Jacob’s Eye On….Avengers vs. X-Men, Part One: The X-Men

 

By: Jacob Elyachar

 

For the first time since the 1980s, the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes will tackle with the Children in the Atom in a 12-part maxi-series event that could possibly re-shape the Marvel Universe for years to come.

 

This event will be written by Marvel’s architects: Brian Michael Bendis (Avengers), Jason Aaron (Wolverine & the X-Men), Matt Fraction (the Invincible Iron Man), Ed Brubaker (Captain America) and Jonathan Hickman (Fantastic Four).    The 12-issues will feature artwork from popular Marvel artists: John Romita, Jr. (the Amazing Spider-Man), Oliver Coipel (Siege) and Adam Kubert (Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine).  

 

The plot for this event involves the return of the Phoenix Force looking for a new host and it looks like Hope Summers of the X-Men might be the new host.   This leads to a division of ideas between the two-superhero groups.   Cyclops’s team of X-Men wants to train Hope to bond with the Phoenix but Captain America and the Avengers want to take Hope into protective custody and destroy the Phoenix Force.

 

So how did two teams get here?  In part one of this article, this author will fill you in on the X-Men’s side of the story.   Here is a quick road map that starts way back in 2004’s Avengers Disassembled to now:

 

Avengers Disassembled (2004-05)

This story arc marked the darkest day in Avengers’ history as fellow Avenger and mutant Scarlet Witch lost all control of her powers and literally destroyed the team.  At the end of the story arc, the Scarlet Witch’s father: Magneto took her to Genosha to recover while the team disbands.

 

The House of M (2005)

 

The Avengers and the X-Men meet to decide the fate of the Scarlet Witch.  Nervous that they might kill his twin sister, Quicksilver convinced her to use her powers to rearrange the world where Magneto and the mutants ruled it and humans were considered inferior.    Eventually, the heroes rallied to stop Magneto and his children but the furious Scarlet Witch upset about being a mutant then states “NO MORE MUTANTS” before turning the world back to normal.

 

Decimation (2006)

 

The Scarlet Witch took away 90-percent of the mutant population’s powers leaving the world with 198 mutants.   The X-Men’s mansion became a haven for the remaining mutants.   The situation got worse as longtime X-Men enemies William Stryker and his Purifiers, Apocalypse and Exodus re-appeared to make the Marvel’s Merry Mutants lives a living hell.

 

X-Men: Messiah Complex (2007-08)

 

Professor Xavier discovers the birth of the first mutant baby (Hope) since the events in Decimation and the X-Men race against former friends, longtime nemeses and a hungry Predator X to find the child.    At the end of the story, Cyclops turns the baby over to his son, Cable, who takes the baby into the future.   In anger, former X-man Bishop, who believed the baby would bring bad omens to mutantkind tried to assassinate the baby but “kills” Professor X instead.   This leads to the X-Men’s temporary disbandment.

 

X-Men: Manifest Destiny (2008-09)

 

The team relocates to San Francisco to restart their lives there.   Unfortunately, old foes including Magneto, the Sentinels, Madelyne Pryor and the Sisterhood of Mutants return to face-off against the team.    In addition to the first scrimmages, the creators focused on re-defining classic characters’ roles with the X-Men throughout numerous titles.

 

Utopia/Nation X (2009-10)

 

When pro- and anti-mutant rioting broke out in San Francisco, Norman Osborn and his team of Dark Avengers arrived there to “assess” the situation.  However, Norman wanted to permanently take down the team and replace them with the Dark X-Men.   Cyclops counters the former Green Goblin when he moves all of the mutants to Magneto’s former base of operations: Asteroid M where it was re-named Utopia.     The following story-arc Nation X saw Magneto, Namor and Kitty Pryde re-join the team.

 

Second Coming (2010)

 

Cable and a grown-up Hope return to the present as both the X-Men and their enemies led under the evil android Bastion race to find them.   Unfortunately, these final battles lead to the deaths of fan-favorite characters Nightcrawler and Cable.   As they mourned their fallen teammates, Emma Frost discovers five new mutants.

 

Schism (2011)

 

When Quentin Quire returns on the scene, Cyclops and Wolverine begin to have disagreements on the safety of the young mutants.   Unfortunately, when the reformed Hellfire Club attacked the team during the opening of the Mutant History Museum, a young mutant named Oya saved the team and the humans from certain death by killing their attackers.   Eventually, the two men fought it out but were able to put aside their differences to stop a giant Sentinel who threatened Utopia.   At the end of the event, Wolverine took half of the team back to New York where they restarted the school, while the other half of the X-Men stayed on Utopia with Cyclops.

 

Will the two men put aside their differences to tackle both the Phoenix Force and the Avengers?  Find out when Avengers v. X-Men zero issue comes out on March 28. 

 

For more information on the X-Men, visit Marvel’s Web site: http://marvel.com/