What to Read Before Avengers Vs X-men
Today is the official launch of Marvel's big 2012 summer event, Avengers vs. X-Men, the culmination of 8 years of stories for both major lines at Marvel Comics: the Avengers and, well, the X-Men. With few exceptions, the stories of the 2 teams accept remained largely separate since 2005's Business firm of Thou, but with Curiosity pushing Avengers vs. Ten-Men as a tool to bring in new and lapsed readers, people might exist curious nearly the sequence of events that led to this point. While the #0 outcome sets up the major emotional crises surrounding the Scarlet Witch and Hope, and #1 does a good job setting up the overall story, it's withal the culmination of a great bargain of by continuity. And I'm here to catch y'all upwards.1977: The Night Phoenix Saga
I of the first major longform storylines in Bronze Historic period comics was Chris Claremont and John Byrne'south "Dark Phoenix Saga" in the pages of Ten-Men. There are numerous recaps of the story available on the Internet, simply here's the curt version: after her seeming decease, telepath Jean Grayness's telekinetic powers increase to the point of godhood, which manifests in a fiery bird projection. Afterwards saving the universe from a neutron galaxy in the heart of the spacefaring Shi'ar Empire's Yard'Kraan Crystal, her powers increased fifty-fifty more, until the mental manipulation of the Hellfire Order'south Mastermind brought out her "dark side," turning her into the "Night Phoenix" that was consumed by her ain ability.
One time she crosses the line and destroys a fully populated earth with six billion souls, she gets hunted by the Shi'ar, and eventually takes her own life in a moment of clarity to stop herself from killing everybody. The Phoenix was after revealed to exist a cosmic force of expiry and rebirth that possessed Jean Gray rather than a natural extension of her telekinetic abilities; the real Jean Grey later returned and was killed after once again merging with the Phoenix at the stop of Grant Morrison'due south New 10-Men run.
2004: Avengers: Disassembled
2004's Disassembled event had a cadre narrative in Avengers #500-503, by AvX cowriter Brian Michael Bendis and artist David Finch (with some assists from Olivier Coipel, also an artist on AvX). In brusque, a few years earlier this story, Avenger Scarlet Witch had discovered that her children with robot husband the Vision were actually magical constructs of her reality-altering powers, and then slowly and secretly went insane, culminating in the attack that destroyed Avengers Mansion and killed the Vision. In the end, Md Strange exposed the true nature of the assault, and Cerise Witch was secreted off past her father, X-Men Magneto.
Half dozen months afterward, the Avengers reformed as the New Avengers under the aforementioned artistic team, including new members with few ties to Avengers history such equally Spider-Human being, Wolverine and Luke Cage.
Meanwhile, Grant Morrison'south run on New Ten-Men wrapped and was replaced with new flagship title Astonishing 10-Men by Buffy the Vampire Slayer mastermind Joss Whedon and Planetary'south John Cassaday, which reintroduced the team as superheroes rather than a mutant rescue group, bringing dorsum the old costumes and re-embracing a more archetype milieu for the team.
2005: Firm of M
In 2005, the summer event book House of G by Bendis and Coipel featured an alternating reality created past Crimson Witch's reality-altering powers where mutants are the ascendant species. Information technology was eventually revealed that it was created at the urging of Ruddy Witch's brother, besides-Avenger Quicksilver. Right before she inverse the earth dorsum to normal, she issued the edict of "no more mutants," depowering the unabridged mutant population, except for two hundred individuals (how those specific mutants escaped this was never revealed). The Avengers and Ten-Men decided to continue Wanda'southward actions a underground from the earth.
2006: Ceremonious State of war
While the remaining mutant population were placed nether government surveillance at the Ten-Men'southward Westchester mansion, the Avengers and the balance of the superhero community had a major crisis of conscience later on the near-destruction of Stamford, Connecticut by a super-powered being in Mark Millar and Steve McNiven's Civil State of war. A superhero registration law shortly passed, and the superhero community divided between Captain America, fighting registration, and Iron Man supporting it. Iron Human won, Helm America got shot for totally unrelated reasons, and the Tony Stark Era began. Stark essentially ran the unabridged superhuman community and leads the authorities-sponsored Mighty Avengers, while the remainder of Steve Rogers's allies fights underground equally the New Avengers.
2007: World War Hulk and Messiah Circuitous
A number of plotlines simmered in the background of 2007'south major effect, Globe War Blob, written by Greg Pak with art by AvX artist John Romita Jr. This main consequence centered on the Illuminati -- a shadow council running the superhuman customs consisting of X-Men founder Charles Xavier, Avenger Iron Man, Inhuman male monarch Black Bolt, Rex Namor of Atlantis and Wizard Supreme Dr. Strange -- squad ingup with S.H.I.East.L.D. to solve the Hulk problem in one case and for all by shooting him into space at a peaceful planet. Instead, he got directed to a gladiator planet and came dorsum with an army to smash the hell out of Manhattan. The superheroes won, eventually.
Meanwhile, on the X-Men side, the kickoff mutant since Firm of M was born, and built-in with her powers already active, rather than seeing them manifesting at puberty. The anti-mutant hate group the Purifiers burned down the Alaskan town where she was born, merely not before she was spirited away past X-Men leader Cyclops's time-travelling son Cable, who ran a gauntlet with her from the diverse groups attempting to locate her, including the Purifiers, Mister Sinister and the Marauders, the turncoat Bishop (who claimed that this messiah baby led to his dystopian future) and the X-Men themselves. Eventually, Cable escaped into the future with the child with his father's approval, and the mutant community regained promise for their futurity.
2008: Undercover Invasion
In 2008'due south Clandestine Invasion, the New Avengers uncovered a years-onetime alien conspiracy to take over the Globe. The Skrulls, a group of alien shapeshifters who lost their homeworld years ago, had a fringe religious sect intent on making Earth the new Skrull homeworld. Using shapeshifting subterfuge, they infiltrated the superhero community they had clashed with so many times before in social club to destroy it from inside. The superheroes, as they practise, eventually saved the 24-hour interval, but the last kill shot was given to Spider-Homo villain and Thunderbolts director Norman Osborn, leading to the side by side year of stories.
On the 10-Men side of things, after the mansion was destroyed (again) as a result of Messiah CompleX, the group relocated to sunny San Francisco under the unquestioned leadership of Cyclops.
2009: Dark Reign, Utopia and Messiah War
After Norman Osborn took command of the superhuman customs in the wake of the Surreptitious Invasion, he formed a new group, HAMMER, to supplant Tony Stark's SHIELD, and an anti-Illuminati alliance called the Cabal with supervillain kingpin the Hood, Doctor Doom, Loki, X-Man (and Cyclops's girlfriend) Emma Frost and Male monarch Namor of Atlantis (yeah, he pulled double duty). Osborn besides put together his own team of dark Avengers (in some other Avengers title written by Bendis), while the former pro- and anti-registration forces alike teamed up in the New Avengers championship.
Somewhen, Osborn decided to pick a fight with the mutant customs, leading to a huge ball in San Francisco until Cyclops raised the ruins of Magneto (who had recently returned to the 10-Men declaring his fealty to Cyclops's leadership)'s quondam asteroid base Asteroid M into the San Francisco Bay, forming his ain island nation outside of Osborn's authority. This island was named Utopia, also the name of the Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men crossover written by AvX co-writer Matt Fraction in which these events occurred.
Meanwhile, X-Force was sent into the future to bank check up on Cable and the messiah baby (now named Hope). They fought Apocalypse together and went their separate ways, with X-Force (led by Wolverine) returning to inform Cyclops that Hope was not going to exist a child when she returned, since she'll probable have grown far more in the future. Hope was also shown to accept red hair and dark-green eyes -- the exact same body features as the deceased Jean Grey.
2010: Siege and 2nd Coming
In early 2010, later the original Helm America returned, Norman Osborn decided to pick some other fight, this time with Thor and the Asgardian Gods in Oklahoma. The Avengers came to rep for their boy, beat the crap out of everybody, exposed Osborn equally a lunatic on live tv and got the Steve Rogers Era to kick off, which Marvel branded as the Heroic Age.
Simultaneously, Cablevision and Hope finally returned to the nowadays day, at the remains of the Xavier school in New York. They traveled from the east coast to westward while the fourth dimension-traveling mutant-hating robot Bastion tried to impale them. Nightcrawler died to bring her to Utopia, Bastion attacked San Francisco and enclosed information technology in a big forcefield dome, Cable and X-Force went to the hereafter Bastion was from to effort to kill him, a bunch of stuff blew up, Cablevision sacrificed himself to save his surrogate daughter, and Hope revealed that (as many fans expected) she was the Phoenix, saving the twenty-four hour period.
2011: Fear Itself and Schism
In 2011, after about a year of the Heroic Historic period,
Sin -- the daughter of Captain America'south dead archenemy the Red Skull -- discovered some of her male parent's journals and used them to gratis the Cul, the Ophidian, brother of Thor'south male parent Odin and hidden Norse God of Fright. The Serpent called the Worthy, eight ancient spirits that possessed hammers that, when wielded by existing Marvel Universe characters, transformed them into vessels for that power, much as Donald Blake uses the Hammer of Thor to become Thor. 1 such character was the Juggernaut, Cain Marko (Xavier'southward brother), who attempted to destroy the Ten-Men and was repelled by X-Man Colossus making a deal with the evil god Cyttorak to become the new Juggernaut, since the original one had changed his allegiance to the Serpent. Over on the Avengers camp, Tony Stark got drunkard again and used that every bit a sacrifice to get Odin to let him build some badass weapons for the Avengers, who used those badass weapons to beat up the Worthy while Thor died fighting the Serpent. (He came dorsum a few months after; author Matt Fraction has actually stated the main theme of Fearfulness Itself was the impermanence of death).
Over with the X-Men, a new Hellfire Society composed of immature children unleashed Sentinels on the X-Men, forcing the group into a philosophical quandry with Cyclops believing that the young mutants nether his accuse were training to get soldiers due to the necessity of a harsh life, while Wolverine supported the thought that the children should be allowed to be children and nobody should accept to suffer like he did. In the end, the split up became then untenable that Wolverine left with one-half of the mutant population to the ruins of Xavier's schoolhouse to rebuild it as the Jean Grey School of College Learning; Hope, meanwhile, stayed backside with Cyclops on Utopia, where Cyclops assembled his "Extinction Team" of high-powered mutants with which he planned to both intimidate and save the globe.
2012: Avengers vs. X-Men
The series Avengers: The Children's Crusade by Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung, which began in 2010, finally concluded, resulting in both the exoneration and the render of the Scarlet Witch to regular life in the Curiosity Universe. (Information technology turns out that her insanity was masterminded by Doctor Doom.) In Avengers: X-Sanction, by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuinness, Cable returns with his techno-organic virus threatening to kill him in 24 hours, armed only with the cognition that if the Avengers kill Hope, they terminate up destroying the Earth. Somewhen, Promise shows up and Cable seems to give in, and back on Utopia Hope cures her surrogate father of his techno-organic virus, leaving him recovering from his wounds.
Which brings usa to now: the Phoenix is coming for Promise. The Avengers want to forestall it from coming at whatever cost; Cyclops believes it needs to come up and use Hope as a vessel to rebirth the mutant race.
Source: https://comicsalliance.com/catch-up-on-avengers-vs-x-men-what-you-need-to-know-to-jump/