Leading up to the UXM #200 trail of Magneto, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, led by Mystique, decide to align with the protections of government sanction and negotiate to rebrand themselves as “Freedom Force” with the aid of agent Val Cooper. 1/5 #xmen

Their first act is to bring in Magneto, despite the fact that he is already pursuing reform/rehabilitation independently, thus immediately establishing Claremont’s use of the group as a commentary on the wide gulf between law and justice. 2/5

This aspect is of course implicit in the rebranding of the group itself: formed entirely by murderous criminals who, scared for their own safety, made a deal with the government in exchange for pardons. The name “Freedom Force” is thus intended as a grotesque irony. 3/5

This ironic depiction continues for years, with Freedom Force undertaking unjust action after unjust action, only working for good when ordered to do so. They are joined by Spiral, followed by 3 supervillains who actively hunt human beings for sport. 4/5

In this sense, Freedom Force is an intriguing personification of governmental authority as an antagonist in X-Men comics, something in the tradition of Senator Kelly, here with the bonus of being a team of supervillains that match up dynamically with the X-Men for fights. 5/5