Merge:Freedom Force

Freedom Force was a supervillain team in Marvel Comics' universe, though they occasionally acted heroic as well. It was a government-sponsored team originally composed mainly of Mystique's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. They mostly interacted with the X-Men, X-Factor and New Mutants, but also repeatedly met the Avengers.

History
Freedom Force started out as an incarnation of the terrorist organisation the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. When mutant and human relationships worsened, the team's leader Mystique decided that it had become too dangerous for them to continue their current path. She offered the services of the Brotherhood to Valerie Cooper, a United States National Security Advisor in exchange for full pardons. Cooper saw a great opportunity in Mystique's offer, but wanted the team to prove their loyalty first by arresting the original Brotherhood's founder Magneto. The team accepted, was renamed Freedom Force and the sorceress Spiral was added to the team. They attacked Magneto at a remembrance ceremony for the Holocaust and Magneto's new allies, the X-Men opposed them. In the end, Freedom Force was successful when Magneto turned himself in.

On their next mission, the second Spider-Woman was added to the team's line-up. When the Avengers were framed by their embittered former member Quicksilver, the U.S. government sent Freedom Force to arrest the Avengers, which they did successfully. Spider-Woman felt guilty for these actions, freed the Avengers from jail, and left Freedom Force, becoming a fugitive. Another three members were added; Crimson Commando, Stonewall and Super Sabre had been World War II veterans who had decided to take justice in their own hands and hunt down and execute criminals. When they erroneously targeted Storm, they were defeated and turned themselves in. It was thought that the former heroes could be redeemed and they were offered a position on Freedom Force.

Over the next few months, they were given many unpopular tasks, such as enforcing the Mutant Registration Act and arresting the outlaw X-Men, they also acted heroically to save the people of Dallas during the "The Fall of the Mutants" storyline. Freedom Force had its own dark secrets though, secrets that would make them clash with X-Factor and the New Mutants; these "secrets" largely revolved around indications that Freedom Force was helping the U.S. government forcibly recruit young mutants and potential mutants for training and eventual government service. During this time Spiral left the team for her own reasons. Freedom Force also helped train John Walker to replace Steve Rogers as Captain America and assisted Walker in apprehending the mutant terrorists known as the Resistants. Walker would later become the hero known as the US Agent.

The team slowly began to fall apart after the mutant Forge asked them to protect Muir Island against the Reavers. During this mission Stonewall and Destiny were killed, and Avalanche was severely injured. The death of Destiny especially hit Mystique hard and the team would fight the Avengers without her leadership. Shortly after the battle at Muir Island, Val Cooper was possessed by the Shadow King and ordered to kill Mystique; however, Cooper resisted the Shadow King's influence and seriously injured herself rather than commit murder. Mystique then assumed Val's identity, passing Cooper's injured body as her own corpse, and later aided the X-Men and X-Factor in the Shadow King's defeat as a "mole" among the villain's servants.

Without Mystique, the remaining members of Freedom Force were sent on a disastrous mission in Kuwait during the first Gulf War, in which Super Sabre was killed and Crimson Commando was severely injured. To save Commando's life, Avalanche left Pyro and the Blob stranded in enemy territory. This mission would mean the end of Freedom Force, though Avalanche and Commando, now a cyborg, would continue to work for the US government, apparently as covert operations agents. The team was soon replaced by a government team called X-Factor, also under Val Cooper's supervision.

Freedom Force trademark
Marvel Comics abandoned the Freedom Force trademark in the 1990's and it was eventually re-registered by computer game developer, Irrational Games, which used it as the name for their own team of comic book heroes (with no connection to Marvel or its characters). These all-new characters were featured in two games and one comic book miniseries (through Image Comics).