Spinning off from the New Mutants, X-Force became a (pardon the pun) force to be reckoned with in the '90s. No longer were the X-Men the saviors of human and mutant kind in the Marvel universe, but there was a new, by-any-means-necessary team ready to do the dirty work. As the story goes, comic-book creator Rob Liefeld wanted to freshen things up and conjured up the new team in New Mutants #100 in April 1991 before the group received its own eponymous book. The first version of the dream team featured Cable, Cannonball, Copycat, Feral, Shatterstar, Boom-Boom, and Warpath.

Explaining his reasoning for creating the team to Fandango, Liefeld said, "You know, back when I created X-Force, as a fan I was kind of tired with the X-Men. They had become what I would say kind of a mopey group. A mopey bunch of people. They were always drowned in their own sorrows, and I like action." Fans agreed, as X-Force sold as many copies as Spider-Man and Wolverine in the '90s, proving to be a hit and establishing new characters in the X-verse. Taking a stroll down memory lane, we've identified some of the best X-Force members, whom we believe are even better than Professor Xavier's noobs.

15 DEADPOOL

Look, the Merc with the Mouth isn't exactly the teammate anyone wants. He's unpredictable, unstable, and about as inconspicuous as a tyrannosaurus in a toy store. That said, if you're in a no-holds-barred fight, he's the sort of ally you need in your corner. He isn't afraid to make the big decisions or pull the trigger if necessary; something that irks Professor Xavier to no end.

Deadpool has been both an adversary and ally to X-Force, but he's certainly more useful as a friend than he is as a foe.

In Deadpool 2 Wade Wilson is credited as the founder of X-Force after Weasel puts out word for members. Predictably, things don't go as planned and another stab at the group's origin will probably be attempted in the forthcoming X-Force film. While a lot of liberties were taken in the David Leitch-directed movie, the one facet of X-Force's origin remained intact: the influence of Deadpool. He might not be part of the original team, but he played a pivotal part in making the mutant group as popular as it is today. In fact, his over-the-top nature complements X-Force much like pineapple on pizza (don't start, because you know this combination is delicious).

14 DOMINO

domino-header

Our first introduction to Domino was a catfish. Instead of being Neena Thurman in the getup, it was Vanessa Carlysle, aka Copycat, pretending to be the "lucky" mutant. It took some time, but we finally got to meet the real Domino – and boy, are we glad that we did. As a member of X-Force, you don't get many heroes who are capable of going toe to toe with the bad guys like she can. Not only is she an expert in hand-to-hand combatant, but she's also adept at marksmanship, making her one of the best all-rounders of the team.

Domino made her live-action debut in Deadpool 2, as played by German-born actress Zazie Beetz. As expected, the trolls got their Cheeto-stained panties in a bunch about the skin color of the actress portraying a fictional character, but Beetz proved all her doubters wrong as she put on a master class of a performance that didn't rely purely on luck. We didn't get to see the traces of the romance that the character shares with Cable in the comic-book series, but we're sure that this relationship will be explored in the X-Force film. Frankly, we can't wait to see Domino back on the big screen again.

13 SHATTERSTAR

When you're a genetically engineered warrior from Mojoworld, it's kind of difficult to suck as a character. At the same time, Shatterstar is the most outrageous, yet so distinctly '90s, X-Force member. Make no mistake, he's a complete product of his time (and we're surprised he doesn't listen to Vanilla Ice and have a catchphrase like "bogus" or "radical"), but that's what makes him so appealing to longtime readers. He's no slouch in the powers department, either, as he's blessed with superhuman strength, accelerated healing factor, and teleportation skills among other gifts.

In fact, he's probably excellent at cutting up pizza with his swords as well.

Shatterstar made his first live-action appearance in Deadpool 2, as played by Lewis Tan. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see a lot of the character, but from what we saw, Tan nailed the role. Additionally, it helped that his outfit was just as ridiculous as his early '90s attire. If Rictor is introduced in a future film as well, it'll be interesting to see if Fox explores his relationship with Shatterstar on screen. Deadpool 2 already broke the mold with Yukio and Teenage Negasonic Warhead's relationship, so let's see if they continue to represent other characters, too.

12 SUNSPOT

Sunsopt in his solar form

There's constant chatter about which Marvel character could take down Superman in a fight. Many people believe the solution to be the Hulk or Thor, but we've all been looking in the wrong place. The answer is Sunspot. With the ability to absorb and re-channel solar energy, he could be one of the greatest threats to the Man of Steel if he mastered the full extent of his abilities. Black out the sun and Supes is a goner, folks.

Interestingly, Bobby da Costa rejected the idea of X-Force when it changed from New Mutants and split from the X-Men. He spent time away from the group before finally rejoining the team. While he's normally portrayed as one of the youngest members of the group, he's arguably the most powerful in terms of his abilities. The Human Torch might fly around in a ball of flames (and be more popular because he's part of the Fantastic Four), but Sunspot has an even richer depth of talents at his disposal. Heck, his powers certainly surpass Jubilee's ability to shoot fireworks from her fingertips. Like we said, this is the guy who could truly do some real damage to Superman without needing to rely on kryptonite.

11 CANNONBALL

X-Force's Cannonball flying full-tilt in Marvel Comics

The southern gentleman known as Cannonball is the type of hero who promotes the values of hard work, honesty, and loyalty. Sam Guthrie is the ultimate company man and someone you'd want by your side at all times. While Cable took the reins as the leader of X-Force, Cannonball was second in command and the field leader of the team. He proved his worth in his position and it wasn't long until the X-Men came knocking on his door, offering him a better health insurance and working from home benefits to join them.

In addition, Cannonball's family might very well be the Kings of Leon of the Marvel universe.

He has a bunch of siblings scattered throughout the superhero game; therefore, ensuring that he feels more at home and in comfortable company. That said, he received the best powers of the lot as he's able to fly at jet speeds while forming an almost-impenetrable blast field around himself. Such a superpower isn't only useful in combat situations, but it also helps him avoid using American Airlines and receiving a beating from them if the flight is too full. How awesome would it be to get to your destination quicker and without having to deal with airport queues and arrogant airlines?

10 FERAL

Feral X-Force

Much like her name implies, Feral is a wild and violent character. In fact, she's X-Force's answer to Wolverine – even though she might be more brutal than the Ol' Canucklehead. Created by Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza, the cat-like mutant made her first appearance in New Mutants #99 in March 1991. At the time, she was under the rule of the Morlock known as Masque and looking for a way out. Cable saved her and she agreed to join X-Force, becoming a valuable and dangerous member of the team.

In some of Feral's earlier adventures, she broke Wildside's jaw and badly injured Cannonball in combat training. As both a hero and villain, she's shown that she isn't afraid of getting her claws dirty when she has to. It's this quality that makes her a volatile quantity, and an asset to whichever side she's representing. While she's tried to lean more towards the heroic side of things, her aggressive nature can't be curbed for too long. The fact that she can battle both Wolverine and Sabretooth and live to tell the tale says all you need to know about her. Feral is one mutant whom you don't want to get on the wrong side of.

9 ZEITGEIST

Zeitgeist X-Force Mike ALlred

There comes a time when all the best superpowers are taken and creators are forced to experiment with the strange and wacky. In the case of Axel Cluney, aka Zeitgeist, his ability is a bit of social joke and play on his codename. Instead of the power of flight or super-strength, he spews acid vomit. Yes, you read that right. Now, look, this isn't the same sort of throwing-up power we all develop after a bad Big Mac burger trip, but legitimate acid bile that can burn throw bone and steel. Sort of like Reptile from Mortal Kombat.

Face it: Zeitgeist is the real MVP of X-Force.

Zeitgeist, played by Bill Skarsgård, appeared in Deadpool 2, where we got to see the extent of his barfing skills. A nice touch was the addition of the protective mouthpiece, as seen in the comic books, which prevents the guy from putting holes in all his favorite shirts (and chest) if there's a burp gone rogue. It's a disgusting superpower, but it sure beats some other lame ones like shooting laser beams from the eyes. What? It was cool when the xenomorphs did it in the Alien series, so why not as a mutant superpower? Face it: Zeitgeist is the real MVP of X-Force.

8 TABITHA SMITH

 

Boom-Boom X-Force

Tabitha Smith is a mutant who goes by many names. She's been known to go by the likes of Boom-Boom, Time Bomb, Boomer, and Meltdown. Nonetheless, her personality and powers have remained consistent as she's been a true "ticking time bomb" with explosive potential and ability. Her story is reminiscent to many other mutants, who've struggled with difficult parents because of their mutation. After a blowout with her father, who beat her, she ran away from home and embarked on a zigzagged path that led to her becoming a hero with several superhero groups.

As Boom-Boom, she has a fan in the form of writer Warren Ellis. The fabled scribe admitted that Boom-Boom is his favorite superhero name since it's so outrageous and because the character can blow things up. As a result, he selected her to be a member of his Nextwave series. It's easy to see how such an explosive personality could fit into Ellis' humorous comic book series, but she's more than just a punchline, though. She's widely considered one of X-Force's most memorable characters and she embodies a period where the team was arguably stronger and more popular than the X-Men. In fact, she's the heart and soul of that era.

7 BEDLAM

Bedlam in X-Force

When a mutant's codename is Bedlam, you better be certain that he's all about the chaos and damage. True to his name, Jesse Aaronson's abilities include the potential to disable electromagnetic field-powered equipment, scanning and perceiving of energy fields, and scrambling of the human brain's neural chemistry. His last power arrived after High Evolutionary reset the mutant genome, which actually worked out well for Bedlam in this case.

Who wouldn't want to scramble another human's brain, especially a work colleague who insists on blaring the horrendous "Despacito" in the office?

Proving that his popularity is stretching beyond the comics, Bedlam appeared in Deadpool 2, portrayed by Terry Crews. We'll try to avoid posting spoilers here, so let's just say that we hope to see more of this mutant in the near future. With Crews' comedic talents and the character's incredible abilities, the potential for Bedlam to be a breakout star is there. While he's unlikely to ever become as famous as the likes of Deadpool and Wolverine, he could certainly become one of the standouts of the X-Force film, which is set to be written and directed by Drew Goddard. After all, a little more Crews in our lives is good for us.

6 RICTOR

Rictor

If you think that the extent of Rictor's fame is being Shatterstar's boyfriend, well, you're wrong. He's been around for 31 years now and featured in the various incarnations of X-Force. Plus, he has some pretty sweet mutant abilities, as he's able to generate and manipulate seismic energies. While he was created by Louise Simonson and Walt Simonson for X-Factor, his character development came courtesy of Fabian Nicieza's run on X-Force. Since then, we've seen Rictor hop between teams, but his time on X-Force will always be cherished the most by readers.

While Rictor didn't make an appearance in Deadpool 2's version of X-Force, he's already featured in Fox's X-Men universe – something that eagle-eyed fans may have spotted in 2017's Logan. The mutant appears as a child going by his real name of Julio Richter, and was portrayed by actor Jayson Genao. He was a part of the same X-23 program that created Laura Kinney and served as the leader of the group of kids who escaped Zander Rice and the Reavers. Interestingly, Logan found files that listed the mutant Avalanche as the genetic template for Rictor. It's a departure from the comic-book origins of both mutants, but a nice twist to the story, nonetheless.

5 BLOKE

Bloke X-Force

In X-Men: The Animated Series, Morph became a martyr and beloved character as he met his demise in the two-part pilot, "Night of the Sentinels" (only to come back later but that's a story for another time). In much the same way, Bloke should be remembered for what he did in his short-lived stint with X-Force. While he's renowned for his distinct colors and look, he should be immortalized for his final act. In his last moment he saved informant Diego Ardilles from gunfire, sacrificing his own life in the process.

Seriously, how many X-Men actually sacrifice their lives and stay dead? They're like cockroaches that survive the nuclear apocalypse.

Created by Peter Milligan and Mike Allred, Bloke worked as the vigilante Rainbow in San Francisco before joining X-Force. His superpowers included superhuman strength, reflexes, endurance, durability, and the ability to blend in with his surroundings like a chameleon. Any superhero would love to have just one taste of those powers, yet Bloke had them all. While a host of superheroes linger around, outstaying their welcomes in their respective teams, this chameleon-like mutant came in, did what he had to, and then checked in to the big, white hotel in the sky. R.I.P. Bloke.

4 MISTER SENSITIVE

Mister Sensitive X-Force

There was a weird time in the early '00s when Marvel lost the plot a bit (okay, a lot) and decided to revamp its line-up in bizarre ways. As a result, X-Force turned into X-Statix – yes, it's that cringeworthy and no one wants to remember this period but we shall. Despite the ridiculous name, some of the mutants around this time weren't all that bad – namely Mister Sensitive, aka Orphan, aka Guy Smith. He possessed a variety of powers, but his most obvious came from his mutation that consisted of two antennae protruding from his head.

These "feelers" enabled him with enhanced senses, both emotional or physical, and gave him a superhuman reaction rate to it. In other words, Mister Sensitive could tell if you were down and offer you an ice cream to make things better, or whether he should leave you alone for a while. One of the side effects of his power was that if he sensed too much, he could overload and have a seizure. It required Professor Xavier's intervention and assistance to help him "numb" his senses and live an ordinary life. Still, you can't deny that his power is like the next evolution of Peter Parker's Spider-Sense.

3 SIRYN

Siryn

When you're the daughter of Banshee and have a similar power set to him, you have a lot to live up to. In the case of Theresa Cassidy, aka Siryn, she may have surpassed her old men in terms of both relevance and cool factor. As one of the first members of X-Force, she joined the team early in its inception and remained a regular for almost 100 issues. Nowadays, she's remembered as being a part of X-Factor, but we'll always know which team she was initially a part of.

We'd bank on her being introduced in the forthcoming X-Force film, though, since she's a crucial part of the team's history.

Additionally, Siryn is also known for being a love interest of Deadpool. In fact, it's surprising that we haven't seen a hint of her in the films yet, since she played such a pivotal part in the Merc with the Mouth's early series. For heaven's sake, her uncle Black Tom Cassidy made an appearance in Deadpool 2, so why not Theresa? Yes, Siryn has appeared in X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand in small cameo roles, but isn't it time that we find out more about her and that she's more than just Marvel's version of Black Canary? We'd bank on her being introduced in the forthcoming X-Force film, though, since she's a crucial part of the team's history.

2 WARPATH

Warpath X-Force

Gone are the days when Warpath was seen purely as Thunderbird's angrier, younger brother. James Proudstar has surpassed his sibling in every way – even if it wasn't too difficult considering that John had the unfortunate distinction of being one of the X-Men's short-lived members. Nowadays, we see the Apache as one of the strongest and fastest mutants in the X-verse – plus, it doesn't hurt that he's always had some of the coolest threads around. Throw in the fact that he's a founding member of X-Force as well, and Warpath should be seen as royalty in Marvel Comics.

In terms of origin stories, Warpath has a compelling one. Initially, he was driven by revenge, blaming Professor Xavier for his brother's demise. As a result, he joined Emma Frost's Hellions and became an adversary to the X-Men and New Mutants. When the opportunity to get payback arrived, he chose the path of virtue and didn't attack Xavier. Eventually, he left the Hellions, but after his former teammates attacked his family's reservation, he joined the New Mutants, and thus X-Force. While we've seen Warpath in the live-action adaptation of X-Men: Days of Future Past, as portrayed by Booboo Stewart, the chances are high we'll see him turn up in the X-Force movie as well.

1 CABLE

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It's hard not to like Cable. He's like the Clint Eastwood of the Marvel universe – sneering, tough as nails, and the guy whom you'd love to tease to see how far you can push him before he punches you in the face. Mind you, he's from the future, so he's undoubtedly gone through all the nonsense we're only experiencing now. It's likely that in his timeline this era of humanity is known as the one with the wealth of information in their back pocket, but would much rather prefer to argue with complete strangers on the internet about comic-book movies.

Real Talk: Nathan Summers is the leader the X-Men should've had from the beginning

Jokes (and the truth) aside, Nathan Summers is the leader the X-Men should've had from the beginning (impossible, we know, but still). Cable is out there on the frontlines and fighting for his people, while the likes of Storm and Cyclops are your typical middle management characters – always whining about your timekeeping and asking you why you didn't fill in your weekly Excel spreadsheets. Fortunately, the mutant from the future didn't inherit his father, Scott's, accountant personality and is his own man. While there are a host of superheroes who shirk from responsibility, he's the one to raise his hand to do the difficult things.