The titular team is composed of five teenage runaways who've manifested paranormal psychic powers, with each person possessing a different ability. They're gathered together by Emmett Proudhawk, a rogue CIA agent who's also a paranormal telepath. Proudhawk is aware that many other psychics have recently vanished or died and fears that the teenagers will only stay alive if they learn to work together.
However, Proudhawk himself is almost immediately killed by a KGB team pursuing the final runaway he'd rescued. His death leaves rebellious telepath Wayne Tucker, who'd previously been planning to desert the group entirely, as the team's new de facto leader. Proudhawk's death also leaves them with a hawk medallion that seems to retain some of his power, allowing the teenagers to conjure up a winged, angelic psychic being - the Psi-Hawk - which contains all the powers of the people creating it.
Psi-Force was one of eight initial titles launched to introduce the New Universe, a shared world completely separate from the existing Marvel Universe, and became one of the most commercially successful, longest-running series in that setting.
The New Universe was initially billed as “the world outside your window”, a more realistic setting which was identical to the real world until a single Mass Empowering Event granted some people superpowers. All of Psi-Force gained their abilities from that "White Event", which occurred a few weeks before the first issue - although some also had faint glimmerings of psychic ability prior to that.
Later in the series the team came into conflict with other superpowered groups, such as the Medusa Web mercenaries and the Soviet paranormals of the Siberian Project. The membership of the Psi-Force team also changed several times, with characters joining, leaving or dying - however, Proudhawk's medallion generally kept the membership at five, the largest number that could safely create the Psi-Hawk.
After the New Universe was initially connected to the Marvel Universe, a version of Psi-Hawk also appeared in Quasar and Starblast, although the individual members of Psi-Force didn't appear.
An Untold Tales of the New Universe: Psi-Force one-off was also published in 2006 to mark the 20th anniversary of the New Universe.
A new version of Emmett Proudhawk briefly appeared in the newuniversal reboot of the New Universe concept, although that series was Cut Short before his storyline could progress. More recently, Al Ewing's run on The Ultimates (2015) introduced Alternate Universe versions of Emmett Proudhawk, Psi-Force villain Rodstvow and team members Kathy Ling and Tyrone Jessup into Earth-616, the 'main' Marvel universe.
Psi-Force includes the following tropes:
- Adults Are Useless: Psi-Force's mentor Emmett Proudhawk is killed in the first issue. Other adult characters in the series are either inept or evil.
- All Your Powers Combined: Psi-Hawk, a gestalt entity that can be summoned by the members of Psi-Force, possessing amplified versions of their powers.
- Badass Normal: In contrast to most of his Medusa Web colleagues, the Egyptian mercenary Potiphar isn't a paranormal. He's just a very dangerous man with a gun and some body armor. He still holds his own.
- Big Bad: Rodstvow, the immensely powerful Russian paranormal whose powers are slowly burning his body away.
- Bullying a Dragon: In the Siberian Project arc, Vladimiroff tries to scare Kathy Ling into compliance by locking her in a training room with Shivowtnoeh. After she’s dealt with Shivowtnoeh she telekinetically breaks Vladimiroff's jaw and all of his fingers.
- Comes Great Insanity: Both Rodstvow and Shivowtnoeh are driven insane by their powers.
- Compelling Voice: Wayne Tucker has something like this; it's a telepathic ability, so strictly speaking he doesn't have to talk, but there does have to be an explicit command. (And the recipient is bound by what he said, rather than what he wants; occasionally this backfires on him.)
- Continuity Nod: In one issue, some time after the destruction of Pittsburgh, Wayne and Lindsey are walking through a Canadian shopping mall while someone in the background considers the consequences. A Note from Ed. explains the context.
- Fingore: Stasi uses a makeshift tripwire to ambush the Medusa Web's Fragile Speedster, Relampago. It works, but Stasi's holding one end of the cord and the impact also severs several of her fingers. It's a Good Thing She Can Heal.
- Half the Woman She Used to Be: Rodstvow catches Gatto di Sangue with a swipe of his arm, which is wrapped in his usual energy field. It neatly sears her in half at the waist.
- Healing Hands: The paranormal ability of Anastasia Inyushin is to heal herself and others.
- Heel–Face Turn: Thomas Boyd is introduced as an antagonist but eventually joins the team.
- Hollywood Autism: Johnny Do is stated to be autistic in-story. He is nonverbal, can barely communicate, and is cared for by Thomas Boyd. However, his difficulties are attributed more to the abuse he suffered in Soviet mental institutions and the research center he was transferred to upon gaining his pyrokinetic powers due to The White Event. In fact, the way he entered Thomas Boyd's care was that Thomas Boyd learned of Johnny's presence and scheduled lobotomy and rescued him.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Kathy Ling starts off with this approach, hating her telekinetic powers.
- Intrepid Reporter: Andrew Chaser, who befriends Tyrone Jessup, and eventually writes a book about the team, Power for the Preying. He also has a memorable run-in with President Evil Philip Nolan Voigt, who threatens his elderly mother.
- Jerkass: Wayne Tucker.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Wayne Tucker uses this a lot. Usually to make people forget they saw him and his friends, but occasionally for more drastic purposes.
- Magical Native American: Emmett Proudhawk, the CIA agent who brings the members of Psi-Force together.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: As soon as Emmett Proudhawk's gathered the five teenagers together, he's killed in battle with the KGB agent Mindwolf.
- Mind over Manners: This is generally averted by Wayne Tucker, who in addition to the combat uses of his psychic powers, routinely erased the memories of both bad guys and bystanders, psychically coerced people into doing things like giving him rides wherever he needed to go, and occasionally invaded his teammates' minds without permission. (Some of these instances are understandable given that he was one of a group of runaway teenagers trying to evade a shadowy organization that apparently wanted them dead; some of them, not so much.)
- Model Scam: Kathy gets this in one issue. Fortunately, the others get there before anything worse than being tied to a chair happens to her.
- Monumental Battle: During a climactic battle, Psi-Hawk hit Rodstvow with the Washington Monument. He still lost, though. Rodstvow then walked into the National Archives and set fire to the Constitution.
- Monumental Damage: Rodstvow burns the Constitution, just to make a point.
- Playing with Fire: Johnny Do is a pyrokinetic. From what we see of his abilities, he's powerful enough to melt projectiles and almost instantly incinerate a normal human.
- Psychic Powers: All the major characters had them.
- Psychometry: Lindsay Falmon can perceive a person's bioelectric residue on things they've handled, and receive images and perceptions of what the person is doing or has done while handling the object.
- Self-Made Orphan: Sedara Bakut kills her father when he betrays the Afghan resistance to the Soviets.
- Suddenly Significant City: After the battle between Psi-Hawk and Rodstvow trashes Washington, D.C., Denver becomes the American capital.
- Synchronization: Destroying the Psi-Hawk has a very significant effect on the paranormals who are summoning and powering it, as the team find out the hard way when it clashes with Rodstvow.
- Thinking Up Portals: Sedara Bakut can create door-like portals in space.
