8. Ogre: early technical operative

8. Ogre: early technical operative Ogre belongs in Factor Three’s original ensemble, with a different place from the six figures revealed at the later trial. His active role in this stretch is the opening operation in X-Men #28. He is a human operative whose threat comes from equipment rather than a mutant ability. That already complicates an organization selling itself through mutant supremacy. Factor Three is willing to use someone outside that supposed cause when his skills help it get results. Ogre’s assignment is to help abduct Professor Xavier, with Banshee as the powered attacker. Their relationship is coercive. Banshee wears an explosive headband, and Ogre’s control over it prevents him from simply refusing the mission. When the X-Men capture Banshee, Ogre does not behave like a partner trying to bring him home safely. He attempts to kill him. Cyclops interrupts that attack, and Mimic then helps defeat Ogre. The closing sequence makes the technical connection important. Once Ogre’s control apparatus has been destroyed, Xavier can safely disable the threat in Banshee’s headband. Ogre shows how Factor Three operates. Its recruitment can mean taking a useful person’s freedom away and forcing him into the field. The gadgets are part of that power relationship, not just extra weapons for a fight. He is the earlier mission’s handler and technical threat, not an additional juror at the trial in #37.