Past, Present, & Future: X-Force Appreciation

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

X-Force #22 May 1993
"Ordnance Weighed in Blood"
Earth Orbit
Graymalkin begins to split apart and burn up on reentry into Earth's atmosphere. A larger piece flies past the SHIELD shuttle that is orbiting nearby.
On the shuttle, the SHIELD salvage team along with X-Force and Lila Cheney return from a quick, unexpected jaunt across the universe and have just arrived.
Bridge immediately grabs his weapon and tells X-Force to surrender. Lila scoffs and tells him good luck and then teleports X-Force off the shuttle.
Nearby, a piece of Graymalkin hits the atmosphere and contains both Sunspot and Cannonball.
They were teleported off Graymalkin into the escape pod by Professor.
He tells them that as soon as they hit the ground, he will no longer be able to guide them.
They reenter the atmosphere and wings pop out of the pod. They safely begin to glide to Earth.

Oregon Coastline
Boomer, Warpath and Siryn each are secured to a rock cliff near the ocean's water. The water splashes into their fatigued bodies.
The person that captured them stands on the rocks and tells them that he is Saul, an External and that he and Gideon have captured them to watch them die.

Camp Verde
X-Force teleports into the camp.

They begin looking for Boomer, Warpath and Siryn, but to no avail.
Suddenly, they see a ship entering the atmosphere in flames.
They arrive at its landing only to find that inside both Cannonball and Sunspot are alive.
Sam immediately tells them that he has to save Professor as he is already beginning to lose power and shutoff. He tries, but fails and Professor is lost to him.
Then, the other portions of Graymalkin that they safely jettisoned and sent to Camp Verde begin to fall from the sky.

Department K Bunker
Domino and Grizzly pose as both Val Cooper and General Clarke. They get past the Department K security easily and enter the operations maintenance room.
They break in just as their holographic image inducers fail and they quickly get on the computer.
They begin to download all the info that Department K has on Cable and they are forced to just download all the information to look at it remotely.
They are then confronted by Weapon: P.R.I.M.E..

Boston
Tina and Vanessa are hitting the town as "twins". They stop in front of a jewelry store and Vanessa plots to steal the jewels.
Deadpool uses this moment to attack and misses. The couple then head off down the street. Just then, a shot rings out and blows a giant hole in Tina's stomach.
The shooter is Sluggo and Deadpool arrives only to tell him that he better have gotten the right one or he's dead.

Camp Verde
The team examines all the new equipment that they have salvaged from Graymalkin.

Lila looks for Sam before she leaves and finds him on the hillside. He is thinking about how Cable only left them so little though he took so much.

She tells him that's all they asked for and she teleports away.
Then, a message is heard on their communications array that Saul and Gideon are holding their teammates prisoners and demand that Cannonball give himself to them or their friends die.

Script by Fabian Nicieza, pencils by Greg Capullo, inks by Kevin Conrad and Harry Candelario.

[darewithpeace]

cool team right

[Izanami]

We need another X-Force series. Like, right now.
Have Gail Simone write it. Give it a cast of Cable, Domino, Hope, Deadpool, Psylocke, Wolverine, And Archangel. It’d be perfect.

I would love it! Besides if there is someone who needs to show the humanity, love, and flaws of these characters, it would be Gail.
Just getting some secret six shivers right now. And that is a good thing.

[Izanami]

cool team right

I have nostaligia for the road trip era with the new mutants.

[King_Thor13]

I'm still waiting on the cancellation of Weapon X so that we can have a proper X-Force again.

Cable, Domino & Deadpool would certainly draw in the readers.
I'd add Shatterstar, who also got a popularity boost after DP2, and has an upcoming solo.
Daken, assuming he makes it out of Claws of a Killer because I think X-Force needs a Wolverine and his interactions with the others would be really interesting.
Adam X and Boom Boom, for maximum explosiveness and 90s wickedness. And a ton of cursing.
Danger and/or Frenzy for some firepower
Hope Summers, Outlaw and/or Doctor Nemesis in supporting roles.

That'd be an instant buy for me.

[Factor]

If there needs to be a Wolverine on the team, I'd also choose Daken, but I honestly don't think the team needs one. Deadpool would be enough.
I'd like the team to either be super classic (Cable, Deadpool, Domino, Shatterstar, Boom Boom, Syrin and Warpath) or for it to have some new or less frequent faces like Magik, Colossus and Sunfire.
Sunfire would be a cool new addition and I think X-force would be a nice regular role for him.
In both situations, I wouldn't want this to be a kill squad. The team's main purpose would be to fight for mutantkind's survival (whereas X-men fight for the dream) and that would lead them to be seen as terrorists but their main purpose wouldn't be to eliminate targets.

[King_Thor13]

Not sure if it made the forums yet, but X-Force is coming to Marvel Future Fight, and the first announced characters are Deadpool, Domino and Fantomex.

If there needs to be a Wolverine on the team, I'd also choose Daken, but I honestly don't think the team needs one. Deadpool would be enough.
I'd like the team to either be super classic (Cable, Deadpool, Domino, Shatterstar, Boom Boom, Siryn and Warpath) or for it to have some new or less frequent faces like Magik, Colossus and Sunfire.
Sunfire would be a cool new addition and I think X-force would be a nice regular role for him.
In both situations, I wouldn't want this to be a kill squad. The team's main purpose would be to fight for mutantkind's survival (whereas X-men fight for the dream) and that would lead them to be seen as terrorists but their main purpose wouldn't be to eliminate targets.

I think Daken on an X-Force line-up would be really interesting. I'd love to see him taking orders from Cable. It'd be interesting seeing how he'd flirt with Shatterstar or Domino too xD
I only suggested Deadpool for the team because I know it'll draw readers. I'm kinda tired of Wade myself

The classic team has a pretty solid line-up so that'd be a good direction to take it. It'd require some reconfiguring of rosters in other titles, as Boom-Boom, Warpath and Domino are taken right now. I do think at least one new member would be needed to freshen up the title. Frenzy, Danger or Spiral would be interesting, and they're quite strong personalities, so seeing them among the others would surely result in conflict.

I want Sunfire on Astonishing, Uncanny or Red. Putting Shiro on a strike team, if not a kill squad, still seems a little OOC as he values his honor.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

X-Force #23 Jun 1993
"Compromising Positions"
St. Anthony's Hospital, Portland
X-Force gathers at the rear entrance to the hospital. They sneak inside and are looking for a certain individual.
Feral sniffs him out and it is a person in a full body cast. They carry him outside and load him on their IPAC unit.
After ripping off his facial bandages and revealing it as Crule, they bargain with him that they promise to take care of the Externals for information on where Gideon is located.

Camp Verde
Cannonball makes a late night call to Professor X. He is trying to get information on the Externals.
Professor X only knows of them as superstition. Cannonball tells him that they are real and they kidnapped some of the team.
He is asking Xavier if he should break his promise he made to not attack Gideon -- to save his friends.
Xavier tells him that that is a choice he will have to make and that depending on his decision, Xavier will help him if Cannonball asks for him to.

Department K Bunker
Domino and Grizzly fight off Weapon: P.R.I.M.E.. They call Hammer to try to assist from his RV that is sitting outside the bunker.
He tells them that there is an air conditioning vent topside and it should lead them out of the complex.
They head upstairs through the floor and learn that the vent is really a sewage tunnel. After treading through the sewer,
they arrive outside the RV. They jump inside and then speed off. Weapon: P.R.I.M.E. vows to hunt them down.

Saul's Oregon Home
Saul and Gideon discuss the legacy of the Externals.

They are concerned what will become of them now that Nicodemus died unexpectedly and was believed to be an immortal External.

They pride themselves on their plan to use some of the X-Force members to bait Sam into coming to them.

Meanwhile, the other X-Force members fly toward Oregon to confront Saul and Gideon.
They plan their attack and Crule and Shatterstar agree that they should come in fast and hard through the front door.
After debating, they decide to do just that and land their ship. They pile into their assault tank and use it to crash through the front doors as planned.
They knock Gideon and Saul off their feet by the attack and X-Force quickly surround them.

Norwell, Massachusetts
Vanessa quickly packs her bags with as much stuff as she can. Then, Deadpool and Sluggo arrive and threaten her.
She begs Deadpool not to kill her and he says that he has to have a talk with her before he kills her.
Suddenly, both Sluggo and Deadpool are blasted and Domino enters along with Grizzly and Hammer.
Domino asks why she should not kill Vanessa for stealing her identity for the past year. Vanessa tells her that she knows where X-Force is located.

Saul's Oregon Home
X-Force saves their teammates from Gideon and Saul. After making sure they are all right,
Sunspot tells their captors that they have been beaten and they should leave them alone.
Gideon is amazed that Cannonball broke his promise. Sunspot then gives him a letter from Sam telling Gideon
that he did not break his promise because he did not personally get in the External's matters, the rest of X-Force did.

Saul then pleads that Sam is the External's last hope for salvation from the possible death of the Externals.
Saul is reassured that if the Externals mess with X-Force again, that their fate will be sealed.

Script by Fabian Nicieza, pencils by Greg Capullo, inks by Harry Candelario

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

X-Force #24 Jul 1993
"Prisoners of Fate"
Route 206, New Jersey
A woman jumps out in front of a transport manned by government Vault personnel and asks for their help.
They slam on their brakes and ask her how they can assist.
She responds by blasting an electromagnetic pulse scrambler that screws up the guards' armor.

Then a group of men begin blasting the transport and attempt to break into it.
They take out the rest of the guards and find both Rusty and Skids inside.

The group announces themselves as members of the Friends of Humanity and capture them to make them pay for their crimes against humanity.

Camp Verde
X-Force, fresh from their fight with Gideon and Saul, touches down in the camp and is greeted by Cannonball.
He immediately tells them to clean up and suit up to ship out again.
He tells them they are to rescue Rusty and Skids and that the command came from Xavier himself.
He then asks what happened to Crule and the group tells him that they dropped him in the Pacific Ocean.

X-Mansion
Professor X speaks to Val Cooper, via a video conference.
She chides him for his lack of responsibility in letting X-Force go from the mansion when they were requested to be held.
He tells her there are more pressing matters, such as the new developments by the Friends of Humanity and their kidnapping of Rusty and Skids.
She tells him that X-Factor assistance is out of the question and that she already has a mole in the group.
He tells her that X-Force seems to be their only hope.

Norwell, Massachusetts
Domino, Grizzly and Hammer question Vanessa about where X-Force is located.
Domino continues to be upset that Vanessa is helping them at all since she destroyed
Domino's life for more than a year while Tolliver held her prisoner and Vanessa posed as her.
She grabs a gun and shoots Sluggo and Deadpool in the back again and then they all head off to find X-Force.

Earth Orbit
A shadowed being raises his hand and magnetic fields stream from his fingers.
He continues to do this until finally there is a giant explosion and then suddenly a portion of Graymalkin appears from nowhere.
He smiles slyly as he has found his new home in space.

X-Force IPAC Unit
X-Force flies to Plum Island to rescue Rusty and Skids.
They watch news reports on the way there featuring Trish Tilby's take on the recent actions of the Friends of Humanity.
They soon arrive at their destination and head out.
They come across the safehouse for the FOH group.
The team splits in two to make a reconnaissance of the house.
They then break in and easily take out the FOH guards and rescue Rusty and Skids, almost without a fight.

The team learns that Rusty and Skids were definitely brainwashed by Stryfe as they
argue their own rescue and state that Stryfe will return and cleanse the world in fire.
Cannonball finds an FOH pamphlet and learns that the group is worse than he thought.
They then leave with their rescued friends on board.

Script by Fabian Nicieza http://www.comicsreporter.com/index....abian_nicieza/,
pencils by Greg Capullo, inks by Richard Bennett