296: X-Force # 12 - 20 (Messiah War)
- Matt Campbell
- 3 hours ago
- 15 min read
What’s Covered?
Cable vol 2. # 6 - 15, X-Men: The Times and Life of Lucas Bishop #1 - 3, X-Force Vol. 3 # 12 - 20, X-Force/Cable: Messiah War #1, X-Force: Sex and Violence # 1 - 3, Deadpool Annual: Games of Death #1
Roster Watch
Synopsis
Cable # 6 - 10: Bishop loses his damn mind
Writer - Duane Swierczynski
Pencils - Ariel Olivetti
Cable #6
This whole issue is basically Scott Summers doing that thing where he tries to be “the commander,” but you can hear the panic underneath every word. He’s stuck in the aftermath of letting Cable vanish into the timestream with the mutant messiah baby, and he’s replaying the decision like it’s game film. Emma’s the perfect person to talk him through it, because she’s equal parts therapist and “yeah, but what did you expect, Scott?” The vibe is quiet, tense, and paranoid—like the calm before the book remembers it’s an action comic.
Cable #7
Bishop finally claws his way back to the present, and immediately gets scooped up by Cyclops, Emma, and the X-Force crew like he’s a walking crime scene. It feels like Scott’s about to get answers… until you realize Bishop is way too comfortable for a guy in custody. Meanwhile, Cable’s living his “we made it” fantasy in New Liberty—wife, community, and Hope growing up like there’s actually a future worth protecting. It’s that classic X-book trick: show you the fragile peace, then start sharpening the knives.
Cable #8
And yep—here come the knives. We learn Bishop’s gone so far off the mission track he’s basically become a global extinction event, nuking entire continents just to corner Cable. Back in New Liberty, cockroach creatures invade (and… I’m with you… they’re not exactly the scariest “end times” aesthetic). The point still lands though: even when Cable finds a pocket of stability, the universe immediately sends something gross and claw-y to kick the door in.
Cable #9
Future-side, Cable pulls a rescue mission to save his wife from the cockroach people, and Hope straight-up escalates things by blowing the threat to pieces—because she’s already built different. The “family survival story” vibe doesn’t last long, because New Liberty falls apart and they’re forced to run again. Present-side is the real horror show: Bishop admits he’s used weapons of mass destruction on a planetary scale—six of seven continents—like it’s just grim math. Then he bulldozes his way through the X-Men and steals the seventh weapon, officially graduating from “tragic zealot” to “somebody please put this man down.”
Cable #10
Emma Frost manages to stop Bishop—briefly—because if anyone can ice a fanatic mid-monologue, it’s Emma. Of course he still slips the leash and escapes, because Bishop in this era is basically a plot-shaped nightmare. In the future, the “family” story gets punched in the throat when Cable’s wife is shot. Whatever softness Cable was trying to preserve gets replaced with pure survival mode, and you can feel the book steering into the bleak stretch ahead.
Cable # 11 - 12: Wasteland Blues
Writer - Duane Swierczynski
Pencils - Ariel Olivetti
Cable #11
This is where the series gets bleak in that very specific “time travel punishment montage” way. Mother Hope is dead, so Cable does what Cable does: he jumps again—another hundred years—dragging grief behind him like a cloak. He lands in futures where humanity just nukes the planet into a dead marble, and then in futures where there isn’t even enough life left to lose. The time skips keep coming—100 years, 1,000 years—until survival becomes routine and hope becomes this cruel little word he’s carrying in his arms. By the time Hope turns seven, Cable’s so worn down he literally collapses from pushing himself past food, water, and sanity.
Cable #12
They swing back to Westchester and find a recording from Scott Summers—one of those “if you’re seeing this, everything went sideways” messages that hits harder because Scott can’t actually be there. It’s a reminder that Cable isn’t just saving a child—he’s carrying the weight of every choice his father made and every future the X-Men are praying for. Then comes the last jump, and you can practically feel the book tighten its grip: Nathan sees something he doesn’t like, and the tone shifts from “wandering wasteland tragedy” to “oh, we’re about to collide with a bigger event.” It absolutely reads like the runway into Messiah War
X-Men: The Times and Life of Lucas Bishop #1 - 3
Writer - Duane Swierczynski
Pencils - Larry Stroman
The Times and Life of Lucas Bishop #1
We drop into a future that doesn’t even pretend to be humane: Griffin (Bishop) is born and raised inside a concentration camp, branded and caged from the start. His grandmother fills his head with stories that sound like legends, but they’re really just survival myths in a world that wants mutants erased. When the Summers Rebellion erupts, it’s chaos—hopeful for about five seconds—until it becomes tragedy. Bishop’s parents die, and you can practically watch the “kid” part of him get buried under a lifetime of vengeance.
The Times and Life of Lucas Bishop #2
Bishop’s future gets a strange twist: he learns the thief side of his skillset from Gambit, who’s operating as “the Witness” and playing his own long game. The book teases messy family legacy stuff (including the “grandmother might be Storm” vibe), but the real punch is the world-building—mutants briefly get government funding and a sliver of breathing room…then it’s ripped away and they’re dumped into the streets. Shard and Bishop eventually get noticed by the X.S.E., and that’s the first time his life looks like it has purpose instead of rage. Then Fitzroy and Emplate orbit the story like vultures, and Shard’s fate gets reshaped into something both tragic and weirdly practical.
The Times and Life of Lucas Bishop #3
Fitzroy busts out with a pack of high-powered prisoners, and the chase becomes the moment Bishop’s life tips into “history we already know.” Bishop and other X.S.E. officers follow him into the past—early ’90s territory—because time travel in X-books is basically a workplace hazard. From there it clicks into place: the obsession, the mission, and how the Messiah Complex fallout poisons his judgment. The mini doesn’t reinvent Bishop so much as underline the tragedy: you can see exactly where the cop ends and the zealot begins.
X-Force 12 - 13: Suicide Leper
Writer - Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost
Pencils - Clayton Crain
X-Force #12
The Leper Queen’s plan is pure nightmare fuel: she injects Beautiful Dreamer (random Morlock who we may never have seen before) with a modified Legacy Virus concoction, forcing a power spike that turns into mass death at a Graydon Creed (yes, he's one of the assholes back from the dead thanks to Bastion) rally. It’s not just tragedy—it’s ammo for anti-mutant hatred, and you can feel the political fallout brewing immediately. Meanwhile, X-Force is juggling its usual “we do what the X-Men can’t know about” secrecy while everything gets uglier by the page. Toss in Rahne getting intimate with Hrimhari and you get that classic Kyle/Yost whiplash: tenderness in one panel, body horror in the next.
X-Force #13
Another mutant weapon, Fever Pitch, detonates and racks up more human casualties—exactly the kind of public horror the Leper Queen wants on the news cycle. Cyclops starts aiming the team like a missile: the plan is to send X-Force into the future to kill Bishop and help Cable, because diplomacy is not on the menu anymore. S.H.I.E.L.D. starts sniffing around, convinced X-23 is behind the killings, which is…not an unreasonable guess if you don’t know the whole story. The Leper Queen escalates again by kidnapping Boom-Boom, Hellion, and Surge, and Cyclops makes the coldest call possible: he sends X-Force into the future before they can save the kids.
Messiah War (XF 14 - 16, Cable 13 - 15)
Writer - Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost, Duane Swierczynski
Pencils - Ariel Olivetti, Clayton Crain
X-Force/Cable: Messiah War #1
X-Force hits the future and the whole place immediately screams “bad ending timeline.” Deadpool shows up—because of course he does—and the gag comes with teeth: he’s been frozen for centuries, and even his healing factor isn’t running at full warranty anymore. Bishop goes straight to Stryfe for help, which is the kind of sentence that should set off alarms in every possible universe. The kicker: Bishop has history with Stryfe and Apocalypse tech, so this isn’t a random alliance—it’s a desperate one built on old favors and worse instincts.
Cable #13
Cyclops has enough faith in his son to bet the future on him, but he also knows Bishop is turning that future into a slaughterhouse. Cable is juggling Hope’s safety while the timeline keeps trying to collapse under the weight of Bishop’s pursuit. The “war” part becomes real: this isn’t chasing anymore—it’s factions moving pieces. You can feel the story tighten into a no-win scenario where saving Hope means making enemies out of everybody.
X-Force #14
Bishop delivers Stryfe to a sleeping Apocalypse like he’s offering a sacrifice to the apocalypse-themed devil. Everyone thinks they’ve handled the big threat…which is basically the first rule of Apocalypse stories: if you think you won, you definitely didn’t. Warpath vows to protect Hope, then gets snatched up along with her anyway, because promises don’t mean much in the future. And Apocalypse waking up enough to start pulling Archangel/Death back into orbit is the kind of “oh no” that lingers.
Cable #14
Emma slows Bishop down in the present, but not long enough to matter, because Bishop’s whole deal is refusing to stay contained. In the future, Stryfe turns cruelty into an art form by torturing Warpath while trying to break Cable’s side of the board. Bishop keeps trying to convince himself he’s still the hero of his own story—he’s “saving mutantkind”—but it’s getting harder to ignore that he’s aiming a gun at a child. And just when you think Bishop might hesitate, Stryfe swoops in to “save” Hope…from Bishop.
X-Force #15
Stryfe keeps body-blocking Bishop’s kill shot, not because he’s good, but because Hope is useful. Domino finds “Ship,” which feels like the story tossing a lifeline to the heroes before yanking it away again. Archangel is cracking under competing voices, drifting closer to the cold brutality he’s pretending he can control. X-Force and Cable nearly kill Stryfe, and Apocalypse—because he’s Apocalypse—starts framing the whole situation as a deal: help me, and we can end him together.
X-Men: Future History – The Messiah War Sourcebook #1
This is the dossier issue: a big “here’s what matters” breakdown that makes the war feel bigger than one chase scene across time. It’s the kind of book that reminds you how many factions are circling Hope like she’s the last scrap of food on Earth. It also reinforces the bleak truth: in a future like this, everyone believes they’re justified. And that’s what makes it dangerous—because the villains don’t think they’re villains. Cable #15
The time-trap turns out to be Kiden Nixon, and suddenly the mission isn’t “destroy a thing,” it’s “kill a person,” which is always messier. Wolverine’s mind gets clouded and he starts going after Cable, because nothing says “teamwork” like mind-fogged murder claws. A three-way fight erupts—Cable vs. Bishop vs. Stryfe—with Deadpool flipping sides like a morally bankrupt coin toss. Meanwhile, Archangel accidentally regenerating Apocalypse is the kind of “oops” that should come with a lifetime ban from touching ancient tech.
X-Force #16
Bishop gets absolutely wrecked by Wolverine and then vanishes into the time stream, which is the closest thing this story gives you to a consequence…without actually solving anything. Apocalypse makes his move toward Hope—transfer-the-essence horror stuff—but ultimately hands her back to Warren as payment on a life debt. So yeah: the war “ends,” but it’s not a victory lap. It’s more like everyone crawls away bleeding while the bigger threats stay on the board.
X-Force V3 # 17 - 20: Not Forgotten
Writer - Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost
Pencils - Mike Choi
X-Force #17
Laura finally makes it back to the present and immediately chooses violence: she kills the Leper Queen, and it’s framed less like triumph and more like grim closure. Laura passes out right after, and S.H.I.E.L.D. scoops her (and Boom-Boom) up like assets, not people. Rahne’s still tangled up with Hrimhari until Frost Giants show up, because apparently her love life is cursed by mythology. Over in D.C., the team scrambles to stop Surge and Hellion from exploding the world, and the UN sentinel-funding pressure starts creeping in like a storm front.
X-Force #18
Surge does explode, but Elixir’s emergency healing and Hellion’s last-second control keep it from turning into a full massacre. Then the book pivots into Necrosha breadcrumbs: Eli Bard rolls in with Wither and a dead Caliban, teasing resurrection nonsense like it’s a hobby. The real horror lands with Laura getting kidnapped by H.A.M.M.E.R., with Kimura on hand to make it personal and ugly. And yeah—chainsawing Laura’s arms off is as brutal on the page as it sounds.
X-Force #19
Agent Morales flips the script on H.A.M.M.E.R., freezing X-23 to keep her alive while dragging her severed arms out like evidence of the world’s cruelty. Selene’s plotline escalates in the creepiest way possible: Destiny’s body gets dug up, because prophecy is only useful if you can weaponize it. The issue feels like two genres stapled together—spy thriller and undead cult—and it somehow works because both halves are equally bleak. You can feel the walls closing in on mutantkind from every direction at once.
X-Force #20
Morales and Laura spend the issue grinding through an escape attempt, and it’s refreshingly focused: no speeches, just survival. Laura’s body is literally incomplete, but her willpower is still fully intact, which is kind of the saddest flex imaginable. The “Facility” shadow hangs over everything, reminding you that Laura’s entire life is a weaponized trauma loop. And the closing teases (like someone possibly bringing Doug Ramsey back) keep the broader X-world moving while Laura bleeds for every inch of freedom.
X-Force: Sex and Violence #1–3
Writer - Craig Kyle, Christopher Yost
Pencils - Gabriele Dell’Otto
Sex and Violence #1
Domino’s bleeding out, and Wolverine does the most Wolverine thing possible: he interrogates her before letting Elixir patch her up. We learn Domino took a job from the Assassin’s Guild, got tangled with the Hand, then discovered trafficked girls and decided to burn the whole operation down. Domino straight-up calls Logan on his feelings, and the book leans hard into messy chemistry—public makeouts, bad timing, and bullets flying mid-flirt. The kicker is Domino stealing the money the girls found (because of course), and X-Force rolling in at the end to keep the whole thing from turning into a romantic tragedy with a body count.
Sex and Violence #2
With assassins raining hell, Wolverine keeps pressing the one question that matters: where’s the money, and what did Domino really do? The Guild throws monsters like Razorfist at them, and Logan responds by snapping blades and making threats that sound like promises. Domino insists she’ll explain later, but “later” is hard to schedule when you’re being hunted by professionals with no chill. By the end, it’s clear this isn’t just a hit list—it’s a full-on vendetta, and the body count is about to spike.
Sex and Violence #3
Wolverine and Domino push straight into the Assassin’s Guild HQ for the blood-soaked finale, and it turns into a “last stand” that’s equal parts romance novel and slaughterhouse. Belladonna gets her moment, Domino gets her sass, and Logan tries to end it with a deal—call it off and the money goes to charity—which is hilarious because it’s Wolverine pretending diplomacy is his thing. Of course, the Guild chooses violence, and then the Hand complicates everything because apparently every evil organization subscribes to the same calendar. It wraps with the kind of exhausted victory that still feels like it cost them something personal.
DP V4: Zombies
Writer - Daniel Way
Pencils - Carlo Barberi, Paco Medina
Deadpool #4
Wade takes a mission that smells like a double-cross from page one, which is basically his favorite scent. The job spirals into zombie chaos, and Deadpool treats the undead like they’re just rude strangers at a Costco. There’s enough splatter to repaint a small apartment, but the real hook is that Wade’s being played—someone wants him blamed, boxed in, or both. By the end you can feel the book loading the next issue like a chambered round. Deadpool #5
The zombie mess escalates, because in Deadpool-land the correct response to “bad” is always “worse.” Wade keeps pushing forward anyway, half because he’s stubborn and half because he’s too chaotic to retreat. The double-cross angle tightens, and you can tell the “mission” was never the point—Wade was the point. It ends with that classic Daniel Way energy: the punchline lands, but it’s soaked in blood.
Games of Death #1
Deadpool winds up on a twisted “Pain Factor” style endurance gauntlet where surviving is the only prize, and Wade is built for this kind of nonsense. He outlasts a stack of competitors through sheer stubbornness, regeneration, and the kind of problem-solving that should be illegal. Tiger Shark shows up because the universe loves giving Wade problems with teeth. The whole thing reads like a dare: how long can you watch Deadpool suffer before you start laughing again?
DP V4: Tiger Shark
Writer - Daniel Way
Pencils - Paco Medina
Deadpool #6
Deadpool spends an entire issue being a goblin in public, tangling with Tiger Shark and treating it like an open-mic night. Hydra Bob shows up, instantly improving the vibe by being the world’s most pathetic ride-or-die henchman. The plot moves, sure, but the real value is watching Wade weaponize stupidity as a fighting style. And somehow it works, which is the most Deadpool thing ever.
Deadpool #7
It turns out Norman Osborn is the hand behind the curtain, and he’s sending muscle (and “friends”) to erase Deadpool before Wade can expose anything. The Skrull/DNA/macguffin stuff becomes leverage: Osborn doesn’t want the world seeing how the sausage got made. So the Thunderbolts get pointed at Wade like a loaded gun with a government budget. Deadpool, naturally, responds by escalating the chaos instead of running.
DP V4: Magnum Opus
Writer - Daniel Way
Pencils - Paco Medina
Deadpool #8
Wade’s big plan to get to Osborn is hilariously simple: climb an absurd number of stairs and refuse to die. It’s a gag stretched to the breaking point, but that’s kind of the charm—Deadpool turning “determination” into slapstick. The Thunderbolts finally show up at the end like the universe saying, “okay, comedy time is over.” Except with Deadpool, comedy time is never over.
Thunderbolts #130
The Thunderbolts and Deadpool collide, and it’s less a fight and more a prolonged explosion with dialogue balloons. Osborn’s team is trying to put Wade down clean, but Wade doesn’t do “clean”—he does “messy and still talking.” The action is the selling point here: everyone gets a moment, and nobody feels safe. It’s the middle chapter where the only real outcome is “things get worse.”
Deadpool #9
Wade pulls Taskmaster in as a “second Deadpool,” which is the kind of terrible idea that becomes genius purely through commitment. Meanwhile, the flirting with Yelena is peak Deadpool: he’s bleeding out and still trying to charm someone who could absolutely end him. The Thunderbolts pressure keeps closing in, and the Osborn hit feels more organized and more personal. The issue plays like a heist movie where the heist is “survive.”
Thunderbolts #131
The fight hits maximum ridiculous: Headsman literally cuts Deadpool’s head off, and Yelena stitches it back on like it’s an annoying chore. Wade still manages to steal Osborn’s credit card, because spite is a renewable energy source. It’s the kind of finale that doesn’t “resolve” so much as detonate and scatter the pieces across the street. And somehow, Deadpool walks away feeling like he won—because for him, walking away is winning.
DP V4: Hawkeye
Writer - Daniel Way
Pencils - Paco Medina
Deadpool #10
Osborn sends “Hawkeye” after Wade, and Deadpool treats it like a celebrity guest star…until the violence starts getting real. Wade even murders a pizza delivery guy for pocket money, which is a grim reminder that Deadpool’s morality is basically a loose suggestion. The big turn is the mask: Hawkeye is actually Bullseye, and he puts a shot through Wade’s brain like he’s clocking in for work. It’s mean, fast, and ends with Deadpool very briefly not being able to talk his way out of it.
Deadpool #11
Bullseye lets Wade go, which is somehow more insulting than killing him—like Wade isn’t even worth the finishing blow. The rematch energy ramps up, and Wade finally gets a moment to return the favor, skewering Bullseye in a way that screams “I’m still here, you jerk.” The rivalry is vicious, but it’s also weirdly playful, like two psychopaths flirting with murder instead of romance. By the end, you know this is heading toward an ugly stalemate.
Deadpool #12
The final fight gets so destructive that even the characters seem to realize they’re burning the set down. Wade and Bullseye hit that terrifying place where neither wants it to end, because violence is the only language they’re fluent in. And then Osborn does the most Osborn thing possible: he just pays Wade off to make the headache go away. It’s anticlimactic in-story, but totally perfect for Dark Reign-era cynicism.
X-Force: Pirates
Writer - Daniel Way
Pencils - Shawn Crystal, Phil Briones
Deadpool #13
Wade fakes his own death in the most theatrical way possible—goodbyes, car into the ocean, the whole melodramatic package. Then he immediately decides the logical next step is piracy, because his brain is a carnival. Hydra Bob becomes his parrot, which is both adorable and deeply stupid. He ends up on a secluded island with real pirates and starts recruiting a “blind hot girl” as first mate like he’s casting a reality show. It’s Deadpool trying on “freedom” as a costume.
Deadpool #14
Deadpool goes full Looney Tunes naval warfare, winning by firing a torpedo at a nuclear submarine…that he already sank earlier, because planning is for nerds. The pirate conflict resolves the only way Wade can resolve things: by being louder, luckier, and more shameless than everyone else. Under the jokes, there’s a weird little character beat where Wade admits he kinda liked being a good guy. Then he shrugs it off and keeps sailing, because sincerity is dangerous in Deadpool comics.
My Connections and Creators
Boring or Great?
It's tough to comment generally on so many different comic lines and story arcs, but I'm pretty comfortable with giving them all a 6/10. They certainly weren't terrible, but I don't think a single comic had me excited to flip to the next issue, or even the next page.
Thoughts on Art
Olivetti’s work on Cable makes the future feel heavy and sun-bleached—every panel looks like it’s sweating through trauma, which is perfect for “dad raising messiah baby in hell.”
Crain’s X-Force pages are a glossy nightmare—hyper-detailed gore with a horror-movie sheen—while Choi brings cleaner superhero readability without losing the brutality.
And Dell’Otto’s painted style in Sex and Violence is ridiculously stylish…which makes the blood and messy chemistry hit even harder, because it looks like a fashion spread that keeps getting interrupted by assassins.
Things to keep an eye on
Will Deadpool spend time as a "good guy?"
Will Hope ever make it back to Cyclops (the time from which she was born?)
Will Deadpool and Yelena ever hook up?