Deathlok, Deathstrike, Death to Secret Avengers?

Lady Deathstrike on the cover of X-Men #205 courtesy Marvel.com

  Rick Remender continues revealing the new enemies facing the Secret Avengers. The Descendents are evolved from the most famous (and infamous) robots and androids in the Marvel Universe. In the latest Father Files on Marvel.com he revealed Cyborgs Deathlok and Lady Deathstrike and her Reavers are part of this new race.

  “In UNCANNY X-FORCE, we’ve recently seen a band of Deathloks from a future where Deathloks win out and took down the super-humans and acclimated them to the Deathlok program,” explains Remender. “They made everyone easily controlled and removed the chaos factor from life in the Marvel Universe. Those Deathloks were created using the body of another Deathlok from another timeline that was created by Roxxon. That technology was then acclimated by Father and hyper-evolved in The World and then used. We saw that version of Father killed by Deadpool and those Deathloks disappeared.”

Deathlok #1 courtesy Marvel.com

  “The Reavers in their origins were never made very clear,” he says. “They hated mutants but we never really found out why. In terms of what their motives were and why they hated mutants so much, there were obviously a few things hinted at, but we’re going to show why they were built and by whom. In Uncanny X-Force 5.1 we saw Deathstrike talk about the coming revolution. At this point, her body has been rebuilt and destroyed so many times she’s more machine than anything else. Her consciousness has remained intact and with Father’s help, she has become even more evolved and we’ll see exactly what she’s capable up in upcoming issues. She is Father’s right-hand woman. If you were going to make an analogy to old X-Men comics, she’d be Wolverine to Father’s Cyclops, back when those guys were still working together.”

  “We saw her working with the Reavers when the X-Men lived in Australia. We saw them come back as a force with Donald Pierce and kick the [expletive] out of them. The Reavers hate mutants, they just hate them. When you mix in Cole and Reese, some of the Hellfire guys who were turned into cyborgs after being cut into pieces by Wolverine, their motives are a little more clean and clear. I looked to make this something that fits in with their history. Deathstrike had worked with the Reavers at this point in time; things have changed and she has higher goals now. She still has a real hatred for Wolverine, but her bigger goal here is to serve Father and the plot they’re working on is to see the Descendants rise. The rise of the Descendants might go further than people expect it to, I’ll say that.”

For more of Remender’s notes click here.

Kelly Hu played Lady Deathstrike in X2: X-Men United. Chris Claremont and Marc Silvestri were on board the Uncanny X-Men when The Reavers infamously crucified Logan in the Outback – a haunting cover.

 

Cyclops Secret Weapon for AVX?

The Sentry #5 courtesy Marvel.com

  This is the final year of Brian Michael Bendis on The Avengers, which includes the upcoming Avengers Versus X-Men fight fueled by the return of the Phoenix Force.

  The Sentry/The Void could be a key factor in all three of these Marvel events.

Warning: There are potential spoilers of previous Marvel events you may not have read.

  Robert Reynolds is one of Marvel’s most powerful and tragic characters. Bendis made the The Sentry (Robert Reynolds) and his evil alter ego The Void a central character of his Avengers run until Bob was struck down by Thor in the finale of Siege. At Bob’s memorial service his computer companion CLOC said he was preparing for The Sentry’s eventual return. A section of The Void was held in Emma Frost’s mind until Cyclops locked it away in a sealed part of his mind.

New Avengers #8 courtesy Marvel.com

  Will Bendis bring The Sentry back as part of his final Avengers arc? Can Cyclops use The Void (should he even tap into that evil force?) against the Avengers in AVX? Is The Sentry/The Void possibly the only power that could counter the Phoenix Force? What if the entity bonded with a resurrected Robert Reynolds?

  You can read more about The Sentry and The Void at his Marvel.com bio.

AVX: Wolverine: Alone

Wolverine and the X-Men #9 courtesy Marvel.com

  Wolverine Alone.

  Logan is an X-Man, an Avenger, Headmaster of a new mutant school. Which side will he choose in AVX? Will his friends and students at the Jean Grey School follow the headmaster’s lead?

  Comics Alliance scored this exclusive first look at the cover for Wolverine and the X-Men #9 by Chris Bachalo.

  Depending on which side Logan chooses, it could cause a rift at the School given Rachel’s connections to the Phoenix and her friendship with Kitty Pryde.

AVX Doctor Strange Makes Magik Vanish!

X-Infernus courtesy Marvel.com

  The Avengers and X-Men go to war in April over the return of the Phoenix Force. Marvel has revealed stunning AVX teaser images of potential fights. We’ve seen matchups based on strength, fighting ability, and mutant powers but what about magic?

  I know it may seem unfair to have an older man fight a young woman but since we’ve already seen the Emma Frost versus Hulk teaser, I’m going there. I want Doctor Strange to make Magik vanish…for good!

  I envision a scene inspired by Uncanny X-Men #136 in which Professor Xavier psionically threw down with Dark Phoenix. The psi battle lasted a few panels but the way John Byrne illustrated Chris Claremont’s vision for the showdown was epic.

Magik courtesy Marvel.com

  The Magik I loved from the early New Mutants and the reborn little snowflake who died from the Legacy Virus is long gone.  Magik (after so many reboots) is a member of the Extinction Team in Uncanny X-Men and serves as the teleporter. Given her own dark nature and demonic connections it’s only a matter of time before Illyana will become the Darkchilde again.

  Illyana is nearly as dangerous as the host of the Phoenix force. If you’re going to eliminate the threat of the Phoenix, you should excise the evil potential inside Magik.

Defenders #1 courtesy Marvel.com

  Doctor Strange lost his mojo and is guilt ridden from events in New Avengers but he’s getting it back in the new Defenders book. Many of Marvel’s cosmic entities consider Strange to be on their level in terms of his power.

  Doctor Strange versus Magik would be a mystic battle for the ages but maybe their combined power could tame the Phoenix?

Here’s the Magik Marvel bio if you’d like to learn more. To learn more about Dr. Strange here’s his Marvel bio.

GLAAD Best Comic Nominees Part 2

    I hope Avengers: The Children’s Crusade wins the GLADD Best Comic Awards. Hulkling and Wiccan fell in love in Young Avengers. As the heroes try to save the Scarlet Witch (Wiccan’s mother) they are in the center of a huge storyline featuring Doctor Doom, Avengers and X-Men. The book is filled with action but the heart of story is the strong relationships between the boys and their devoted teammates.  This is one of the most beautifully written and drawn stories Marvel is publishing.

Northstar to the rescue. Courtesy Marvel.com

 

  I’m hoping that Marjorie Liu’s upcoming Astonishing X-Men (featuring the return of Northstar and his partner Kyle) will be nominated next year. Northstar (when he was in Alpha Flight) was the first superhero to come out. The Canadian mutant has been a teacher and mentor to younger gay mutants, Anole and Graymalkin.

  If you want to learn more about Northstar you can read my post about why he should rejoin the X-Men – which he will later this year.

  Teen Titans (part of the DC New 52) welcomed Bunker, an openly gay Mexican teen hero. Scott Lobdell co-created Bunker with the plan to make him flamboyantly out. It will be interesting to see Bunker’s story develop in Teen Titans and if the book will be nominated next year.

Teen Titans #3 from DC Comics. Art by Brett Booth.

  You may want to read my post about gay heroes in comics.
  Thanks to Comics Alliance for the story about this year’s GLAAD nominees.

Michael Fassbender on X-Men: First Class Sequel Ideas

Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy from X-Men: First Class courtesy Marvel.com

  Michael Fassbender quotes are coming fast and furious as the hot star talks about a possible sequel to X-Men: First Class while promoting his new movie Haywire.

  Fassbender gave IFC his thoughts on the next chapter of Xavier and Magneto.

  “You know what’s interesting about Magneto and Professor X from the comic books as well, is there’s such a complexity to their relationship,” he explained, offering the notion that Magneto need not necessarily become a full-fledged villain. “It’s not just like clear-cut enemies; they’re best friends as well. In the comic books, even after they’ve had this sort of rift, Professor X asks Magneto to come back and look after the students at certain points… I think there’s always that complexity in their relationship and we want to keep that alive as possible, because that’s I think a really interesting thing — the conflict there.”

  “I get where [Magneto] is coming from, that’s for sure — having read the source material, the comic books,” he explained. “From what we know with human beings, history has told us that we’re a pretty destructive race, so you can see where he’s coming from. It’s always interesting for me to have the villains doing positive things as well as negative or destructive things. I just think it’s more realistic.”

  I would like to see Magneto’s children (Polaris, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver) turn up in the sequel. Fassbender is still a young man so casting and aging make-up would be considerations to make it work.

  Thanks to SuperHeroHype for the story.

AVX: Colossus Versus Red Hulk!

 

Uncanny X-Men #11 AvX tie-in courtesy Marvel.com

  A Colossal Juggernaut versus the Red Hulk! Marvel revealed the latest Avengers Versus X-Men mighty matchup to io9! Greg Land created this head butting impact cover to Uncanny X-Men #11 – an AvX tie-in.

  Colossus (fueled by the Cyttorak) versus Red Hulk in what Marvel is calling “Cyclops leads his X-Men in to their toughest battle yet.”

  I’m cheering for Colossus on this one!

AVX: Secret Avengers Suicide Space Mission!

 

Secret Avengers #26 cover by Alan Davis on MTV Geek courtesy Marvel.com

  Maybe some Avengers won’t be alive for the big fight against the X-Men? Marvel gave MTV Geek this spectacular cover image and a foreboding press release for Secret Avengers #26.

“Thor leads a secret team of Avengers on a suicide mission to stop the Phoenix by any means necessary.”

Rick Remender and Renato Guedes provide story and art. This cover is by the legendary Alan Davis. Majestic comes to mind when I think of his art!

So far Secret Avengers #26, New Avengers #24, New Avengers #26 (Iron Fist as the Phoenix)have been the only tie-in AVX books revealed so far…but this is a crossover event so stay tuned!