In 2001, the various X-teams were set up for a relaunch as Joe Quesada became Marvel Comics editor-in-chief. One team that was on the relaunch list was X-Force. Peter Milligan, who was the writer for Vertigo’s Shade, The Changing Man, came on board along with artist Mike Allred to revamp the team.
The two made waves in the industry as the X-Statix team was launched with X-Force #116. The team and series represented many changes to the comic book industry as a whole, including the focus on media representation and accidentally changing the general rating system in place at the time.
10 10. Started As X-Force
The team was introduced as the interlude between the drama the original X-Force team was facing, including losing multiple members and having the others disappear. Fans of the X-Force were shocked to find the typical black-ops style team replaced by camera-happy mutants. In this issue, the X-Statix original team lead by Zeitgeist is shown in their day-to-day life as celebrity heroes under the name of X-Force.
In X-Force 117, the real team, consisting of Domino, Cannonball, Meltdown, and Warpath, attack a press conference and demand the name back. The new team continues for a little over ten issues before being shifted to their own series as X-Statix.
9 9. Princess Diana?
After her death in 1997, there were not many places that covered the death of Diana, Princess of Whales in a comedic way, as her loss was seen as deeply tragic. When Peter Milligan was ready to introduce some new characters, he made headlines as he planned to bring Princess Diana back to life in comics, as a mutant.
Thus the character Henrietta Hunter was born. Well, reborn technically. Marvel found out that the Princess Diana idea was causing a major backlash. Instead of wiping the character, they settled on rebranding the character as a deceased pop star instead of the beloved princess.
8 8. Media Superstars Before New Warriors
One of the most well-known traits of the New Warriors is that time they had a reality television show, which led to the complete destruction of Stamford, Connecticut. However, they were not the first major team to have a television show following their team. They also weren’t the last, as the recent West Coast Avengers series tried to run with the same idea.
X-Statix was the made for TV team that didn’t hesitate to show the behind-the-scenes truth that everyone assumes is happening. Coming at the beginning of the reality tv craze, X-Statix made the idea look glamourous and horrifying at the same time.
7 7. Team Members
With a roster that has boasted over 20 members in its time, X-Statix has remained a well-populated team that showed off a variety of different mutants that wouldn’t get the limelight in any other X-series.
Most of the characters haven’t made appearances outside of X-Statix, with the exception of Doop and Dead Girl, but that doesn’t mean the team didn’t have great heroes. The team’s version of Beast was a gay werewolf novelist. One of the longest-lasting members is Anarchist, a black hero whose mutant power is to sweat acid and turn it into energy bolts. Those are only two members, and there are 20 more like them.
6 6. Slaughtering the Team
X-Force 116 was when the team launched, however, only Doop, U-Go-Girl, and Anarchist actually make it to issue 117. That is because the rest of the original team, consisting of Zeitgeist, Battering Ram, Gin Genie, La Nuit, Plazm, and Sluk, didn’t make it past the first issue of the new team.
The deaths do not stop there because the team routinely goes on to be slaughtered over and over. Team leaders and staples, like U-Go-Girl, Anarchist, and Mister Sensitive have all spent some amount of time being dead, which Milligan used as a joke on the state of death in comics. That’s what happens when one of your characters is literally named Dead Girl.
5 5. Dead Girl
Speaking of Dead Girl, she has the most appearances outside of the X-Statix team than any other teammate, except Doop. As a mixture of a ghost and zombie, she has the mutant abilities of accelerated healing, communication with the dead, intangibility, super strength, and speed.
Her powers come in handy, notably when she starred in her own miniseries, X-Statix Presents: Dead Girl, which featured her teaming up with various Hell residents such as Kraven the Hunter and former teammate and lover Anarchist. She also has some involvement with Stephen Strange that is hinted at but not explored in the series.
4 4. Doop
Created for X-Statix, Doop is the longest-running character, having transcended the series. He is a floating green blob that speaks his very own language called “Doopspeak.” During his time on the team, he acts as the defacto cameraman, using his powers to allow him to be anywhere and everywhere to catch the shot, though he is bad about his camera angles around the female team members.
Doop is a friend to Wolverine and the rest of the X-Men, even asking a favor of Wolverine in the original series. He is probably the most powerful team member as well with his strength, durability, healing factor, flight, object replication, and his body being an extra-dimensional wormhole that he can access freely.
3 3. Comics Code Authority
Between 1968 and 2002, Marvel submitted their comics to the Comics Code Authority. The Comics Code Authority was a rating system that was implemented in the 1950s due to increasing public concerns that comics were becoming too sexualized and violent.
In 2002, when X-Force 116 was sent to the CCA, they rejected the comic due to its levels of gore. Rather than change the content, Marvel decided to use the opportunity to create their own system. Thanks to this team, Marvel as a whole stopped submitting to the CCA, which shut down in 2011 as DC Comics and Archie Comics, the last publishers using the code stopped.
2 2. A Parody
Peter Milligan and Mike Allred knew that they were going to be creating something different with X-Statix. Instead of tackling the typical team issues, they decided to use the new team to poke fun at the industry, especially on the flippant use of death in comics.
With a series that opened with the death of over half of its team, there was no way to take the series as seriously as the typical X-Men series. The series does tackle lots of serious issues across its run, but it shines in its satire of the industry. Milligan even included the “real X-Force” in his second issue as a response to the initial fan backlash.
1 1. X-Cellent
X-Statix returned to needy hands everywhere with the July 2019 released, Giant Size X-Statix. This comic focused on the various living members of the team coming back together alongside the children of the heroes who had been lost over the years, such as U-Go-Girl, Phat, and Anarchist to face off against Zeitgeist, who survived his death in the first issue.
This one-shot Giant Size issue was laying the ground for the X-Statix sequel series, The X-Cellent. The new series looks to follow the X-Statix team as they face off against the Zeitgeist’s new evil team. U-Go-Girl’s daughter was the focus of the issue, so she is likely going to be as big of a focus as her mother was in the original series.