They’ve got the X Factor.
"No, Wise Guy's my genius brother. I'm Strong Guy. "
X-Factor launched in 1986, featuring the five original X-Men reorganizing as a group in response to the seeming outlaw status of the then-current X-Men team of whom Magneto was a member. In 1991, the original Five-Man Band were incorporated back into the regular X-Men series, and X-Factor relaunched as a U.S. government-sponsored team incorporating many secondary characters from the X-Men.
Marvel hired writer Peter David and illustrator Larry Stroman to recreate X-Factor with new members, all of whom were already allies of the X-Men, and three of whom were involved in The Muir Island Saga. The new X-Factor worked for The Pentagon, replacing the Freedom Force as the government's salaried mutant team. The new X-Factor, debuting in issue #71, consisted of:
- Valerie Cooper: A U.S. government agent with history as both ally and adversary of the X-Men who becomes X-Factor's government liaison.
- Alexander "Alex" Summers/Havok: Havok is the son of Corsair and younger brother of Marvel Comics: Cyclops. He can manipulate powerful, but hard to control, cosmic rays. Havok serves as X-Factor's field leader.
- James “Jamie” Madrox/Multiple Man: The Multiple Man was initially an adversary to the Fantastic Four. Once defeated, Reed Richards figured out he was a mutant and sent him to Charles Xavier. He can create duplicates of himself on physical impact.
- Lorna Dane/Polaris: Polaris is the second daughter of Magneto and thus the half-sister of Quicksilver. She is also Havok’s frequent on-and-off again girlfriend. She can who can control magnetism.
- Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver: Quicksliver is the son of Magneto making him the brother of the Scarlet Witch and the half-brother of the aforementioned Polaris. He possesses Super-Speed and a notoriously difficult temperament.
- Guido Carosella/Strong Guy: Strong Guy posses Super-Strength by way of absorbing kinetic energy. Unfortunately, he was hit by a runaway bus and survived only by triggering his mutant power, which left him permanently deformed, in perpetual pain.
- Rahne Sinclair/Wolfsbane: A Scottish, graduated New Mutant who can transform from a human to a werewolf form and a hybrid state.
X-Factor (1991) contains examples of:
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Peter David's run
- Ascended Extra: Multiple Man and especially Strong Guy, who had little personality and neither a codename nor a last name before joining.
- Bat Family Crossover: Inferno (1988) and X-Tinction Agenda involved X-Factor, the X-Men and the New Mutants. The Muir Island Saga led directly to the major lineup changes. Often lampshaded during the government era, as the new cast usually doesn't fit in with the X-Men's tendencies toward a Darker and Edgier tone and a fine helping of
Wangst. Doc Samson comments that they're "refreshingly normal" for a mutant team, and Strong Guy's wisecracking during the otherwise grim X-Cutioner's Song crossover leads Havok to say, "Stop it, you're embarrassing me." During the Phalanx Covenant crossover, Strong Guy comments on how he hasn't even met most of the roster of the other X-Books. - Brush-Off Walk-Off: After Dr. Valerie Cooper was manipulated by the Acolytes into trying to destroy X-Factor, the team learns of her involvement with Project Wideawake, a government project to develop Sentinels, which Valerie tries to defend as a last resort, in the event that X-Factor fails. She protests to the team that she never intended for it to be used against them, as they are her friends. Quicksilver spurns her apology as the team walks off.Quicksilver: "Some of my best friends are mutants." Oh, Valerie, how very typical — of a Flat Scan.
- Catchphrase: Strong Guy's made-up insult, "blork", his politically correct term for mutants "geecees" (short for "genetically challenged"), frequently threatening "I'll defenestrate 'em" when a villain does something offensive and several instances where someone responds to "nobody move!" with "mind if I scratch my nose?".
- Cross Through: One story has the team getting into a tussle with the Hulk and the Pantheon simply because Hulk was also being written by Peter David at the time.
- Custom Uniform: The government team shared a common color scheme, with individual variations: Madrox's full cowl and Badass Longcoat. Havok's leather jacket and headgear, Strong Guy's coke-bottle glasses, etc. Quicksilver stuck out because he kept his traditional light-blue with silver lightning outfit. It fits his aloof and arrogant demeanor, but also shows his grudging acceptance of membership in the group of True Companions that develops. Although when it's noted that the uniform is optional, Strong Guy says he wished somebody had told him that before he got one.
- Deadly Rotary Fan: Rick Chalker attempts to use rotors grafted in place of his hands as weapons, extremely incompetently.
- Deadpan Snarker: ''Everyone'' on the initial government lineup cracks wise, and three characters served as Designated Joker: Madrox, Strong Guy and Quicksilver. When their government liaison is unexpectedly teleported in, Strong Guy quips, "oh, good, the comic relief is here."
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Guido doesn't tell the others about the constant agony his powers put him in because he doesn't want them feeling sorry for him.
- Epiphany Therapy: An issue has the team engaging in therapy with Doc Samson (the universe's resident superhero psychiatrist). It helps some of them a little, and makes no difference to others. Then much of the original team goes back to him... and it's noted by Samson that they're significantly more messed up.
- Fun Personified: Madrox got a little more serious after discovering his duplicates are alive, and Strong Guy got a little Darker and Edgier after revealing a Dark and Troubled Past and suffering a massive heart attack, but both of them actually cope with their pain through humor.
- Joke Character: Would-be supervillain Vic Chalker designed a suit of battle armor to do away with mutants but ran into several issues. He died when some exposed wiring on his armor was struck by rain. His brother Rick Chalker tried to avenge him, calling himself the Number One Fan, but killed himself in attempting to quit his impenetrable house after having removed his hands for blades. His other brother, the mutant Dick Chalker/Carnivore swore to avenge him and "his cousin Mick" (presumably Rick), only to be hit by a car soon after.
- Mundane Utility:
- Jamie constantly uses his dupes like this, sending them out to learn and explore the world, creating them on the other side of locked doors, playing duets on piano (pity the only song he knows is "Chopsticks") and doing super-babysitting.
- Quicksilver is shown reading books at super-speed.
- Subverted when everyone takes a crack at prying a stubborn lid off a jar of mayo, but even Polaris's magnetic powers and Havok's plasma blasts are useless.
- Nerves of Steel: In the first issue, Val is about to have a girder fall on her but doesn't budge. Alex blasts it and asks her why she didn't move. She responds that this was her way of confirming that Alex was a hero at heart and not cut out for civilian life.
- Punch-Clock Villain: Random, a bounty hunter, is wreaking havoc in downtown Washington, D.C. because he's chasing a bounty. X-Factor arrives and defeats him, by paying him *more* than the bounty was worth.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Nasty Boys, Mr. Sinister's new goon squad. They didn't last long before being replaced with the Marauders, their predecessors, though the animated series gives them some screentime.
- Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Due to complicated reasons, Wolfsbane has to stay in semi-wolf form, lest she become a mindless, brainwashed zombie. Of course, this comes with the problem of being part-wolf.
- Shoot the Shaggy Dog: The three Chalker brothers' individual attempts to avenge each other's deaths as well as their combined vendetta once they were resurrected by a demon.
- Shout-Out: The government era team was written by Peter David in the early nineties; an abundance of pop cultural references were inevitable.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Valerie Cooper, X-Factor's human government liaison, is buried in a ton of paperwork. Baldrick, her assistant says to deal with the paperwork, "I have a cunning plan." After Valerie goes on about how Baldrick wouldn't know a cunning plan if it bit him in the arse says, "You don't suppose they'd know it if we burned it all." Baldrick admits this was his cunning plan.
- "You ask me, I blame society."
After Peter David left, the title bounced between writers, finally settling on Howard Mackie, who would write the title for the remainder of its run. The series was eventually cancelled in 1998.
Howard Mackie's run in the title contains examples of:
Howard Mackie's run
- Assassination Attempt: Graydon Creed is killed in issue #130. Mystique and Pyro were pointed as the major suspects, but the mystery remains unsolved until the 2001 mini-series X-Men Forever. The mind of a time-travelling Mystique took over her past self and set a time-sensitive weapon to shoot at Graydon.
- Character Death: Some instances:
- During the Adversary arc (pre-Onslaught), the Adversary casts a spell that kills Mystique, Polaris and WildChild. They get better.
- In issue #130, Graydon Creed, introduced years earlier as the only non-mutant member of the Upstarts, is killed in a political assassination.
- In the final issue, Havok breaks into Greystone's plane he reconfigured to act as a time-travel reactor, and both explode mid-flight.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: During Mackie's run, Mystique developed some concern for a young boy named Trevor Chase, supposedly a grandson of her (at the time) deceased lover and partner Destiny.
- Face–Heel Turn: A storyline in 1995-1996 has Random, on Dark Beast's orders, capture Havok so Dark Beast can brainwash him. One of the more villainous things Havok does during this time is trying to kill Polaris and his brother Cyclops.
- Faking the Dead: Post-Graydon Creed's death, anti-mutant sentiment goes to new heights, and Forge decides to keep X-Factor "underground" and out of the American government's sights.
- Heel–Face Turn: Havok allies himself with Dark Beast and founds a new Brotherhood. However, this was part of his plan: stay closer to the mad scientist and break his operation from within.
- Government Conspiracy: Mackie's run in the title dealt with shady government business, including future Big Bad Bastion (from "Operation Zero Tolerance")'s interest in the mutant issue, and his involvement in Graydon Creed's presidential campaign.
- The Magic Versus Technology War: The point of Forge's character development during the Adversary arc: Nazé, Forge's spiritual mentor, suggests the man is relying too much on his technological inventions, when he should accept both sides of his being, his ability to tinker with technology and his spiritual heritage.
- Poorly Disguised Pilot: The last issue of the title served to propel Havok to his own title, Mutant X.
- Reality Warper: Trevor Chase is introduced running from some bullies and tries to warp reality around himself to escape. Later, he supposedly uses his powers to teleport to Valerie Cooper's boss's house and pin the blame on him for his later kidnapping, although Cooper's boss denies having done so.
- Token Evil Teammate: During his run, longtime villains Mystique and Sabretooth were added to the team. In Sabretooth's case, this backfires on them badly.
- We ARE Struggling Together: After Sabretooth's rebellion against the team, X-Factor practically disbands. In the last 10 issues, Havok has plans to recreate the team with people he has available: his ex Polaris, Shard, and three time-travelling mutants from Shard and Bishop's timeline, whom Shard wants nothing to do with.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Several characters introduced during Mackie's run have never reappeared in the X-books since this run. Some examples:
- Trevor Chase, hinted to be a grandson of Destiny, is kidnapped by an agent of the American government's Hound program, and hasn't been seen since.
- The three time-travelling mutants from Bishop and Shard's timeline, Fixx, Archer and Greystone, introduced in 1998, haven't appeared since the end of the book.
- Would Hurt a Child: It is hinted that Graydon Creed (then a presidential candidate) ordered his anti-mutant group, the Friends of Humanity, to attack young Trevor Chase to hurt Mystique (who is Graydon's mother). Later, after Sabretooth almost kills his teammates, Sabretooth pays a visit to Trevor and his family intent on killing them to further hurt her.
