Position: Catcher. The catcher is usually the pitcher’s most trusted teammate. A rapport between the battery mates is crucial to rhythm of the game. On defense, they need to be a brick wall, blocking home plate preventing any runs from getting across. The Avengers have a good game caller and plate blocker in General Thunderbolt Ross, the Red Hulk. The X-Men, and Cyclops, have the fiercely loyal, steel curtain, Colossus; who is made stronger in thanks to the powers of the Juggernaut. Let’s see how these two players fare this inning.
Avengers vs. X-Men #2
The Front Office
Story: Jason Aaron, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker, Jonathan Hickman and Matt Fraction
Script: Jason Aaron
Pencils: John Romita Jr.
Inks: Scott Hanna
Colors: Laura Martin
Letters: Chris Eliopoulos
Cover Art: Jim Cheung & Laura Martin
Variant Cover Art: Nick Bradshaw & Marte Gracia (There’s a lot of them)
Inning Summary: The X-Men strike first when the Avengers reveal themselves in the airspace outside of Utopia. Borrowing a move from Colossus’ playbook, Magneto employs a Magnetic Fastball Special to send his metallic teammate hurtling towards the Helicarrier. Colossus explodes through the floor of the aircraft, forcing several Avengers to take to the skies or to the waters below. Red Hulk comes at Colossus from behind, as down below, Namor faces off with his fantastic foe, the Thing, who receives support from Luke Cage.
Cyclops leads the rest of the X-Men on land, coordinating plans telepathically and spraying optic blasts into the sky. Captain America halts the mutants’ charge by throwing a visor-denting blow with his shield. The Avengers storm the beaches under Cap’s command and Cyclops orders the X-Men to drive the invaders back into the waters.
Emma Frost drags Hope away from the action, ordering her teenage teammates to watch over the mutant messiah. On her way back to the battlefield, Emma is surprised by Iron Man. Tony Stark neutralizes Emma’s telepathy with microscopic telepathic tasers, but she counters by testing the strength of her diamond skin against the billionaire’s metallic armor. Iron Man’s computer detects an extreme magnetic field, and Iron Man braces himself for the inevitable altercation with the master of magnetism.
The epic battle between the two powerhouses is briefly interrupted by the arrival of Magneto’s son, former Avenger Quicksilver. Quicksilver attacks his father, while his sister, the Scarlet Witch, watches the events unfold on a television screen. In her notebook, the Scarlet Witch has sketched a Phoenix symbol, with the words “this is how the world ends.”
The fighting on Utopia continues, with several mutants criticizing Wolverine for turning his back on his own kind. Storm confronts her husband, Blank Panther, and Dr. Strange follows Magik into limbo. Surrounded by her minions, a demonic Magik challenges Dr. Strange. Cyclops and Captain America exchange rhetoric while fending off one another’s attacks. Captain America gets the upper hand after flinging dirt in Cyclops’ face and then charging forward with his shield.
Wolverine is joined by Spider-Man as he searches for Hope. When Wolverine comes upon the girl’s hideout, he finds that he is too late. Hope has taken out her teammates and is burning with the powers of the Phoenix Force. Wolverine lunges towards the messiah, telling Spider-Man he’s doing what must be done. Hope, who says she feels the power insider her grow as the Phoenix gets closer, claims she is doing what must be done as well. She burns Wolverine and takes off across the waters, leaving nothing but a blazing trail. Cyclops and Captain America receive a respite in their battle when they discover that Hope has run away.
In space, Beast and the Secret Avengers are confronted by the Phoenix Force.
*
Color Commentary: The Cyclops-as-a-villain angle is in full effect this comic. The mutant leader is able to regain some semblance of control over the quickly escalating situation, even making valid points about the Avengers invading the X-Men’s home. Aaron, who takes over writing duties for Bendis, doesn’t shy away from portraying Scott Summers as a fanatical leader.
It’s beginning to get a little annoying when every other line out of an Avenger’s mouth accuses Cyclops of being a crazy lunatic. Aaron doesn’t do Cyclops any favors by having Scott rant about how mutants are seen as “ugly stepchildren” obsessed with their messiah. It really shouldn’t be surprising that Cyclops would turn bad, though. Every smarmy, suave male, such as Tony Stark or Namor, is always alluding to past romances or sexual innuendoes concerning Cyclops’ girlfriend. That’d be enough to turn most men crazy.
The real problem with the writing in this issue isn’t with the dialogue. The narration boxes used by Aaron are really awful and distract from the story. They read like a Discovery Channel documentary featuring an overly-excited narrator. They come off as cheesy and simplistic: “The bones grinding, knuckles cracking” or “Organic diamond meets multi-billion dollar armor. The most expensive punch in history.” If they weren’t so numerous and shallow, they might not be as distracting. Instead they come off as cheap filler.
John Romita, Jr. is still not selling this series for me and I’m looking forward to the next artist taking over. The art looks better in this issue and has some highlights, such as when the X-Men and Avengers face off in the waters, as well as the reflection of Magneto in Iron Man’s helmet. Unfortunately, these types of scenes are few and far between. Red Hulks looks way too emaciated when fighting Colossus and Wolverine looked incredibly out of character when he was set on fire by Hope in the end.
*
The Box Score
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Avengers
Batting: Walk – Spider-Man (1) plays his normal role of Wolverine’s conscience by tagging along when the mutant Avenger is searching for Hope. I laughed when Spider-Man referred to himself as “less stabby.” Unfortunately, Spider-Man couldn’t prevent Hope from flash-frying Wolverine when she manifests the Phoenix and flees Utopia. Ms. Marvel (1) and Thor (2) also receive a free pass this inning for their roles in confronting the Phoenix Force in space.
Single – Luke Cage (1) comes to the Thing’s aid when the rocky hero is facing off against Namor. I liked seeing Luke come to his friend’s side, adding a twist to the age-old fantastic feud between Thing and Namor, one of the fights featured in AvX Versus #1. (Spoiler: Thing wins this round by pinning Namor to the ocean bed using the large, sharp teeth of a sea monster, and then walks away.)
Double – Iron Man (1) shows off his main asset when he neutralizes Emma Frost with his technology. The iron versus diamond fight, full of allusions to past sexual encounters I’m sure, will have to wait though as Iron Man is tasked with double duty. The fight between Iron Man and Magneto was one of the chief battles I was looking forward to in this event. It seems like a one-sided battle, but you know Tony will have a way to counter Magneto. To see the fight in full, you need to check out AvX Versus #1. (Spoiler: Iron Man wins, but only because Magneto drops his defenses when the Master of Magnetism senses the power of the Phoenix Force approaching from space.)
Pitching: Captain America tries his best to maintain control as war breaks out on Utopia. The Avengers are a bit overwhelmed by the X-Men, but Captain America stays focused. The shield toss which dented Cyclops’ visor was a nice touch, but it would have made me happier if it was a more typical villain on the receiving end of Cap’s projectile. I felt the same way with the shield bash which knocked Cyclops to the ground later in this issue. I would hold the fact that Captain America resorted to throwing dirt in Cyclops’ face against him, but it resulted in Wolverine getting hit with an optic blast so I shouldn’t complain that much.
*
X-Men
Batting: It’s nice to see more of the X-Men show up to support Cyclops. I’m glad that some of them, like Domino, are even calling Wolverine out on his betrayal. Wolverine has another chance to help out in this inning, but fails to deliver once again, probably because he’s too concerned with his verbal defamation of Cyclops’ character. Wolverine even fails at the one task he’s assigned himself: killing Hope if she loses control.
Strikeouts – Iceman (1) and Rogue (1) are not in this comic, but they’re in my line-up, as well as being pretty prominent members of the X-Men. But the fact that they’re not here is a reflection of their earlier decision to side with Wolverine so their absence is going to count against them.
Walk – Beast (1) also sided with Wolverine during the X-Men’s Schism, but due to his ties with the Avengers, he at least appears in this comic. So he gets a free pass. I don’t plan on following the Secret Avengers story so I’m not sure how Beast will be handled in space when they confront the Phoenix Force. For now, it’s nice to know that Beast can stop acting like a melodramatic teen by accusing Cyclops of wrong doing every time his former friend breaths
Single – Magik (1) and Storm (1) make their voices heard in support of Cyclops, but they don’t do much to follow-up on that yet. Storm’s single was a bit weaker since I didn’t like her comment to Black Panther about needing a marriage counselor, but I like Magik’s pairing with Dr. Strange. I know Magik is the sorceress supreme of Limbo, but I am not a fan of how heavily the creators are playing up her demonic side. They seem to be doing that with all the X-Men.
Ground Rule Double – Magneto’s use of the Magnetic Fastball Special was a great way to open the fighting. I enjoy seeing characters use a variation of the popular X-Men move which was originated by Wolverine and Colossus. The fact that it was Colossus being propelled through the air this time added to the enjoyment of the scene.
Magneto does the mutant race proud early on, but his contributions are cut short by fan interference. Quicksilver’s interjection of himself in Magneto’s affairs seemed to come out of nowhere, especially since I had lost track of the mutant speedster since the events of M-Day. However, with the involvement of the Scarlet Witch, I guess it was only a matter of time before her brother showed up to ruin things. Wanda’s ominous message in her notepad is also intriguing and I’m looking forward to when she comes into play.
Home Run – Colossus (1), serving as the bullet in the Magnetic Fastballl Special, smashed through the Helicarrier and put the mutants on the board at the start of the inning. I’m not sure why Romita, Jr. does not show Colossus wearing the Juggernaut helmet, but the steel-skinned powerhouse was a most intimidating welcome party to Utopia. I liked that he warned the Avengers that they “should not have come here.”
Colossus also squares off with the Avengers’ heavy-hitter, Red Hulk, another obvious but intriguing match-up. This fight is fleshed out in the latest Uncanny X-Men comic, and ends up much like Magneto’s fight with Iron Man. (Spoiler: the X-Man has a sense of foreboding before dropping his defenses and being overwhelmed by his opponent. This is not a pattern I would like to see continue for Cyclops’ team.)
Pitching: Cyclops has calmed down a bit this inning. He’s still a little wild, but he is still in control and stands his ground. He has some fanatical lines to help push the writers’ agenda that he is crazy, but for the most part, he is speaking sense. Cyclops tells Captain America that he showed up expecting a fight and that the captain should first have consulted Cyclops instead of Wolverine before invading Utopia. I especially enjoyed the scene of Cyclops rapidly spraying optic blasts into the sky while telepathically giving orders.
Defense: Hope proves her wild card status by taking out her Generation Hope teammates who were tasked with protecting her. This further proves my dislike for the character as an immature teenager who is not ready to harness something as powerful as the Phoenix Force. I’m glad that they finally explained that she can feel the Phoenix getting closer and that’s how she’s manifesting the powers.
*
Rating: Good, action. Meh, art and story. Poor, characterization. Bad, writing. 2.5/5
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Wonderful site. Many handy facts listed here. I am just giving them to many good friends ans also expressing inside delicious. And definitely, appreciate it to the attempt!
As a Magik fan, I hated this issue; Magik refuses to rule Limbo again in favor of living a new life now as shown from New Mutants #28 (3rd series). She got back the rest of her soul so there’s no reason for her to remain as a demon. I just feel that these writers are not aware about her resent developments and she has been behaving a lot differently from UXN so far.
Anyone know who won in AvsX 2 with Spidey vs. Collosus? I really don’t want to pay 3.99 but I want to know who won. Better have been Spidey.
I propose a new rule: if you draw the body of the comic you have to so the cover as well. Romita jr’s art looks amateur.
Okay, EotE was compared to a Michael bay flick… what do you compare this to?
in my op, the Venom series n AMS Ends of Earth are better than this event, still i dig the action.
@15 Two-bit… yeah, they really go overboard with them for the events. To be fair though… a few of the variants are the same artwork just different coloring. Still a little unnecessary though.
@1 Spec Spider… I don’t see a reboot being in the cards, I think a lot of these storylines (mainly X-Men) have been building up for a while and the Avengers just being shoehorned in for the movie. Maybe an X-Men wide reboot could happen with Bendis helming it but that’d be really bad form after the Schism just happened. The hero vs hero match up is nothing new, but I think the Phoenix getting this more attention in an event this big is at least a new approach to it. That doesn’t mean it’s not just a cheap plot device, so I’m hoping the story does pick up as well… especially since we have 10 more issues of this event.
@2 and 3 Fred… I just picked up 3 and thumbed through a page or two while sitting at stoplights. I do like that the PR letter Cyclops wrote to the world is coming into play and shows how he once again has a contigency plan in place for these types of situations. I really don’t want to see Hope linger around as the new Phoenix so I’m hoping you’re right about parts of your theories. And thanks!
@4 Jack Brooks… I always saw the Phoenix as just some entity that could and does survive on its own, but takes a host for specific reasons. But who knows, I’m sure it acts as an entity or energy source depending on how the writer feels like portraying it. They definitely make it seem like it has a mind of its own so far in this event.
@5 fantasyfreak… Like Phantom said, Colossus took on the powers of the Juggernaut during the X-Men Fear Itself crossover. Cyclops sent Magik to commune with Cytorrak and tell him that his vessel has chosen another (the Serpent), so Cytorrak took the powers of the Juggernaut from Cain Marko and Colossus took it upon himself since there had to be a vessel. They haven’t done much with Colossus as Juggernaut but I think it’s an interesting character development that could be explored in more detail. Poor Colossus though, it gets really out of control in the Uncanny tie in, I felt bad for him.
@6 Phantom… I’m not so sure the Avengers will actually “win” this… if a winner will be decided. I figure the X-Men will suffer the greater losses, but both sides will have been put through the ringer, only to work through things and come together in the end.
@8 Eddie… thanks! I saw someone else mention the narration boxes harkened back to Stan Lee’s day, but they just didn’t really seem to belong in this book. I wouldn’t have minded them so much if they were used in the AvX Versus comic since that’s supposed to be all action. For the main event I would like some writing that helps push the story along and get in the heroes’ heads.
@9 Chris… Thanks, I was pretty proud of this idea when I had it a while back. I didn’t realize how much work it’d be to actually assign plays and stats that coorelate to both the comic and the line-ups I set up, but I’m committed to it and it seems to be working out all right so far. It’s a fun twist to just writing the review. I try to be short, I do, but I don’t think I’m built that way. Hopefully people just skip over the plot outline and extra stuff if they don’t care for it cause I think the breakdowns usually aren’t too too wordy. Next time I have some time to sit down and get creative I’ll mess around with that coding. It’s always nice to discuss how we approach our comics though so thanks for the feedback.
Make that SIX. Counting fail.
Good grief, FIVE variant covers?!
Do we HAVE to do company-wide crossovers where the heroes fight each other every year?
i get that they just want to spin a yarn… i get it and thats good really…. but having them line up like that and then charging in a line… so lame. come on, some imagination guys.
imagine how much better this would be if Utopia was under a well organised (some full on- some covert and some something else) – atacking from within – from underground from all over – like a full on seige.
the fight just seems so… bleh.. bland and not enough imagination of the encounter was made. Effort was made with the “power trumping match ups” but not the styles of the encounters themselves.
anyway…. i guess these people just take some things for granted – too bad they dont have me as their editor… ho hum.
email me. lolz.
That worked.
ATTEMPT 3:
The second line isn’t showing up. I’ll post the second line with spaces in between each character. Delete those spaces when you actually use the code.
[div style=”clear: both; margin: 0px; text-align: left;”]
& n b s p ;
ATTEMPT 2:
That didn’t work. Here’s my second attempt. Where you see [ ] brackets, replace them with the pointy brackets that you get by pressing shift+period and shift+comma when you actually use the code. Where you see { } brackets, just delete those brackets when you actually use the code. Don’t forget that there has to be a blank line from pressing return after BOTH lines.
[div style=”clear: both; margin: 0px; text-align: left;”]
{ }
Brian, even though I don’t prefer very long reviews, there’s no denying that this is one of the most inventive angles on a review style that I’ve seen on this site, ever.
In the other thread, you asked about the code to stop text from wrapping around your pictures unpredictably.
What you want to do is to go to the “HTML” tab in the window where you write the review. Then after the code for the image, insert the following code. I can’t post the code here because word press will recognize the code and turn it into a divider. So I’m going to post a slightly altered version of the code. Where you see [ ] brackets, replace them with brackets when you actually use the code. You have to put a blank line after the first and second lines of code by pressing return. Don’t forget the return after the second line.
[div style=”clear: both; margin: 0px; text-align: left;”]
Very thoughtful review. Those narration boxes made me wonder, are these an homage to the old style of comics writing? That is the only way I could explain it. It really seemed strange and out of place. As for Cyclops coming off as crazy, well, isn’t he? Sure, he thinks the Phoenix force might bring about a rebirth, but we also know that lots of people are dying and will die because of it. It was a mutant that decimated the homo superior population. Why keep blaming the homo sapiens? Yes, they need to protect themselves, but at the possible cost of destroying all life on earth and who knows how many other planets? I have to side with Cap on this. Never been a fan of Romita, Jr.’s art. So, I’m looking forward to something different too.
@4: I’ve been wondering that too, especially considering that the host can hold the Phoenix Force back, even if temporarily. It just seems like the Phoenix Force would do fine without a host.
@5: Colossus became Juggernaut during Fear Itself. I believe it happened in the Uncanny X-Men tie-ins.
Ugh, I was excited for this event, but it’s gotten sour since the Avengers are so obviously going to win just to hype up the Avengers movie. It’s kind of a paradox, because I was rooting for the Avengers precisely because the Marvel Cinematic Universe made me interested in these characters, but the amount of tie-ins to the movie just ruins it for me. I do plan to check out this event eventually, but I’m more concerned with the fallout of this series and what next year’s event will be like.
@FredDo you think the story feels rushed? I get that feeling when I read your post. On a side note and kind of off-topic: When did Colossus become juggernaut?I am not so up to date on the X-books.
Is the Phoenix Force an entity, or just an energy? It seems curious that, if it can think and make choices, it needs a “host.” If all it does is fly around the universe incinerating planets.
P.S. another great review and again i have a feeling Hope gets killed before this arc of the series is over. Like you said before, she’s too irrational to harness this thing and my gut tells me that she is killed before the Phoenix comes to earth. I’m saying Cyclopes or Emma will be the new host.
Just read the third issue, the arc does not get better at all. In fact it gets worse. Captain America comes across as a bully and of course if you know who is writing this issue, you know who wins the fight between Cap and Wolverine(Spoiler), which only proves in my mind that Marvel is trying to hype Cap and he needs help in fighting him with some of the avengers attacking Logan from behind. I have an open mind but this story is getting pretty dumb.
Good review..not digging this arc however, am getting a vibe that the cataclysmic events of this series will lead to a Marvel reboot rivalling that of DC….this I do not want…reboots are meant to mix things up and generate interest in the form of established and new readership….even the X-men vs Avengers has been done, along with X-Men vs. FF back in the day..for a company claiming to be “the House of Ideas”…they seem to be running out of them and repeating themselves..although this arc seems much more epic than the others I have referenced….just write good stories..fans will read on….stop trying to re-invent the wheel….:( Hopefully this arc will end well, though I have serious misgivings…we shall see.