The Marvel Universe changes fast, only
a few years ago Iron Man and Captain America were on opposite ends of a civil
war that didn’t really take them that long to get over it seems. Recently it
seems like Marvel has been reliant on big events to push sales. I don’t think
it’s that bad, but I can see why it’s tiring. The past couple of events haven’t
been bad though, so be thankful for that. Buy more not-event books and maybe
Marvel will get the message.
That being said, I wanted to take the
opportunity to fill you in on what happened in AvX, last year’s big Marvel
Event because it impacts large parts of the Marvel Now relaunch. Hope, the
mutant messiah with power mimicking abilities was the projected vessel for when
the Phoenix force returned. It did, and the Avengers want to secure her before
she gets world killing abilities. Cap seems pretty genuine, but Wolverine wants
to kill her, remembering what the Phoenix did to Jean Grey. The Avengers go to
San Francisco and confront the X-Men. Cyclops is snarky with Cap eye lasers
him. Both teams fight and Hope escapes. She finds Wolverine later and they go
to the moon to see if she can get the Phoenix force and control it. Wolverine
agrees but secretly alerts the Avengers. The teams meet and a battle ensues, the end of
which involves Tony Stark shooting the Phoenix force and separating it into 5
parts. Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus, Magik and Namor all get some of the
power. They become the Phoenix Five and begin making the world better by
providing infinite energy, clean water, food, etc. This is all cool until the
Avengers provoke them by stealing Hope to study her.
They fight again and the Avengers
lose, a bunch of times. They hide in Wakanda, the Black Panther’s country, and
discover Hope and the Scarlet Witch have complementing powers. Namor attacks
Wakanda and it takes the combined efforts of the Avengers to take Namor down.
Iron Man, Hope and Wolverine take a portal to K’un L’un, the mystical place
where Kung-Fu was born, to train Hope to control the Phoenix. Once Namor is
defeated, it is revealed that the remaining Phoenixed member of the X-Men get
his powers, they get stronger and the Avengers get more desperate.
Magik and Colossus, go crazy in a mad search
for more Phoenix power, defeat each other in battle, relinquishing their shares
of the Phoenix to Emma and Cyclops. Professor X and Magneto, recognizing
Cyclops and Emma’s inability to control the Phoenix any longer, rally mutants
to join the Avengers to defeat them. They fight again Cyclops, desperate to
beat them, attacks Emma to take her share of the Phoenix. In the final battle,
Cyclops has become the Dark Phoenix and kills Professor X. Hope and Scarlet
Witch manage to narrowly defeat him and Hope sends the power away.
Cyclops is now a fugitive and mutants
have begun springing up all over the world because of the Phoenix. Captain
America tries to counter the anti-mutant sentiment by creating a new Avengers
team (Uncanny Avengers) lead by Havok. All New X-Men has Beast bring the
original X-Men (Young Cyclops, Jean Grey, Ice Man, Angel and Beast) to the
future to see what has become of their older selves. Cyclops, Magneto, and Emma’s
powers have been negatively impacted by exposure to the Phoenix and they are
now either severely depowered or having trouble controlling them.
The reviews will start soon, I swear.
