The New Mutants joined Xavier’s dream for peace between humans and mutants, but Cable’s proactive vision led them to rebel and form X-Force.
The New Mutants were originally intended as a younger version of the X-Men. This inexperienced team of mutants was still in training, much like Professor Xavier’s original students. The team even wore the matching uniforms which the original X-Men first sported. Not only did the New Mutants indulge Professor Xavier’s love of teaching, but they also perpetuated his dream of peaceful coexistence between mutants and humans, until a proactive soldier named Cable offered them a new path to Xavier’s goal.
Cable embodied the darker side of the mutant existence. Nathan Summers was eventually revealed to be the son of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor, sent into the far future after being infected with the techno-organic virus. In Cable’s future, he became a soldier in the war for mutant survival. The New Mutants’ youthful optimism, juxtaposed with Cable’s grim vision of the future, wouldn’t seem to mesh well. Eventually, however, the New Mutants would transform into X-Force, a new team under Cable’s leadership.
Before meeting Cable, the New Mutants endured several harsh trials. The team was abandoned by both of their mentors, with Professor X leaving for outer space and Magneto returning to his war against humanity. Cypher was also killed during “Fall of the Mutants,” a loss that hit the whole team very hard. Dealing with events such as “The Mutant Massacre” and “Inferno” shaped the young team, leading them to adopt individualized uniforms as a sign of their maturity. With the X-Men seemingly dead, someone had to step up and represent mutant-kind. Moreover, with the X-Mansion burned down, the New Mutants faced an entirely new paradigm.
These events hardened the New Mutants, preparing them for their meeting with the X-Terminators. This militant group of mutants became new members of the team, contrasting the students of the original group. By the time Cable arrived, the New Mutants needed a new sense of direction. Even after Cable led the New Mutants on a more aggressive path, the team fell apart. During “X-Tinction Agenda,” Warlock was killed, and Rictor and Wolfsbane stayed in Genosha to rebuild the nation. Skids and Firefists also defected to the Mutant Liberation Front, leaving only Cannonball, Sunspot and Boom-Boom behind. With the New Mutants essentially finished, Cable recruited a more violent group of young mutants to join them, including Copycat (posing as Domino at the time), Shatterstar, Feral, and Warpath. Each of these mutants came from darker backgrounds, understanding the necessity for a more militaristic mutant team. Indeed, Cable trained his new X-Force to become an army. This group of soldiers was trained to proactively strike at threats to mutantkind, instead of taking Professor X’s more passive, peaceful approach. X-Force trained with Cable to fight for their belief in Xavier’s dream, albeit in a more forceful manner. Cable’s slogan was even “Get them before they get you.”