Is Peter Parker the last hope after the Avengers vs X-Men war rips the reality of the Marvel Universe apart? Marvel revealed this cover for Avengers vs X-Men #9 with a battered Spider-Man in a shredded costume.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Their numbers dwindling, the Avengers stage a daring raid on the X-Men’s prison to rescue their captive members—and you won’t believe where it is!
• Alliances begin to change as the nature of the Phoenix becomes apparent!
• And in the end, it all comes down to Spider-Man!
Given the No More Avengerstease and the description above (saving reality) it appears the AvX event will be take a House of M like twist ith an altered reality or ‘decimation’ of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
Avengers vs X-Men #9 by Jason Aaron and Adam Kubert (and this Jim Cheung cover) arrives this August. Issue 4 is out this week.
A brand new, old school adventure with Marvel’s mutants by a living legend. The First X-Men will be a new 5 part limited series written and drawn by Neal Adams with Christos Gage scripting. In today’s Next Big Thing event Marvel revealed the story behind last Friday’s The First X-Men teaser.
“You guys probably know I was at one time associated with X-Men…then they canceled the book. I had great fondness for the original X-Men, had the time of my life, then they canceled it,” said Adams referring to this era (1969-70.)
“At the beginning, Stan and Jack were experimenting. You had Professor X, bald and in a wheelchair. These strange kids already in costume. It seems to me like this was not the beginning of the story, but the middle.”
“Of all the mutants on Earth, Professor X could easily pass as a human. Why would he want to get involved in this? Maybe all this was going on before Professor X was Professor X…when Professor X was a teenager. Maybe mutant kids were getting abused by the military, by the government. Somebody would have been looking out for them, but maybe that person came to Charles Xavier, realizing he couldn’t protect these kids. That was my pitch,” Adams revealed.
“Marvel was very generous to provide Christos Gage to me, who is an expert in all this stuff. He’s taking my pitch and turning it into scripts that are in my opinion groundbreaking. It’s the X-Men before there were X-Men,” Adams said about his partner.
The First X-Men by Neal Adams courtesy Marvel.com
From the preview it appears Logan is the leader of this team before the team.
“How deeply is Wolverine entrenched in the X-Men? Why was this first team…maybe a failure? Lots of questions to answer.
It takes place before the original X-Men and at a time when the government was snatching mutants up and doing scary things to them. Logan notices this and thinks somebody needs to look out for them. He recruits Sabretooth, who asks ‘Why?’ and so he pays him. Professor Xavier is a young man studying at Oxford, who’s engaged and wants nothing to do with this,” Adams reveals about the lineup.
“In those early X-Men stories, everybody hates and fears them, but we never really know why. It’s so core to the concept, but it was there before the series started. Here we found out why mutants are so hated and feared in a way that is different from any other super heroes,” adds X-Men Editor Nick Lowe.
Wolverine targets the future master of magnetism for his team. Gage says “They recruit this guy Erik Lensherr who is out there killing Nazis…”
“The natural instinct is that this is like the ‘X-Men: First Class’ movie, but it’s not,” Adams states but adds, “We didn’t mind stealing the Nazi Hunter version of Magneto though.”
Gage calls Wolverine a soldier putting together a unit not a school in this series and Adams reveals more of Logan’s team.
“There’s a character who calls himself Bombastic Aghast, but they call him Bomb. Wolverine saves him from a cave-in then gives him a leather jacket that fits like a tent. He looks ridiculous, but he thinks it’s his costume. Later, Wolverine buys him a jacket that fits, but he throws it back in his face. That jacket means so much to him and represents his relationship with Wolverine. That’s the origin of his costume,” Adams confirms.
Fans may assume this retro tale is from an alternate timeline but the X-Office says this is not
“This is firmly set in continuity. This is not a What If. This is canon. This is key to Wolverine’s history and his relationships with other characters. This will answer questions that have been out there for decades,” says Lowe
“They do encounter ‘hobo’ Sub-Mariner at one point.” Christos Gage reveals. “He throws a car at Wolverine!” adds Adams
“We wanted this to be something you could hand to somebody who just saw the X-Men movies and they’d enjoy it as a good X-Men story. At the same time, for giant nerds like me, FBI agent Fred Duncan from the early stories is in there, and when Professor X talks about his brother you know it’s Juggernaut,” says Gage.
“There will be early versions of the Sentinels. I did the giant ones, now I’m getting to do different one,” revealed Adams
The First X-Men by Neal Adams courtesy Marvel.com
“Wolverine was a mercenary, and mercenaries make a lot of money. Wouldn’t it be interesting to find that Wolverine’s mercenary work funded…” Adams teased.
“The concept that Charles Xavier could pass for a human I don’t think has ever really been explored. At some point in his life, he made the difficult decision to step forward as leader of the X-Men and as a mutant. He could have wiped all of this out of the world’s collective mind. Why didn’t he? Stuff to think about,” Adams says of the mutant leader.
The First X-Men arrives this August. For the entire transcript here’s the Marvel.com link.
This is NOT what I expected. What do you think of the concept?
Marvel revealed the next Marvel Infinite Comic will come with Avengers vs X-Men #6 this June. Mark Waid, Yves ‘Balak’ Bigerel and Carlos Barberi will bring a story featuring Cyclops and how he sees the world.
Here’s how you can find the next Avengers Vs. X-Men Infinite Comic in one of three ways:
1. Free with the redemption of a code found in print copies of AVENGERS VS X-MEN #6
A sequel to X-Men: First Class is under way but could we ever see a modern-day or future set X-Men movie. Shawn Ashmore played Bobby Drake aka Iceman. He recently spoke with Examiner.com about the potential.
“I am still under contract to play Iceman if they make another ‘X-Men’ movie but there are so many superhero films out there right now. The market is saturated with them. I would love to come back and play that character again, though. It was really unique to sort of grow up playing a character. As I was growing up and maturing, so was the character. But it was an amazing experience and I would love to do it again. I hope that we get chance to make another ‘X-Men movie but I really do not know if we will. I guess we will just have to wait and see.”
X-Men #190 courtesy Marvel
In the comic books Bobby joined Logan’s new Jean Grey School for Higher Learning in Wolverine and the X-Men. Bobby also shared a big kiss with Kitty Pryde. Bobby is an Omega level mutant who recently started reaching that potential. During Mike Carey’s X-Men run Bobby shared a dangerous relationship with Mystique.
This Geek’s Opinion: It would be great to see Iceman back on-screen one day. I always liked Ashmore’s portrayal. Given how Bobby has developed in the comics I’d like to see that reflected on screen.
After the X-Men: First Class sequel is it time to get back to the future?
Avengers vs X-Men may be a fight about the future of the Marvel Universe but X-Men Legacy #266 reminded Rogue about her criminal past. It starts with slow burning tension at the Jean Grey School. Rogue and other teachers are reflecting on whether to rejoin Cyclops or stay at the school.
Rogue is constantly reminded how she took on Thor, Captain America and other heroes in the classic Avengers Annual #10. This Chris Claremont/Michael Golden story featured Rogue (under Mystique’s influence) taking down Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. We see the regret in Rogue’s mind as she remembers the mistakes of her past including the fateful battle with Ms. Marvel that too years for both of them to recover.
An Avengers task force arrives but the line is drawn…but not for long until there’s a brawl in the schoolyard. The cover promised a Rogue & She-Hulk throw down and the issue doesn’t disappoint. I like how Christos Gage is handling Frenzy in this issue. This was a great tie-in issue to AVX with a big cliffhanger as one of the big three Avengers jumps into the fight.
I’m still hoping to see a Rogue/Ms. Marvel rematch before AvX is over. I love both characters but it would make for great drama given the tragic history between these women that Chris Claremont wrote so perfectly during his X-Men run.
Steve Rogers is ruled by his sense of responsibility. Scott Summers is ruled by passion for his cause. Logan is driven by both. The lone wolf mutant is on his own again and maybe the only hero willing to do the unheroic acts to save the world.
Avengers vs. X-Men #3 is packed with plots within plots. We learn the aftermath of a supernatural showdown I really hope we see in AvX Vs or another tie-in book. I’m not giving this away because you can see it on the cover and you should have seen it coming – but there’s a brutal battle of wills, claws, and a shield between Cap and Wolverine.
Round 3 supports my devotion to the mutants. I still suspect Cyclops’ actions aren’t entirely his own (the Void is still locked in his brain) but I want him to win maybe because he’s leading a hopeless cause against overwhelming odds. Cap is fighting for the Earth. Cyclops is fighting for a future. Like Scott, I have to believe that there’s a reason the Phoenix keeps coming back to the mutants.
I’me enjoying Avengers vs X-Men but I think I’m liking the tie-in issues even more.
Warning
Spoiler Ahead
If you have NOT Avengers vs X-Men #3 then you may NOT want to keep reading.
OK
Here it comes…
Wolverine and the X-Men #10 courtesy Marvel
In Wolverine and the X-Men #10 Cyclops arrives at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning after escaping near capture by the Avengers on Utopia. Scott “just wants to talk.” Cyclops makes a plea for Logan to join him against the Avengers but was that really his endgame?
Jason Aaron weaves several compelling stories about identity in this issue. Cyclops asking Logan to decide if he’s really an X-Man, Warren’s belief that he’s really an Angel or something else, and Genesis coping with who he hopes to be versus what we fear he could become…Apocalypse.
From issue #1 this book has been a pure joy to read because of the great mix of action and humor. Aaron and Chris Bachalo pack plenty of action but this an issue that delves into the hearts and minds of these characters.
The action will definitely kick in next issue as Gladiator is headed to Earth to get his son out of Logan’s school and off the planet before the Phoenix arrives. And the Emperor has ordered his Shiar Death Commandos to eradicate Hope and anyone standing in their way.
Seattle’s real and fictional super heroes take the spotlight this week.
Fiction: Someone or something is carving up Seattle’s super heroes. Marvel’s mutant detectives (including former X-Men) head to the Emerald City to investigate in this week’s X-Factor #235 by Peter David.
Seattle’s Litterbug and The Insignia were introduced briefly only to be seemingly attacked in last month’s issue. In this week chapter a new villain named Scattershot is introduced. Given the cover – this new foe looks like a hybrid of two X-Factor members.
Fact: The Pacific Northwest is the home of a real super hero movement. Phoenix Jones and his patrols of Seattle generated big new coverage. Here’s a link to the KOMONEWS.COM stories about his impact and the controversy. Citizen Heroes is a new documentary project exploring the real life superhero movement in Seattle, Washington and Portland, Oregon.
Some of the real life heroes will be introducing Marvel movies this week when Avengers Assemble! at SIFF Cinema takes over the Uptown Theater in Seattle. You can meet the local pop heroes before watching a different Marvel movie (Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger) each night before Earth’s Mightiest Movie arrives.
