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The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants has consisted of numerous villain groups using the same name (or a variation thereof; the "evil" part is now considered passé, and is left out of the current version's name. However, it should be noted that the "evil" was simply their sarcastic play on the public's perception of mutants in general, a neat twist which Marvel has clearly forgotten). The original organization, led by Magneto, is the oldest villain group in the X-books, and underwent many roster changes throughout its history. Eventually, Magneto gave up working with groups, and the name fell into disuse until Mystique borrowed it for her team.
Mystique's group consisted of herself, Destiny, their daughter Rogue, Pyro, Avalanche, and Blob---the latter three probably originally recruited simply to fill out their ranks and for some heavy firepower. Blob was the last to join, for he was sought out just before their first big mission, but he was probably a natural for the group, since he'd already worked in two incarnations of Magneto's teams (he also went on to be a part of several later BoEMs, including leading the most modern version, which is currently active). He wasn't entirely keen on Mystique's concept at first, but he too grew to be a loyal member of the team after a rocky start and early conflicts with Pyro and Avalanche.
Some of the Brotherhood's earliest activities included liberating a captured mutant boy and some battling with Ms Marvel, but their most famous outing came in what was actually their first published appearance, the Days of Future Past story (UXM 141-142). There they (minus Rogue) attempted to assassinate Senator Kelly, and fought the intervening X-Men; all but Mystique were captured and sent to prison. They were next seen in Avengers annual 10, when Mystique and Rogue tried to free their comrades from jail; the attempt failed, but another jailbreak in Rom 31 liberated Destiny. With the men still in prison, the "Sisterhood" went on to tussle with Rom, Hybrid, Angel, Dazzler, and Carol Danvers and the X-Men until Rogue's problems with her powers and her absorption of Ms Marvel became too much for her, and she went to the X-Men for help (UXM 171). Mystique believed Charles Xavier had coerced her into leaving, so she sent her team (the men having escaped jail behind the scenes at some point) to fight the X-Men while she retrieved her daughter, who refused her (UXM 177-178). Colossus had been badly hurt by Pyro and Avalanche, so it was up to Rogue to prove herself by helping to save him, which she did, and was slowly accepted as a member of her new team. Meanwhile, the Brotherhood was mostly inactive for some time after this, until Mystique decided that life was becoming too dangerous for mutants, and approached Valerie Cooper with the offer to make her team into Freedom Force (UXM 199). With new member Spiral, the former Brotherhood was sent to arrest Magneto, and embarked on a "new career as heroes".
It should be remembered that Freedom Force is not the same organization as the Brotherhood. The former BoEM did comprise the core of FF, but only made up half the new team's total membership. Spider-Woman, Crimson Commando, Super Sabre, and Stonewall all considered themselves heroes and most certainly would not think of themselves as villains or like the Brotherhood; in fact, there was occasionally tension on the team because the new members of FF believed themselves to be morally superior to the former BoEM. At the same time, the group had new goals and a new government mandate, and a few members of the former BoEM were even interested in doing good deeds. And, of course, Spiral and Spider-Woman are not mutants :) So while it is true that Freedom Force sprang out of the Brotherhood, the two organizations are by no means the same.
The Age of Apocalypse was a short storyline which ran through the Xbooks in 1995. It featured a harsh world run by (you guessed it) Apocalypse, in which only the strong were fit to survive and certain powerful mutants ruled, and had counterparts to many of the characters found in the regular X-universe. Many of these were often darker and nastier versions of the ones we're familiar with, but for some odd reason, the characters we know from the BoEM were not! Blob (appeared in X-Men Alpha), Pyro and Avalanche (both in Factor X #1) were all prisoners in the pens, victim mutants not considered worthy enough to be free, and subjected to torturous experiments by the Dark Beast. Interestingly, this left Pyro with the ability to generate his own flames, unlike the version in the regular Marvel universe, though it painfully burned him to do so. All three were killed by Cyclops and Havok, each appearing briefly in only one issue.
Mystique and Destiny played a greater role in the storyline. Ordered by Magneto to find Destiny, Nightcrawler seeks out Mystique---essentially a pirate---to help him in his search (as seen in X-Calibre 1-4). Here mother and son have a much closer relationship and work well together despite a few conflicts, and they go to the sanctuary of Avalon to find Destiny. She is the founder of the refuge, and has a Charles Xavier-like dream of mutants and humans peacefully co-existing, although she and her comrades live happily removed from the reality of the rest of Apocalypse's world. The X-Calibre team, consisting of the Darkholmes and two recruits, has a run-in with Apocalypse's agents, but eventually triumphs after much destruction and carnage in the paradise. And though Destiny suffers the terrible loss of her adopted son Doug Ramsey, she returns with them to help Magneto.
Mystique also appeared in X-Men Chronicles (which took place in the past, where she's shown bringing a young Rogue to Magneto), and Destiny plays a vital role in X-Men Omega, the final story in the series, when she sends Illyana and Bishop through the rift to fix reality. It was in that issue that their world was destroyed by a nuclear strike, and everyone killed.
Neither Freedom Force nor the BoEM appeared in AoA, past nor present. There was, however, a cute little joke when Avalanche (escaping from the pens with Pyro, Phantazia, and analogues for Toad and Callisto) accuses Apocalypse's minions: "Vampires! You talk about the brotherhood of mutants..."
Well, it was a cute bit of humour in an otherwise bummer of a scene.
Although often used as villains (or morally ambiguous), Freedom Force did occasionally get a chance to appear as heroes. At times they also worked alongside various Marvel heroes; this didn't always thrill them or the other heroes in question, but both sides could recognize when partnerships were necessary, and act accordingly.
Freedom Force's most well-known (and heroic) partnership was with the X-Men (UXM 225-227), despite previous conflicts with them as both FF and the old Brotherhood team. FF went to Dallas to save the X-Men's lives after Destiny foresaw their deaths, and chose to rescue them by arresting them and thus preventing them from meeting their fate. The X-Men didn't want or appreciate the assistance, and resented the previous enmity between the two teams, so FF decided to subdue them, resulting in a few scuffles. However, when the Adversary began to warp reality---threatening the lives of everyone in the city---the two groups joined forces to rescue the civilians. Both teams equally pulled their own weight, and actually acted friendly towards one another; and several members of FF even saved the endangered lives of some X-Men. In the end, the X-Men went alone into the building that was to be the site of their deaths, despite Mystique's warnings and insistence that her team go too; Wolverine had pointed out that FF had to remain behind to protect the civilians. The X-Men then sacrificed their lives to stop the Adversary while Freedom Force sorrowfully looked on, unable to help. Had the two teams met up again, they might well have continued their friendly alliance, but the X-Men went into hiding and FF had been disbanded by the time they officially returned.
Some of FF's allies were people they didn't like, and who disliked them right back. John Walker became the replacement Captain America, and as a fellow enhanced-powers government employee, often encountered FF in work or casual situations. He (and his partner Battle Star) and the young men of FF seemed to form an instant dislike of each other, but they still trained and worked together when assigned to do so by their mutual bosses. When Walker got into trouble after killing some enemies who'd killed his parents, he was put on probation and asked to back up FF on some of their missions, including the one involving the Resistants (CA 346).
Firestar was another opponent who became a reluctant ally, at least temporarily (Marvel Comics Presents 82-87). FF had been trying to register her as a mutant and persuading her to join them (an odd mix), though some of them had an unexplained dislike of her, and Spiral severely wounded her father. But she and they had a mutual foe (who had kidnapped Mystique, with Firestar's help), and both ended up battling them. Mystique had some sympathy for the girl's plight, and helped her disappear so that the other hostile members of FF would leave her alone. Unfortunately, many of them---except for Mystique---acted rather out of character and one-dimensional in that story.
Mystique held Forge responsible for the death of Rogue in UXM 227, so when Val Cooper assigned FF to help him rescue his friends on Muir Island from the Reavers, Raven was not happy (UXM 254-255). The rest of the team seemed to hold no grudge against him, but Mystique did not like having to work with him, and was terse whenever he got in her way. She ordered him to guard Destiny, away from the battle, but Irene sent him away before Legion could kill him. Forge arrived back at the fight just in time to save Pyro and Mystique from being killed, although he was too late to help Stonewall---and Legion killed Destiny after Forge left her, for which he was blamed by a grief-stricken Mystique.
When there was a mass escape at the Vault (Avengers: Deathtrap: the Vault), the government called in the Avengers and Freedom Force to subdue the prisoners. The Avengers weren't pleased, having had a run-in with FF once before, and Blob felt some sympathy for the prisoners, but both teams were nonetheless determined to get the job done. Since FF arrived first, they went into the prison alone, but were captured before the Avengers could reach and help them, and the escapees forced them to set a trap for the other heroes. Several members of FF appeared to help without too much discomfort, while others (notably Commando and Super Sabre) were very displeased with the idea, and there was some bickering. The Avengers eluded the trap and freed FF; finally together, the two groups joined up to end a bomb crisis and subdue the hordes of prisoners, which they managed to accomplish with teamwork.
As the American government's official "enhanced powers strike team", Freedom Force was naturally often right in the middle of conflicts with a variety of foes. Some of their enemies were definite villains, and others were heroes---which isn't surprising, given that some writers used FF as villainous opponents for their own teams. Also not surprisingly, many heroes distrusted the team, often claiming that they were nothing more than a renamed Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (an inaccurate belief, but that's for another discussion), and some heroes were amazed when FF actually did good deeds.
The team's first mission was to arrest Magneto for the government (UXM 199), a task which brought them into conflict with the Brotherhood's old enemies, the X-Men. Magneto was friendly with the X-Men at the time, and they didn't believe that FF was government-sponsored, so they attacked with great enthusiasm, resulting in most of FF being beaten and incapacitated. It was perhaps because of this that FF's next outing was against the X-Men (UXM 206). Without warrants or approval from the team's command structure, some members attacked and actually beat them, though the lack of a warrant proved to be their undoing and they were forced by the police to leave them behind. This story is atypical of the team, though, because Mystique and Destiny weren't present, and Pyro was leading them rather reluctantly. It's clear that this wasn't an official mission---because Mystique hadn't authorized it, and Pyro (second-in-command at the time) didn't like it---it was just several junior members causing mischief, though they obviously had orders from the government to bring in the X-Men due to their status as outlaws. This is further reinforced in UXM 226 when a reporter questions Mystique about why FF is working with the X-Men, because one of their standing orders is to arrest the outlaws. But FF and the X-Men became allies after putting aside their differences in order to help the people of Dallas, and the X-Men 'died' during that story, so the two groups had no further team-ups or conflicts after that.
X-Factor was another hero group with which Freedom Force conflicted regularly. The first time (X-Factor 8-9) was during X-Factor's masquerade as for-profit mutant hunters---something which FF didn't like. They'd been ordered to arrest Rusty Collins for his various crimes, and knew that he was connected with X-Factor, so there was a confrontation when the two teams met up in the park. Eventually FF lost interest and simply went after Rusty, but the animosity had already been created; X-Factor only reluctantly helped FF when they were attacked by an anti-mutant mob, and they later had another conflict in the sewers. FF lost the second battle and was reprimanded for this by Val Cooper, so they struck back by leaking information about Angel's involvement with the 'mutant hunters'. This caused all sorts of PR problems for X-Factor, and pretty much sealed the enmity between the two groups. They clashed again when Cyclops and Marvel Girl sought out FF for information (X-Factor 30-31), verbally sparred at another meeting (X-Factor 33), and were involved in some tense relations when FF arrested Rusty and Skids again (New Mutants 86-89). While in one issue FF was fairly friendly with their opposing team, the two groups were largely hostile to each other, and X-Factor can arguably be considered FF's greatest nemesis (the other contender would be the New Mutants, which isn't surprising because Louise Simonson wrote both the X-Factor and New Mutants books!).
The New Mutants were, of course, the other recurring FF foe. Their first meeting was actually more of a misunderstanding than a real fight; Magik went to Dallas to kill Forge for the death of her brother, and FF was protecting him (NM 65). The other New Mutants came along for the ride and decided to join in the battle, and fought the government team until defeated. Destiny then showed them a vision of the upcoming Inferno, warning Magik of the consequences of her activities, but the two teams parted ways when Illyana found Forge and chased after him. After this, the two groups generally fought over FF's near-obsession with arresting Rusty and Skids, which created a great deal of bad blood between them (NM 78, 80, 82, 86-89). Incidentally, the New Mutants' first meeting with Cable came when they saw him fighting Pyro and Blob, and intervened (NM 89).
Daredevil was another hero with whom Freedom Force came into conflict; however, he only met them once (DD 269), and encountered only Pyro and Blob. The two of them had been sent to register a mutant girl in a small town, and Daredevil decided to get involved because he believed it to be a violation of mutants' civil rights. It's not exactly clear why he intervened in the manner that he did (fighting the government agents), since he wasn't exactly making a formal or legal protest, merely circumventing the law, but thus is the nature of superhero comics. His battle with FF is notable because it was actually due to philosophical differences with them, not circumstance or misunderstandings as was the case with most of their other foes.
The Arms of Salvation was a covertly operating illegal organ-harvesting organization. They kidnapped 'compatible' people and stole their organs (for resale on the black market). Freedom Force got involved with them completely by accident (MCP 82-87); the AoS made a deal with Firestar to bring in Mystique (ostensibly for tissue samples, but in reality for her metamorphic body and organs) after Spiral nearly killed Angelica's father and he had need of a new lung. Firestar successfully brought in Mystique, and the rest of FF tracked her to their headquarters in an effort to rescue their leader. This was good luck for Firestar, as her 'allies' turned on her and nearly killed her; they were distracted by the arrival of FF, although they were furious that she'd led the government group right to them. Firestar, Spiral, and Mystique ended up battling the leaders of the organization, and defeated them---freeing the surviving kidnapped civilians.
Conflicts with Foes, Part II
The Reavers were a group of criminal cyborgs who gave the X-Men a hard time every now and then. At one point, they consisted of Donald Pierce, Lady Deathstrike (coincidentally made into a cyborg by Spiral some time earlier), some Hellfire Club guards who had been injured after an attack by Wolverine, and some inveterate thieves. When they showed up at Muir Island and began killing and capturing the inhabitants (including some friends of the X-Men), Forge asked that Freedom Force be brought in to stop them. Mystique was strongly opposed, since she still blamed him for the 'death' of Rogue, but Val Cooper dismissed her objections and sent part of the team to Muir (several others were on another unspecified assignment). The mission started well enough, but quickly degenerated into a fiasco when most of the team was nearly killed in a plane crash, and then found themselves oddly ineffective against the Reavers and Lady Deathstrike. Blob was taken out of the fight, Avalanche severely wounded, Stonewall was killed, and Destiny was killed by Legion (who was influenced by the Shadow King at the time). Pyro and Mystique were about to be shot dead, but were saved by the last-minute intervention of Forge, who had returned to the battle at Destiny's urging because she knew that Mystique needed her help and that Forge would also be slain by Legion if he stayed. Forge was able to kill one Reaver, and the others panicked and teleported away, leaving the surviving members of FF and Muir residents to pick up the pieces. Mystique was now particularly angry at Forge, as she blamed him for the death of Destiny in addition to Rogue's. This battle was a turning point in the team's history, and began their downward slide; not only were two members killed (and one severely injured), but there's little doubt that this had a negative result on morale and effectiveness. They nearly broke up behind the scenes after this mission, although Mystique was able to bring them back together after taking some time off to grieve for Destiny.
Capturing the Hulk was a fairly routine mission for the team, albeit a difficult and poorly organized one. It was hampered by the chaos left in the wake of the Reavers battle; with the team in shambles and unhappy and Avalanche injured, the full roster wasn't able to participate (only Crimson Commando, Pyro, and Blob), and it was probably inevitable that they lost. The Hulk managed to beat the three of them badly, humiliating them in the process, although he briefly teamed up with Commando to rescue a small child.
FF had mastered their problems caused by the Reavers by the time they encountered Cable. He'd been brought in after he was found at the scene of an MLF battle, and FF kept him in custody at their prison facility, demanding his co-operation in combating the MLF. He already had some enmity with FF or the government (some inserted history first mentioned in that issue---though we shall soon be learning of a shared past between Cable and Mystique in the next few months), so they were keen to keep him. He escaped, injuring Pyro and Super Sabre in the process, so several members of the team chased him to New York and he and they managed to make each other crash in the river. He scuffled with FF in the city until the New Mutants stumbled across the scene and defeated the government team---the first meeting between Cable and the kids.
The fight with Desert Sword in Kuwait was not only FF's final battle, but also arguably their most pivotal and memorable story. It was a turning point for all the characters involved, as well as the cause of the team's dissolution. They had been sent into occupied Kuwait during the Gulf War, ostensibly to retrieve a nuclear physicist from enemy territory. Instead, they were to discover that he was being held by Desert Sword, a super-team from Iraq, and Super Sabre was killed before FF even saw who they were fighting. Commando then lost part of an arm to the same foe who had killed Sabre (Aminedi), and so after they managed to retrieve the physicist, FF split up into two groups and made their way back to the escape helicopter. Desert Sword also split up to follow them---Veil, Black Raazer, and Arabian Knight (who had been blackmailed into helping) attacked Pyro and Blob, who were eventually forced to kill the physicist to keep him out of enemy hands, as per orders. Aminedi and Sirocco chased Commando and Avalanche, eventually driving them onto a land mine, which injured Avalanche and left Commando near death. But Avalanche got up and carried his comrade back to the helicopter; meanwhile, Pyro and Blob were engaged in a life-and-death skirmish with DS, and Pyro killed Veil in the midst of battle. In order to save Commando's life, Avalanche decided to leave behind their teammates on the ground, and Pyro and Blob were surrounded by DS and forced to surrender. Although the story ends there---with FF officially disbanded---it's known that the two prisoners of war survived by working for an Iraqi military official in exchange for their lives. They remained in the Middle East until their freedom was bartered for by Toad, and as a result they then joined his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, which led them back into their old outlaw lives. Also, Pyro soon contracted the Legacy Virus, the disease which killed Aminedi, and there is a possibility that there was a connection between the illnesses of the two; since the virus continues to afflict Pyro even today, the consequences of the fight in Kuwait are certainly far-reaching. Commando became a cyborg as a result of his injuries, and Avalanche's personal guilt---a major part of his character these days---was worsened due to his actions.
This story was notable because of what it accomplished. It disbanded Freedom Force in order to make way for government X-Factor, it drastically changed (and killed) several of the characters, and it is certainly the most dramatic story which involved the team. While Desert Sword is important because they're the catalysts of this change, they take a back seat to the events of the story: Pyro had his first human kill(s), Avalanche left his best friend to die, Commando was horribly maimed, Super Sabre was graphically killed, and it set up all sorts of changes that still have ramifications for the characters today. It is also genuinely disturbing in places, and this may well be why it's so popular. Chats with fellow fans seem to indicate that many people enjoy this more than any other FF story.
This month, we take a look at Freedom Force's most pivotal (and last) story, "The Killing Stroke". It ran through three annuals in 1991 (New Mutants annual 7, Uncanny X-Men annual 15, and X-Factor annual 6), and is often regarded as better than the main story in those annuals.
The story is about FF being sent into Kuwait City during the Gulf War to rescue a German physicist---Reinhold Kurtzmann---before he can be captured by the Iraqis. The narration also tells us several times that their orders are to "liberate or terminate"; in other words, they're to kill him if they can't get him out, lest the enemy learn nuclear secrets. They fight some Iraqi soldiers, but discover that Kurtzmann is being held by Desert Sword, a super-team working for Iraq. Desert Sword member Aminedi beheads Super Sabre, and cuts off the arm of Crimson Commando, scattering the other members of FF. The rest of the story is about FF splitting into two groups, and attempting to escape with Kurtzmann back to their helicopter; the physicist is kidnapped again, and so Pyro kills him, mentioning that their orders were to kill if necessary (one of the American soldiers later claims that FF had "no such orders" to kill Kurtzmann, which is an interesting discrepancy). Pyro later kills a member of Desert Sword in a life-or-death fight between the two teams, and Blob injures another. Meanwhile, Commando and Avalanche are driven into a minefield, and Commando loses his legs, but Avalanche is able to carry him back to the chopper, deciding to get out of there quickly to save him. Avalanche orders the soldiers to abandon Pyro and Blob, who are forced to surrender to the Iraqis, and they remain prisoners for at least several weeks.
What happened to Freedom Force? It seems that they may have been set up, because there were a few odd things that occurred during this mission. Firstly, the trip was very poorly organized (only Commando had maps, Avalanche was unaware of the escape plan details, etc), which may have just been careless planning, or perhaps deliberate misinformation. Secondly, either the soldiers on the mission were lying, or they hadn't been told about the sinister orders FF had been given---it made FF look bad, and once Kurtzmann was dead, there was less incentive to go back for the men on the ground. Was FF framed or set up to fail? It could have been a convenient way to get rid of the team, especially since the group was already crumbling (several members were dead, and Spiral had deserted). Killing Kurtzmann would make them look evil or bungling to anyone not in the know about their orders, and would make it easier to shut down the team for 'failure'---precisely the reasoning Val Cooper later gave to X-Factor and the media for FF's disbandment. Thirdly, there apparently was no attempt to go back for Pyro and Blob once they'd been abandoned in enemy territory. Toad eventually got them out, and if he could do it, surely government forces could have managed it if they'd tried.
Government representatives later misled the media about what happened in Kuwait (as seen in X-Factor 72), and attempted to pit the surviving members of the mission against each other by sending Avalanche and Commando to shut down the new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Pyro and Blob had recently joined the group, and the government decided to exploit the ties between the former teammates in order to break up the BoEM (X-Men annual 2). Though Avalanche and Commando initially went along with this plan and deceived their former friends, they later defected and joined them once Pyro was revealed to have the Legacy Virus.
It's not surprising that this story was a turning point for most of the characters involved. FF permanently disbanded. Super Sabre's fate is obvious, Commando became an embittered (and somewhat insane) government cyborg to compensate for his missing limbs, Pyro and Blob quit the hero business and joined up with the new Brotherhood, and Avalanche was left in a directionless plot-limbo from which he still hasn't quite recovered. Pyro developed Legacy soon after the Kuwait mission, possibly caught from fellow sufferer Aminedi, and recently died from it; Avalanche has spent most of his appearances since then attempting to atone for what his actions during the war did to his best friend. "The Killing Stroke" was not only a major development in the story of Freedom Force, it also established a status quo for the characters that can still be seen today.
Dr. Valerie Cooper is Special Assistant to the U.S. president, a member of the Commission on Superhuman Activities, and considered an expert on mutant affairs. Thus, it was she who Mystique approached with the proposal to turn the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants into Freedom Force. Mystique, in her secret identity as Raven Darkholme of DARPA, had worked closely with her for some time, and the two women acted like friends---a deception that Val did not appreciate when she learned the truth. She took a rather hardline stance on mutants back in those days, as a supporter of the Mutant Registration Act, and she was in favour of using Forge's Neutralizer on Rogue (which of course accidentally affected Storm instead), although she has since become more sympathetic to mutants. Val oversaw and directly controlled Freedom Force, seeing the group as a pet project for reforming villains, and while its members made it clear they didn't always like the way she treated them or the tasks she gave them, they grudgingly obeyed her. She was not very friendly towards them, taking a harsher and more business-like attitude than she later did with X-Factor, but they (particularly Mystique) certainly did not help matters by sometimes giving her a difficult time. Val also worked closely with the replacement Captain America and his partner Battle Star after the original Cap was forced out by the Commission.
When the Shadow King set about controlling prominent people to get at the X-Men, Val was one of the first to be mind-controlled. However, when he sent her to kill Mystique, she resisted his manipulations and shot herself rather than be forced to kill someone else, though only wounded herself. Unbeknownst to the Shadow King, she was replaced by Mystique, who was hypnotized into believing she was really Val, and carried out her government duties (it isn't known where the real Val was during all this time, other than that she was probably in hiding). Mystique-as-Val was able to surprise the Shadow King this way, and temporarily hurt him by killing his human host, after which the real Val was able to resume her life. It was during this period of Mystique impersonating Val (during which Raven was believed to be dead, shot by the unknown assailant) that Freedom Force was sent to Kuwait and dissolved due to the deaths and abandonment of several team members.
Val's career has been very busy since the breakup of Freedom Force. She personally recruited the original members of its replacement team, X-Factor, and worked more closely with them than she did with FF. She has expressed a great deal of hostility towards the members of FF, seeing the group as a failure, and at times ordered X-Factor to arrest/stop some of the survivors, on the grounds that they broke their deal with the government. She sought out Mystique with particular determination, having a particular grudge against her for all the trouble Raven has caused, and forcibly inducted her onto X-Factor as an FF-like means of paying back her debt to society---and Mystique then blamed Val for bringing Sabretooth onto the team and all the ensuing chaos (although Val was against him being assigned to X-Factor in the first place). However, since escaping X-Factor, Mystique seems to have forgotten her vendetta against Val, although Val tried to track her down again, without success. Currently there is no government team for Val to oversee, but she is still involved with the Commission and its business, including some negotiations with Mach-1 and the Thunderbolts. She has also been seen recently dealing with assorted issues related to superhuman activity in the United States.
Non-continuity issues are always a lot of fun. They take the characters we know and love and then do all sorts of things to them---often horrible things---and sometimes the characters bear little or no resemblance to their versions in canon issues. So for that reason, my affection for them is sometimes a bit sarcastic. But being a completist collector, it always interests me to see how characters are portrayed, even if it has no bearing on their 'real' story, and so I collect even the non-continuity appearances of the members of FF (you can see the list of Pyro's non-con appearances on his chronology page; it'll always be growing). Non-con stuff expands beyond comics, of course, to include things like novels, television episodes, and trading cards, etc., but we'll be sticking strictly to comics here.
A major source of non-continuity comics is the What If? series. These issues were usually single-story explorations of what might have happened had Marvel history gone in a different direction. FF appears as itself in a few stories, usually in a less-than-positive manner, although they did put in a reasonably good-guy appearance in WI? 50---unfortunately, most of them were killed for their efforts. This was the only issue in which they played more than a cameo role, and it was rather interesting for that reason. The writer got some fundamental facts wrong, though, and the art wasn't great, so it doesn't exactly go down as their greatest non-con showing. The BoEM and individual cameos can also be found throughout the (volume 2) series, and well-done WI? are always worth picking up for those. WI? 66 has a nice story of the BoEM, and is very interesting, because its first and final scenes can arguably be considered canon. They are placed just before the team's prison escape in Avengers annual 10, and are called "our reality" by the narration. They're simple scenes which depict Destiny, Pyro, and Avalanche discussing their imminent jailbreak, and Destiny's precognitive vision is used to frame the main plot of the story---not exactly earth-shattering material, but a nice addition to the annual's tale.
Another source of non-con issues is from comics based on the X-Men cartoon. X-Men Adventures and X-Men: the manga featured adaptations of the cartoon episodes---sometimes bearing little resemblance to the episodes on which they were based! For instance, although Pyro, Avalanche, and Blob play a significant role in the episode "A Rogue's Tale", Blob and Avalanche appear in only a panel or two in the Adventures adaptation, and Pyro isn't present at all. But at the same time, Mystique's role is actually increased in the comic. The other adaptations are slightly more faithful to the original show, though dialogue is frequently changed, and the manga issues are....well, more manga-ish. One weird change in the Adventures series is that Avalanche is made into a sexist jerk in the two-part adaptation of "The Cure"---where that came from is completely beyond me.
And then there's "everything else". There's plenty of strange miscellaneous things like the kiddified Marvel Adventures series (had a bizarre two-part story involving Blob, Pyro, and Avalanche), books of trading card art, the Age of Apocalypse storyline, stuff in Marvel Age, the Pint-Sized X-Babies oneshot, even a DC/Marvel Access crossover (Mystique and Blob made brief cameos). Blob even appears in a fake Twinkies ad spoof in What The?!, and puts in a funny showing in a non-con X-Men Christmas story in the first Marvel Holiday Special. Corporate give-away comics can also be wonderfully surreal, such as a Toys R Us freebie with Blob and Pyro, and a pseudo-fire-safety comic given out by American fire departments---featuring Pyro as a bad guy, of course. And last but not least, the comics that came with the fast-food Hardees set (see the Memorabilia page), which was a non-con story based on a canon issue, and starred Blob, Avalanche, and cyborg Crimson Commando.
So this can actually be an interesting topic, at least if it interests you to see how the characters you like are portrayed in a variety of media (if not these guys, then other characters in other issues might be of interest). Marvel does some pretty weird stuff at times, and it's amusing to see just what kind of strange situations and characterizations they can come up with.
Part One of non-continuity month (covered several months ago) dealt with non-con comic issues featuring Freedom Force characters. Part Two will discuss some of the Other Media appearances they've had...and there have certainly been a lot.
There have been three different X-Men cartoons, and various FF characters have made it into all of them, albeit as members of the Brotherhood (since the BoEM will always be more well-known than FF). Pryde of the X-Men, a half-hour pilot episode, featured a Brotherhood led by Magneto, and had Pyro and Blob as members. They worked together on a mission for the team, perhaps as a reference to their relationship in the comics. Fox's X-Men animated series ran for several seasons, and featured Mystique, Pyro, Blob and Avalanche working together or solo, including an episode adaptation of Days of Future Past (in which they attempted to assassinate Senator Kelly, just like in UXM 141-142). The most recent cartoon is currently running on the Warner Brothers' network, called X-Men: Evolution. It has a loosely-organized Brotherhood led by Mystique, with teenage Blob and Avalanche, and uses Destiny as young Rogue's guardian. And of course, the X-Men movie featured Mystique as a main member of Magneto's Brotherhood, and had Pyro in a small cameo role.
Games are also items in which FF characters frequently appear. The recently-released X-Men Monopoly board game allows a player to role-play Mystique, and Pyro, Blob and Avalanche are located on the board as characters to be recruited for teams. RPGs often include some of the characters in gaming scenarios, sometimes even as Freedom Force---which isn't surprising, as FF was still operating when some of the old TSR games were released. The more recent SAGA system games generally utilize the characters on their own, or occasionally teamed up with others.
Video games often use some of them as villains, most notably in X-Men II: The Fall of the Mutants, a game based loosely on the Fall of the Mutants story in UXM 225-227. In this game, the player must find and defeat every member of Freedom Force in order to win. However, there have been plenty of other video games over the years which have used some FF characters, including a few released in 2000 which tied in with the X-Men movie and used Mystique and Pyro.
Note: the soon-to-be released video RPG called Freedom Force has nothing to do with the Marvel comics' team!
Trading cards have always been a hot commodity, and there's been a thriving comics cards industry for over a decade. Many early cards used art taken directly from the comics, but as these became more popular, it soon became common to create original art just for the cards. Eventually, this art became increasingly beautiful and sophisticated, and in recent years many pieces of card art have been sold as larger-size standalone artwork in their own right (just check eBay). Mystique has always been a popular subject of card art, probably because of her unusual appearance and importance as a Marvel villain, and Blob has quite a few cards, too. However, some FF'ers, such as Super Sabre and Stonewall, have never had any original card art created for them, to the best of my knowledge. Some other characters appear only occasionally, reflecting their lower profiles in the Marvel Universe and collecting public.
Some cards are simply trading collectibles, although card games---such as Overpower---are also very popular. These statistics-based games allow players to interact in a manner not unlike RPGs, and tend to highlight a character's attributes and skills within the game.
Other popular forms of memorabilia include action figures, items that are as highly collectible as trading cards, if not moreso. Toy collecting is a popular hobby, and fortunately many of the FF characters have had one or more action figures. The first of these appeared in 1992, when Pyro and Spider-Woman had likenesses made of them, and figures continue to be currently released, in the form of recent toys for the X-Men movie (Mystique) and the X-Men: Evolution cartoon (Blob). However, Destiny, Super Sabre, and Stonewall have never had action figures of any kind, and probably never will.
This is only a brief overview of some of the available FF-related Other Media, and doesn't even include things like novels and books, unusual merchandise, and so forth (there's only so much space here!). For a more detailed listing of FF-related merchandise, please see the Memorabilia page.
The Legacy Virus plotline began in late 1992, when Stryfe created a genetically-engineered airborne disease in order to take revenge on the X-Men and specifically on his parents. It was originally a mutants-only disease (attacking a victim through their powers, causing them to go out of control), and was inadvertently unleashed by Mr. Sinister and his assistant---the latter was the first to die from it---when they opened a canister given to them by Stryfe. The plot really began to pick up steam in early 1993, when characters such as Illyana Rasputin and Mastermind died of the disease, leading to increasing worry about the virus. It was in mid-1993 that Exodus hinted Pyro was infected (X-Men Unlimited 2), though it was not until a surprise scene in X-Men annual 2 that it was publicly revealed that Pyro had the disease. He was seeking relief and a place to die at the home of Empyrean, a mutant who could absorb the energies of other mutants, and it was not until this shocking revelation that Avalanche and cyborg Commando finally defected from the government to stand by their former teammate. In the same issue, it was also revealed that Aminedi---the member of Desert Sword who had beheaded Super Sabre in Kuwait---had died of Legacy, and that X-Men member Revanche had also contracted it. She died soon after.
The plot was fairly major and receiving considerable coverage at this point, and quite a few minor characters were afflicted with the disease. Mutates in Genosha were infected en masse, and X-Factor's Multiple Man was infected while treating one; he soon died, but it was later revealed to be one of his duplicates. The plot took on more suspense as Moira MacTaggert---a human---contracted the virus in 1994, meaning it had obviously spread to humanity, and causing widespread hysteria. Maverick and his protégé Chris Bradley were afflicted, which became significant when Maverick starred in his own solo book (spotlighting his struggles with the virus) and Chris appeared as a team member in the second series of the New Warriors. Meanwhile, it was years before Pyro appeared again, and he finally showed up in 1996, suffering considerably from the disease. He had several appearances in 1996 (Daredevil 355, UXM 338, X-Factor 129-130), and then disappeared again until 1998 (UXM 351, Quicksilver 6-9, UXM 362). Several of these latter issues took a different tack than previous ones; whereas the early issues focused on his suffering and fatalistic wait for death, UXM 351 and Quicksilver 6-9 were about his more optimistic and desperate search for a cure. This was short-lived, as he later went insane again and was taken into custody by SHIELD in UXM 362.
The Legacy plot had stalled a while back. Characters stopped dying from the disease, and although occasionally new ones were diagnosed, there was very little resolution, and the focus of the X-Men books had moved on to other topics. Since Moira was a supporting cast member of the Excalibur book, her work on the virus was occasionally mentioned, but she was not particularly ill. It was Pyro who was often used as a reminder that the virus was debilitating; he was brought out every so often (with sometimes terrible symptoms) and even seemed to be on the brink of death in some appearances. Avalanche was drafted to be Pyro's best friend and caregiver, and the plotline slowly careened along with very little exposure in the xbooks. The last semi-major character to be afflicted was Feral, who didn't seem to be very sick and quickly disappeared again.
The winding down of the Legacy plotline began in October 2000, when Scott Lobdell announced that the disease would shortly be cured. It was perhaps because of this that the Dream's End crossover in November 2000 came as a bit of a surprise; the first revelation was that Mystique had genetically-engineered a new strain of the virus to affect only humans (UXM 388), in an attempt to wipe out humanity. She released this into the world as part of her new Brotherhood's renewed terrorist attack. The next issue in the crossover (Cable 87) featured the first appearance of Pyro in two years, and he had now turned on his former teammates in an attempt to stop their plans. However, the use of his powers caused Legacy to kill him, ending his 7-year ongoing plotline. Finally, Moira MacTaggert made a discovery after examining Mystique's humans-only virus, and came up with an idea to cure the entire disease (Bishop 16). She was not able to use this knowledge, as she died of injuries soon after Mystique's attack---but not before passing along the information, which apparently will soon result in a cure. Keep an eye out this month (particularly in UXM 390) for revelations and possibly even the cure for the virus. After such a lengthy plot and the regrettable deaths of so many characters, the long-awaited end to this story may come as a relief.
Crimson Commando, Super Sabre, and Stonewall were a trio of American soldiers during World War II, having used their mutant powers to fight the Nazis in Germany. They returned to the States after the war and fought crime in their hometowns until the rise of Communism, and then they petitioned the military to allow them to battle this new threat, only to be denied. There was concern about escalating a nuclear conflict, so the trio was encouraged to retire, and they grudgingly did so, apparently going into ordinary civilian life (Super Sabre married and had a son, and Stonewall may have become a lawyer, though Commando's activities are unknown). They were later ashamed of their agreement to retire, which suggests they were not satisfied with being civilians, a not uncommon feeling among some veterans.
However, eventually they grew horrified by the declining morals of society, which irritated them because they felt it was disrespectful to the sacrifices of veterans like themselves, so at some point they decided to do something about it. This took the form of vigilante justice, and they punished the criminals that seemed to be escaping the reach of the law---both to protect society from offenders, and to help the police do their job by striking fear into the hearts of criminals at large. They kidnapped criminals and brought them to their cabin in Adirondack State park, gave them a head start, and then chased after them, killing them when they were caught. It isn't known how long this went on for or how many criminals they captured and/or killed, but eventually they brought in Storm of the X-Men by mistake. They found her at the site of an arson fire and believed she was responsible, so they set her loose with a drug-dealing rich girl, and followed them a few hours later. Storm helped the girl (Priscilla Morrison) to easily evade them, which gave the three of them time to ponder the X-Woman's claims of innocence; Stonewall believed she was innocent, and pleaded for her to be left alone, whereas Commando thought she was guilty and decreed they would continue. Sabre accepted the possibility that she might be innocent but decided it was a necessary sacrifice for the greater good (echoing the argument for modern capital punishment!), although he and Storm were seemingly killed by Priscilla before he could privately debate the matter further.
Storm survived, although everyone believed Super Sabre to be dead, which angered Commando immensely. He knew it was the work of Priscilla, and so killed her without hesitation when he caught up with her (she'd also killed two people after supposedly dispatching Storm and Sabre). He and Storm fought hand-to-hand in a battle to the death, although she beat him and then spared his life on condition that he and Stonewall turn themselves in to the police. He agreed (after some pleading by Stonewall), and they did so, only to be assigned by the government to work with Freedom Force in exchange for pardons---the same deal brokered with the former Brotherhood. Commando immediately made designs on leadership of the team after being inducted, which didn't sit well with the existing members, but after settling in, he fell into line and was a reliable team member. Mystique even made him deputy leader. Super Sabre arrived (much to everyone's surprise) and decided to join up with his friends, so this brought the team's roster up to nine, its largest ever.
Val Cooper's reasoning for teaming up three old men who hated criminals with a group of former terrorists is known only to her (and Chris Claremont), but it was possibly to keep FF off-balance and thus less of a threat to the government. The original FF lineup had decidedly criminal tendencies, but the four members added later (including Spider-Woman) all had heroic origins and so were not likely to form cliques with the former Brotherhood. Heroes, even fallen ones, would be more likely to keep the team on an honest path and away from trouble, so Val may have been willing to risk personality conflicts between the members in order to keep the team on good behaviour. There certainly were personality conflicts at some points; occasionally the veterans bickered with the former BoEM over their pasts, but more notable was the lack of friendships between the two sides. Aside from Stonewall and Pyro sharing some friendly conversation and mutual concern for each other, the two groups didn't personally socialize at all, though they were still fiercely loyal and protective of one another. While the former BoEM and the veterans may not have liked each other much, they still respected each other and worked well together to form a cohesive and effective team.
Visit the Index page to find individual bios of the three veterans.
Freedom Force's first big storyline was in "The Fall of the Mutants" (UXM 225-227, although their part in it began in UXM 223 and 224). Though this crossover involved several ongoing and separate plots in all three x-books, the X-Men story revolved around the Adversary's plot to manipulate reality. He had imprisoned Storm and Forge in an alternate dimension, so the X-Men went to Dallas to investigate their disappearance. Meanwhile, Destiny had foreseen the deaths of Rogue and the X-Men, and Mystique warned Rogue about this dire future. Since the warning went unheeded, Mystique brought FF to Dallas to arrest the X-Men for their own protection---using their outlaw status as an excuse---reasoning that they'd be saved from their fate if kept in custody. Naturally, she was deeply concerned about Rogue most of all, though she did say privately to Destiny and later to Wolverine that she wanted to save the lives of the entire team, despite the past enmity between them.
The X-Men didn't trust their old enemies' motives, and started a fight; Mystique then ordered her team to take them by force, since they wouldn't come quietly. By the time the X-Men had retreated from the battle, they had captured Mystique, and FF had several of the X-women in custody. It was just then that the Adversary began to warp reality around Dallas, leaving the inhabitants frightened and in danger; dinosaurs and primitive barbarians ran loose throughout the city and attacked people, so the X-Men and Freedom Force agreed to put aside their differences to rescue the civilians. The two teams cared for the wounded and fought the creatures side by side while the drama was captured on live television by a reporter.
Eventually, everybody went into Forge's building to search for answers, though Wolverine decided that the X-Men had to go up to the penthouse alone, reasoning that somebody had to stay behind to protect the civilians and in case of a trap. Despite Mystique's protests, he urged FF to remain behind, and the X-Men went upstairs. Just as they left, the building began to collapse, and FF and the civilians were forced to evacuate, believing that the X-Men were dead. However, Pyro discovered that the reporter's camera was still broadcasting, so FF and the world could only helplessly watch as the X-Men battled the Adversary's creations, and finally sacrificed their lives to stop him (they were later resurrected by Roma, though the rest of the world still believed them dead). Mystique was furious at Forge and grief-stricken over the death of Rogue, but there was nothing for FF to do but clean up the mess and attempt to settle matters. They remained in Dallas for some time afterward, probably for administrative purposes, and soon had to protect Forge from Magik's wrath over the death of her brother.
From a 'meta' standpoint, this issue was certainly an important one for FF. This was the first storyline in which the characters---former members of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and the vigilantes who'd fought Storm---were portrayed as truly sympathetic and heroic. They weren't just villains anymore, something which future writers occasionally took into account when later writing the characters. Originally overtly villainous, Pyro in particular benefited from the sympathetic handling here, as he has often been considered morally ambiguous ever since, culminating in his recent heroic death in Cable 87. Chris Claremont was particularly attentive to writing FF as heroes (or, at the least, wannabe heroes), and it's his work that has kept the team's record from being completely tarred by the 'corrupt government group' label that several other writers repeatedly tried to pin on them. When these very different takes on the team's morality are examined together, the end result is a group that is interestingly morally ambiguous; neither all good nor all bad...or, as an astute fan once described them, "herains or villoes." :)
The third of the three most important Freedom Force stories is the one that took place on Muir Island in UXM 255. It was Chris Claremont's last FF story---aside from a later Mystique cameo---and he again proved himself to be unafraid of killing well-known supporting characters.
The story began in UXM 254, when Destiny had a premonition of her own death but did not tell anyone about it. At about the same time, some X-Men allies were attacked on Muir Island by Donald Pierce and the Reavers, and Val Cooper ordered Freedom Force to assist Forge in the rescue. Mystique refused, as she was still furious at Forge for the death of Rogue, but eventually acquiesced (albeit reluctantly). Although they were working short-handed, without three members of the team, the mission started well enough, until Lady Deathstrike killed their two Air Force pilots and crashed the jet. Since they'd had a narrow escape from the fiery crash, Mystique ordered Forge to take Destiny away from the battle, and instructed him to protect her at all costs, to which he reluctantly agreed. However, Destiny was aware of her imminent fate, and sent him away for his own safety, protecting him from the attack by the possessed Legion.
The battle was going badly; Avalanche had already been gutted by Deathstrike's adamantium claws, and Blob taken out of the fight, but Mystique was truly distraught when she telepathically saw that Irene had just been killed. As she screamed and tried to go to her, Stonewall stepped in to rescue her from Pierce's grasp, and he was then electrocuted. The Reavers were about to kill Pyro and Mystique too, but the pair was saved by the timely intervention of Forge, which left them alive to mourn their losses. Fortunately, Avalanche recovered fairly quickly, as seen in X-Men Forever 2, but Mystique angrily swore revenge on Forge for his 'negligence' (and he felt responsible for it for a very long time). The only reaction we ever saw to Stonewall's death was Pyro's horrified shout; the responses of Stoney's fellow veterans were never shown. Unfortunately, few characters ever recognized the team's sacrifices on this mission (although it was mentioned on the television news a couple of times), including Polaris, who was one of the people who'd been rescued.
The story is significant for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the deaths of two characters. In a very real sense, this was the point at which FF really began to decline. It's known that Mystique took time off to grieve for Destiny, and the others settled into confusion and near-anarchy because they apparently didn't think she was coming back ("we thought, after what happened to Destiny, you wouldn't be back"). They all left to do their own things, although Mystique brought them back together and continued to lead missions after her return. However, it was a changed team; Mystique never truly got over her loss---and obviously still has not in recent times, either---and tensions became evident in several later missions, as shown in Hulk 369, Avengers: Deathtrap: the Vault, Marvel Comics Presents 82-87, and the final Kuwait mission. When a still-grieving Mystique knew that Val Cooper was coming to shoot her, she allowed it to happen, just as Destiny had, which left Crimson Commando in charge of the team and morale at an obvious all-time low. Unfortunately, only one of his missions was ever shown, and it was the disastrous trip to Kuwait which disintegrated the team. Mystique continues to be motivated and distressed by the death of her longtime lover (finally stated outright in X-Men Forever 5; check it out!), although Stonewall has largely been forgotten---probably because of Super Sabre's subsequent death and Commando's disappearance from the spotlight.
The dissolution of Freedom Force left a vacuum in the X-villain ranks. Under Magneto, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants was the first-ever villain team in X-Men history, and continued to be one of the pre-eminent antagonist groups throughout the X-Men series. Magneto's various teams were eventually replaced by Mystique's group, which then became Freedom Force; and as stated above, the collapse of FF left a spot open for an all-new Brotherhood.
Enter the new Brotherhood, started by Toad. Toad had been one of the original BoEM members under Magneto, but he now inexplicably had a new look, personality, and enhanced powers. He was considerably more conniving and ruthless than he'd been before, and decided to seek power by gathering a group of mutants to begin a renewed terrorist campaign against humankind. He attempted to maneuver Proteus into his group via some scheming with an External, and when that failed, he went to the Middle East to retrieve Pyro and Blob, who were prisoners of war there after FF's disastrous mission in Kuwait. Toad bargained for their freedom, and they joined his group, although Pyro's later comments suggested that his signing up may not have been entirely voluntary. Regardless, they and a mysterious woman named Phantazia (Eileen Harsaw) became part of the team; Toad and Blob then caused Karl Lykos to become Sauron by forcing him to unwillingly drain the life-force of his girlfriend. With the evil Sauron personality dominant, he too joined the Brotherhood.
Their first mission was a team-up with the Morlocks. The two groups were to assist each other with several specific goals, and attacked X-Force's base. The Brotherhood/Morlocks were beaten, although Sauron 'killed' Cannonball and was in return 'killed' by X-Force. Cannonball was resurrected as part of the External plotline, and Sauron revived after his body was dumped in the sewers and floated out to sea. He quickly rejoined the Brotherhood in time for their attempt to recruit some Genoshan refugees to their cause; X-Factor defeated them. The Brotherhood's next scheme was to steal the teleporting armour of a man named Portal, and they scuffled with Darkhawk, Spider-Man, and Sleepwalker. Though Sauron hypnotized Portal into helping them, and they had grand plans for the armour, the Brotherhood was eventually defeated.
The next time the Brotherhood was seen, Sauron was no longer a part of the team, for reasons unexplained. Exodus had summoned them to a meeting, and invited Phantazia to Magneto's Avalon sanctuary; he dismissed Toad and Blob as unworthy, and told Pyro that he was not welcome because he was "tainted" (a reference to his Legacy infection, though he didn't yet know about it). Phantazia turned down the invitation, and the Brotherhood angrily left, offering information to a man seeking revenge on Magneto. The Brotherhood's final appearance was in X-Men annual 2, when they were staying at the island of Empyrean, who was providing relief for Pyro's then-obvious Legacy infection. As government agents, Avalanche and cyborg Crimson Commando were sent in to covertly shut down the Brotherhood (because of their ties to Pyro and Blob), but they defected to the team when they learned that Pyro was sick. However, the team then broke up behind the scenes---without explanation---sometime after. Phantazia has never been seen since, Avalanche and Commando went back to government service, and Pyro, Blob, and Toad were not seen for quite a while. All were eventually shown doing their own individual things, and it was a long time before any of them worked together again. However, Toad and Blob have worked together in the two successive Brotherhood teams, and Avalanche later joined them during the Dream's End storyline (in which Pyro turned on the Brotherhood and died). The current status of most Brotherhood members---as well as the existence of the team itself---is unknown.
As many are no doubt aware, Freedom Force's last mission in Kuwait resulted in Crimson Commando (Frank Bohannan) enduring severe injuries. He lost part of an arm, half of his face, and probably his legs (the art was inconsistent on the latter), and nearly bled to death. He was airlifted out of the Middle East and presumably returned to the United States, although the story never informed readers if he lived or died. We know from behind the scenes information that the writers inflicted these injuries on him in order to make him into a cyborg (and quite possibly join the new X-Factor team, although that eventually fell through). However, what happened to him after that is a confusing and little-known series of changes.
The first storyline which featured cyborg Crimson Commando didn't even call him by name or overtly reveal his identity. He appeared in Spider-Man #18 and #20; the first issue depicted a green-coloured cyborg (later called 'Cyborg X') going completely out of control and randomly destroying things in his path as he shouted seemingly nonsensical statements. He was battled by Spider-Man and Ghost Rider, who thought he was quite insane. However, the cyborg's statements, no matter how unusual in places, provided the first clue to the character's identity:
"Martin--? Oh dear Lord...how could this happen? They're animals...they want us dead. So much pain. Like nothing I've ever felt befo---my legs. I can't feel my legs! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY LEGS?!!!! What's happening to me?!! Where am I? DOMINIC! Where are you? WHY HAVE YOU DESERTED ME?!! Help me...don't leave me...not dead yet...don't let me d--"
For those who know the characters well enough, it's fairly obvious that Dominic is the first name of Avalanche, and Martin is the name of Super Sabre. In fact, the comment about "Martin--? Oh dear Lord..." is an almost exact quote of what Commando exclaimed when Super Sabre was beheaded (in which he said "Martin--? Oh dear God..."). As he lay injured in Kuwait, Commando had begged Avalanche not to leave him behind and insisted "I'm not dead yet", (although Avalanche did not leave him, so the reference to "why have you deserted me?!" is a bit unusual). And the fact that the cyborg talks about his missing legs suggests another clue. So despite not stating outright who this mystery character is, his identity here seems fairly clear to anyone who knows Crimson Commando and his teammates.
Spider-Man #20 also has some interesting tidbits of information. A scientist described the cyborg---known only as Cyborg X---thusly:
"Most of X's senses are supplied by that program and with it temporarily scrambled, he was flashing back to the last few hours prior to his 'death' in the recent Gulf War before we rebuilt him."
"Our primary goal is to come up with new weapons for the military effort. Also, we're looking toward developing super heroes of our own. Cyborg X is the first such effort from this facility."
"His real name is classified. He gave us the authority to do what we have himself. His parents and friends have been told that he's missing in action. He hasn't wanted us to inform them of his present condition yet."
"He's getting better. However, Cyborg X's malfunction will set this program back years."
Naturally, the reference to the Gulf War is telling. However, the mention of his parents is odd, because it's a reasonable assumption that Frank Bohannan outlived his parents because of his fairly advanced age. On the other hand, the scientist who told this to Spider-Man could have been lying; regardless, it's a comment that throws a bit of a wrench into the idea that the green cyborg is Crimson Commando.
To make matters more confusing, a red-coloured cyborg appeared in X-Men annual 2 and X-Factor 102, and was outright stated to be Frank Bohannan. His robotic design was completely different from anything seen in the Spider-Man issues, and he wasn't unstable nor out of control. It's entirely possible that this new design and increased stability were the result of more research and work put into the military program, although it certainly was a drastic change. The red cyborg never alluded to any adventures with Spider-Man. Essentially, we'll never know for certain if Cyborg X was the former Crimson Commando, although the evidence strongly points in that direction. It was a badly-handled plot point, unfortunately, and one that was quickly dropped (neither cyborg has appeared since 1994).
However, one final point suggests that Cyborg X is indeed Crimson Commando: the Spider-Man issues were written by Erik Larsen, who was one-half of the creative team which originally conceived of the idea of cyborg Crimson Commando in X-Factor. And X-Men annual 2 was written by Fabian Nicieza, the other half of that creative team (and also the writer of the Freedom Force-Kuwait story). Even though their X-Factor plans had fallen through, perhaps both writers wanted to use their idea in other stories.
The month of November has an inauspicious anniversary; in November 2003, it's the third year since Pyro died (I can't believe it's been that long; this site had already been open for a year and a half when it happened). He is still my favourite character, and even though other characters I've loved have died over the years, his death was the only one that occurred after I started reading comics. It came as a real shock to me, for Scott Lobdell (a fill-in X-books writer at the time) had said in a mid-October 2000 interview that the Legacy Virus would be finally cured in January 2001, and I was optimistic that Pyro would survive the few months between the interview and story. Unfortunately, Cable #87 was published a few weeks later, and depicted his death. It was a good story, but ultimately seemed a bit pointless because Pyro sacrificed himself to save Senator Kelly, and Kelly himself was killed in the same crossover. The Legacy Virus was cured shortly afterward (Moira MacTaggert actually found the cure in the crossover, but it wasn't implemented until the January 2001 story), and it's a bit frustrating that Pyro survived over 7 years real-time with the virus only to be killed shortly before it was cured. Nor have his actions had any real consequences in the Marvel Universe, because Kelly died and Pyro himself has scarcely been mentioned since, not even by his friends. I find all of this a real bummer.
So this month is Pyro spotlight month, with an emphasis on Legacy and the story in Cable #87. Included here are some links to related material on this site, as well as a link to another informative site:
Pyro article. My obsessively anal (and sometimes updated/modified) piece about his history, powers, and so forth.
Pyro chronology. My again obsessive listing of everything he appears in…also often updated with new stuff as it comes out or I learn about it.
His bio. It's, uh, his bio.
A rant/editorial I wrote about his death shortly after the story was published. Not sure if I now agree with everything I wrote then, but it's kind of an interesting look back at the story.
The fanfic page has some good Pyro stories (my personal favourites are Be Longing, The Other Side, and Breaking Through), and not surprisingly, most are about his battle with Legacy.
Off this site, The Legacy Virus Chronology contains a detailed timeline of the long-running story. It has additional pages about the victims and the original nature of the virus, though the site is a bit outdated.
As stated above, this site is having its fifth birthday on April 1, 2004. It opened on this date in 1999. Over these five years, the former Freedom Force characters have undergone many interesting changes, with the sad exception of Crimson Commando, who hasn't appeared in a comic since 1994. I don't think Spider-Woman II has done much; she presumably appeared in the JLA/Avengers crossover, but other than that I'm not aware of anything she's done or appeared in (she's the only FFer I don't really follow). So now I'm going to talk about what the others have done over the past five years.
Not surprisingly, Mystique has had the highest profile and undergone the biggest changes. She now has her own solo series, for one thing, and it's selling relatively well. In it, she grudgingly does undercover missions for Charles Xavier, under the threat of being turned over to the US government. She works with a miniature handler named Shortpack, and also occasionally with Forge, with whom she was romantically linked some years ago. But before the series began, she was up to some rather hardcore terrorist activities and had a falling out with daughter Rogue, and they haven't been friendly since. She first became angry at Rogue when her daughter chose to go on an important X-Men mission rather than help her de-powered mother in prison, and then later Mystique and Rogue actually stabbed each other during a confrontation on Muir Island. Mystique had formed a second Brotherhood of Mutants and sent them to assassinate Senator Kelly, while also creating and unleashing a modified Legacy Virus to kill all humans. She destroyed Muir in an explosion, which ultimately killed Moira MacTaggert. Later, she slit Banshee's throat and took over his X-Corps to wreak destruction in Europe. She occasionally did some lighter deeds in the midst of all this, such as helping to save the future in X-Men Forever, but for the most part, her activities over the past five years have been rather cruel and villainous. She's possibly being redeemed in her own series at the moment, but she has a lot to make up for.
Pyro had a notable change over the past five years: he died. The Legacy Virus finally killed him shortly before a cure was found. He also became an advocate of mutant-human harmony, pleading with Senator Kelly to work for peace after saving him from the new Brotherhood. Obviously this required him to turn against his former comrades in the Brotherhood, who had sought to assassinate Kelly again, and Pyro killed Post to protect the one man he thought could stop the mutant-human war (unfortunately, Kelly was killed by a human the next day). Pyro later appeared as a red-headed ghost or spirit or something like it, hanging out with fellow dead guys Stonewall and Super Sabre---and oddly, Stryfe, who created the Legacy Virus and is thus a person Pyro might have a reasonable grudge against. They were all attacking Wolverine for some unstated reason, even though Pyro got along pretty well with him in recent years. Rather nonsensical...
I've been rather disappointed with Avalanche's appearances since this site opened. While he seemed to be going on something of a redemption theme in the 1990s, in part looking to make up for what he'd done to his best friend Pyro, there was absolutely no contact/connection between the two of them at the second Kelly assassination attempt (nor has Avalanche mentioned him since his death). He was part of the Brotherhood trying to kill all humans with the modified Legacy Virus, and later was up to no good with Banshee's X-Corps. While he may have joined the X-Corps under legitimate means or been coerced (it was never stated), he then went with Mystique's team to destroy Paris, and he even crumbled the Eiffel Tower...all right, that was cool ;) He killed Radius, and was present when Sunpyre, a teenage girl, was beaten to death. Recently, he was destroying part of New York City for no apparent reason. It seems that much of his characterization in the past decade has been forgotten, for there hasn't even been an explanation for his changes. I'd be happier if we found out why he's changed.
Blob is the same old Blob. After the apparent dissolution of his own Brotherhood, he's been in many of the same issues as Avalanche, also part of Mystique's second Brotherhood and the X-Corps. He seems to have been the one who beat Sunpyre to death, although it was never explicitly stated. He and Avalanche have been paired up for many of their recent appearances except the destruction in NYC, and it's possible they've become closer now that Pyro is dead. They were hanging out together in civilian clothes in Seattle when they were attacked by Weapon X, a debacle that saw the two of them easily beaten up.
Spiral has had a very low profile, appearing in only a couple of issues over the past five years. She was involved in an X-Babies adventure, having helped to create some of them, and briefly met up with the Exiles. It was claimed in the Exiles story that there's only one Mojoverse, one Mojo, one Spiral, etc, in all the Multiverse(s), although perhaps that has yet to be confirmed.
Stonewall and Super Sabre, still dead since their Freedom Force days, appeared once as ghosts or spirits (presumably that's what they were). For reasons unexplained, they were attacking Wolverine's ghost/spirit, even though they'd scarcely known him when alive.
Destiny also appeared as a ghost in recent years, although I cannot remember if her one appearance as such was just before this site opened, or just after. She remains dead and paired up with the ghost of Legion, the boy who killed her and seemingly had her trapped in his mind until he too died. However, she became very prominent in the X-Men comics when the plotline about her old Diaries was introduced; Mystique and some of the X-Men searched for them until apparently deciding they'd negated the frustrating (and often gloomy) predictions Destiny had made as a teenager.
It's nice that the FFers haven't been forgotten, with the unfortunate exception of Commando. I haven't liked some of the things done with them over the past five years, but it's good to see them around the Marvel Universe in some way or another. I hope that none of the still-living ones are killed anytime soon, and that they continue to have merry adventures for the foreseeable future.
