Spoiler Warning:
This review/post reveals key elements of AvX: Consequences #4 and #5.
Seriously.
Here is comes.
Kieron Gillen wrapped the second volume of Uncanny X-Men but he has more mutant stories to tell that propelling fan favorites into the Marvel Now. Gillen’s Extinction Team have been the stars of AvX: Consequences. This 5-part epilogue to Avengers vs. X-Men reveals how the Phoenix Five are facing the consequences of their actions while possessed by the cosmic entity.
In Chapter 4 Cyclops submits himself to Tony Stark as a cosmic lab rat. Scott has been playing the martyr but is he really playing possum to outwit the genius?
Abigail Brand of S.W.O.R.D. has been keeping secrets. She’s hiding fugitive members of the Phoenix Five and she reveals that she’s more than a green haired alien. I really hope Brand might pop up in Gillen’s upcoming Iron Man run.
If you’re wondering about Hope and Namor’s roles in the Marvel Now this is the issue! Hope and the King of Atlantis share an exchange in the underwater ruins of Utopia. In one line Gillen captures the personality of Namor and why I love him so much.
Storm and Colossus fought it out in Brian Wood’s final issue of X-Men but here Peter and Ororo share a bitter reunion. Colossus may be free of his demons but his former little snowflake left him filled with hate. I know that Peter will be part of Cable and X-Force and I can’t help but think of when Nathan recruited a rage filled Warpath to join his first incarnation of the team.
Wolverine comes back to prison to deliver sad news to Cyclops. I really enjoyed this encounter. After the bitter fallout of Schism and AvX I think Gillen is setting the stage for a reconcilation between Scott and Logan. (I wrote this part of the post before I read issue #5)
I think the most exciting plot springboard is when the fugitive Magneto finally makes his appearance. Erik is back playing the role we all know he can do best: the villain.
This week’s final chapter picks right up with a new mutant unholy trinity: Magneto, Magik and Danger. The clues have been there the entire series but I wanted to believe Scott Summers was accepting his role as the martyr and on the road to redemption.
Logan said it best when he tells the Avengers, “Scott is gone.”
Magneto, Magik and Danger stage a daring jailbreak and execute Cyclops’s severe punishment on his prison tormentors. Scott leaves a note for Logan. The letter sums up what Kieron Gillen has pulled off: the role reversal of Wolverine and Cyclops. The bad boy who did the dirty work to keep mutants safe is now the heir to Professor Xavier’s legacy of teaching young mutants. The former golden boy is now the self-appointed and ruthless defender, protector and avenger for the mutant race.
From the preview art for All-New X-Men #1 we know Cyclops, Emma Frost, Magneto and Magik will be part of Brian Michael Bendis’s Marvel Now X-Men era. Marvel has teased another Bendis book (with Chris Bachalo on art) with the simple word: Uncanny.
From the finale of AvX: Consequences #5 it looks like my theory of an Avenging X-Men may not be that far off! You may have read my earlier op/ed about how AvX should have been called Operation Hate Cyclops. This week’s finale may cement the hate for some of you.
All-New X-Men #1 is out November 14th. Maybe we’ll find out then?
By Editor