Marvel’s “Civil War” event may have divided the superhero community, but it reunited a classic team of mutants.
Marvel’s “Civil War” event did a lot to divide the superhero community in a way it never had before, by forcing them to choose between autonomy or acceptance. With the Superhuman Registration Act in full swing, the conflict over whether or not to sign had split the superhero community down the middle, with long time friends viewing each other as enemies in the ensuing moral conflict. But while “Civil War” managed to sow discord among the planet’s heroes, it did also bring some of them together. More specifically, it reunited a classic team of Mutants: X-Force.
In David Hine, Yannick Paquette, and Rus Wooton’s Civil War: X-Men #1, following the events of “M-Day,” the remaining Mutants retreated to the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning as a sanctuary for their devastated numbers. But with the formation of the Office of National Emergency, or O*N*E, the remaining members of the Mutant species were placed under the jurisdiction of armed soldiers and manned Sentinels. With their movements restricted to the grounds of the Xavier Institute and no choice to leave, the Mutants, calling themselves the 198, were essentially prisoners.
This was a thought shared by Domino and Shatterstar. Tired of seeing their people persecuted once again the duo reunited, planning a daring breakout in the middle of the night to free the 198. Blowing up the walls of the Institute, Domino and Shatterstar reunited with Caliban, reforming X-Force, and together, they managed to distract O*N*E forces long enough to get the 198 out of the Institute and somewhere safe.
That safe place just so happened to be a government bunker that had been defunct for decades. Domino believed that it was the perfect place to hide from the government as they would not think to look for fugitives in one of their own bases. It was also hilariously ironic. The bunker itself was designed as a nuclear fallout shelter with enough supplies to care for the Mutants that X-Force had rescued. But while Domino and Shatterstar got the base up and running, Caliban went searching and found something he “didn’t like”
X-Force may not have been the focus of the comic, but their actions did prompt its main characters to examine what they were doing and decide for themselves if they were in the right. When X-Force absconded with the 198, it finally pushed the original X-Men to stop sitting on the fence of the conflict and admit to themselves that they couldn’t condone what was happening or how they were being used. Finally deciding to stand with their people, Cyclops, Beast, Archangel, and Iceman went out in search of the 198, finding them with help from Captain America.
While Domino and Shatterstar were suspicious, they did agree to at least hear Cyclops out, but they couldn’t have anticipated the arrival of O*N*E so quickly, nor the actions of a treasonous soldier within the organization manipulating events to escalate the conflict between the X-Men and O*N*E. But while they managed to get a handle on the situation, the ending of Civil War: X-Men #3 revealed that the bunker was storing several experimental WMDs that were about to go off and the 198 had been trapped inside.
The final issue in the series, Civil War: X-Men #4, saw all sides working to prevent the near-total annihilation of the remaining the mutants. Here, X-Force demonstrates their dedication to doing whatever is necessary for the prosperity of their people, even putting aside their animosity for their oppressors long enough to save the few mutants left from extinction. By the end of the issue, the X-Men, O*N*E, and X-Force stood together triumphantly, reminded of how their conflict with each other can place those they’re seeking to protect in harm’s way.
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