The big crossover event of the Marvel
Universe has finally come to an end. This event has been the
culmination of long time X-Men storylines.
7 years ago, Marvel initiated the House
of M story where the Scarlett Witch used her magical hex powers to
make the world have “No more mutants.” As a result the number of
mutants had been reduced to around 300. The rest lost their powers.
In 2008, the Messiah CompleX storyline
had the birth of the first mutant child post-House of M. This child
was saved by the X-Men and given to the time traveling Cable to raise
in the future. She later returns as a young woman, taking the name
Hope Summers. Many of the X-Men believe that she is the last chance
for Mutantkind, while others believe that she will be the source of
great destruction
Then last year the X-Men had a schism.
Cyclops took X-Men into a more militant model while Wolverine focused
on running the X-Men like a school for youngsters. Hope remained
with Cyclops, but has remained frustrated at the expectations placed
on her.
But then the Phoenix, the great and
powerful cosmic force that is inextricably linked to the X-Men, is
found to be returning to earth.
Enter the Avengers. They are tasked
with dealing with cosmic level threats, and the coming of the Phoenix
sets off all their alarms. And they reach the same conclusion that
Cyclops does: The Phoenix is coming for Hope. Just as Jean Grey was
the host Phoenix, Cyclops believes that Hope will be that host and
bring a resurgence to his species. But seeing as how the Phoenix can
go dark and can destroy the Earth instantly, the Avengers are very
concerned.
The Avengers enlist the help of
Wolverine's X-Men can go to Cyclops' stronghold of Utopia to take
Hope into custody.
Violence ensues.
The big disadvantage of this book is
the same that most Marvel events have: it's too long. I don't fault
the writing team. Marvel tends to milk the crossovers to the point
of exhaustion. They famously over-saturated their market with House
of M miniseries that ultimately were pointless. The crossovers in
the X-Men and Avengers books as well as the one-on-one fights of
“AvX: VS” were not as much of a diversion, but it did feel drawn
out. The story could have been told in half the time.
The only other mild complaint is that
while the Avengers were given equal time in the book, this always
felt like the Avengers were stepping into an X-Men book rather than
the two comics' storylines merging into one.
But other than that, this was a
surprisingly good book. One of the great joys of the book is that it
went in directions that I did not expect. I thought the entire
series would be about Cyclops' X-Men fighting Captain America's
Avengers over custody of a fugitive Hope. But that is only the first
Act. By the end of Act I, the plot changes in a very good way. The
Phoenix force arrives, but it does not behave in a way that they
expect.
The art is very good, and keeps with
the epic tone of the book. There are some awesome visual moments,
like when the Hulk is knocked out into the atmosphere in America, and
then a few panels later you see him falling back to Earth in Japan.
And while clearly leans against
Cyclops, causing the reader to identify more and more with Cap and
Wolverine, it does allow Scott Summers to articulate his legitimate
grievances with the world. With so few Mutants in the world, the
world has been aligned against them, seeing this as their opportunity
to eliminate the Mutant threat forever. It is also fascinating to
watch the relationship between Cyclops and Magneto deteriorate as the
X-Leader becomes more and more like his former enemy in world-view.
As a Catholic, I also enjoyed Tony
Stark's explanation of faith. He comes up with an idea to fight the
Phoenix, but involves reliance on the mystical forces of Iron Fist's
home of K'un L'un. Too often faith is described as something you
choose when things don't make any sense, thus saying that faith is
irrational. But Tony says that reason can only go so far. Beyond
reason the only place that can reach the high truths is faith. What
I love most about this explanation is that he does not set up faith
as an enemy of reason. This was a refreshing take on the topic in
comics.
But the most important point is that
the Avengers have not done enough for Mutants. It is an interesting
point that was brought up very well in an issue of X-Factor decades
ago. Both the X-Men and the Avengers are super-powered heroes, but
the X-Men are feared and hated while the Avengers are loved and
admired. The Avengers could have used their position to make the
lives of Mutants better. This will be the focus on the post- AvX
story.
The story is also a story of
consequence. I always hated when a large cross-over ended and
nothing really changed (I'm looking at you, World War Hulk). But
here you can feel the changes happen. The final battle was
hard-fought with a very important death. The saddest part for me is
the descent of Scott Summers into a quasi-villain state. But the
incremental steps that have taken him there have been handled with
such care that it feels right and natural.
Avengers vs. X-Men is one of the best
Marvel cross-overs in a while. You can skip the tie-in books, but
don't miss the main story.
And I can't wait to see what happens
next.
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