Rose: Who is Stryfe?
Red: Stryfe is dead now, he was a clone of Cable. When baby Nate was taken into the future, he was sick with the T-O virus. The Askani made a healthy clone in case the original Nathan did not survive. But the clone was raised by Apocalypse, and grew up to be evil. He shot Professor Xavier one day, and said he was Cable, and all the X-Men and X-Factor believed him, too. That was the beginning of the X-Cutioner's Song. At the end of X-Cutioner's Song, Cable got into a brawl with him and they both got sucked into the timestream. Cable got out, but Stryfe hasn't so far. One time in Cable's regular series, Stryfe possessed Cable's body and caused all sorts of trouble, so he's not gone entirely, but he hasn't reared his ugly head on Earth again as yet. So we don't really have to worry about him much, especially since Cable's psi-powers got pumped up and he became a heavy-duty telepath and all. And it turns out he was responsible for the Camp Verde massacre. The last time we saw him, he was in Hell, trying to get out through Warpath's body. But Warpath defeated him, so he's stuck in his own personal Hell forever! Next!
Misbegotten: Who is Dr. Edwin Martynec?
Red: Dr. Edwin Martynec is a geneticist interested in evolving the human race to its next step. He tried experimenting on himself, which gave him the ability to turn into a huge dog with toxic claws. Stryfe found him, and took control of a project called Stepladder. And Dr. Martynec was one of the head scientists! But one of the other scientists got an attack of the conscience, and went to James' friend Michael Whitecloud for help, along with one of the subjects. Most of the subjects, BTW, were runaways, convicts, and unsuspecting pregnant women. But Martynec and the rest of Stepladder found them while Whitecloud was away from the reservation, and wiped out the whole population to keep the project a secret. Most recently, he almost killed James with an amphetamine compound, and in return got turned into a bag of broken bones by Theresa. (I was so proud of her.) She didn't kill him, but it seems we won't be seeing much more of him in X-Force for awhile.
Professor of Nuttiness: Who is Apocalypse?
Red: He also supposedly died at the end of X-Cutioner's Song, but now he's coming back again. He doesn't like humans in the least. His power is to alter his molecular structure in any way. He has this harsh dogma of "Only the strong survive." During AoA, he was the ruler of the United States, and wanted to eventually rule the world. He's an immortal, like Sammy. At the end of AoA, Magneto killed him by ripping him up. But he couldn't care less about X-Force, so why am I wasting space talking about him? Next question, please.
Loudmouth: Who are the Externals?
Red: They're also dead, but at least they're a bunch of tried-and-true X-Force villains. They are also functionally immortal, but some things can kill them for good, like being beheaded or having the Legacy Virus. And a few other things, but they were capable of living for a very long time. Anyway, the only ones of them that are left are Selene, Candra, Apocalypse, and Cannonball, who Selene has hinted is not an X-Ternal. But until that gets proven, he's still one of them as far as I'm concerned. Anyway, their involvement with X-Force goes a long way back. Gideon took Sunspot under his wing after killing the lad's father. He and Saul once kidnapped Tabitha, James, and Terry to hold for ransom until Cannonball came to join them. But of course that didn't work, in fact X-Force blew a big hole in the side of Gideon's pad getting them back. Well, one day when Sammy and Tab are on vacation at Sam's family's farm, Gideon, Saul, and Absalom come along and try to convince him peacefully to come join them. That doesn't work either, and in fact the X-Ternals promise to stop bugging him about it. So they don't give X-Force any trouble for awhile. A long time later, after the AoA, Selene uses her life-draining power to kill Saul, Gideon, Absalom, and Crule, for good. Absalom had the Legacy Virus anyway. She nearly kills Warpath while she's at it, too. So there's the X-Ternal's story. And Selene is also appearing in X-Force very soon! Wonderful!
Mommy: Who is Black Tom?
Red: He's also dead. Ever notice how most of X-Force's major enemies are dead? Well, Black Tom's real name is Tom Cassidy. He was Sean Cassidy's first cousin, and raised Siryn. He had the power initially to shoot nasty energy beams out of his cane, but eventually he didn't need the cane to use his power anymore. Anyway, about his past. Tommy fell in love with Maeve Rourke, but she chose to marry Sean instead. This made Tommy really jealous of his cuz. And that jealousy is the reason why Tom kept on trying to kill Sean. So, after Maeve dies in an IRA bombing and Sean leaves the country, Tommy raises baby Terry. He really loves her, but eventually gets so involved with illegal activities he sends her off to boarding school so she won't find out about it. A few years later, he gets arrested and sent to jail, where he meets Juggernaut. They become best buds, and break out of prison together. Tommy tries to murder his cousin Sean at Cassidy Keep while the X-Men are there, he and Juggy cause all sorts of mayhem. Then they and Terry go on a crime spree through San Francisco, where they run into Spider-Woman and the X-Men. The fist time we see them against X-Force is really early-on in the series, in the arc with Spiderman. At the end of that, Tommy gets knocked down an elevator shaft and seriously hurt. In the first Deadpool LS, Tom is in France getting experimented on, getting turned into a plant-man. But Juggernaut bails him out before the experiment is complete, which causes all sorts of problems later on. The experiment, in the level of progress it was allowed to reach, caused plant matter to take over Tom's body. In X-Force #31, he tells Terry he's sorry for not raising her to be happy (which she still blames herself for) and he turns himself in to INTERPOL. But of course that doesn't last, as we see Tommy and Juggy again in the second Deadpool mini, and Tommy was supposed to be in prison and healthy, but he is neither. He spends the last half of the mini chasing Deadpool around for some cell samples. Deadpool's hand gets chopped off in a battle, and the soldier brings it back, and Killbrew attaches it to Tommy's wrist. It works in that it stops the plant matter from growing, but it also takes over Tom's body. Damn healing factor! Anyway, he was unconscious at the end of that mini, and supposedly stable, and supposed to be turned into custody, but apparently that doesn't happen. In Generation X #25, Tommy turns up, literally a talking tree, and gone totally insane, and kidnaps most of Sean's students. He blames Sean's taking Terry out of his life for his insanity. But at the end of that comic, Penance puts Tommy out of his misery and slices him in half. Ick! I sort of wish she didn't do that. Tom was a fun villain. Oh, and guess what Sean said after Penance killed him? "Good work, lass." This Cassidy bunch makes the Menendez clan look like the Partridge family. Next question!
Misbegotten: Who is Sebastian Shaw?
Red: Ah, finally an X-Force villain who's still alive! He wasn't always, though. He was Black King of the Hellfire Club's inner circle, when his son, Shinobi Shaw, killed him. But he came back to life eventually, though I really have no idea how. (He's a Marvel character, that's enough explanation) But he got Holocaust and his friend Lady Tessa together, and they kidnapped X-Force and mind-controlled them into trying to kill Cable. That wasn’t very nice of him, I saw. But he got beat and that was the last we saw of him in X-Force.
Fluffy: Who is Shinobi Shaw, then?
Red: Shinobi Shaw is Sebastian Shaw’s son. He got beat on real bad by his daddy when he was a boy, but grew up no different from his father. He killed Sebastian to get initiated into the Upstarts. Later on, he butts heads with X-Force in the Child’s Play crossover. The next we see of him is in X-Force#62, where he is doing questionable things to Karma’s little brother and sister. That was the last I saw of him. Oh, and a distinguishing characteristic of Shinobi is every time an X-Team breaks into his home, he’s in the tub, usually drunk. Next!
Rose: What is S.H.I.E.L.D.?
Red: They are actually heroes, but they like to harass X-Force to get at Cable. You see, one of their higher officers, G.W. Bridge, was in the Six Pack a long time ago. Cable abandoned the Six Pack, which made most of its old members very unhappy, so now Bridge holds this stubborn grudge against Cable that causes him to lead S.H.I.E.L.D. into annoying, pointless missions to try and get Cable busted, and if they can't get Cable, they'll settle for just making X-Force's life miserable. But X-Force doesn't put up with that crap, so S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't a real big threat. Next!
Loudmouth: Who is Juggernaut?
Red: Juggernaut's real name is Cain Marko. He is Professor Xavier's stepbrother. He holds some wicked grudge against Chuck for no good reason other than that Chuck was cuter than Cain as a little boy. Anyway, he's only messed with X-Force once, and that was with Black Tom. Cain isn't a mutant, his powers of enhanced strength, invulnerability, and general "unstoppable"-ness come from a big red jewel called the Cyttorak Gem, which is bonded into Cain's body. He get it bonded into him many years ago when he was in the military, and stationed in Korea, and went AWOL. While he was wandering, he found an abandoned temple, inside which was a large red gem. Cain just had to scope it out, and when he touched it, the gem melded itself inside Cain, turning him into an enormous, unstoppable brute. Actually, he's not totally unstoppable, he's been stopped by the Hulk, the X-Men, Spiderman, and logic, but he likes to believe he's unstoppable.
Fluffy: When was he stopped by logic?
Red: During the 2nd Deadpool LS, when Wade told Juggy Tom wouldn't make it through the night if Juggy continued on his rampage. So Juggy calmed down, and Wade said, "Well whaddya know, logic stops the Juggernaut!" Anyway, he really doesn't have anything against X-Force in particular, he just likes beating on anything smaller than him, which is nearly everything, and he used to like to go on violence sprees with Tommy. But some time ago, he and Tommy stopped spending time together. Tom died without Cain at his side, and now Cain is soulless and alone.
Loudmouth: Well, how did he become soulless?
Red: Ah, good you asked, I almost forgot to tell you that. When Professor Xavier went crazy and turned into Onslaught, he ripped the Cyttorak gem out of Juggy's body, and imprisoned Cain inside the gem. Then Doctor Strange and Gomurr the Ancient, a couple of sorcerer-types, come along and find out Juggy's trapped inside, so Gomurr goes inside and tries to talk some sense into Juggy, but there's a mean woman inside named Spite, who tempts Cain with unlimited power, so Cain accepts her offer, breaks out of the Cyttorak gem, and when he gets out, he doesn't have any semblance of a personality left in him, not that he had one to begin with.
Mommy: Who is Bastion?
Red: Now Bastion is the one with problems. He wants all mutants off the face of the Earth, dead, gone, outta here, a memory, a barely-visible smudge on the floor. He isn't really paying attention to X-Force, but they've gotten into trouble with Bastion's Zero Tolerance goons and Sentinels Prime, the mindless sheep who are helping Bastion make life a living hell for mutants while leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. The police took his operation down, so we don't have to worry about them anymore! He was mostly concerned with harassing Jubilee and antagonizing the X-Men when they were in operation, but since X-Force has been through a tough spot with his little helpers, I'm going to let you guys count him as an enemy.
Rose: Who are the FOH?
Red: They haven't fought X-Force in awhile, but they did once, and it was fun! Okay, the FOH stands for Friends of Humanity, they are also trying to remove mutants from the Earth. The head of them used to be Graydon Creed, who was the normal-human son of Mystique and Sabretooth, two nasty mutants themselves, but he's dead now. I'm glad, too, someone needed to wipe the smirk off that guy's face. He just had really bad problems. He once tried to kill his own half-brother just because he was a mutant, even though at the time they weren't really at odds. But the FOH isn't a tenth the threat that Zero Tolerance is. X-Force wiped the floor with the FOH, Zero Tolerance is a force to be reckoned with.