The Children of the Atom will mutate as new creative team Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen launch All-New X-Men #1.
The five original X-Men are yanked from the past and into the Marvel Now. Can you imagine young Henry McCoy’s reaction when he meets his future self? Immonen’s depiction of the furry blue Beast is seen in this new interior art courtesy Marvel.com . This preview includes an except from Bendis’ script.
ALL-NEW X-MEN #1 Page 2-3
1- Ext. Jean Grey School for Higher Learning- day
Wide shot of the mansion from the front gate looking in.
It is a gorgeous day and it’s a calm day at the mansion. Reads: the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning
THE BEAST
JOURNAL
I am mutating.
And it is [REDACTED].
This popped in my head – could the arrival of the younger X-Men trigger the end of their future and current counterparts? What would Doctor Who say? Hang with me – you know what they always say in sci-fi movies about the impact to the timestream if you actually meet your other self? Could the young McCoy’s arrival trigger Hank to completely evolve to a Beast or hold the key to curing him?
There’s a definitely long-term reason Bendis brought the original five into the Marvel NOW. I have to imagine the shock of the young X-Men as they witness what’s happened to their dream and to their leader. Maybe the kids will have a dark agenda when it comes to their current selves. This blast from the past may want to blast away the status quo and start new?
A billion dollar blockbuster movie. A huge comic book franchise. Yes, the world still needs Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
After 8 years Brian Michael Bendis will leave the Avengers franchise with End Times and answers the question above on Marvel.com. I wanted to share this answer.
“My favorite thing about all these events and AVENGERS being the centerpiece of all these events is that there’s fallout. And because they’re always on to the next thing, they don’t even have time to deal with the fallout. Fear Itself happened and all these Nazi robots attacked the world, and nobody in the Avengers feels like doing a press conference and saying, “All right everyone, we’ve saved you all from the Nazis.” Nobody wants to do that. Captain America doesn’t want to do press. He just wants to do what he’s good at. And with that comes conspiracy, hysteria and blame. Nobody knows where [Sin] is, [so] we can’t blame her, but we know where Cap is so let’s go yell at him.
Now, there are some interesting things going on with the Avengers and Captain America in particular in my last issues. When Captain America took this job to lead the Avengers, he took the job of the guy he was always yelling at. It’s like he was the President. Like the minute President Obama got elected, everything was immediately his fault. That’s not a political statement; it’s with any president. “We love you, we love you—now what?”
That’s what’s happening with Captain America. Now that he’s taken the role of leader and with that comes the heavy burden of responsibility for things that he couldn’t possibly be responsible for, but someone’s gotta be responsible for them. That’s gonna be resolved and take its toll with the question of “Does the world need the Avengers?” But I think they do because I believe the book will be continuing without me [Laughs].
Ironic that I read this interview just after watching President Obama’s speech at the DNC.
I can’t believe it’s been 8 years since Disassembled. Wow! That’s when I fell in love with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes…this time I think it’s forever.
For his entire interview with Jim Beard here’s the Marvel.com link.
Brian Michael Bendis is reflecting on his 8 years of writing The Avengers with Marvel.com before taking on the X-Men franchise. Bendis made me start buying and loving Earth’s Mightiest Heroes again. Fans say they have event fatigue (I’m guilty of saying that) but we sure kept devouring them over the past 8 years. Bendis was the mastermind (or key collaborator) of epic after epic from House of M to Secret Invasion to Siege. Bendis gives some insight into how these Marvel milestones went from brain to page.
House of M #1 courtesy Marvel
Avengers became the center of the Marvel Universe and House of M was a huge game-changer in the Marvel Universe that turned an Avenger into a pariah and depowered millions of mutants.
“When the book becomes the center of everything, there’s a lot of ways for that to go wrong. That wasn’t my goal to turn the AVENGERS into the center; my goal was to just make this the most awesome thing ever, filled with stuff I hadn’t seen in an Avengers book before. I knew that would be slightly controversial, but maybe not as controversial as I intended. The way the market responded to things, the book became a centerpiece for the Marvel Universe and the series of event [stories] that came about. If you remember, events were nothing. Disassembled was one of the first events. And then House of M came right after that. They literally came to me and said, “Listen, Joss [Whedon] isn’t writing ASTONISHING X-MEN this summer, he’s got to go do something else. If you want to do an Avengers/X-Men fun thing, that’d be great.
People can look at the first cover and see New Avengers/Astonishing X-Men and that’s what the book initially was. I had a thing left over that I was talking with [Jeph] Loeb about from Disassembled: if Wanda goes nuts, what does Magneto do about that? That seemed like a great Avengers/X-Men summer thing, because what’s the biggest problem for the Avengers and the X-Men? It’s Wanda. House of M burst out of that, and all of a sudden the Avengers are the centerpiece of all these big events, because by nature, the roster is pulling characters from different parts of the Marvel Universe. Back when the Avengers were just Avengers, and you could only see these characters in the Avengers, they were the Avengers. But the way I set it up, with Spider-Man, and Wolverine from the X-Men, and [Thor’s] an Asgardian—now you’ve got an arm out from every corner of the Marvel Universe pulled into this one book. And that makes it, by its own nature, the centerpiece and with that comes a lot of scary stuff,” says Bendis.
New Avengers #31 courtesy Marvel
The revelation that Skrulls had infiltrated every team and organization (for years) was huge and made me go back looking for the clues that had been there. Bendis recalls that “OH —-” moment in New Avengers when the knife went in Elektra and she turned green!
“The reveal of the Skrull stuff was a big one because I’d been planning that since the first issue. And when Elektra became a Skrull, if everyone went, “Who cares?” I’d be screwed. It was all I had. I was relieved that Leinil Yu had killed it, he did an amazing job, and we were able to go about with our Skrull storyline with such excitement from our readers for so long to the point that it became its own event, which wasn’t even the plan.”
The Bendis era is filled with action and dramatic moments. The author reveals the other pivotal scenes that mean a lot to him.
“My favorite moments are usually the quieter ones, like CIVIL WAR: THE CONFESSION and some of the tie-ins during Civil War. Discovering the funny repartee between Spider-Man and Luke Cage, that wasn’t in my initial plan. That just kind of happened, the characters kinda took over.Things like that, which may not be exciting to some people, but as a writer, it always makes me happy to do something I haven’t seen before. When I can put something in the Avengers pot that wasn’t there before. And at the end of the day, the whole time I was on AVENGERS, people were yelling at me because Spider-Man wasn’t an Avenger. Well he’s been an Avenger for eight years, so guess what? Wolverine too. Also, discovering new things about the characters because of their placement in AVENGERS,” Bendis said.
“Overall, my top favorite thing is that I can’t think of a day where I haven’t been thrilled with my collaborations. Every single issue on all of the Avengers books has been quite outstanding, as far as high-water marks in super hero comic book art in the last eight years. Even the first two years of NEW AVENGERS with David Finch and Steve McNiven; I still think that was Steve’s best stuff. Me and Jimmy Cheung did an amazing amount of issues together and people don’t even realize. I would steal him in between issues of YOUNG AVENGERS and I ended up getting a lot of comic books out of him. Mike Deodato has done more issues of Avengers with me than anybody over the course of all the books. I got to work with almost all of my heroes. I got to work with Alan Davis, Howard Chaykin, Neal Adams, Walt Simonson, and John Romita, Jr., all on the same book. There is no way I’m not going to look back on this and go “What?!”
New Avengers Annual #1 courtesy Marvel
For this geek – I love the return of Luke Cage, his relationship with Jessica Jones and his rise to leadership. The New Avengers Annual – the wedding of Luke and Jessica was beautiful. I love the moment when Luke brought to Avengers to his New York City neighborhood. Luke was lifted up to major hero status but stayed grounded and he kept Earth’s Mightiest Heroes grounded and relatable.
Brian Michael Bendis made me love the Avengers again. I never really stopped loving Cap, Tony, Wanda, Clint but I had stopped buying the book because the title had become tired to me.
The idea of losing something makes you realize how much you it. Avengers Disassembled rocked my world and shook the foundations of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. New Avengers made the franchise exciting again with new faces and new threats.
Eight years later and End Times are in sight as Bendis leaves the Avengers family for the Children of the Atom. I wanted to share some highlights of this Marvel.com interview about the final months of the Bendisvengers! (And new preview art!)
The fan favorite writer will leave Avengers and New Avengers with an all-star list of artists on board.
“I’m going out on a very pleasant note personally. I just finished an AVENGERS run with Walt Simonson. I’m working on NEW AVENGERS with Michael Gaydos, Michael Avon Oeming, Carlos Pacheco and Mike Deodato. The very last issue we’re doing this big jam sequence. I like to do these jam sequences every once in a while which are very difficult on editorial. I find them to be a lot of fun if you can find the right reason to do them. We found one, and me and Tom [Brevoort] are gathering together a group of very unique, very out-there artists, people who I feel have been exciting to me that are outside of the Marvel mainstream. We’re pulling them in to let them show off a little bit to the larger audiences, people whose books I’ve been buying that are very exciting. We’ll be debuting those names very soon. I feel like we’re leaving on a high note. On [the last issues of] AVENGERS, we’ve got Brandon Peterson, Terry Dodson [and] Mike Mayhew, and it’s gorgeous. It’s absolutely stunning.”
Avengers #31 courtesy Marvel
Bendis is famous or infamous for starting his Avengers run by blowing up the Avengers mansion and the team. (Jack of Hearts ran out of luck the hard way!)
“Disassembled” was this disaster movie starring the Avengers, which I thought was awesome. Other people thought it was awesome too, and other people were very, very angry at me. They’re still angry at me as if it happened yesterday.”
I think Bendis fearlessly challenged the fans and the industry to rethink status quo. Cap and Tony were joined my Spider-Man and Wolverine. My favorite part of the Bendis era was adding Luke Cage and Spider-Woman to the team. He then proceeded to put them both through hell and back. Luke became a father, husband and team leader. Luke and Jessica Jones became one of my favorite Marvel couples. Jessica Drew’s comeback (including the fake Skrull Jessica) is the stuff of comics legend all on its own. The path of Robert Reynolds/The Sentry is pure Shakespearean tragedy with a cosmic twist. Bendis is ready to shake the status quo again.
Avengers #31 courtesy Marvel
“Well, many years have gone by. This status quo has been around for eight years. It’s quite a lengthy amount of time for any status quo in any comic of any company. So it’s certainly a good time for me to wrap up certain story-lines, to make my final statement on some of these characters. Some characters will be moving on to a new chapter in their life, and other characters will be deciding what it means to be an Avenger. Not all the characters will survive this last story.
I’m losing some babies. I’m losing some characters that mean the world to me. So when you add up all the elements that I just described, that is the status quo change. A lot is going to happen in the next four issues. Some great celebratory things, some tragic things, all setting the stage for my friend Jonathan Hickman, who has his own status quo to try to achieve. I’m going to do the best I can to make that happen.”
Avengers #31 courtesy Marvel
For his entire interview here’s the Marvel.com link.
What is your favorite character, storyline or moment of the Bendisvengers era?
Brian Michael Bendis is bringing the first five X-Men into the Marvel NOW. The original mutant teenage dream arrive in our present and to them – it’s a nightmare.
All-New X-Men #1 interior art courtesy Marvel.com
Stuart Immonen is the artist bringing past and present together. Today Marvel.com revealed the first interior art from All-New X-Men #1. The original Scott, Jean, Bobby, Hank and Warren arrive at the Jean Grey School and see the present day Hank aka the Beast.
All-New X-Men #1 interior art courtesy Marvel.com
Can you imagine the look Immonen will create on Scott and Jean’s faces when they see the memorial statue of Jean on the school grounds?
All-New X-Men features the original five students of Professor X in the here and now.
The cover of All-New X-Men #2 revealed this week features Storm, Wolverine, Kitty Pryde and Lockheed, furry Beast and Bobby – now at his full Omega level potential. It’s assumed that the girl with the short red hair was Rachel Summers, daughter of Scott and Jean from an alternate future.
Writer Brian Michael Bendis revealed on his message board that this mystery woman is not Rachel.
“The mystery woman is not Jessica Jones OR rachel summers. hmmm…”
Brian Michael Bendis is taking on the Children of the Atom in a brand new All-New X-Men this November. The original teenage dream (Scott, Jean, Bobby, pre-metal wing Warren and pre-furry Hank) blast from the past into the present day.
MTV Geek has this exclusive look at the cover of All-New X-Men #2 featuring present fan favorite mutants Storm, Wolverine, Kitty Pryde and Lockhead, furry Beast and Bobby – now at his full Omega level potential. It’s assumed that the girl with the short red hair is Rachel Summers, daughter of Scott and Jean from an alternate future. Art by Stuart Immonen.
Captain America (under the guidance of writer Brian Michael Bendis) attempts to reconvene the Illuminati in order to stop the Phoenix Force in New Avengers #29. A secret group (Tony Stark, Namor, Doctor Strange, Reed Richards, Professor X and Black Bolt. Black Panther declined) went on covert missions. Bendis revealed the secret history of his this covert team had saved Earth in critical points of Marvel history. The group eventually disbanded.
Cap hopes this Illuminati reunion might lead to the end of Avengers vs. X-Men. What I love about this tie-in issue is how it goes right into the minds and weary hearts of the heroes caught up in this epic battle. Bendis really captures what I expected Professor Xavier to be feeling. This a father figure anguishing over what his children are doing and what he must do to stop them. Bendis creates great moments for Professor X and Reed Richards who questions Cap’s desire to stop the “good work” of the Phoenix Five.
The heart of the story is Cap and his relationship with Namor. Will the Phoenix possessed ally show up and poses a great moment: can a lifelong friendship hope to defeat the cosmic power of the entity?
Artist Mike Deodato paints a somber portraits of beleaguered heroes. His shadowy art is perfect for the covert proceedings and the dark places these characters must go.
This issue takes me back to the first story featuring the secret group of heroes. Here’s a link to New Avengers: The Illuminati if you’d like to check it out.
