‘Deadpool’ Co-Creator Rob Liefeld Thinks Marvel Skipped His X-Force Characters To Avoid Paying Him

Mutants are having a moment again, with Marvel Studios pouring resources into everything from animated revivals to big screen team-ups. That resurgence has made every casting and roster choice feel like it matters more than ever to longtime comic readers who grew up on these characters. Nowhere has that scrutiny been sharper lately than around one specific super team with a very colorful history.

‘X-Men 97’ returned for its second season and gave Cable a brand new version of his black ops squad, and fans immediately had thoughts. Instead of pulling from the classic comic roster, the show has Cable recruiting Archangel, Psylocke, Sunspot, and Jubilee for his mutant strike team. Longtime readers noticed right away that this lineup barely resembles the one they remember from the source material.

That is because the original ‘X-Force’ comic, created by Rob Liefeld in the early 1990s, looked completely different. Liefeld’s version of the team featured Boom-Boom, Cannonball, Shatterstar, Feral, and Warpath fighting alongside Cable when the concept first launched. Fans who preferred that classic roster went straight to Liefeld himself to ask why Marvel Studios went in such a different direction.

The Deadpool co-creator did not hold back his theory. Responding to a fan on social media who argued the original lineup was superior, Liefeld suggested the change may come down to cost, floating the idea that Marvel would owe him more money for every additional character of his that gets used. Marvel Studios has stayed quiet on the matter, and there is no official confirmation that licensing fees played any role in the decision.

This is not the first time Liefeld’s mutant creations have gotten trimmed down for the screen. His X-Force team appeared briefly in ‘Deadpool 2,’ only for nearly the entire squad to be killed off within minutes of being introduced. Beyond that, other well known members who have worn the ‘X-Force’ name over the years, including Domino, X-23, and even Deadpool himself, were also left out of the new animated lineup.

The timing of the shake up matters too, since ‘X-Men 97’ Season 2 sends Apocalypse chasing the X-Men across three different time periods, scattering the core team and giving groups like X-Force and the government backed X-Factor room to take on bigger roles. Liefeld’s original creation has a legacy that goes well beyond one animated series. The character debuted out of a New Mutants revamp in 1989 before the 1991 ‘X-Force’ launch issue reportedly sold five million copies, a number almost unthinkable in today’s comic market.

Whether or not money truly shaped the season’s roster, the mutant boom shows no signs of slowing. Insomniac Games’ Wolverine title is still aiming for a 2026 release, and ‘Avengers Doomsday’ is bringing back Fox era stars like Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. With so many classic X-Force members still sitting on the sidelines, fans are left wondering which of Liefeld’s mutants, if any, will actually make it back to the screen, and whether you think the new Cable led squad can still live up to the original 90s lineup.