DEADPOOL Creator Reveals The Battle Plan It Took To Get X-FORCE Green Lit, Which Almost Didn't Happen

With the X-Force coming to life on the big screen in Deadpool 2 in less than two months, Rob Liefeld, creator of the group of mercenary mutants, shares an important lesson with fans regarding its creation.

By MattIsForReal - Mar 24, 2018 05:03 AM EST

Filed Under: X-Force

Earlier this week, Fox released a more traditional trailer for Deadpool 2, giving us our first proper look at the X-Force. For fans of the Marvel Comics franchise, it was a huge moment as it's the first time we've seen this group of "morally-flexible" mutants on the big screen. Despite being the 2nd best selling title in comics history, it may come as a surprise to you that X-Force almost didn't happen.

In a post on Instagram, Deadpool and X-Force creator Rob Liefeld shared a photo of a fax he received in the Fall of 1990 from then-Direct Sales Manager Sven Larsen. The fax contained some very valuable "marketing points" for X-Force, referred to at the time as X-Terminators before the name change.

In addition to sharing the "battle plan of how to turn the no's into the all important green light," Liefeld offered advice to anyone looking to accomplish their dreams: "Bottom line, DON'T GIVE UP!!" Check out Liefeld's full post below, in which he recalls how he'd been "turned down twice in my efforts to reboot the book."

HOW X-FORCE ALMOST DIDN’T HAPPEN! More than a boring memo from 1990, this contains the battle plan of how to turn the no’s into the all important green light that eventually produced X-Force, referred to as X-TERMINATORS here prior to the name change. Bottom line, DON'T GIVE UP!! So I came across this original fax from 28 years ago, 1990, where the Direct Sales Manager shared his brainstorm with me after I had repeatedly lobbied to change New Mutants to X-Terminators and eventually X-Force. I had been turned down twice in my efforts to reboot the book. It was frustrating as I was 22 years old, located on the west coast and wasn't able to lobby in person, it was always over the phone or fax. I knew I needed to keep up with my peer group and transforming New Mutants was the key to staying ahead of the pack as well as the right direction as my tenure had increased sales 1000%. Each turn down was crushing, I was always informed following a meeting in the New York offices (that I wasn't personally involved in) that the committee had turned the book down. But I didn't give up hope and neither did Sven Larsen who was in marketing and key to the push. Eventually we turned the tide and got the green light and X-Force #1 sold 5 million copies and remains the 2nd best selling title in comics history. Anyways, hopefully you can draw some inspiration from this and be reminded that most things don't come easy and if you feel it's worth fighting for, keep at it. I'm eternally grateful to Sven and all the others behind the scene that worked to transform the direction of the book from New Mutants to X-Force. Creating cool characters like Deadpool and Cable and exciting storylines isn't always enough, it's the grind behind the scenes that produces results. Keep at it, whoever you are!!! #xforce #cable #Deadpool #robliefeld #marvel

A post shared by RobertLiefeld (@robliefeld) on
Mar 22, 2018 at 3:59pm PDT

Thankfully, it all worked out in the end and now we get to look forward to seeing the X-Force come to life on the big screen when Deadpool 2 hits theaters on May 18, 2018.

X-FORCE: Jeff Wadlow Says His Scrapped Movie Featured Villainous Deadpool And Teenage '90s-Inspired Team

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37 Comments

aflynn - 3/24/2018, 6:08 AM

aflynn - 3/24/2018, 6:12 AM

aflynn - 3/24/2018, 6:13 AM

Asturgis - 3/24/2018, 6:52 AM

@aflynn - Uncanny X-Force was one of the best reads from Marvel in these past few years. They developed Betsy like she never had been before, and made Fantomex into a real A-lister. That scene where he uses Rachel and the Stepford Cuckoos to mind-jack Karnak and use him to learn how to defeat all of the X-Men by himself was really cool.

SimpleeComplex - 3/26/2018, 5:48 PM

@Asturgis - agree

JohnnyTBP - 3/24/2018, 6:15 AM

I’m so glad Terry Crews in in a CBM, dude is a superhero in real life

dcmarvelimage - 3/24/2018, 6:22 AM

I remember reading New Mutants and loving it up until Liefield took over and introduced his Gary Stu jackass Cable. Man that book was bad continued to be bad when it became X-Force good thing other writers took over and made Cable and X-Force better. I honestly don't think Liefield deserve's the credit he get's for this yeah he created the blueprints for these character so I wouldn't say he doesn't deserve any credit for this stuff he does of course deserve a mention in their history. But man he doesn't deserve as much credit as he get's. His stuff was craaaaaaaaaap. Give me Uncanny X-Force over X-Force Vol.1 any day.

MATBAN - 3/24/2018, 6:51 AM

@dcmarvelimage - Amen to that.

parkerray - 3/24/2018, 12:32 PM

@dcmarvelimage - Yasss, turned a book about a found family into a military book packed with derivative, forgettable characters, guns, and shoulder pads.

Ryguy88 - 3/24/2018, 7:27 AM

Was Fantomex the guy standing behind Deadpool on the bridge of the plane?

aflynn - 3/24/2018, 8:21 AM

@Ryguy88 - no

Ryguy88 - 3/24/2018, 8:35 AM

@aflynn - who then?

aflynn - 3/24/2018, 8:53 AM

@Ryguy88 - Zeitgeist

Ryguy88 - 3/25/2018, 7:51 AM

@aflynn - thats the guy between Domino and Deadpool. There is someone in all white/grey directly behind Deadpool

aflynn - 3/25/2018, 7:59 AM

@Ryguy88 - oh on the other side is shatterstar

Ryguy88 - 3/25/2018, 9:00 AM

@aflynn - yeah, there is someone between Shatterstar and Zeitgeist and behind Deadpool. Fantomex, perchance?

Chewtoy - 3/24/2018, 7:28 AM

He never made it to the last point on the list... “Don’t suck anymore.” Guess that was more of a suggestion than something that needed to be addressed.

Battabing - 3/24/2018, 11:03 AM

It's hilarious how all of Liefeld's creations were improved upon by greater talents.
Deadpool wouldn't be what he is today if not for the work of Joe Kelly, Fabian Nicieza, and Gail Simone.

NathanielExxex - 3/24/2018, 11:37 AM

Such a hack who with time got worse.....how is that even possible.

parkerray - 3/24/2018, 12:37 PM

Interesting how all these X-force photos people are posting are packed with mutants who won't be in this movie (along with Domino who looks nothing like her onscreen version).

DEADPOOL Creator Reveals The Battle Plan It Took To Get X-FORCE Green Lit, Which Almost Didn't Happen

With the X-Force coming to life on the big screen in Deadpool 2 in less than two months, Rob Liefeld, creator of the group of mercenary mutants, shares an important lesson with fans regarding its creation.

X-FORCE: Jeff Wadlow Says His Scrapped Movie Featured Villainous Deadpool And Teenage '90s-Inspired Team

FANTASY ISLAND Director Jeff Wadlow Reveals What He Had Planned For His X-FORCE Trilogy - EXCLUSIVE

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