After Blaisdell told Barlow/Rogue that it was time for him and his friends to make the supreme sacrifice, Barlow (who had suffered some degree of head wound) reversed his position and decided to follow orders.

(Cloak & Dagger III#10) - After learning the group's origins, Cloak and Dagger were quite sympathetic. Blaisdell and his soldiers then located them, along with Rogue, who told his teammates to fulfill their obligations to their republic or her would have to help M Branch kill them.

    Cloak and Dagger helped fight off Rogue and the soldiers and teleported Dr. Moon and the other three to the Holy Ghost Church, where the soldiers could not find them. Dagger used her powers to clear the drugs and radiation from the former X-Force members' systems, apparently curing them.

    The fugitives then took new names -- the Wall (formerly Colossus), Bedlam (formerly Havok), and Tempest (formerly Storm) -- and they decided to go out on their own. Dr. Moon joined them, planning to provide them with medical and financial assistance as they attempted to elude M Branch

COMMENTS: Created by Terry Austin and Mike Vosberg.

    There were not great images of the team and there were no images of some of the characters in the original stories. Mike Vosberg was kind enough to provide us with copies of original sketches of the characters, from which the main image was drawn for their entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update 2010#2.

    Additionally, Terry Austin was kind enough to provide the following information:

    As late as my script for that issue, I was calling the group THE UNCONTROLLABLE XYZ MEN.  According to what I wrote back then, the world thought that the X-Men had died at that point in time and a Government Project had been initiated to create a more trustworthy superhero team by performing experiments on loyal soldiers who would be accustomed to following orders without question and assigned them the names of the "dead" X-Men.  As I recall now, the name XYZ MEN was meant to reflect the fact that their various abilities came as the result of being exposed to multiple triggers-- Cosmic Rays, Gamma Radiation, and whatever else was around the Marvel Universe at the time that had caused mutations.  Also, my finished script repeatedly refers to the branch of the Government responsible for all this as Q BRANCH.

    So, later,  the XYZ MEN was changed to X-FORCE and Q BRANCH to M BRANCH.  I don't believe the Q in Q Branch stood for anything.  As for the M in M Branch, I suspect the person that changed it was a literal thinker and decided it stood for Mutant, but I have no proof of that.  Personally, I think it's more mysterious as just a letter so that we don't actually know if it means anything or not.....

    I have xeroxes of Mike Vosburg's designs for the XYZ MEN, complete with their quasi-military uniforms utilizing XYZ patches on the armbands of their coats and the belts of their uniforms underneath.  I don't think we saw them in issue # 10 but we intended to use them in the sequel in #12.  Mike drew Wolverine and Longshot in the group shot but there's no sign of Psylocke.  Also, since they all died before our story started, I didn't bother to establish their real names, so feel free to do so yourself if necessary.  Maybe it's more effective if they're all the modern equivilent of The Unknown Soldier...

    It occurs to me that some of my old notes, written next to Mike's character designs, may help you now: 

DAZZLER (Kimberly Schau): "Wounded, left for dead in # 10.  Feeling betrayed by being left (behind) by (her) friends, she is on the Government's side vs. the XYZ Men in # 12.  Light producing powers but with electricity/ shocking feedback through her own body.  She will "see the light" and die using her powers against Rogue to help her old pals in #12."

STORM (William Read): "Explosive personality-- sleeps 65% of the time.  Volatile when awake, raging.  Doctor may keep him sedated.  Can control elements but only of manufactured origin (air, water, fire) gasses, gasoline, matches, etc.  TEMPEST in #12." 

COLOSSUS (Sgt. Lemuel Sullivan): Army Sgt.  Introvert, intellectual, pacifist.  Believes in solving problems through intellectual approach, but when all else fails-- POW!  Grayish skin color (Gamma Radiation).  Great physical strength and added insight.  THE BRICK or THE WALL in # 12."

HAVOK (Bermuda Schwartz): "Quasi-hypnotic powers-- can transform your sense of reality-- place you in Daliesque nightmarish backgrounds (real or imagined?) but cannot effectively control power... so may affect friends as well as foes.  Like pointing a gun without being able to aim it...  BEDLAM in # 12." 

ROGUE (Victor Barlow): "Causes intense physical pain as he leeches the calcium from your bones by physical contact.  Can actually drain your system dry of calcium, leaving you a yeechy pool of flesh on the floor.  Ruthless, vindictive, nasty."

WOLVERINE:  "More animal than man-- killed in # 10.  Suffering ended." 

LONGSHOT:  "Not used."

    So, thanks to Mike, we know what Wolverine and Longshot would have looked like but not who they were or what abilities they had.  I suspect that I added the name Psylocke to my script as another dead team member because someone had pointed out to me that there had been someone by  that name in the actual X-Men before they "died," as obviously he or she wasn't in my plot or Mike would have sent along a character design.   

    Why, you might ask, did we never do the follow-up story planned for issue # 12?  As you can probably tell from the name changes after the final script was turned in (and I have evidence of here in my hands of my original, very different plot and the last minute revised plot I sent along to Mike V ) the new Editor on the book decided that my function was to write stories that he would then make me change into the stories that he would have written if he was the writer on the book.  So, I decided that my time would be better spent than fruitlessly arguing with the guy who ultimately had the power to change anything and everything he wanted as soon as the plots and scripts left my hands.  Mike fled the premises first and I stayed behind for a few more issues in an attempt to "fix" all of Marvel's toys that I had "broken" so that the next writer could start fresh.  The main thing I needed to do was to give Dagger back her eyesight-- the rest had to do with putting right some of the supporting cast, as I recall.

    Sorry to go on so long. I hope some it helps. 

Terry Austin

    The original picture of the first seven members showed Wolverine, who was mentioned as the second to die. Psylocke was not shown initially, but was mentioned in their origin, and was mentioned as the first to die. Another time, Longshot was listed as the first to die. Longshot and Psylocke were listed as the two dead on their hospital file, while Wolverine was still listed as alive at that time.
    Presumably, they are all dead.
    Although X-Force's handbook profile in OHotMU A-Z Update 2010#2 speculated that Wolverina (from Carnage: It's a Wonderful Life) was X-Force's Wolverine...somehow femizined)

    The next issue blurb stated, "The Hunted and Betrayed X-Force will return!" I guess they really like to build that suspense.

    X-Force did make one more appearance: Marvel Age#102 (July, 1991), in Fred Hembeck's page: Hembeck had Bedlam and Tempest on to discuss their new series, X-Force. they were both excited, but surprised that no one from Marvel had called them, with the first issue due out any day. Cannonball showed up and revealed that the series would be about the former New Mutants. A rumble nearly ensued, until Hembeck called in Phyllis Twombly, aka Origin, to settle the dispute. She revealed that Marvel had requested that she turn the name over to the new group, and she had complied.

    I'm thinking there are probably 4 or 5 people reading comics today who remember these guys.

    Connection between the original X-Force and the Exemplars (As two members from each team share names with two from the other team)? Probably not, but it would be a good story.

    Real names for Longshot, Psylocke and Wolverine were revealed in X-Force's profile in OHotMU A-Z Update 2010#2.

CLARIFICATIONS:
(take a deep breath) X-Force has no connection to:

• X-Force the mutant group that evolved from the New Mutants under Cable--New Mutants#100
• X-Force, the mutant group of government sponsored agents, formerly led by the Coach--X-Force I#116
• Various other X-Force incarnations serving covertly to permanently eliminate threats...I honestly can't keep track of them all...