Wolverine’s X-Force Team Doesn’t Make Any Sense (And Even He Knows It)
X-Force has been Limited to woefully small teams as of late, severely limiting the effectiveness of this elite Wolverine-led strike force.
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Warning! Spoilers for Wolverine #17!
Even mutant superteams cannot avoid being understaffed these days, which has forced Wolverine to scramble when putting together workable lineups for X-Force. Lately, teams of just three members have been typical and Logan was even considering a team of just two until circumstances allowed for an unlikely last-minute addition. Given the lack of availability from many of X-Force’s roster, the future viability of the team should be in question.
Ideally, X-Force serves as a covert black ops version of the X-Men, expertly utilizing each member’s mutant powers in the service of a mission. To be at its most effective, it requires a wide array of mutants as active members, ready to suit up at a moment’s notice. They need to be ready to go wherever the mission may take them, even if it means giving Wolverine a nautical suit for underwater missions. Since Wolverine became the leader, X-Force’s roster has included the likes of Marvel Girl, Domino, Kid Omega, Beast, and Gateway, among others. From issue to issue, however, the dramatis personae in Wolverine has dwindled, with recent issues including a team-up of only Wolverine and Sage, in addition to a few issues chronicling Logan’s solo adventures.
In Wolverine #18 by Benjamin Percy and Lan Medina, Wolverine again finds himself in a similar understaffed predicament, ready to investigate a threat to Krakoa’s pharmaceutical game with only Domino by his side. When he spots Maverick, an old acquaintance, he recruits and pays him for joining the mission, showing that X-Force is so hard up for team members that freelance is now an option. This, along with the moral deterioration of Beast, are just some of the factors eroding X-Force’s luster as an elite operation. Since nearly everyone who is supposed to be an active member of X-Force has seemingly had other priorities lately, the team is losing a crucial part of what made it so effective.
For example, it is revealed in Inferno #1 by Jonathan Hickman, Valerio Schiti, and David Curiel that X-Force has repeatedly sent small teams to assassinate Nimrod and repeatedly failed. Though they are hampered by their inability to retain their memories post-resurrection, which puts them at a tactical disadvantage, the size of their teams also contributes to their failure. Given the ability to be resurrected ad infinitum, the odds that they would eventually succeed at this task appear to be on their side, yet the dwindling number they can draw from for a strike team dooms their efforts. Having only Domino, Wolverine, and occasionally Kid Omega (who has turned grisly demises into an artform) to send into the fray, X-Force is feeling like a team in name only. It begs the question, where are the fourth, fifth, or even sixth members to do a mission of that magnitude justice?
The old saying is that the best ability is availability is true for any team setting, whether it be a sports team, office space, or a highly trained overpowered team of mutants sent on covert assassination missions. With the entire nation of Krakoa to draw upon, even this top-secret team should be well-stocked, but seems to have more members on the support staff than heroes in the field. For X-Force to be more than a shadow of its former self, Wolverine needs to continue his own self-growth as a leader by recruiting new members.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/wolverine-17-x-force-greatest-weakness-understaffed/