Roster Information
First appearance: All-New X-Factor #1
Membership: Cypher, Danger, D.K II, Gambit, Polaris, Quicksilver, Warlock III
Leaders: Polaris
Associates: Harrison Snow, Linda Kwan, Sunfire (Shiro Hirada)
Before
- Abyss, Reaper and Fatale, having been depowered during M-day, sought aid from Quicksilver to regain their abilities. Using stolen Terrigen Crystals, Quicksilver returned their abilities, but at the cost of turning them into walking timebombs. In order to prevent a massive explosion, Abyss pulled Reaper, Fatale and himself into the interdimensional void within his own body and disappeared. [X-Factor (3rd series) #19-20]
- Traumatized by the events of the Hell on Earth war, Polaris turned to alcohol and got drunk in a bar. When she caused a fight, the police were called. Quicksilver got to her first and tried to calm her down but again the intoxicated Polaris was more interested in fighting. Eventually, they were arrested by the police, at which point Polaris was visited by a mysterious man named Harrison Snow, CEO of Serval Industries, who offered her a job. Snow had purchased the rights to use the X-Factor name from Jamie Maddrox and wanted to form a new group with Polaris leading it. [X-Factor (3rd series) #260, All-New X-Factor #1]
- Snow sets Polaris up in Serval’s Virginia headquarters with a new uniform and the resources to start recruiting her team. [All-New X-Factor #1]
- After leaving X-Factor, Havok became leader of the Unity Squad, a group comprised up of Avengers and X-Men. [Uncanny Avengers (1st series) #1]
Chronology
Polaris’ first recruit for her new X-Factor was Remy Lebeau, Gambit. In a scene reminiscent of her recruitment by Harrison Snow, Lorna approached Remy in a bar. The man, drunk and down in the dumps after being scolded by Wolverine for a foiled burglary, had just won a bar fight. Though dubious, Remy was convinced to accompany Polaris to Virginia to listen to Serval’s offer. During the flight to Virginia, he was astonished when Polaris calmly prevented a missile from destroying jet and wondered what kind of enemies this Serval possessed.
Lorna introduced Remy to Serval’s public relations manager, Linda Kwan, and its CEO, Harrison Snow. Harrison explained to Remy how he wished X-Factor to be the first corporate superhero team; a team dedicated to serving the desires of a company whose main business is helping others. Remy remained dubious but kept his doubts quiet. Quicksilver joined them soon after, having arrived while Polaris was recruiting Gambit. Pietro claimed he had left the Avengers and wished to join his half-sister’s new team, wishing to spend time with his family. While initially taken aback, Lorna accepted his request.
Soon after, the team were sent on their first mission. Noted biologist Doctor Terrance Hoffman had joined AIM and was conducting horrific experiments on mutants, and it was X-Factor’s mission to put a stop to it. After dispatching a few guards, the trio were separated by various traps. Forgoing subtlety, Polaris tore her way through the building until she discovered one of AIM’s mutant victims; Fatale. Hoffman had rescued Fatale, Reaper and Abyss from an extra dimensional void and extracted the excess energy that was killing them. Hoffman then imbued himself with the extracted energy and became a giant, super-human. Despite his increased power, the new X-Factor managed to defeat Hoffman easily enough, reverting him to human size and capturing him. While X-Factor had saved Abyss, Fatale and Reaper, the trio were angry at the presence of Quicksilver, who had been responsible for their predicament in the first place [All-New X-Factor #1-2].
Quicksilver later caught up in secret with Havok for a game of pool, where it was revealed Havok had asked him to join X-Factor to act as his eyes and ears in Serval. Havok didn’t trust Serval and had sent Quicksilver in undercover with the organization to help protect Lorna.
Havok’s concerns were not without merit, however. Indeed, as they met, Harrison Snow revealed to Linda Kwan that he had had a nanobot camera installed within Polaris’ eye that recorded everything she saw. Additionally, X-Factor’s captured foe, Doctor Hoffman, was no longer a prisoner but had been offered by Snow to come work for Serval, a fact Harrison kept from the rest of the team
When Serval’s state of the art servers came under attack, their IT specialist tracked the origin of the attack to a small, uncharted island in the Mediterranean. While on course to the island in their new jet, the Raptor, Gambit revealed the island was actually the headquarters of the Thieves Guild, of which he was currently the leader. He also revealed that the hacker was likely a technomancer named Nils. Upon arriving at the island, they headed directly to Nils and discovered his secret hacking weapon: the robotic entity and former X-Man known as Danger. Polaris immediately ripped Danger free from her restraints but the robot's memory had been wiped by Nils while enslaved and she was now berserk, instantly attacking everyone indiscriminately. After an intense battle, Gambit played a desperate move: he kissed Danger. Surprisingly, the move worked and restored her memory, ending the battle. On the return trip to the States, Remy asked her to join the team, an offer which she accepted. [All-New X-Factor #3-4]
When Harrison Snow invited X-Factor to meet Lemar Smaug, a tech wiz whose corporation Serval planned to buy out, Danger recognized the man as not human and immediately attacked, revealing him to be the Magus. X-Factor battled the Technarch menace but, just as they gain the upper hand, they were interrupted by his son Warlock and the two aliens teleported away. Needing to understand what happened, the team sought out Warlock’s best friend Doug Ramsey, Cypher.
The team visited Doug, who had sequestered himself away in a remote cabin after recent traumatic personal events. Before they were even able to discuss the issue, Danger seemingly attacked Cypher. In actuality, though, she had identified a piece of tech Warlock had placed within Cypher’s heart and removed it. With it, Cypher was able to sense Warlock’s location in Houston, Texas and the team flew there with Doug in tow. Upon arrival, they discovered a massive structure of alien origin. Expecting a fight, they were instead invited inside by the Magus. The Magus explained that the majority of his race had been wiped out as the result of a virus he received after a previous battle with Warlock. He and Warlock had agreed to put aside their hostilities to help their species. However, with X-Factor’s arrival, Warlock decided it was time for him to leave. X-Factor likewise reluctantly left the Magus to whatever he was planning, as technically he was not doing anything illegal, and instead invited both Warlock and Cypher to join X-Factor. [All-New X-Factor #5-6]
When Douglas discovered a web video of the daughter of anti-mutant advocate Scott Dakei seemingly distressed at her life of isolation, he inferred the girl was being held against her will. Though he soon convinced the team to investigate, they decided to make this mission unofficial and snuck off without informing Harrison Snow. Upon arrival, they easily deceived the guards and snuck inside. However, after finding Georgia Dakei, they learned to their surprise that she didn’t want to leave and was actually not as unhappy as her online video had seemed. When Doug, unconvinced, tried to force her to leave, Georgia accidentally revealed her mutant powers and desiccated him, sucking almost all the moisture from his body.
Things escalated quickly as Scott Dakei arrived with his armed guards, while the police set up a barricade outside. Within, the team convinced Georgia to save Douglas, reversing her desiccating attack, and afterward learned that her father had locked her away once her powers had manifested. Into this hopeless situation arrived Harrison Snow, having tracked his teams whereabouts. Snow promptly requested a private meeting with Dakei, implying that they knew each other. Somehow, Snow managed to convince Dakei to not only allow X-Factor to leave without charges being pressed, but to also hand his daughter over to X-Factor. [All-New X-Factor #7-8]
Now in the custody of X-Factor, Georgia began bonding with her various teammates during their flight. Once they arrived at Serval headquarters, a genetic scan was conducted, identifying she was in fact adopted by the Dekais as a baby and her birth mother lived in Minneapolis. Georgia’s happy reunion with her mother was disrupted when her mysterious birth father, who also happened to be a supervillain, quickly showed up, attacked the team and kidnapped his daughter.
Meanwhile, Gambit met an attractive woman as a bar and, after some drinks and flirting, the pair slept together. Unknown to Remy at the time though was that she was Harrison Snow’s wife Angela, who had recently deduced her own husband’s infidelity and wanted to pay him back by sleeping with one of her husband's employees. Things went according to Angela’s plan when the pair was walked in on by Linda Kwan, who promptly notified Harrison Snow. Curiously, the powerful CEO seemed rather unperturbed.
X-Factor assembled in response to Georgia’s kidnapping and Danger was able to track her through thermal imaging to the Mall of America in Minneapolis. The mall in fact belonged to Georgia’s father, Momento Mori, who revealed he had been searching for Georgia and her mother for years, her mother having fled when she was pregnant. Despite his powers, Georgia managed to escape Mori’s clutches and elude his henchmen long enough to connect with X-Factor soon after. Outmatched by the vastly powerful Mori and his army of henchmen, the team requested an immediate teleport from Serval. When the team were teleported out, Gambit was suspiciously left behind to face Mori’s wrath.
Memento Mori tortured Gambit until he accidently revealed he worked for Serval. Hearing this, Mori immediately assembled a team and a ship and went to attack Serval’s headquarters in Virginia. Bringing Gambit along as a hostage, Mori demanded his daughter in exchange for Gambit’s life. Though X-Factor seemingly complied, “Georgia” was in fact Danger, disguised using her holograms. Danger promptly attacked Mori upon entering his ship, with X-Factor joining the fight immediately after.
Nevertheless, Mori proved more than a match for the whole team and was on the verge of victory when Georgia’s mother Dakota appeared. She revealed to him how, years ago, she had cast a spell meant to imbue herself with vast amounts of energy, but it had gone wrong and the power had gone to Mori instead. The power corrupted Mori and drove him to become a super villain, which in turn drove her to flee and give Georgia up for adoption. She now undid her original spell, which released Mori’s vast energies and seemingly incinerated them both, leaving Georgia an orphan. [All-New X-Factor 9-11]
Quicksilver had been meeting with Havok since the team’s inception to keep him informed on X-Factor, Serval and (in particular) Lorna. Convinced that nothing nefarious or dangerous was going on, Havok informed Quicksilver that his mission was done and ordered him back to the Avengers. To his surprise, Quicksilver refused, deciding that his place was with his sister. He also informed Havok he would no longer spy for him either.
Meanwhile, Gambit confronted Harrison Snow, accusing him of deliberately leaving him behind during their last mission. Snow calmly dismissed the accusations, explaining the teleport issue was simply a glitch and he didn’t care about his wife’s affair with Remy.
Other teammates’ interactions fared better. Warlock, who had become smitten with Danger, impressed her by making the effort to change his speech patterns. She thanked him with a kiss. Meanwhile, Georgia vented her frustration at Cypher for her situation, as without him she would still have a home and a family. Eventually, though, she thanked him for coming for her.
Feeling the time had come to make its existence public, Harrison Snow called a press conference to officially debut X-Factor and explain its mission. However, the press conference at Serval HQ was derailed almost as soon as it started when Fatale showed up and fired accusations at Quicksilver about his past actions, in particular how he had blamed many of his wrongdoings on Skrulls after their failed invasion. Rather uncharacteristically, Pietro confessed to his failures, admitting he had blamed them all on Skrulls. [All-New X-Factor #12]
After Pietro’s on air revelations, his daughter Luna came to visit him. Luna had seen him on TV and was concerned for his welfare. The pair, along with Georgia, whom Luna influenced with her abilities to feel more upbeat, went to Colonial Williamsburg to spend the day. Before they could have any fun, though, Quicksilver was attacked by Gorgon of the Inhumans. Gorgon was angered to learn Pietro had truly stolen the Terrigen Crystals from them after the Decimation, and not a Skrull like he had claimed. As the pair fought, Georgia unsuccessfully tried to assist before finally calling for help. Soon after Lorna arrived and broke up the fight, they were joined by Crystal of the Inhumans, who was both Luna’s mother and Pietro’s ex-wife. Despite her reservations, Pietro convinced Crystal to let Luna stay with her ex-husband temporarily. [All-New X-Factor #13]
Lorna was later hit with two surprises in one morning. Firstly Danger, who was becoming curious about human intercourse, nonchalantly asked Lorna if she wanted to have sex. Secondly, Lorna’s sister Wanda, the Scarlet Witch, showed up, looking to spend some “sister time” with her. Feeling very awkward with the two, Lorna took both Wanda and Danger to a Renaissance fair and later a bar, where they got themselves into a few altercations. Wanda later accidently revealed that Havok had sent Quicksilver to join X-Factor and spy on Lorna for him, angering Lorna. [All-New X-Factor #14]
In Between
A clone of the Red Skull, having stolen the brain of the late Charles Xavier and inserted some of the X-Men's leader's cerebrum in his own, uses his new telepathic abilities to plunge the world into anarchy. Due to a spell of the Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange having gone wrong, many of Earth’s heroes, including the X-Men, had their personalities inverted. During the chaos that followed, he X-Men fell to the sway of a newly risen Apocalypse that sought to wipe out mankind. A now inverted Scarlet Witch set out on a murderous path of revenge against Doctor Doom. [Axis Crossover]
Chronology Continued
Warlock was not only unaffected by the Red Skull’s influence but managed to implant each of his teammates with a chip made from himself to protect them also. X-Factor, along with Georgia and Luna, raced around Washington, putting out fires. Quicksilver stole “the Football,” the US president’s mobile nuclear launch device, to prevent an imbalanced president from starting a world war. In response, the president sent a legion of human-piloted Sentinels against Serval’s headquarters. However, the building’s advanced defenses erected a force field around it, preventing the Sentinels from getting inside.
Trying a different method, one of the Sentinel pilots abducted Harrison Snow’s wife Angela, and threated to kill her if Snow didn’t drop the force field. However, the CEO refused, either willing to let his wife die or calling their bluff. Not willing to see an innocent woman die, X-Factor shut the field down themselves and battled the giant machines directly. The battle went poorly for X-Factor until Danger utilized her power to control machines and destroyed each of the Sentinels easily.
Moments later, the still-inverted X-Men Longshot and Sunfire arrived, eager to retrieve the Football for the X-Men. While outnumbered, the pair fared surprisingly well against X-Factor. Danger was melted, Warlock injured and Pietro mysteriously flung into the atmosphere without a trace. They made their way into Serval, where Longshot briefly clashed with Georgia, who had donned an X-Factor uniform and taken the code name D.K. (as in “decay”). Cypher ultimately managed to outwit the pair by luring them into Serval’s teleport chamber and sending them to Tokyo. Meanwhile, in the upper atmosphere, Pietro was confronted by his father Magneto, who needed her help the save Wanda. [All-New X-Factor #15-17]
In Between
Magneto and Quicksilver manage to prevent the Scarlet Witch from murdering Doctor Doom. During the events, Wanda casts a spell the revealed that Magneto was not in fact their biological father. Later, the Red Skull is defeated and the inversion spell is reversed. [Axis Crossover]
Chronology Continued
Sunfire returned to Serval from Tokyo to seek X-Factor’s forgiveness for his actions during Axis, which was readily given. Harrison Snow sent the team on a mission to the Middle East to help his friend, Barry Huff, whose late daughter’s body had been stolen by mysterious criminals. Lorna invited Sunfire along but Quicksilver declined the mission because of it, not wanting the hotheaded mutant on the mission. Georgia, a.k.a. D.K., officially joined the team also. During transit, Warlock learned Douglas had had sex with Danger, which upset him.
Soon after arriving, the team tracked the body snatchers to some catacombs, where a ritual was taking place. Unfortunately, they were too late and the cultists completed their goal: goddess Ammit, the Devourer of Souls, was reborn in the dead girl’s body.
X-Factor and Sunfire battled Ammit and her warrior priests. The battle took a turn for the worse when Lorna was shot with plastic bullets and Ammit took control of the souls of most of the rest of the team. Danger, who had no soul and thus was not influenced by Ammit, ultimately managed to free her comrades and brutally attacked Ammit, driving the goddess out of the dead girl’s body. While Lorna recovered in the hospital, Danger lamented her lack of a soul. Harrison Snow later met with Barry Huff and his wife, who advised him they were "ready to go home." As they left, Snow blasted them with an unusual energy weapon and pair were seemingly disintegrated. [All-New X-Factor #18-19]
On the flight back to the states, Lorna tasked Warlock with helping Danger deal with her malaise over her lack of a soul. The Technarch connected his processor to Danger’s, to share his soul with her. The intensely intimate experience led to the pair having sex, or at least their own unique version of it. Upon arriving back at Serval, Lorna discovered a video message from Quicksilver, advising he had quit X-Factor while she was on the mission and rejoined the Avengers. What Lorna didn’t know was that Pietro had learned recently that Magneto was not his father and had joined with his other sister Wanda to learn more about his parentage.
Meanwhile, Harrison Snow met with Tyler Stone and his assistant Mike O’Mara from Alchemax. “Mike” was in fact Miguel O’Hara, the Spider-Man of the year 2099, who had been trapped in the past and was working to reshape Alchemax from its formation. When Miguel and Harrison Snow met, Miguel recognized that Snow was in fact from 2099 as well. He and Barry Huff had also worked at Alchemax, and travelled back to the present day to destroy the company at its formation. When Snow had blasted Barry and his wife recently, he had simply sent them back to 2099. He revealed his plan to Miguel; to first recruit mutants, then all superheroes, to his cause and destroy Alchemax. X-Factor were not aware of this and it’s not clear whether they ever learned the truth. [All-New X-Factor #20]
After
- X-Factor IV, Harrison Snow, Serval, Danger and Gerogia Dekai have not appeared since All-New X-Factor #20.
- Warlock was next seen aiding his friend Sunspot in saving his Avengers Idea Mechanics (AIM) from the Maker. [New Avengers (4th series) #14-17]
- Cypher was next seen with the rest of his New Mutant friends at his Sunspot’s funeral (don’t worry, it was fake). [New Avengers (4th series) #18]
- Polaris is next seen spending time with her father Magneto, as the world seemingly came to an end during the final incursion. While they fought to stop it, they were unsuccessful and the Earth (and almost all of reality) was destroyed. Fortunately, this was later undone. [Magneto (2nd series) #18-21, Secret Wars crossover]
- Gambit later returned to the X-Men (and to thievery), pulling a con job with Deadpool. [Gambit v Deadpool #1-5]
Members
Polaris (Lorna Dane)
First Appearance: X-Men (1st series) #49
First X-Factor IV appearance: All-New X-Factor #1
All X-Factor IV appearances: All-New X-Factor #1-20
Powers: conduct magnetic energy as pulse bolts, force fields, flight, and the manipulation of ferrous materials, absorb electricity to supercharge her own electromagnetic fields
Gambit (Remy LeBeau)
First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men Annual (1st series) #14
First X-Factor IV appearance: All-New X-Factor #1
All X-Factor IV appearances: All-New X-Factor #1-20
Powers: convert an object's stored potential energy into explosive kinetic energy upon contact, hypnotic charm causing others to trust whatever he says, extendable bo staff
Cypher (Douglas Ramsey)
First Appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #13
First X-Factor IV appearance: All-New X-Factor #5
All X-Factor IV appearances: All-New X-Factor #5-20
Powers: active psionic translation field intuitively translates any languages he comes into contact with, including written, spoken, or computer
Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff)
First Appearance: X-Men (1st series) #4
First X-Factor IV appearance: All-New X-Factor #1
All X-Factor IV appearances: All-New X-Factor #1-20
Powers: superhuman speed, endurance, reflexes, and perceptual abilities
Danger
First Appearance: Astonishing X-Men (3rd series) #9
First X-Factor IV appearance: All-New X-Factor #4
All X-Factor IV appearances: All-New X-Factor #4-20
Powers: bio-mechanical entity capable of self-repair, elaborate body reconfiguration for new shapes, weapons and devices, advanced tactical analysis and counter-manoeuvres, and the projection of holographic avatars and environment
Warlock
First Appearance: New Mutants (1st series) #18
First X-Factor IV appearance: All-New X-Factor #6
All X-Factor IV appearances: All-New X-Factor #6-20
Powers: enhanced strength and resistance to damage, biomechanical physical structure can be restructured into analytical sensors, energy projectors, and any technological or organic form, decipher languages, merge and uplink with binary systems, flight
D.K. II (Georgia Dakei)
First Appearance: All-New X-Factor #7
First X-Factor IV appearance: All-New X-Factor #7
All X-Factor IV appearances: All-New X-Factor #7-20
Powers: moisture manipulation lets her desiccate people and then restore them
Associates
Harrison Snow
Title: CEO of Serval Industries
First Appearance: X-Factor (3rd series) #260
First X-Factor IV appearance: X-Factor (3rd series) #260
All X-Factor IV appearances: X-Factor (3rd series) #260, All-New X-Factor #1, #3, #5, #6-13, #15-20
Powers: None
Linda Kwan
Title: PR Officer
First Appearance: All-New X-Factor #1
First X-Factor IV Appearance: All-New X-Factor #1
All X-Factor IV appearances: All-New X-Factor #1, #3, #5 – 7, #9-10, #12, #14-15, #20
Powers: None
Sunfire (Shiro Yoshida)
First Appearance: X-Men (1st series) #64
First X-Factor IV Appearance: All-New X-Factor #16
All X-Factor IV appearances: All-New X-Factor #16-20
Powers: ionization beam transforms matter into plasmetic solar fire, projects light-flashes which induce feelings of starvation, absorb solar energy and electromagnetic radiation in augment his powers, generate radiation shielding psi-field, sense objects through heat signatures, flight
Note: Sunfire assisted X-Factor with a mission but never officially joined the team.