X-Factor I
PURPOSE: Initially posing as anti-mutant mercenaries in order to find and protect mutants.
Later, Battle anti-mutant or Evil Mutants, after their exposure as Mutants.
AFFILIATIONS: World's Mutants, X-Men, etc
CURRENT MEMBERS: Angel/Archangel, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, Marvel Girl (Jean Grey)
FORMER MEMBERS: n/a
ENEMIES: Apocalypse, Alliance of Evil, Cameron Hodge, Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Freedom Force,
Mr. Sinister, etc
BASE OF OPERATIONS: Formerly Fall's Edge, Blue Ridge Mountains, Virginia; Celestial Ship,
New York Harbor
FIRST APPEARANCE: X-Factor Vol. 1, #1 (1986)
Previous history and formation of the team
Each member of the original X-Factor debuted in X-Men
(vol. 1) #1 (1963) as the original X-Men, teenaged students of the telepathic Professor X.
They included:
Angel, a millionaire heir who flew by means of two feathery wings extending from his back.
Beast, who possessed ape-like strength and agility. Beast’s brutish appearance disguised a brilliant scientific mind.
Cyclops, who emitted powerful "optic blasts" from his eyes and who was the leader of both the X-Men and X-Factor
Jean Grey, a.k.a. Marvel Girl, Cyclops’ long-time love who possessed telepathic and telekinetic powers.
Iceman, who could generate ice and cover his body in a layer of ice for protection.
The founding of X-Factor hinged upon the reunion of the original X-Men, an event complicated by the extensive
histories of the characters following the initiation of a new team of X-Men in 1975.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, Angel, Beast, and Iceman wandered through various superhero teams. By 1985, all
three were members of the Defenders, until that group disbanded which freed the trio to look for a new team.
The returns of Cyclops and Jean Grey were more difficult. In the late 1970s, Grey had bonded with a cosmic
entity called The Phoenix and Jean Grey/Phoenix died in the seminal Dark Phoenix Saga. However, Grey had
never actually been the Phoenix. Instead, the Phoenix entity copied Grey's identity and form, keeping her
safe in a cocoon-like structure beneath Jamaica Bay. She resurrected in Fantastic Four #286 (1985),
Jean was discovered and the truth revealed.
In order to reunite the rest of the original X-Men, Cyclops walked out on his new wife Madelyne Pryor,
an Alaskan pilot who bore a strange resemblance to Grey, and their son Nathan. These events, along with the
resurrection of Grey in general, led to the events that allowed X-Factor to form.
The original X-Men disassociated with the current team because Professor X had placed their old nemesis Magneto
as its leader. The five set up a business advertised as mutant-hunters for hire, headquartered in the TriBeCa
neighborhood of downtown New York City, posing as "normal" (non-superpowered) humans to their clients. The
mutants X-Factor captured were secretly trained to control their powers and reintegrated into society. Through
their "mutant-hunting" they recruited a group of young wards:
Artie, a pink-skinned, mute child who could project hologram-like images of his thoughts.
Boom Boom, who created "plasma bombs".
Rusty Collins, who could create and control fire.
Leech, a green-skinned young boy, who dampened the mutant powers of those around him.
Rictor, who produced powerful shockwaves.
Skids, who projected a protective force field around her body.
ASSOCIATES
X-Terminators
The team would also go into action in costume, posing as mutant outlaws known as the "X-Terminators."
Eventually, the team decided that the "mutant-hunter" ruse did more harm than good by inflaming hatred.
Not only was the concept rejected, but it was blamed on X-Factor's original business manager, Cameron
Hodge, who was revealed as a mutant-hating mastermind.
Archangel
Apocalypse made his debut in X-Factor (vol. 1) #6 (1986) He would go on to become X-Factor's arch-nemesis.
In X-Factor (vol. 1) #10, the Marauders, a group of savage mutant mercenaries, severely injured Angel's wings
and which were later amputated. Despondent, Angel attempted suicide by detonating his airliner mid-flight,
but Apocalypse rescued him from the wreckage and transformed him into Death, one of his Four Horsemen. Death
was a fearsome creature that possessed metal wings and blue skin. Angel escaped Apocalypse's control, but the
physical changes to his body remained. He became known as Archangel and became a much darker character.
Angel's replacement on X-Factor, Caliban, also later turned to Apocalypse for more power.
Inferno
In the 1989 crossover "Inferno", Madelyne Pryor was revealed to be a clone of Jean Grey created by the
nefarious mutant geneticist Mister Sinister. Demons had used Madelyne's pain at Scott's rejection of her to
manipulate her into becoming the Goblyn Queen. Madelyne planned to sacrifice Nathan to open an
interdimensional portal and to hurt Cyclops and Sinister as much as possible. X-Factor teamed up with the
X-Men to rescue Nathan, bridging the gap between the two teams. Madelyne suffered a mental breakdown upon
discovering she was a clone and killed herself.
During Inferno, X-Factor's teenage wards, along with a young paraplegic mutant named Taki Matsuya, starred
in the X-Terminators miniseries and shortly after folded into the X-Men's junior team the New Mutants.
Nathan Summers
In the last major storyline of the first X-Factor, published in early 1991, 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 to the present time
to bring Nathan 2,000 years into the future to be treated. Fully grown, he would return to the 20th Century as
the anti-hero Cable.
X-Factor II
Shortly after this, X-Factor, X-Men and several minor characters teamed-up to fight the telepathic Shadow King
in another crossover event, The Muir Island Saga. Afterwards, the original members of X-Factor rejoined the X-Men
and several minor characters from various X-Men-related series became founding members of the all-new X-Factor.
The era of the original X-Factor had lasting effects on the X-Men mythos. It introduced Apocalypse and the
Archangel version of Angel and explained the connection between Apocalypse, Cable, Cyclops, Jean Grey, Pryor,
and Sinister. All of these elements continued in future X-Men series.
For More Info see
X-Men ,
Angel ,
Archangel ,
Cyclops ,
Iceman and
Marvel-Girl
Significant Issues
X-Factor Vol. 1 #1 - Original X-Factor formed.
X-Factor Vol. 1 #37 - Inferno Saga
