X-Factor’s second chapter begins when the cover story finally ends. Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman and Warren Worthington are still the five people at the center of the book.…

X-Factor’s second chapter begins when the cover story finally ends. Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman and Warren Worthington are still the five people at the center of the book. What changes is the life they can lead together, and what the public understands them to be. In X-Factor #25, the team confronts Apocalypse and his Horsemen while Manhattan suffers the consequences. Warren breaks from Apocalypse’s control. After the battle, Cyclops tells the press the truth about X-Factor. The supposed mutant hunters can no longer hide their work behind a business that encouraged people to fear mutants. Recognition is not immediate or uncomplicated. In #26, the police initially intend to arrest them. The team keeps helping anyway, rescuing people from explosions and collapsed buildings and transporting the injured. By the end, the city is offering them a parade instead. Their new uniforms mark a change they have already begun making through their actions. Their home changes too. Apocalypse’s enormous vessel becomes Ship, a presence with thoughts and responsibilities of his own. The young mutants in their care give that home another purpose, although those students are not additions to the five-person adult roster. The following years take this public team through Inferno, an unfamiliar world in Judgment War, and closer contact with the other mutant teams. Warren’s transformation and Hank’s changing condition make even the familiar lineup look different. This thread follows that public-hero and Ship period, rather than repeating the original launch. The early adult X-Terminators disguise belongs to the earlier arrangement; the younger X-Terminators are a separate group. The central question now is what these five do once everyone can see who they are.