This April, Marvel Comics launches their next big event, Avengers vs. X-Men, which finally pits Green Lantern against Archie. Just kidding! In case you couldn’t figure out from the title, the publisher’s two biggest franchises go head to head. And though there will be a fair degree of punchin’, there will also be some talkin’, and plottin’. So to get you up to speed, here are five things you need to know about AvX, as the cool kids are calling it:
1. There Are More Than Five Avengers
You’ve seen the trailers for the upcoming Avengers movie, right? So it should be easy to keep track of five or so characters like Iron Man, Captain America, and the rest. And they do appear in AvX, but there are also, like, a million more Avengers. And The Hulk is red, not green, and an Army general, not nerdy scientist Dr. Banner. Except green Hulk’s around somewhere, too. So good luck!
2. There Are More Than Five X-Men
Remember how we mentioned there’s a lot of Avengers? There’s approximately 180 X-Men. The important thing you need to know is that Cyclops leads one faction of X-Men, and Wolverine leads another. Except Wolverine is also on the Avengers, and it looks like he’s fighting for them. Imagine if half the Yankees decided to play for the Red Sox mid-game, but could also switch back and forth whenever they wanted, and you’ll get the idea. It makes for messy baseball, but great TV!
Marvel
3. This Is All Happening Because Of The Phoenix
Not the one in Arizona, but a gigantic space-bird made out of fire who has the power to consume whole new worlds, and then fill them with new life. Previously, the Phoenix inhabited the body of Jean Grey, one of the X-Men. But since then, Jean has died a bunch of times, and it looks like Hope Summers, who is possibly Cyclops’ granddaughter, is the new host. So the X-Men want to protect The Phoenix, and the Avengers want to destroy it. We bet the Phoenix is all like, “What about my opinion?” And everybody is all like, “Shut up Phoenix, we’re going to decide for you,” and it’s a metaphor for the current debate about reproductive rights or whatever. Maybe.
Marvel
4. It’s 12 Issues Long
The Event kicks off on March 28th with a #0 issue, basically giving you the lay of the land. But the main event itself is 12 issues long, shipping every two weeks from April to September. The books are written by the top tier writers at Marvel, and drawn by the top tier artists at Marvel. As a bonus for buying the book, you also get some free digital copies of the book, some other free digital comics, and an entire series in six months. Let’s see Harry Potter try to match that, right?
5. There’s Also A Lot of Punching
Okay, let’s say that Avengers vs. X-Men is too plotty for you. Luckily, Marvel is publishing a six issue companion series called AvX: Versus, which fleshes out the fights lost in all the talking and angst in the main series, and distills them down to punching, kicking, and blasting. So if you’ve ever wondered who would win in a fight, the Fantastic Four’s Thing, or a fish-man, here’s your chance!
Hold up, Marvel…Namor’s a mutant now? Magneto’s an X-Man? What trickery be this?
And that’s all you really need to know! Marvel is going to great lengths to make sure this is as accessible to you, guy who thinks superheroes are big sandwiches, as it is to Nicolas Cage. Who is a notoriously a big comic book fan. Which is why we mention that. Anyway, point being, pick it up, enjoy, and if you still don’t understand something, there’s only about fifty years of comics you’ll need to read to catch up! Bye!
Alex Zalben is normally frozen in the Arctic, but thaws out to host New York’s Comic Book Club every Tuesday night. Follow him on Twitter @azalben, or with your enhanced tracking senses.
