Heads up! Light spoilers ahead for Inglorious X-Force!

The ***X-Men ***franchise has a new X-Force team, but it’s missing two fan-favorite mutant heroes that ***Marvel ***cut from the roster. Every X-story starts with a negotiation: the writer asks to use certain characters, and Marvel says yay, or nay. This makes every *X-Men *book its own “What If?”, and *Inglorious X-Force *is no exception.

In an interview with AIPT, *Inglorious *author Tim Seeley cited time traveler Bishop and Jamie Madrox, the Multiple Man, as two characters he wanted to include, but wasn’t allowed to.

How did that shake-up Inglorious X-Force, and what could that mean for these two mutant heroes? Let’s get into it.

We’ll get to Tim Seeley’s full quote in a moment, but let’s start with who didn’t make the cut for Inglorious X-Force. Speaking about his pitch for the team, Seeley said::

The characters I got shot down on were Multiple Man and Bishop!

Now, this is part of the natural creative evolution of an *X-Men *story. Why? Usually because Marvel has other plans for a character.

We know that’s the case for Bishop, who has a new five-issue solo series coming in June. That means there’s a good chance Marvel has something cooking for Multiple Man, too. As for Inglorious X-Force, it’s still early in the series, so it’s hard to say what X-fans are missing out on without them in the mix.

Cable is once more leading this incarnation of X-Force. Of course, fans know he has a lot of history with Bishop. The new series would’ve offered an opportunity to reprise their antagonistic dynamic, or flip it. Multiple Man would’ve likely proved to be an interesting wrinkle in *Inglorious X-Force’s *overarching story.

Here’s the gist of *Inglorious X-Force’s *plot: Cable puts together a new X-Force team, including present-day Kamala Khan, to prevent the future assassination of President Kamala Khan. The twist? The team are also the primary suspects. It’s a very fun premise. And part of turning that into a fun book is how the series’ supporting cast contributes to the story.

Multiple Man make sense as a one-mutant security force for Kamala. Yet if even one duplicate was compromised, he could turn out to be a serious threat. Dramatically, he would have been perfect for Inglorious X-Force, if that’s how Tim Seeley was going to use him. Unfortunately, losing Multiple Man was one of the compromises the author had to make.

And ultimately, neither Multiple Man or Bishop were must-haves for the series. Here’s the rest of what Seeley said about the development of Inglorious X-Force:

It was very much a back and forth with the X-editors. My personal requirements were Cable, Ms. Marvel, and Boom-Boom, since my initial pitch totally revolved around the relationships of those characters. And then we chatted about how to make it a team that had members from across multiple eras of the book, which led us to Domino and Archangel. Akihiro was a suggestion of Mark Basso, and admittedly, I was skeptical at first, but then I talked to some of my comics friends like Jordan Blum, Ben Percy, and Steve Orlando, and saw lots of potential for him based on their endorsements.

In other words, the core of Seeley’s pitch was preserved, and then he modified the story around that. And so, what’s happening with the mutants who did make it into the book?

It seems *Inglorious X-Force *is building toward an Archangel heel turn. Of course, the full story will likely turn out to be more complicated once it plays out, but preview material for upcoming issues of *Inglorious X-Force *certainly paint an ominous picture for the OG *X-Men *hero. “The secret of Archangel changes everything,” teases the synopsis for *Inglorious *#4.

Meanwhile, the cover for *Inglorious X-Force *#5 has Archangel perched on the graves of the rest of the team. Whatever twists and turns this book has in store for readers aside, there’s the “What If?” question out there of whether Bishop or Multiple Man might have played Archangel’s role in this series if Marvel had permitted it.

Inglorious X-Force is one of the X-franchise’s must-reads right now. Even if the story fails to connect with fans, it will be a glorious and fun failure. And if fans don’t like what it does with its cast of ***X-Men ***characters, they can point to ***Marvel’s ***mandated changes in the writing process.

***Inglorious X-Force *#3 **is available now from Marvel Comics.

**What do you think, X-fans? Would Inglorious X-Force have been better with Multiple Man or Bishop in it?

X-Men (2000), X2, X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), X-Men: First Class (2011), The Wolverine (2013), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), Deadpool (2016), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Logan (2017), Deadpool 2 (2018), Dark Phoenix (2019), The New Mutants, Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, X-Men (1992), X-Men: Evolution (2000), Wolverine and the X-Men (2008), Marvel Anime: Wolverine, Marvel Anime: X-Men, Legion (2017), The Gifted (2017), X-Men ‘97 (2024)

Video Game(s)

X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994), Marvel Super Heroes (1995), X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996), Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997), Marvel vs. Capcom (1998), X-Men: Mutant Academy (2000), Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000), X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (2001), X-Men: Next Dimension (2002), Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (2011), Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011), X-Men Legends (2005), X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse (2005), X2: Wolverine’s Revenge (2003), X-Men (1993), X-Men 2: Clone Wars (1995), X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse (1994)

Character(s)

Professor X, Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Angel, Phoenix, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, Storm, Jubilee, Morph, Nightcrawler, Havok, Banshee, Colossus, Magneto, Psylocke, Juggernaut, Cable, X-23

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