ALLIANCE OF EVIL

ALLIANCE OF EVIL 1/7 The Alliance of Evil enters X-Factor with four mutants chasing one man they cannot afford to lose. The original team in X-Factor #5–6, published in 1986, consists of Frenzy, Tower, Stinger and Timeshadow. Together they offer strength, size-changing, electrical attacks and an opponent who slips out of ordinary time. Their employer is Apocalypse, whose identity emerges at the end of their first full team appearance. The man they are pursuing is Michael Nowlan. His mutation increases other mutants' powers, and the Alliance has become dependent on what he supplies. They want him back badly enough to use his ex-wife, Suzy, as leverage. That makes their first story a particularly vicious rescue problem for X-Factor. The person who needs protection can be forced to strengthen the people threatening him. Their four powers also make them a reasonably varied threat for the original five X-Men. Frenzy and Tower can occupy the team's attention in close quarters while Stinger attacks at range. Timeshadow complicates any attempt to keep track of where everyone is. Nowlan can push all of those problems beyond the level X-Factor expects. Yet the hostage gives the Alliance more leverage than its lineup alone. The heroes cannot solve everything by hitting harder when Michael is being made to cooperate. He has a reason to fear the attackers and a reason to fear what happens if he refuses them. The fight keeps returning to Suzy's safety, however spectacular the powers become around her. The Alliance's advantage comes with its own weakness. They have tied their effectiveness to someone who desperately wants to escape them, while serving a master who measures everyone by whether they remain useful.