagonist
 * Dirty Old Man: A running gag has Professor Xavier being depicted, whenever he appears, as having a creepy interest in younger mutants' sex lives.
 * Doorstopper: The 2011 omnibus collecting the entire series in a single volume is 1200 pages long, making it the longest book Marvel has ever printed (beating out the Walt Simonson Thor omnibus by a mere eight pages). It also weighs nearly eight pounds, cementing its status as a true doorstopper.
 * Drunken Master: Gin Genie's seismic powers were fueled by her alcoholic consumption.
 * Executive Meddling: Marvel initially defended the Diana, Princess of Wales plot, then got cold feet when it was too late to do anything but hastily recolour and rename the character.
 * Fauxreigner: Surrender Monkey
 * Foreshadowing: Guy threatening to break Spike's neck shortly after Edie dies.
 * I Have No Son: Vivisector's father, Edward Alfred. When his wife pleaded with him to consider letting Myles back into their house and insisting he's your son!, he responded with "That is a matter of opinion."
 * Kill'Em All: The way Milligan ended the title, killing off the entire team.
 * It's worth noting that Doop has since returned, and that Edie has a way by which she might some day (she was in the casino in The Incredible Hercules).
 * Lampshade Hanging: the source of much of the humour.
 * Like a Badass Out of Hell: In the Dead Girl mini-series, what the Pitiful One and his minions are trying to do.
 * Not Now, Kiddo: In the first issue Zeitgeist repeatedly brushes off Battering Ram's attempts to talk to him about his role in the group. And no, he doesn't get heard out before everybody dies.
 * Peer Pressure Makes You Evil: Early on, Guy tries to be a moral influence on the rest of the team. Near the end, he quite happily joins in the plan to.
 * Power Incontinence: Zeitgeist's powers first manifested during an underaged drunken beach make-out session; his acid vomit maimed the girl. (He wonders whether "the doctors ever managed to give her back her pretty face.")
 * Powered By a Forsaken Child: the Paco Perez arc.
 * Private Military Contractors: In many of their missions, are effectively this dressed up as a superhero team.
 * Rock Beats Laser: The first stage of the Orphan/Iron Man fight showed the peak of modern technology falling to the peak of smithing equipment, as seen in the page picture.
 * Sacrificial Lamb: The entire team in the first issue
 * Satire: Milligan loved making fun of comicbook storytelling.
 * Teeth-Clenched Teamwork
 * Time Stands Still: Lacuna's powers
 * To Hell and Back: the Dead Girl mini-series.
 * Token Minority Couple: The execs behind the X-Statix movie feel it's more appropriate for Venus Dee Milo to be paired with the Anarchist instead of the Orphan.
 * Tonight Someone Dies: Played with for all it's worth in one storyline with the entire team worried about a prophecy to this effect.
 * Torch the Franchise And Run: although Milligan and Allred still did the Dead Girl spin-off mini afterwards.
 * The Un-Reveal: twice. When both Mister Code and the Pitiful One are unmasked, the characters see them and recognise them as someone they know, but the knowledge is never passed on to the reader.
 * Wingdinglish/Cypher Language: Doop's dialog.
 * Wolverine Publicity: Parodied.

The third series contains examples of:

 * Absurdly Sharp Blade: Not only do Wolverine and X-23 have their adamantium claws, Warpath carries several knives and ArchAngel is fond of shooting metal "feathers" through the air.
 * Anti-Hero: Pretty much the entire point of the comic.
 * Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes: Type IV.
 * Animal-Themed Superbeing: Wolverine and Wolfsbane.
 * Badass Crew: With the addition of Domino, six out of seven members of the team have at least double-digit body counts.
 * Bare Your Midriff: X-23 exemplifies this trope. So when she joined X-Force, hers was the only uniform that showed off her abs.
 * Berserk Button: Wolverine and Warpath both have a couple, though they're metaphorical. X-23, ArchAngel, and Wolfsbane have literal berserk buttons.
 * Big Bad: The Purifiers, especially now that  working with them.
 * Black and Grey Morality: X-Force is doing what needs to be done to prevent racial genocide, but they're still killing people left, right and center.
 * Boxed Crook: The Vanisher. How does one keep a high-end teleporter under control, you ask? Have the guy with Healing Hands give him an inoperable brain tumor.
 * Canon Immigrant: X-23.
 * Career Killer: This is what X-23 was raised to be. Not wanting to let that define her life, she's since changed her approach to be more in line with X-family ideals, but her complete ruthlessness makes her at times a more efficient killer than even Wolverine.
 * Carnival of Killers: Inverted; X-Force are the heroes, yet they rack up quite the body count.
 * Cartwright Curse: Logan's never had a lasting romantic relationship, because someone always kills his lovers. James' entire tribe is dead, and Laura unwillingly killed her surrogate mother and literally put her her aunt and cousin on a bus to keep them safe. This has led to them each having some...issues.
 * Charles Atlas Superpower: Domino has probability altering powers, but she mainly relies on her marksmanship and hand-to-hand abilities.
 * Chekhov's Skill: Warpath learns the mystic Ghost Dance from Ghost Rider
 * Church Militant: Reverand Stryker's(and later Bastion's) Purifiers.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Deadpool joins the team later on.
 * Darker and Edgier: YA'THINK?!?
 * Deadpan Snarker: This is one of Wolverine's defining traits, though on the whole he's more serious in this book.
 * Death By Irony:  falls victim to the psychological conditioning The Purifiers put Wolfsbane through, when they were only able to capture her because she was
 * Evil Costume Switch: Inverted; X-Force are technically "good guys", but their new outfits are grey on black with glowing red-eyed black masks. Just in case you somehow failed to notice that this series is Darker and Edgier. Special points go to Archangel's costume: In this series, Angel can sort of Henshin into Archangel, though it comes with violent personality changes. As Archangel, he has his original, Apocalypse-given costume, which spontaneously manifests when he changes (meaning he really, really shouldn't be able to change its color.)
 * The Fundamentalist: The Purifiers consider themselves to be on a holy quest to kill all mutants. And of course Reverend Craig.
 * Good Thing You Can Heal: Wolverine and X-23 are often shown recovering from flat-out horrific injuries. X-23 gets the worst of it, though, since her healing factor is better than Wolverine's.
 * Healing Factor: Wolverine and X-23, of course. Hers works faster because Wolverine's is compromised by his adamantium-laced skeleton, but the tradeoff is that she doesn't have unbreakable bones.
 * Healing Hands: Elixir, a power that is largely redundant when half the team has a Healing Factor or is Made of Iron. Subverted in that he can kill you with those very same hands.
 * Heroic Sociopath: Most of the team.
 * It Can't Get Any Worse: Subverted hard; it can and it will.
 * It Got Worse: Played totally straight.
 * I Just Want to Be Normal: Played semi-straight with Laura; she'd like to be normal but doesn't know how. Inverted in that Logan is fine with his life, but wants a more normal one for Laura. He's not at all happy about Cyclops recruiting her for the team.
 * Just Friends: Wolverine and Domino have had an on and off thing for years, even before this incarnation of the team was formed. Kinda funny when you realized that Dom had the same thing with Cable.
 * Love Makes You Evil: You know ? The enigmatic Chessmaster that is using both Bastion and the Purifiers for his purposes? It seems there is this chick who dumped him some time ago that he is trying to get back into the good graces of....
 * Kill'Em All: If there's a group standing in X-Force's way, it's a pretty sure bet that none of them are going to see another sunrise.
 * Mix And Match Critter: Wolfsbane, who is able to turn into a WolfWoman or a full Werewolf, but in this series is usually more along the lines of a Woman-Wolf.
 * Older Than They Look: Wolverine looks 40ish, but is around 120.
 * Omnicidal Maniac: It is hinted by  that this is what   will eventually become once.
 * Our Vampires Are Different: Selene's servant  and apparently her new protegé Wither are vampires in the sense that they've been gifted with eternal life by Selene giving them a vampire like state complete with fangs and a "game face." However, there's never any mention of any need for blood.
 * Our Zombies Are Different: The mutants who.
 * Painted-On Pants: In full effect, with both Mr. Fanservice and Ms. Fanservice versions.
 * Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Neither Wolverine, X-23 or Wolfsbane are especially tall, but angering any of them will probably be the last thing you do.
 * Pregnant Badass:  appears to be shaping up into one of these; being that her child is , Elixir had to alter her DNA to be more like the baby just to keep the pregnancy from killing her. This has given her superhuman strength, bulletproof skin, and more acute senses than Wolverine or X-23.
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: As noted above, Wolverine is just older than he looks. But he seems like an embryo next to Selene, who physically looks to be in her mid-to-late 30's at the most. Turns out she's really 17,000.
 * Scarily Competent Tracker: The entire original group (Wolverine, X-23, Warpath and Wolfsbane) have heightened senses, and Warpath is also an Apache indian.
 * Sealed Evil in A Can: The mysterious  manipulates The Purifiers into recreating genocidal maniac Bastion, then into finding a fragment of the old New Mutants techno-organic enemy Magus, and after Bastion uses it to bring a group of the X-Mens's old mutant-killing human enemies back to life,   combines with the entity. Not good.
 * Sinister Minister: Reverand William Stryker, then Matthew Risman. The restored Bastion too, though he prefers to stay in the shadows.
 * Star-Crossed Lovers: Rahne and . They originally met back when Rahne first joined the New Mutants, and though they fell in love, had to part ways. Now they meet again, finally consumate their relationship, Rahne gets pregnant...and   has to give up his own life to save Rahne's and their baby's. These two just can't catch a break.
 * The Stoic: X-23. Unless it's a threat to someone she cares about, she tends to be very matter-of-fact about any given situation.
 * Super Strength: Warpath
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Wolfsbane, when she  And Selene and her inner circle embody this trope. Each and every one of them are essentially death in human (well, mutant) form
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Inverted comically. You start off thinking this about Wolverine and the others. Then you remember that what they're doing isn't really that different from what they've done in the past. Then you remember that they're only together because of Scott "Mr. By-The-Book" Summers. Wolverine calls him on it more than once, and it's insinuated that Wolverine only agreed to do it because he cares for Laura, James and Rahne; and he also realized that if he refused, Scott would just find someone else to lead the team, and that person might not be as concerned as Wolverine would be with keeping them safe (or sane).
 * Cyclops has to perpetually keep X-Force a secret from fellow X-Men founders Beast and Iceman because he knows he'll get this reaction from them.
 * Winged Humanoid: Angel
 * Wolverine Claws: Wolverine and X-23.
 * Wolverine Publicity: Wolverine and X-23, though fans seem to be getting more fond of Laura now that she's being used more sparingly.
 * The book has lately been subject to some "Deadpool Publicity" as well.
 * Zombie Apocalypse: Averted,.

The fourth series contains examples of:
"A.o.A!Nightcrawler: Do not call me elf. I find it...effeminate."
 * The Adjectival Superhero: Uncanny X-Force
 * Anti-Hero
 * A Worldwide Punomenon: Deadpool, natch.
 * "Why did the nickel jump of the building but the dime didn't?" "Because the dime had more cents."
 * "How do you kill a circus?" "Go for the juggler."
 * "Why was the little shoe unhappy?" "Because his father was a loafer."
 * Big Bad: Apocalypse.
 * Bigger Bad:
 * Big Damn Heroes:  cuts off "Father's" head moments before Fantomex is sliced into ribbons.
 * Cloning Blues: Of a sort. A.o.A!Nightcrawler is rather annoyed that he keeps being compared to 616!Nightcrawler, as they have totally different personalities.
 * Cloning Blues: Of a sort. A.o.A!Nightcrawler is rather annoyed that he keeps being compared to 616!Nightcrawler, as they have totally different personalities.
 * Cloning Blues: Of a sort. A.o.A!Nightcrawler is rather annoyed that he keeps being compared to 616!Nightcrawler, as they have totally different personalities.

"Fantomex: If there was ever a time to set aside my feelings about you and give a motivational speech, it would be now.
 * Cool Ship: E.V.A., which doubles as Fantomex's external nervous system.
 * Cursed With Awesome:
 * Darkest Hour: It doesn't get grimmer than issue 16.
 * Deadpool Publicity
 * Dirty Business
 * Dude, Where's My Respect?: It's pretty obvious that the rest of the team views Deadpool as either a clown, or a psychotic mercenary who's only in it for the money. Deadpool even wonders why he's brought up as the pariah
 * Erased From Existence:
 * Expansion Pack Past: Really not surprising, given three members' involvement in Weapon Plus, but Fantomex gets hit with this in Otherworld.
 * Face Heel Turn: There's a reason a major story arc is called the Dark  Saga. Also,
 * Fire-Forged Friends / Vitriolic Best Buds: Deadpool and Fantomex seem to be going this route.
 * Fire-Forged Friends / Vitriolic Best Buds: Deadpool and Fantomex seem to be going this route.

Deadpool: Go on.

Fantomex: No, well. It was just the thought that I should do it. I'm not capable of telling you that you're a tremendous fighter, and that we'll halt whatever mischief

Deadpool: Too bad. Would have been a real sweet moment between us."

"Fantomex: Our cyborg's gone all "Ted Bundy" on us."
 * Five-Man Band:
 * The Hero: Wolverine, team leader and resident Cool Old Guy. Pretty disciplined when you get right down to it.
 * The Lancer: Deadpool. Motor mouth, nowhere near as disciplined, but damn funny in contrast to Wolverine's seriousness. Also not seen with the team until the very end of issue #1.
 * He's also the one who calls the team out on
 * The Smart Guy: Fantomex. His teammates opt more for bladed weapons while he's more of a gunslinger. Not to mention E.V.A.
 * The Big Guy: ArchAngel. His "you go, I'll handle this" moment in issue #1 pretty much puts him right here.
 * The Chick: Psylocke, of the Lady of War variety.
 * Sixth Ranger: Apparently
 * Funny Schizophrenia: Very averted with this incarnation of Deadpool. While he is still pretty funny, Remender explicitly states that he views Deadpool's mental problems as caused by very traumatic things in his life, like many real mental disorders, instead of just using it to make Deadpool funny.
 * Gentleman Thief: Fantomex
 * In the first issue, he races Wolverine to the British crown jewels simply for the thrill. Upon being beaten by Logan, he then agrees to pay him by giving him a case of the world most expensive cognac.
 * It was implied to be a bet between the two of them. Whoever got there first had to buy the other a case of alchohol
 * The Heart:
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * Hyperactive Metabolism: Apparently, Deadpool thinks people have this.
 * I Choose to Stay: Age of Apocalypse Nightcrawler stays behind to ensure that Dark Beast gets what's coming to him.
 * Katanas Are Just Better: Both Deadpool and Psylocke wield katanas. The latter's is psionically charged.
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia:
 * Ms. Fanservice: Psylocke
 * Her (in)famous Leotard of Power was thrown out recently for a new, less Stripperific costume.
 * My Greatest Second Chance:
 * Never Be Hurt Again: Psylocke.
 * Not in This For Your Revolution: Ao A!Nightcrawler makes it clear that he's here purely for revenge against Dark Beast.
 * I'm Not Here to Make Friends:
 * Put On a Bus:
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Deadpool is red, while Fantomex is blue.
 * Robotic Psychopath: Inverted with Deathlok. The AI recognizes the value of human life, but when it's time for a bit of the old hyperviolence, he switches control of the body back to it's original human host.
 * I'm Not Here to Make Friends:
 * Put On a Bus:
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Deadpool is red, while Fantomex is blue.
 * Robotic Psychopath: Inverted with Deathlok. The AI recognizes the value of human life, but when it's time for a bit of the old hyperviolence, he switches control of the body back to it's original human host.


 * Shoo Out the Clowns:
 * Shout-Out:
 * Shut UP, Hannibal:
 * Stepford Smiler: Deadpool just wants to be loved...
 * Those Two Guys: Deadpool and Fantomex are definitely the odd men out in the main roster. Neither technically count as mutants, and they rarely, if ever, appear in any big X-Events. Both of them had to be hired for the team, and they interact with each other on a fairly regular basis. In the context of the Uncanny X-Force series, however, they're just as important as everyone else.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Psylocke.
 * "Well Done, Son" Guy: Deadpool again.
 * Winged Humanoid: Archangel, the only member retained from the previous team (not counting team leader Wolverine).
 * Wolverine Claws: Guess.
 * Deathlok sports some lightsaber variants.