As a prelude to Kieron Gillen’s actual recounting of the consequences from Marvel’s Avengers Vs X-Men event, let’s take a quick look at some of the dangling stories/ideas/moments which may or may not be addressed in the near future. This was a big event by any stands, with five writers and three artists involved, as well as something approaching six different forms of philosophical religion. What might we have to look forward to over the next few months?

  • Decimation has been undone

The biggest consequence of the event is that Wanda’s bitter rejection of mutancy during House of M has now been undone – although not in the way you might have expected. While mutants are back as a thriving minority in the Marvel Universe, as of yet it appears that none of the formerly depowered mutants will be regaining their powers. Sorry, Marrow fans! Instead, we’ll be seeing a whole range of new characters show up, most of the likely as part of Wolverine & The X-Men, or the new mystery Gillen/McKelvie title to be unveiled at NYCC.

  • Thousands of people are now minorities

The new ‘lights’ on Cerebro have lit up, with the latent X-Gene in people being activated for the first time, announcing them as mutants. New powers is cool, but these people now have to deal with being part of a hated and feared minority, overnight. And now Xavier isn’t here to sew them lascivious uniforms, who will knit them the unstable molecule containment suits they need? At least they can comfort themselves with the knowledge that overnight they have become immune to STDs.

  • Scarlet Witch got away with it

At the end of AvX, Captain America still hasn’t chosen to arrest his former love interest for casting a spell which led to the direct deaths of hundreds of people, and indirectly to the deaths of characters like Nightcrawler. In fact, her role in reversing Decimation means that now she has very little dirt still on her – so much so that she is now free to join the Uncanny Avengers, a team Cap has built to show off all the “PR-Friendly” characters like, uh, Rogue Thor and Wolverine. Have the public really forgotten how Asgardians blew up a football stadium a few months ago? Or that time they were responsible for FEAR ITSELF?

  • Namor, Magneto and Emma Frost are on the run

A poster revealed that three of the Extinction Team are now wanted by the authorities, for crimes involving genocide (Namor), murder (Emma Frost) and being Magneto (Magneto). Yes, Magneto is being witch hunted in the Marvel NOW era, for reasons known only to SHIELD. While, agreed, he is Magneto, he didn’t exactly do anything worse than, say Cannonball did. And Cannonball is an Avenger now! We don’t know why Magneto is being persecuted, but I suppose it’s something he’s used to by now.

  • Wakanda is in ruins

I’ll have to be careful here, because Wakanda is a very sensitive subject. The idea that one of the most powerful countries on earth was run by an isolationist nation of Africans has always been a great concept, as long as you accept that the Wakandans themselves aren’t exactly loveable. As a result of the Phoenix-possessed Namor, however, Wakanda has now been mostly flooded, and the land destroyed. Black Panther is now officially at war with Atlantis, which seems a little strong seeing as Atlantis had nothing to do with Namor’s actions. Or, for that matter, did Namor, really. Possession! Nine tenths of the law. I might not have got that fact right.

  • The World is GREAT!

The Phoenix Five spent their time ending war, halting poverty, fixing the O-Zone later and giving legs to whales. Even now they have lost their power, their gifts to the world would surely still be active. Unless the Uncanny Avengers decide that they want to go back to the status quo and go about reinstating world poverty and hunger, liberally spraying deodorants at trees and throwing garbage into the ocean at an advanced rate, the world is now a lovely place to live in.

  • Charles Xavier is dead

Pfft. Doesn’t really mean anything to anyone, really. Not even Cyclops cares. Si Spurrier will handle this fallout most likely, in his relaunch of X-Men Legacy.

  • Wolverine leads the X-Men

With every other candidate dead, AWOL or in jail, Wolverine is now the de facto leader of mutantkind on Earth. What’s that, you say? Storm? Who’s that? Are you trying to tell me there’s a heroic character who is a natural leader, has a massive fanbase, is typically one of the best-written women in comics, doesn’t mass murder people in a solo series, AND has appeal outside of the comic-buying demographics due to her appearances on film and television?

No, doesn’t ring a bell.

  • Dazzler has no idea what’s happened while she’s been gone

Dazzler has been off-world since the end of act 1, as far as I remember, meaning she’s going to be somewhat surprised on her return. Also: X-Treme X-Men! Out now! Go buy! And pick up Gambit while you’re at it! Comics!!

  • Pixie and Squirrel Girl are now best friends

The most important thing to happen in the whole of AvX.

18 COMMENTS

  1. Focusing on the consequences of AvX might be a good thing, because AvX is a corpse ready to be torn to pieces by buzzards.

    The single most important element in the storyline was the Phoenix Force, but it appeared for no apparent reason, and there was no discernible connection between the “No More Phoenix” in AvX #12 and the reappearance of mutants. At the end, the reader has no idea of what the Phoenix Force’s intentions were, or, if he read only AvX, if it was capable of having intentions. Or why, if the two women said “No more Phoenix” while thinking anything about mutants, the ex-mutants wouldn’t have gotten their powers back.

    The issues read like the product of late-night brainstorming sessions at a bar, with the participants deciding on what the issue is going to be just before they fall off their stools, dead drunk.

    SRS

  2. Unless they’ve retconned it, Magneto is probably still wanted for all his crimes back in his straight-up villain days, like that time he sank a Russian sub or that time he blew up a city.

  3. DC isn’t exempt from this issue, but how many of these Marvel “events” of the last 5 or 10 years have even been decent to mediocre? I mean, any sprawling crossover thingy like this is going to have moments that don’t work out as well as you might have hoped. However, Marvel has now released a whole string of these that are so deeply, fundamentally flawed from a storytelling perspective that it is hard to understand how the weaknesses and mistakes weren’t recognized and corrected long before the comics saw print.

    Mike

  4. “Magneto is probably still wanted for all his crimes back in his straight-up villain days, like that time he sank a Russian sub or that time he blew up a city”

    Except I believe he was legally exonerated for all that at the end of the first X-Men vs. Avengers limited series in the 1980s.

    Mike

  5. However, Marvel has now released a whole string of these that are so deeply, fundamentally flawed from a storytelling perspective that it is hard to understand how the weaknesses and mistakes weren’t recognized and corrected long before the comics saw print.

    That’s because the attitude at Marvel and DC is that many comics readers read to see the characters in action. You see that attitude displayed in Brevoort’s references to the emotional truths in Bendis’s stories and when more sophisticated readers say that style is the only thing that matters, or that continuity is secondary to the effect of the story on the reader. I doubt that anyone at Marvel cares that the Scarlet Witch doesn’t have a definable power anymore. She can make dramatic things happen, and she looks pretty while she makes them happen, even if what happens doesn’t make any sense.

    SRS

  6. I dunno that we can assume that all the good stuff the Phoenix 5 did is still-standing. Can we assume that the reactor that Emma Frost made in the desert or the water purification plant that Namor made underwater can be maintained without them present?

  7. You be shocked at how they forget or retcon things like criminal activity. “But you killed all those people?” “I was under influence of a mind control and it is not at all my fault for taking their lives.”

    Excuses excuses

  8. Come to think of it, going by that team shown on one of the All-New X-Men covers… an asteroid base would be perfect. Magneto could make it impregnable, and Illyana could teleport them up and down for missions. I want this book.

  9. Lila Cheney still has her Dyson sphere. Why not make that Utopia? Lots of space. Marvel could even use the implied “Ringworld” locale and have the heroes explore the 281 quadrillon square kilometers of land. (About 1 Billion Earths.)

    Imagine… all of the mutants take their football and leave Earth for the X-Sphere. Or they allow people to homestead the sphere. (200 million square kilometers per person.) (See: The Long Earth)

    The best and brightest leave Earth. Maybe some stay in the idealistic hope of making the world better. Earth enters a miasmic Dark Age, perhaps becoming a threat to the universe. Or perhaps we get an “Alien Invasion” of Earth, now that the superheroes are gone. Or maybe The Beyonder’s sister shows up, and makes Earth “Battleworld” for all of the races of the universe. Last thing standing gets the prize.

    Nah… that would be boring.

  10. Not boring, but too far removed from the “real-world” setting that is Marvel’s bread and butter. And the would mean long-term, it would have to be restored/fixed/retconned.

    Such drastic changes to the Earth would also force every single title to tie in, homogenizing the line (even further than the avengering of almost every superheo has already done).

  11. i don’t understand why the Phoenix Guys were bad? They ended war, hunger, poverty and social imbalance? I’ll admit that the last issue of this laborious comic strip that i read was the one where they ended war, hunger, poverty and social imbalance.

  12. Not at all thrilled with Wakanda’s treatment as a result of this. Smells like an actual strength of the Marvel Universe got treated as though it were a weakness, and wrongly so.

    Also, puzzled at what happened to return Magneto to fugitive status?

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