X-Men '97 Season 2's X-Factor, Explained
Contains spoilers for "X-Men '97" Season 2, Episode 2 – "A Force to Be Reckoned With"
It wouldn't be an "X-Men" show without copious appearances from Marvel mutants outside the immediate roster of the titular team, and "X-Men '97" Season 2, Episode 2 doesn't disappoint. In fact, "A Force to be Reckoned With" features not one but two of the franchise's many peripheral X-teams. Cable's special ops-style X-Force receives the bulk of the attention and a reference in the episode title — along with a fun custom opening animation — but X-Factor are the main antagonists of the episode.
The show's version of X-Factor is a government-affiliated team that consists of Havok, Polaris, Multiple Man, Strong Guy, and Wolfsbane. They busy themselves by hunting down and arresting mutants who are deemed to be dangers to society, and they're clearly no pushovers. They pose a legitimate danger to the X-Force, and their introduction scene alone shows them chasing and confronting a group of young mutants that includes powerhouses Quentin Quire and Monet St. Croix.
They're also seen apprehending Jono "Chamber" Starsmore, a mutant with psionic energy powers. The episode makes it very clear that the X-Factor's ideals are diametrically opposed to those of the X-Men. Jubilee quite justifiably roasts them to high heaven when they capture her, and Polaris is conflicted enough with the team's actions that she actually helps Jubilee escape.
X-Factor previously appeared in X-Men: The Animated Series
"A Force to Be Reckoned With" introduced X-Factor like they were comparatively new players in the game, but the team actually has a history on "X-Men: The Animated Series." Originally led by Forge (Marc Strange, with Gil Birmingham taking over in the cast of "X-Men '97"), this earlier version of the team features much the same roster as the one seen in "A Force to Be Reckoned With," plus the super-fast Quicksilver (Paul Haddad). They appear in the Season 3 episode "Cold Comfort" as well as the Quicksilver-centric Season 4 episode "Family Ties."
In the former episode, X-Factor confronts the X-Men as part of Forge's training exercise to see which team is mightier (it's a tie). With Forge busy helping the time-displaced X-Men and Quicksilver now out of the team, it seems that Havok has taken over as the full-time team leader as of "X-Men '97" Season 2 – and this hasn't exactly done anything for their benevolence for fellow mutants. In fact, it appears that the "Cyclops is a cop" X-Men meme from some time back may have been focusing on the wrong Summers brother.
There are several versions of X-Factor in the comics
The origins of X-Factor couldn't be further from what the team eventually turned into, but the seeds of their "X-Men '97" mutant-hunting were there. The group starts out as a reunion of the first five X-Men — Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, and Angel — who decide to help those in need under the guise of a unit that was out to capture mutants. This goes roughly as well as expected, and the quintet soon pivots to more traditional superheroics. However, a later version of the team embraces government affiliation, and they're the iteration shown on "X-Men '97."
There's also a private eye-themed take on the group called X-Factor Investigations, which features Multiple Man (and eventually several others) as the leader. Ironically, this team includes Monet St. Croix, one of the very mutants the "X-Men '97" X-Factor apprehends, in its roster. Looper named this outcast version of X-Factor one of the Marvel superteams that could be a Guardians of the Galaxy-style sleeper hit, so it'd definitely be interesting to see how it fares on the screen.