#honestly i didnt realize how weird 80s xfactor was

[moontours]

I’m a bit lost on what it is exactly that X factor do. I know in hickmans run they’ve been turned into this investigative and scout team for mutant interests and I actually really like that concept but have they always been like that? I also know that they’re usually government or corporate sponsored so different from the x men who kinda just operate independently from xaviers bank account but why the need for a sponsored mutant team? Especially in the 80s where they were explicitly working alongside the government I mean that’s gotta be pretty serious, a mutant team partnering with the government?? When the whole premise of mutants was that they’re systemically disadvantaged by governments. So was X factor meant to be just as much for public relations as it was for .. well whatever they were handling? Which leads me to my next question what exactly was it that they were handling? What were they doing that they couldn’t just call the x men or avengers for???? Sorry if I’m dumping a bit here you just seem to know about this especially because of lornas long iconic history on the team

the first iteration of x-factor i think with jean and scott were like just another division of the x-men but the next iteration with lorna and alex etc were formed by valerie cooper as a team for the government. like i dont really rmbr why they were working for them but it helped with public relations, better appearance etc. they didnt really have like special missions or anything like x-force like they fought their villains worked as a team etc and ig bc they were government affiliated it was easier to dispatch them ? and then after that in the 2000s i believe is when they started the investigation branch