Avalanche is useful to Freedom Force because he can change the ground everyone else is trying to fight on. Walls, streets and solid footing stop being reliable around him. A str…

Avalanche is useful to Freedom Force because he can change the ground everyone else is trying to fight on. Walls, streets and solid footing stop being reliable around him. A strong opponent still needs somewhere to stand. He comes into the arrangement as one of Mystique's established Brotherhood members. His vibrations give Mystique a way to disrupt a whole area rather than simply trade blows with one person. That makes him particularly valuable when the assignment involves cutting off escape routes or separating a target from the people protecting them. The Rusty Collins pursuit gives him a little more to do than provide scenery-breaking effects. He is uncomfortable about going after another mutant, even while he is willing to confront the supposed mutant hunters of X-Factor. The team's new employment has not made its members think identically about who deserves to be hunted. That disagreement doesn't make him a secret saint. He remains perfectly capable of causing damage and getting into petty arguments. His clashes with Blob show how quickly a serious discussion can deteriorate when these people are left in the same room. Mystique has to manage their tempers as well as their abilities. There is a better use of that partnership in Dallas, where Avalanche helps put Blob directly onto Wolverine. They can function together when the situation demands it, even if nobody would call their working relationship peaceful. Against the Reavers on Muir Island, his destructive power offers no comfortable protection from a fast, close-range attacker. Lady Deathstrike badly wounds him. That encounter keeps his place on the team in perspective: he can make a battlefield dangerous for everybody else and still be a vulnerable person standing in the middle of it. Freedom Force's official backing does nothing to soften that reality.