Founded by former X-Men, X-Factor publicly posed as humans who claimed to capture dangerous mutants; in truth, they rescued young mutants to protect and train them. X-Factor hired Cameron Hodge to handle public relations, unaware his bigotry would lead him to generate media hype against the "mutant menace". While they still covertly went into battle as the outlaw mutant X-Terminators, their secret was eventually exposed by Mystique and Hodge's anti-mutant group, the Right. However, after saving New York from an attack by Apocalypse's Horsemen, they were honored as heroes by the public. They continued together during the demonic "Inferno" invasion of New York, temporary transport to a world under Celestial judgment, and attacks by the cybernetic Hodge and his allies in Genosha, the Dark Riders, and more, before rejoining the X-Men following an attack on Muir Island by the Shadow King.