Marvel’s main event for 2014 is a showdown between Avengers and X-Men vs. the Red Onslaught in AXIS. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and the Children of the Atom must be ready to rumble with a reborn Red Skull armed with the powers of Professor X’s brain.
The March to AXIS begins in multiple titles including Uncanny Avengers and Captain America. Writer Rick Remender and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort shared new cover art from Jim Cheung while answering fan questions about Act Two in a special Marvel live event.
AXIS comes just as the Marvel heroes cope with the Death of Wolverine, an All-New Captain America, a brand new Thor, and repercussions from Original Sin.
Act Two is titled Inversion and it’s “the recalibration of the Marvel Universe’s moral compass…”
Here are more highlights:
“The fun of something like Axis is to constantly subvert expectations and surprise people with new things. We’ve all had our attention spans ruined by our cell phones, so I don’t want to linger on anything.”
“The end of each act bridges into another whole new high concept. It will not be one thing from A to Z.”
“The way things go in Act One and how our heroes are forced to deal with Red Onslaught leads to a bit of a whammy nobody is ready to deal with at first. We sort of fell in love with the inversion aspect. I put on my dungeon master’s cap and flipped alliances around.”
As we’ve seen from preview art: Classic villains are united just as members of X-Men and Avengers reunite to fight Red Skull. As you read more from Remender, the roles of good and evil will blur.
“it’s not as cut and dry as ‘good guy becomes super bad guy.’ Specific alignments get inverted and unearth some specific things about the characters. Somebody like Loki is closer to center.”
“This is not mind control. These characters are making choices, but their moral alignments have been turned upside down. That leads to Act Three, the biggest X-Men showdown I can think of, plus big stuff for Spider-Man, the Avengers…everybody,” said Remender.
Along with new heroes stepping into the roles of Thor and Captain America, the third member of the Avengers trinity is changing. Tony Stark is sporting new silver armor, a new attitude and is moved west to San Francisco. Tom Taylor is the writer of the upcoming Superior Iron Man. Remender spoke of how Stark will play into AXIS.
“I talked a lot about Tony Stark’s inversion with Tom Taylor and Kieron Gillen. His personality attributes inverted are ones he allows to come to surface sometimes. Inverting Tony brings him back to who he used to be, somewhat. He comes up with an interesting new use of Extremis that will make him extremely rich.”
“There’s a pretty great conflict between Tony and Daredevil that goes into Superior Iron Man. Tom Taylor has some terrific ideas. I’ve read the scripts.”
“I know what Gerry and Brian have planned for Deadpool, and boy, that stuff’s amazing. Deadpool will be playing a really big role in Axis in some surprising ways. It all came out of conversations I had with those guys.”
Carnage and Hobgoblin are getting AXIS spinoff titles.
“[Spider-Man editor] Nick Lowe has been going crazy trying to talk about the Carnage and Hobgoblin books without revealingthey are inverted. I don’t mind driving Nick crazy.” said Brevoort.
“The Carnage thing is pretty ingenious. Carnage on a redemption arc still ends up with a lot of bloodshed.” adds Remender.
Remender has been writing Captain America since the Marvel Now relaunch and talks about the new Sam’s involvement as Steve’s greatest enemy is more powerful than ever.
“I had a draft of this story where Sam Wilson was saving everybody from everything, but as I broke it down and talked to other people, his role shifted a bit. Like a lot of other characters, he pays a pretty heavy price. He has a big role in this. You will be seeing a pretty big fight between Captain America and the X-Men. It was nice to put Sam in that situation and see how the dynamics play out.”
“Steve Rogers plays a huge role in the story. If Steve and Sam were at odds, that would be an interesting story…”
AXIS continues storyline started back in Uncanny Avengers with Apocalypse. No more Kid Apocalypse or the Twins. This time, the original big bad En Sabah Nur returns.
“Apocalypse is back and that’s a big part of issue #4. Uncanny X-Force led into Uncanny Avengers which led into Axis. You don’t need to read any to enjoy the others, but they have connective tissue. This was always intended. I didn’t always see this as an event. As the X-Men had a larger role, the Apocalypse beat blossomed into something really wonderful.”
“A really big part of issue #4 and that pays out in issue #7 is Cyclops. You’ll see a re-shuffling of things with the X-Men in Axis. We’ve worked close with the X-Men office. What the X-Men do in this event is not something the world can forget any time soon.”
Gerry Duggan takes over Hulk this week after the aftermath of the revelation of how Tony Stark was involved in Bruce Banner’s accident that turned him into the monster.
“That’s the Hulk’s Hulk on the cover to issue #4. When Bruce Banner gets angry, the Hulk comes out; when the Hulk gets angry, this comes out.”
“The Hulk idea made me run around like a lunatic in my office screaming and patting myself on the back. Deadpool, Havok and Apocalypse are all a lot of fun to write. Iron Man is a lot of fun to write when he’s a capitalist scumbag of the highest order.”
Marvel’s greatest villains are featured in the fight against perhaps a greater evil (Red Skull.) Remender and Brevoort tease what’s next for some of the iconic rogues seen here united on the cover of Magneto #11.
“At least one villain coming out of Axis will be getting a bigger spotlight.”
“Sabretooth is a guy with a lot of blood on his hands who now feels the guilt of his actions.”
“Loki has a huge beat in this that gives the 12-year-old kid in me goosebumps.”
“Magneto is one of those wonderful grey area characters where he kills a guy and you get it…not that I’m condoning vigilante justice or murder. Let’s get that on the record.”
“Magneto, Quicksilver, Doctor Doom and the Scarlet Witch are the running B-story during the second act.”
“We spent a lot of time talking about all of this stuff. There is stuff that will be teased, teed up and foreshadowed in Avengers and New Avengers, but they will be telling their own stories.” added Brevoort.
“The promise of an event this big has to be lasting ramifications that lead to more big stories. Look at the symbiote from Secret Wars that becomes Venom. That’s what makes this interconnected universe fun. Axis will lead to a whole new book I am writing with a number of characters who are very changed from this story. The inversion isn’t going to be completely wrapped up with a perfect bow.”
“Axis is the end of my ‘things to do with Apocalypse that make me happy’ list for now.”
AXIS is not just an event but a new team that appears to be a band of twisted heroes.
“Luke Cage is part of a team actually called Axis. They are born of this. They’re a band of people up to no good. They are the Axis of Evil. Medusa, Captain America and the former Thor and others we have seen are part of that group.”
“Luke Cage and Nova get big set-ups and then flow into their own tie-ins which are really fun.”
“Inverted characters have the same memories and all, but that moral compass is aligned differently. Sabretooth is not capable of killing the way he used to. Imagine a sociopath waking up with a sense of ethics. Same guy, likes pizza the same way, dances the same kind of mamba, but…”
The March to AXIS starts next month in Magneto, Captain America, Uncanny Avengers, Loki: Agent of Asgard.
AXIS begins in October. Act Two Inversion begins in November.
By Editor