Written by Peter David, the series drew acclaim from Ain't It Cool News, and in 2011 won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book for the romantic relationship between Rictor and Shatterstar.

[1] With the monthly Defenders series already due to be cancelled, Marvel's editorial staff elected to have the other members of the group killed off in the final issue in order to free up Angel, Beast, and Iceman for X-Factor.

In 1980, Jean Grey was killed during the seminal Dark Phoenix Saga, and since it was considered vital that the team have a female member, Layton opted to use fellow mutant Dazzler.

[3] Publicity material for the series began to appear at this time, with images of the team using a blank space or silhouette in place of the female member as a teaser mystery.

Several panels of this comic were rewritten (by X-Men writer Chris Claremont) and redrawn (by initial X-Factor artist Jackson Guice) to depict the Phoenix entity as less malevolent than Byrne intended.

[5] The five original members set up a business advertised as mutant-hunters for hire, headquartered in the TriBeCa neighborhood of downtown New York City,[6] posing as "normal" (non-superpowered) humans to their clients.

Louise Simonson placed the series in line with the darker tone of most of the X-Men franchise; after a year on X-Factor, she remarked that "in real life all of my friends should be happy, but in comic books all of my characters should be miserable.

"[7] Wanting to do stories with more focus on X-Factor's teenage wards, Louise Simonson successfully petitioned editor Bob Harras for permission to do a miniseries featuring them.

Rather than end the series, Marvel hired writer Peter David and illustrator Larry Stroman to recreate X-Factor with new members who worked for the Pentagon.

Writer John Francis Moore and illustrator Jeff Matsuda introduced a new X-Factor line-up, consisting of Forge as the team's new leader, Polaris, Cooper, and several new recruits.

Afterward, writer Howard Mackie injected more political and espionage elements into the series, a trend that culminated in the team's secession from government sponsorship.

Writer Peter David's decision to explicitly establish male characters Shatterstar and Rictor entering a romantic relationship in X-Factor #45 (August 2009), confirming clues that had been established in X-Force years earlier,[9] drew criticism from Shatterstar's co-creator, Rob Liefeld,[10] though Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada supported David's story.

[citation needed] "X-Factor" was relaunched in August 2024 as part of "X-Men: From the Ashes" written by Mark Russell and drawn by Bob Quinn.