INGLORIOUS X-FORCE #3
“Field of Booms”
Writer: Tim Seeley
Artist: Michael Sta. Maria
Colour artist: Romulo Fajardo Jr
Letterer: Joe Caramanga
Editor: Mark Basso

COVER: Boom-Boom posing with Cable and Archangel behind her.

X-FORCE:

Boom-Boom. This is her spotlight issue, and it involves the Beyond Corporation, which brings back memories of her time in Nextwave. The continuity status of Nextwave is, shall we say, vexed. Originally it was meant to be an out-of-continuity comedy book, but then references to it started cropping up in mainstream Marvel Universe titles. The official line, per Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #6-7, is supposed to be that the Beyond Corporation was originally controlled by rogue cosmic entities who abducted the Nextwave characters to an alternate reality, altered their memories and personalities, and made them run around in comedy stories for a year just for the hell of it. This isn’t always strictly adhered to, and this story seems to treat it as having happened on the mainstream world. (The Beyond Corporation as it now exists is what was left behind once the rogue Beyonders themselves had been driven away.)

Although Machine Man seems to quite like the new personality he gained in Nextwave, Boom-Boom – like Monica Rambeau in the CAMA story – does not remember Nextwave fondly at all. While she doesn’t seem to remember the whole thing as a pocket universe or a fiction, she certainly understands on some level that she was not merely manipulated, but literally turned into a joke, and she doesn’t like it. To some extent, she also seems to see this as an example of how her life can go off the rails without the likes of Cable around to steer her.

She claims that her favourite holiday as a child was Thanksgiving, not because the family actually celebrated it, but because it was the one she thought her parents might be most likely to do one year – since it didn’t involve buying presents. According to Dirk Anger – not exactly a reliable source – he tried to make clones of all the Nextwave members, but Boom-Boom  was the only one who worked, supposedly because of their enthusiastic response to any sort of stable family environment.

Boom-Boom doesn’t feel able to destroy the clones herself, but asks Archangel to do so, at least in part because of their propensity to blow up.

The character on the opening page isn’t Boom-Boom, but one of the clones of her created by Beyond. The clone’s interior monologue opens in the same way as the original’s monologue on the next page, though, so apparently they really are faithful copies. According to Cable, while lots of Boom-Boom clones were sent out on suicide missions, all of them rejected their missions and, when they started to degrade, blew themselves up safely. Cable concludes that if even Tabitha’s clones are this inherently good, then she can almost certainly be ruled out as Kamala’s alternate-future murderer from issue #1.

Cable. She regards him as a father figure, and still has a blind spot for any planning that he might be up to.

Ms. Marvel. Boom-Boom is trying to like her but finds her irritatingly nice and well-adjusted; she can’t help wondering whether this is a result of Kamala having a much more stable upbringing than her.

Archangel. He gets to do CEO stuff with Maxine. By the end of the issue, he’s Cable’s last remaining suspect as the character who’ll kill Kamala in an alternate future (as seen in issue #1). He signs his notes “WW3”, which is a choice.

He’s initially reluctant to kill the Boom-Boom clones, but is persuaded to do so. This story claims that he has a “Death Seed” in him – this is a storyline from Uncanny X-Force, but it was supposed to have ended in Uncanny X-Force #18 with a Life Seed purging him and returning him to factory settings, more or less. Evidently it’s survived in him to at least some extent. Somehow, however, he now seems able to use the Death Seed more creatively, turning the clones into flowers. This surprises him as much as anyone.

Hellverine. He’s now riding a flaming motorcycle, in classic Ghost Rider style, though the fire doesn’t seem to hurt passengers. Boom-Boom is still smitten with him, and the two of them are sleeping together at the end of the issue.

SUPPORTING CAST:

Domino and her pet squirrel Mr Chubby Cheeks show up in X-Force’s base at night; Boom-Boom assumes that Domino has attacked Cable, but he might just be asleep.

VILLAINS:

The Beyond Corporation. The same evil corporation currently appearing in X-Men, though there’s no direct reference to that. Maxine Danger appears in her role as Beyond CEO, though in this case Archangel treats her (at least to her face) as a semi-legitimate businesswoman rather than a known villain. He regards her as a good CEO.

According to Cable, data stolen from the Blasphemy Cartel (last issue) and Beyond (this issue) reveals that a lot of experimental technology fell into the wrong hands when the previous version of SHIELD collapsed (there’s a version around now, but it’s more of an FBI-level outfit). Beyond in particular are interested in “Malachi”, described as a process to clone mutant powers with a view to grafting them on to special agents. However, it’s being operated through H.A.T.E. (“Highest Anti-Terrorism Effort”), the same front that Nextwave thought they were working for in their own series.

I’m pretty sure that the various oddities who show up in Minnesota are original characters in the style of Nextwave rather than actual Nextwave characters. One of them, of course, is a warped version of Fancy Dan from the Enforcers, a group of Silver Age Spider-Man villains.

Web-Head. Lynda Locke is a character from 2024-2025 Spider-Man Infinity Comics, and this is her first apearance in a print book. Most of her Infinity Comic appearances involve her working for an unidentified employer; in Astonishing Spider-Man Infinity Comic #32, it turns out to be Beyond, in the guise of “the Nextwave Initiative”. The series was abruptly cancelled a few issues later without picking up the plot, and this is her first appearance since. While I’ve classed her as a villain on the basis of her connection with Beyond, she’s more of a pawn, and nothing in this issue is really inconsistent with that.

Dirk Anger. In Nextwave’s pocket universe, he was the Nick Fury parody who the team were supposedly working for. The original Dirk Anger died in Nextwave #11, but this guy claims to be a copy of his mind in a cloned body. (The “Broccolis” he refers to were the Beyond Corporation henchmen in Nextwave.) Like Nick Fury, he was supposed to have had his lifespan artificially extended, so this is the first time we’ve seen any version of his supposed mother.

To the extent that he has a coherent agenda, he wants to clone Boom-Booms as suicide bombers to prove that HATE still has value to this new, corporate Beyond.

Momma Anger is allegedly a clone of Dirk Anger’s mother, given various super powers using the Malachi process. In practice, she seems unable to say anything beyond directing various abuse at people, mostly Dirk. Cable claims that she does have a mind, but some sort of implant has been used to keep her self-hatred and suicidal ideation in check. Aside from Kamala, nobody regards her as a real person. However, when her implant is removed, she thanks X-Force before dissolving into sludge.