The Marvel Universe Needs a New Incarnation of This Early 2000s X-Team

The X-Men have assembled countless different lineups, each dedicated to the mutant cause in their own way. From X-Factor to X-Force, these teams’ methods and status vary based on their specific missions, and no two X-Teams are ever exactly the same. With things darker than ever for the mutant population of Earth, one team the world could use to make a comeback first appeared in the pages of X-Treme X-Men.

Officially classified as the X-Treme Sanctions Executive, this band of mutants fought together in the pages of the X-Treme X-Men series – written by X-Men icon Chris Claremont, alongside Salvador Larroca, Igor Kordey, and many more. Led by Storm, these X-Treme mutants operated as a U.N. licensed peacekeeping task force for a time.

As such, they were legally authorized to intervene in human mutant conflicts across the globe. Featuring fan-favorite members like Bishop, Rogue, and more in their lineup, ultimately, the X.S.E. was ultimately a major milestone in mutant/human relations – an area in which the X-Men could definitely use some massive improvements, given their current existential conflict with Orchis.

X-Treme Times Call For X-Treme Responses

Assuming there is much of a post-Orchis world left after mutantkind’s Krakoan era has ended, humanity will need to be reminded that the X-Men have always and will always be there to protect the world, even if it hates and fears them. Yes, fighting alongside heroes like Captain America and Iron Man works to “legitimize” them in the eyes of their potential detractors, but it’s important that the X-Men remind the humans that mutants have been fighting for the survival since long before the Avengers and their allies started taking human/mutant relations seriously. In many ways, the X-Treme Sanctions Executive were arguably the forerunners of the now-active Avengers Unity Squad.

Both are officially recognized entities that serve as milestones in human and mutant relations, and they both quite frequently combat their share of anti-mutant bigotry. However, while the Uncanny Avengers definitely have their place in reshaping the perception that humankind has of the mutants, ultimately, the X-Treme Sanctions Executive would be just as necessary in the Marvel Universe’s current day and age. That being said, nobody would put it past Orchis to form their own X-Treme Sanctions Executive as yet another psychological operation against the world’s population – a sham team of “good” mutants destined to fail in order to further drag the X-Men name through the mud. They have already proven willing to use such tactics, as exemplified by their false-flag Captain Krakoa, as well as the new Mutant Liberation Front.

A Mutant-Led Peacekeeping Force Could Be X-Tremely Impactful

A team of ineffective, or downright malicious mutants could totally sabotage the X-Men’s cause, further inciting the conflict that they’re supposedly assembled to avert.With other Orchis-backed entities – like the Mutant Liberation Front, and even Sable International – also working to undermine the validity of the mutant cause, a tarnished or corrupted version of the mutant peacekeeping operation first featured in X-Treme X-Men team would harm as much as a genuine resurrection of the team would help. It’s simply a matter of who brings back the X-Treme Sanctions Executive first, and how hard they’re willing to commit to their ideals.

The X-Men are well known for their spin-off rosters, but few lineups were as underrated or as pivotal as the X-Treme Sanctions Executive were for the franchise in the early 2000s. Especially considering that the original concept was not taken to its fullest possible extent, meaning there is more that can be done with it creatively. Regardless of whether a newly revived incarnation would work for, or against, the mutant cause, as an officially sanctioned mutant entity, they would have a major impact on the dynamic between humans and mutants around the world. Either way, the Marvel Comics Universe desperately needs to return to one of the most interesting concepts from X-Treme X-Men.