A powerful organization led by the Mutantmaster with the goal of world-domination, Factor Three wanted to be the third factor between the eastern and the western block.
Membership: Mutantmaster, Mastermind, Blob, Vanisher, Unus, Ogre, Changeling
Banshee (mind-controlled)
Allies: Juggernaut
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #28 [mentioned], #37 [seen]
Last appearance: Uncanny X-Men #39
Before
- Most members of Factor Three were former foes of the X-Men. They had already faced the Vanisher in Uncanny X-Men #2; the Blob in Uncanny X-Men #3, 7, 20; Unus in Uncanny X-Men #8, 20; Mastermind as a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants I and the Juggernaut in Uncanny X-Men #12-13.
- When last seen, Mastermind had been turned to stone by the Stranger, but the spell wore off after a while. [Uncanny X-Men #11, 37]
- Banshee, Ogre, Changeling and the Mutantmaster had not been seen before.
Chronology
| Uncanny X-Men #28: | Two agents of Factor Three, Ogre and a mind-controlled Banshee, have discovered the location of the X-Men’s mansion. They try to kidnap Xavier, but the X-Men are able to disrupt the mental hold over Banshee. From him they first learn about Factor Three. |
| Uncanny X-Men #32-33: | Factor Three engineers Juggernaut’s escape from Xavier’s custody, offering him an alliance. The X-Men fight the Juggernaut and banish him to the Crimson Cosmos, but while they were kept busy, Professor Xavier gets captured by agents of Factor Three. |
| Uncanny X-Men #35: | The Banshee, who was trying to discover the truth behind Factor Three, is taken captive as well. The X-Men battle a robotic spider created by their enemies, and defeat it with Spider-Man’s help. They then pinpoint Banshee’s rough location and set out after him. |
| Uncanny X-Men #36: | Having pinpointed Factor Three's lair to be somewhere in the European alps, the X-Men prepare themselves for the upcoming battle. The Changeling observes them entering a plane. |
| Uncanny X-Men #37-39: | The Changeling orders the plane to be destroyed, however the X-Men survive the blast only to be taken prisoner as well. Now they learn the full membership of Factor Three: Blob, Unus, Vanisher, Mastermind, Changeling and the mysterious Mutantmaster. After the X-Men get free, the Mutantmaster keeps them busy fighting the other members. Meanwhile the Changeling discovers that the Mutantmaster is not what he claims to be. Switching sides he frees the Banshee, whose sonic scream destroys the Mutantmaster's disguise; underneath is a Sirian alien who wanted to destroy all life on earth. The mutant members of Factor Three turn against him and help the X-Men protect their world, and Mutantmaster dies in battle. The X-Men allow the evil mutants to go free due to their help against the alien. |
In between
- Several months later, Blob, Unus and Mastermind re-founded the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. (see Brotherhood of Evil Mutants I)
- When the Changeling found out that he was dying from cancer, he offered himself to Xavier to atone for his past sins. While the Professor prepared to fight the Z'Nox in isolation, he had the Changeling impersonated him in front of the X-Men. Eventually the Changeling died in the Professor's place at the hands of Grotesk in Uncanny X-Men #42. [revealed in Uncanny X-Men #65]
Chronology continued
| Thunderbolts #33: | At some point, Vanisher met with his three former teammates (Blob, Mastermind and Unus) in one of Factor Three’s old lairs, and they joked about it being some sort of Factor Three reunion. As they left, they ordered the Ogre to watch the base. They never returned though, and the Ogre later learned from the news that his colleagues had been caught. |
Afterwards
- Banshee joined the All-New, All-Different X-Men. [Giant Size X-Men #1]
- Ogre reappeared in Thunderbolts #33, inhabiting that team’s current headquarters which was apparently an earlier base of Factor Three. He was working behind the scenes to help out the team, like new costumes, repairs, etc. Ogre eventually left Earth space with his charge, Humus Sapien. [Thunderbolts #55]
Members
Mutantmaster
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #37
Last appearance: Uncanny X-Men #39 [died of exposure to sonic scream]
All Factor Three appearances: Uncanny X-Men #37-39
Powers: Sirian with quasi-squid like appearance, wears humanoid exo-mask built into a hover platform, equipped with lasers, explosives, sonic vibrator beams, and a force field
Changeling
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #35
Last appearance: Uncanny X-Men #42 [killed by Grotesk while pretending to be Xavier]
All Factor Three appearances: Uncanny X-Men #35-39, Thunderbolts #33
Powers: Bio-replicating ability allows him to perfectly mimic any human appearance, handwriting, and body language. He also had limited telepathic and telekinetic powers.
Fact
- Changelings counterpart in the Age of Apocalypse is Morph.
Vanisher (Telford Porter)
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #2
First Factor Three appearance: Uncanny X-Men #37
All Factor Three appearances: Uncanny X-Men #37-39, Thunderbolts #33
Powers: Teleportation power works by shifting himself into a pinprick hole in the space/time continuum, perpetually crossing through multiple planes of reality until he chooses to realign himself with our dimension plane and return in a different location.
Blob (Fred J. Dukes)
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #3
First Factor Three appearance: Uncanny X-Men #37
All Factor Three appearances: Uncanny X-Men #37-39, Thunderbolts #33
Powers: Enhanced mass and multiple layers of elastic, fatty tissue grant him superhuman strength, are able to absorb all forms of impact and damage, and are flexible enough to hold objects within the folds of his flesh and pop them out when he flexes his muscles. He can also generate gravity fields that hold him firmly in place to make him an immovable object.
Unus (Gunther Bain / Angelo Unuscione)
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #8
First Factor Three appearance: Uncanny X-Men #37
Last appearance: Son of M #6 [suffocated within his own force field]
All Factor Three appearances: Uncanny X-Men #37-39, Thunderbolts #33
Powers: Generates a repulsor wave around his body that repels any object that falls within its radius, or can solidify the energy into a powerful force field that shields him from impact and injury while increasing the force behind his blows.
Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde)
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #4
First Factor Three appearance: Uncanny X-Men #37
Last appearance: Uncanny X-Men Annual #17 [succumbed to the Legacy virus]
All Factor Three appearances: Uncanny X-Men #37-39, Thunderbolts #33
Powers: Confuse and alter the perceptions of other living beings, creating illusionary projections or realities, turning himself invisible, and seemingly morphing his physical appearance.
Banshee (Sean Cassidy)
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #28
Last appearance: X-Men: Deadly Genesis #3 [killed in a plane crash]
All Factor Three appearances: Uncanny X-Men #28 [as mindcontrolled agent], 35, 37-39 [opposing them]
Powers: Manipulates his vocal chords to generate hypersonic frequencies that act as a high-decibel sonic scream for various effects, able to:
- shatter or disintegrate solid matter
- repels objects to shield himself or fly through the air
- emit sonar pulses to echo-locate his environment
- and focus his sonics at another person to send them into a trance, paralyze them, or render them unconscious or deaf.
His body compensates for his powers with superhuman hearing and a resistance to intense sound.
Ogre
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #28
All Factor Three appearances: Uncanny X-Men #28, Thunderbolts #33
Powers: no mutant, relied on technical devices, including jet boots, repello ray from wrist shooters and blinding lights. He also is very good in engineering.
Allies
Juggernaut (Cain Marko)
First appearance: Uncanny X-Men #12
All Factor Three appearances: Uncanny X-Men #32-33
Powers: Infused with the power of the Ruby Gem of Cyttorak that gives him immeasurable strength and endurance, a massive indestructible body reinforced by a mystical force field that cancels out inertia and impact, and an additional enchantment that renders him virtually unstoppable once in motion.