This coming April, Marvel will
release their biggest crossover storyline this year with “Avengers vs. X-Men”
or AvX. The premise is very promising,
plenty of potential epic moments with Marvel’s two top superhero teams pitted
against each other.
Of course, an awesome premise
doesn’t assure us that it will meet our high expectations in its delivery. The Civil War event years ago is an
example. It had an awesome premise and the
elements of a brilliant and classic story.
It had its dramatic moments, but it failed to meet the high expectations
brought by the premise’s awesome potential.
Civil War ended too soon; it was too short. The conclusion wasn’t satisfactory. It failed to divide the fans to two sides as it
did the characters (Seriously, was there anybody who rooted for the
Pro-Registration side?). It made Iron
Man a hated character (only thanks to Robert Downey, Jr. for bringing back the
love to the character). And, worst of
all, it had terrible aftermaths: the assassination (and eventual “resurrection”)
of Captain America, Spider-Man making a deal with the devil (ugh, how “One More
Day” makes my blood boil), etc. Good
thing for Marvel, they made up for all the bad taste left by Civil War to
everybody’s mouths by having the epic “Secret Invasion” a few years later.
In the case of AvX, I have a gut
feeling that, this time around, it would meet what is expected of it. There is no perfect time to have such war between
these two legendary teams than now. We
see the 2000’s brought a lot of significant changes to the teams. Both now has deep, diverse, and exciting
rosters than ever before. The Avengers
now have heroes like Spider-Man, Daredevil, Dr. Strange, The Thing (of
Fantastic Four), and Luke Cage –who were before were merely allies or reserve
members of the team – as regulars. New Marvel
characters (2000’s created) like Red Hulk and Venom (Flash Thompson as host) are
members.
The 2012 X-Men also enjoys a
dramatic augmentation with former opponents like Magneto and Juggernaut joining
them, as well as the newly retconned “first mutant” Namor and the popular
Deadpool. They also have plenty of new interesting
characters like Fantomex (a human mutant/sentinel hybrid) in their roster. Most of the mutants from the X books we had
enjoyed in the past are members.
Indeed, it’s going to be an epic
clash.
What confuses me is the status of
Wolverine, Beast, and Storm, who are members of both the X-Men and Avengers. Which side will they stand? According to what the promo art and covers
suggests, they will side with the Avengers.
Still, let’s not forget that the X-Men now are divided into two camps (after
the X-Men: Regenesis storyline), between those loyal to Cyclops and those loyal
to Wolverine. If Wolverine sides with
the Avengers, will those X-Men loyal to him side with Wolverine and the
Avengers, too? But basing again with the
promo art, there are X-Men in the Wolverine team fighting Avengers! Really confusing how will this turn out. Just have to wait and see.
One thing that’s bothering me is
that Cyclops seems to be getting a little bit darker due to the past harsh
experiences undergone by mutants and the X-Men (I.e. the depowerment of most
mutants after M-Day). Magneto warned
that Cyclops is already sounding more like him.
Will this event ultimately lead Cyclops to the extreme side? Will the moral Cyclops we know cease to
be? Will he be another Civil War Iron Man? Let’s wait and see.
Lastly, Captain Marvel is set to
return during the event! What is the
purpose of this return? How will this
affect the conflict? Will he be the key
in stopping the war between the Avengers and the X-Men? Again, let’s
wait and see.
Oh boy, can’t wait.
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