The Next Big Thing: Uncanny X-Force

Marvel.com: Rick Remender and Axel Alonso discuss Wolverine’s new killer squad and their plan to take down Apocalypse

• Apocalypse

Remender: "He doesn't come alone; when Apocalypse comes, you also have the Horsemen and the Akkaba Society. I think we've got something totally unique planned for the character, something that puts a unique dilemma on X-Force as well. We've got some very exciting things to be revealed."

• Apocalypse as a child?

Remender: "If that's Apocalypse that will add some tension to the team; discovering that their target's a boy gives a different side of the Hope/Bishop dynamic. The challenge these characters face, and how they respond to it, will define and redefine them for a long time."
Alonso: "When they're covered in blood, what do they have left inside them? Uncanny X-Force will be a very emotional story, and one I think will haunt readers after they've read the first arc."

• Deadpool

Remender: "Deadpool's hired to hunt down something, and surprising everyone, he starts putting pieces together and discovers stuff. He brings a lot of comic relief in the tense, high adventure and action scenes with the crazy things he's thinking through it all. But he wants this to work, that's the core of it all in a skewed crazy sense."
Alonso: "Don't forget, Deadpool's crazy but efficient. And he has some beautiful moments with Fantomex, who's not exactly 'goody two shoes' either. They are on the team for very different reasons, but they're very similar."

• Fantomex

Remender: "Fantomex was originally created to be a mutant-hunting Sentinel, but never really did it. As a character, he's fairly complex, but he has a clearly defined relationship with Logan: he was the one to pull back the curtain to show him what really happened at the program. Fantomex and Wolverine are close friends not just because of their shared history, but because of the amount of trouble Fantomex went through to unveil Wolverine's history for him."

• New Members

Remender: "By the time I was pitching to write Uncanny X-Force, the initial team was already in place, but we have some very exciting new members coming in the next couple issues. I'll give you a million bucks if you can guess who's coming; it's going to be hugely exciting for fans, and hopefully make something that's new and unique for X-characters."

• Psylocke ♥ Archangel

Remender: "Their relationship always fascinated me. It came back for a couple very natural reasons, but their relationship becomes something unlike anything seen before. Warren needs Betsy to help him control Archangel; he needs her in a big way. That adds a lot of questions once they rekindle their affair; when there's that kind of necessity, one begins to wonder if he needs her more than he loves her.
Alonso: There's a lot of urgency in everyone's relationships beginning right in the first issue. And there's also a love triangle, and I'm not talking Deadpool and Fantomex.

• Cavern-X

Remender: "X-Force has a base called Cavern-X in the mountains of North Arizona. We get to see it in all it's splendor in Uncanny X-Force #2. Basically, Warren's been putting together a museum for mutants for some time as a sort of time capsule in the event that the mutant race ever fizzled out. So now it's a base and a museum.

• The Final Horsemen

Alonso: "Rick and Jerome have created these four new Horsemen - the Final Horsemen - and you'll get to see what they're all about; they're real keepers. They all have interesting back stories, with a lot of pathos. They're more than just cool looking characters."
Remender: "This is Apocalypse's last big push to implement an age of Apocalypse. There'll be some twists and turns in the series, and we're seeding some big stuff to happen along the way."