AXIS (comics)
"Avengers & X-Men: AXIS" | |
---|---|
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
Publication date | October – December 2014 |
Genre |
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Main character(s) | Avengers Red Skull Uncanny Avengers X-Men |
Creative team | |
Writer(s) | Rick Remender |
Penciller(s) | List
|
Inker(s) | List
|
Letterer(s) | Chris Eliopoulos |
Colorist(s) | List
|
"AXIS" (also known as "Avengers & X-Men: AXIS") is a 2014 crossover comic book storyline published by Marvel Comics.[1] Written by Rick Remender, the story involves an initial team-up between the Avengers, X-Men, and a group of villains against Red Skull, who managed to harness the powers of Onslaught and the recently deceased Professor Xavier. As the team rapidly begins losing the battle, Scarlet Witch and Doctor Doom cast a powerful inversion spell, which mistakenly reverses the morality of everyone present at the battle, leading to further conflict between the now villainous heroes and heroic villains. Prior to the release of AXIS, tie-ins entitled "March to AXIS" set up the storyline in the September issues of Captain America, Loki: Agent of Asgard, Magneto and Uncanny Avengers. Despite the excitement leading up to the series' release, it received mixed reviews from fans and critics.[2]
Plot
"March to AXIS"
Captain America
Red Skull tells Arnim Zola that everything is in place on his end. Zola is confronted by his daughter Jet, who refuses to return to her father's side. Captain America attacks Zola, while Ian Rogers finds and frees Sharon Carter, only to learn that Zola has a bomb strong enough to destroy all of New York City. Sam Wilson removes the telepathic antenna on Zola's body to stop him from controlling the bomb, but this only sets it to activate, so he flies the bomb high into the sky above New York before it goes off.[3]
Loki: Agent of Asgard
After defeating and imprisoning Loki, Doctor Doom discovers his countrymen attacking each other and threatening to overthrow him. Doom begins to feel the effects of the Red Skull's global telepathic assault, realizes the assault is the cause of the Latverian riots, and casts a spell that renders him telepathically immune. Valeria and Verity Willis free Loki, who ultimately stops the Red Skull's telepathic attack.[4][5]
Magneto
Magneto enters the island of Genosha to find that it had turned into a concentration camp for mutants. He frees two mutant girls who tell him that Red Skull is responsible and possesses Professor X's brain. Magneto attacks Red Skull, but is quickly stopped by the Skull's S-Men. Magneto is captured and telepathically tortured by Red Skull, who gives him visions of those closest to him suffering while being unable to do anything to stop it. After being freed by Scarlet Witch, Rogue, and Havok, he bites down on a vial of Mutant Growth Hormone beneath his skin, giving himself enough power to fight.[6][7]
Uncanny Avengers
Main plot
Act I – "The Red Supremacy"
Chapter 1: We Will All Be Dead Tomorrow
While a team of
Chapter 2: Theme to a Desperate Scene
With the appearance of the Stark Sentinels, the tide of the battle quickly turns to Red Onslaught's favor. Using their opponents' own strengths against them, the Sentinels bathe the heroes in Pym Particles to shrink them to hold them prisoners. Rogue comes up with a plan to defeat the Skull, proposing that Doctor Strange and the Scarlet Witch cast a spell to invert the axis of Red Skull's brain and bring out the fragment of Professor X to defeat Onslaught. The plan fails due to Nova's untimely interference, and Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange are targeted and captured by the Sentinels.
Magneto flees the battle, and the remaining heroes hide in Genosha with the help of
Chapter 3: Good News for Bad People
The villains manage to defeat one of the Sentinels and free some of the trapped heroes. Scarlet Witch attempts to cast the inversion spell again with the help of Doctor Doom, and this time they are successful in knocking Red Onslaught unconscious and reverting him to the Red Skull. The other Stark Sentinels are defeated shortly thereafter, freeing the remaining heroes. Before Red Skull could wake and reveal whose mind was in control as the X-Men wanted, Steve Rogers and the Avengers decide to be cautious and take him back to Stark Tower. This caused Havok to resign from the Unity Division, telling Steve Rogers that Cyclops was right about him. Havok then sides with the now-unified X-Men and reconciles with his brother.[12]
Act II – "Inversion"
Chapter 1: Altered Beast
Days later, S.H.I.E.L.D. gathers with Captain America to discuss the fate of Red Skull now that the Stark Sentinels had been dismantled and the concentration camps torn down. Nick Fury tries to convince him to hand Red Skull over, but under the growing influence of the inversion spell, Sam becomes violent and punches Fury, saying that Fury mistaken him for Steve and that "he's not that Captain America".
Meanwhile, in
In San Francisco, Iron Man arrives at the San Francisco Giants' stadium where he presented his new digital version of the Extremis, free for every citizen of the city to achieve perfection. Among the crowd is Matt Murdock, who notices that Tony has started drinking again.
At the Jean Grey School, the X-Men reveal their new agenda of no longer desiring co-existence between humans and mutants, but instead desiring to stand above them with the help of Evan Sabahnur, who had become Apocalypse due to the inversion.
Back at the Avengers Tower, Captain America assembles the team regarding the current situation with the X-Men. In response, the Avengers decide to kill Red Skull, even if that might destroy any chance of recovering Professor X's soul. Both Hulk and Edwin Jarvis try to stop them, but they are overwhelmed and left behind. This triggers a new persona to surface in the Hulk called "Kluh," who proceeds to attack the Avengers and flee the Tower, planning to cause destruction. After deciding that Kluh is not their problem as long as he stays out of their way, the Avengers arrive at Red Skull's cell, only to find it empty.[13]
Chapter 2: Something Clearly Went Wrong
Captain America calls a meeting in the Avengers Tower for all the available heroes who were or had ever been Avengers. After informing the guests about the Red Skull's disappearance, Captain America reveals that only somebody with Avengers clearance would be able to free him, meaning that everyone in the room is a suspect. Spider-Man senses something is wrong, so he quickly escapes through the window along with Nova right before Captain America releases Pym Particles to imprison the gathered heroes. Spider-Man instructs Nova to fly them to safety, but they are attacked by Medusa and Captain America, and saved with the help of Magneto.
Magneto takes Spider-Man and Nova to the Avengers Mansion, where Steve Rogers informs them about the effects of the inversion, including Kluh's rampage across Arizona. Nova leaves to stop him, while the others plan.
At Avengers Tower, Captain America muses over the future of the world to Wasp, who he has hooked up to a machine to extract her Pym Particles. He concludes that the world needs a tyrant, and that he is the best candidate. The X-Men and Apocalypse arrive and attack Avengers Tower, looking for the Red Skull. When they find that he was gone, the X-Men brutally beat Captain America and proclaim their intent to conquer New York, issuing an ultimatum that all humans be evacuated from Manhattan within three hours or perish.[14]
Chapter 3: Awakened Like Us
After broadcasting a warning for humankind, the X-Men (who had created a gene bomb designed to kill those without the X-Gene in their body) are confronted by Mystique, who attempts to make them see the errors of their ways. Rogue and Nightcrawler stop her and force her to leave with Sabretooth.
Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Daredevil confronts Tony Stark about having unleashed Extremis and the problems this will cause to society. Despite not wearing his normal suit, Tony surprises Matt with increased agility and strength, throwing him from his headquarters.
In Latveria, Doctor Doom is attacked by Scarlet Witch, seeking revenge for Doom's tampering with her mind during the Decimation storyline. Doom is saved by Quicksilver and Magneto, the latter stating that Scarlet Witch would never recover from killing Doom.
In
Act III – "New World Disorder"
Chapter 1: End the Line
As the newly formed Astonishing Avengers storm Apocalypse's ship and fight the X-Men, Spider-Man and the inverted Deadpool (now known as the pacifist hippie "Zenpool") attempt to sneak past Apocalypse and defuse the gene bomb. Zenpool distracts Apocalypse while Spider-Man works, but both fail and are thrown outside the ship, where they join the ongoing battle.
Meanwhile, in Latveria, Scarlet Witch unleashes her power to fight Doom and seemingly kills both Quicksilver and Magneto, also discovering that she actually had no blood ties with Magneto while Doom flees.
In San Francisco, Captain America arrives at Stark Island, where Iron Man introduces him to the inverted Avengers and Medusa, who are willing to join forces once again upon learning that Steve Rogers had assembled the Astonishing Avengers.
Back in Manhattan, Zenpool tries to reason with Apocalypse, but he is beaten and beheaded, and the rest of the Astonishing Avengers are defeated. Apocalypse claims his victory as the gene bomb's countdown almost reaches zero.[16]
Chapter 2: Why They Sting
With the gene bomb's countdown nearly completed, Spider-Man attempts to stop it by smothering the device with his webbing, but Carnage interrupts, informing him that his efforts will fail. Instead, Carnage sacrifices himself to cover the device with his own symbiote body, and the effort is successful in disabling the bomb. Spider-Man and the Astonishing Avengers now clash with the inverted Avengers, while Loki and Enchantress lure Thor away to another location. During the fight with Scarlet Witch, Doctor Doom is able to revive
Chapter 3: Grinding Halt
Using the Red Skull's telepathy, Steve manages to distract Sam long enough to escape. After Captain America's failure to detain Rogers and the Skull, the inverted Avengers set out to the Avengers Mansion after defeated the inverted X-Men. As Apocalypse recovers from defeat, he is confronted by Zenpool's severed head, who convinces him to fight against the evil Avengers.
On the Moon, Loki is chased by Thor, where they come across Mjolnir, which had been left there since Thor became unworthy. Loki finds that he is worthy, picks up the hammer, and starts fighting with the power of Thor.
Back to the Avengers Mansion, Steve Rogers and Red Skull are attacked by the inverted Avengers, but right before Steve is killed by Sam, Apocalypse arrives and stalls for time while Red Skull is taken away. Apocalypse is eventually defeated, and the Avengers manage to catch up. Once again, Spider-Man and Sabretooth stall for time while Steve Rogers tries to get Red Skull to a Quinjet. Iron Man arrives, takes down the aircraft, and is prepared to kill Red Skull when Doctor Doom, Scarlet Witch (possessed by Daniel Drumm), Magneto, Doctor Voodoo, and Quicksilver arrive. Iron Man is incapacitated, and Doom, Daniel Drumm possessing Scarlet Witch, and Red Skull began another inversion spell. It is a success with every person reverted to their original state, except for Iron Man deploying a last-minute telepathic shield that protects himself, Havok, and Sabretooth. After the spell, Havok kidnaps the Wasp as leverage to escape, and Magneto realized that this distraction has also allowed Iron Man, Doctor Doom, and the Red Skull to escape.[18]
Tie-ins
AXIS: Carnage
Having been affected by the inversion, Carnage now feels the need to do good while also controlling his murderous desires. He saves a prostitute from a man, seriously injures him and starting a chain reaction that leads to the woman attacking Carnage, who responds by gently knocking her unconscious and declaring her to be a criminal. However, a crowd gathers saying that he attacked her despite his protests that he was saving her. Meanwhile, a new
AXIS: Hobgoblin
Following his inversion, Roderick Kingsley returns to New York and finds himself happier with his inversion, although still motivated by greed rather than altruism. He reactivates his franchises where he leases the personas and costumes of deceased or retired superheroes to ordinary people, thus remaining a wanted criminal. He also enfranchises his Hobgoblin persona to various people to perform heroic deeds as Hobgoblin and publishes a comic about them for promotion. Among those who answer are Lily Hollister (who was rendered amnesiac after a botched rescue from the police by
Avengers World
Following his inversion, a now altruistic Doctor Doom seeks redemption for his crimes. In order to combat a now-evil Scarlet Witch when she invades Latveria, with the help of
Deadpool
Magneto manages to recruit Deadpool to help fight Red Onslaught. After the inversion spell was cast, Deadpool had his pacifist personality take control of his mind and body, thus becoming Zenpool.[28]
Magneto
Magneto goes around to recruit some supervillains to help fight Red Onslaught. When Magneto arrived to recruit Hobgoblin, he attacked Magneto and was subjugated and forced to join Magneto's team. He approached Carnage in his self-confinement and convinced Cletus to join him as there would be nothing more chaotic than him saving the world. Magneto destroyed the Doombots which guarding a palace door and enter the castle. There, he finds Doctor Doom, Loki, Verity, and Valeria. He offers an alliance with Doctor Doom and Loki against with the Red Onslaught, which Doom agrees to. Thanks to Loki's help, Magneto was able to get Enchantress to help fight Red Onslaught.[29]
Gathered on the battlefield, Red Onslaught has unleashed chaos on the city: the inversion spell has flipped personalities and psychic attacks are controlling beings for his cause. Magneto, because of his helmet, and select other magical beings are immune. Amidst battle, Magneto has the idea to bring Professor X's conscious to the forefront of Red Onslaught, using Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch. Doctor Strange is incapacitated, and Doctor Doom steps in. Red Onslaught becomes aware of this and sends Carnage to stop them. While Carnage is attacking Magneto, they successfully cast their spell and the battle ends. Magneto stands away in the distance and the psychic form of Professor X appears. Magneto tries to explain that Professor X was right and that he will meaningfully pursue protecting mutants like Professor X wanted. Professor X reveals that Magneto was right all along and that he was wrong. Magneto walks off to a group of young captured mutants, frees them, and assures their utmost safety. A German officer is seen watching and smiling in the background.[30]
Nova
Kluh was eventually confronted by Nova attempting to bite off Nova's arm before being blasted up the nose. Irritated, Kluh hit Nova so hard he crossed the Atlantic and crashed head-first into the Eiffel Tower. Kluh resumed his rampage.[31]
Aftermath
In the wake of the conflict, New York City is being rebuilt. The press receives a video recorded by the inverted villains before the battle, in which they blamed the recent crisis on themselves as the "Axis of Evil." Steve Rogers recovers from the wounds. Iron Man retreats to Stark Island in San Francisco. Havok returns to the X-Men. Deadpool and Evan Sabahnur have gone into hiding. Thor is still dealing with the ramifications of no longer being worthy. Doctor Doom has abducted the Red Skull and holds him prisoner. The Avengers Unity Division has reformed. Peter Parker builds the rhinestone statue that Carnage requested before his death. Sabretooth is imprisoned, but writes that he promises to follow a better path in life similar to Wolverine now that he is permanently inverted.[18]
Superior Iron Man
Iron Man was present in the Red Onslaught's concentration camp when the Scarlet Witch cast the inversion spell that finally defeated him. The day was saved, but now, he sees things differently. Flying over San Francisco, he delivers a mobile device app that gives the user free access to Extremis 3.0, along with instructions on how to use it to change your body into whatever you want. One week later, Iron Man teams up with
Titles involved
Title | Issue(s)[33] |
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March to AXIS | |
Captain America (vol. 7) | #24 |
Loki: Agent of Asgard | #6–7 |
Magneto (vol. 3) | #9–10 |
Uncanny Avengers (vol. 1) | #24–25 |
Core miniseries | |
Avengers & X-Men: AXIS | #1–9 |
Tie-ins | |
All-New X-Factor | #15–17 |
Amazing X-Men (vol. 2) | #14 |
Avengers World | #15–16 |
AXIS: Carnage | #1–3 |
AXIS: Hobgoblin | #1–3 |
AXIS: Revolutions | #1–4 |
Captain America and the Mighty Avengers | #1–3 |
Deadpool (vol. 5) | #36–39 |
Inhuman | #9–10 |
Loki: Agent of Asgard | #8–9 |
Magneto (vol. 3) | #11–12 |
Nova (vol. 5) | #23–25 |
Wolverine & the X-Men (vol. 2) | #12 |
Collected editions
Title | Material collected | Published date | ISBN |
---|---|---|---|
Uncanny Avengers Vol. 5: AXIS Prelude | Uncanny Avengers #23-25, Magneto #9-10, Uncanny Avengers Annual #1 | January 2015 | 978-0785154259 |
Avengers & X-Men: AXIS | Avengers & X-Men: AXIS #1–9 | March 17, 2015 | 978-0785190950 |
AXIS: Carnage & Hobgoblin | AXIS: Hobgoblin #1-3, AXIS: Carnage #1-3 | March 2015 | 978-0785193111 |
AXIS: Revolutions | AXIS: Revolutions #1-4 | June 2015 | 978-0785197683 |
All-New X-Factor Vol. 3: AXIS | All-New X-Factor #13-18 | March 2015 | 978-0785188186 |
Deadpool Vol. 7: AXIS | Deadpool (vol. 5) #35-40 | March 2015 | 978-0785192435 |
Inhuman Vol. 2: AXIS | Inhuman #7-11 | April 2015 | 978-0785187806 |
Nova Vol. 5: AXIS | Nova (vol. 5) #23-27 | April 2015 | 978-0785192411 |
Reception
IGN gave the story and the overall graphic novel a negative review of 4.5/10 with the verdict "AXIS stands as one of the great disappointments of 2014. Despite the top-tier creators involved and the pedigree of Uncanny Avengers, this event just didn't come together. Only sporadic moments of fun crop up during the barrage of rushed art and poor characterization. And while the overall pacing does benefit slightly in this collected format, the hardcover's lack of extras and poor paper quality make the high cover price a hard pill to swallow."[2]
References
- ^ Schedeen, Jesse (May 21, 2014). "Marvel's Next Event Comic is AXIS – An Avengers/X-Men Team-up". IGN.
- ^ a b Graphic Novel Review: Avengers & X-Men - AXIS - IGN, 26 March 2015, retrieved 2021-08-12
- ^ Captain America, Vol. 7 No. 24 (2014-09-03), written by Rick Remender.
- ^ Loki: Agent of Asgard, Vol. 1 No. 6 (2014-09-24), written by Al Ewing.
- ^ Loki: Agent of Asgard, Vol. 1 No. 7 (2014-10-15), written by Al Ewing.
- ^ Magneto, Vol. 3 No. 9 (2014-09-10), written by Cullen Bunn.
- ^ Magneto, Vol. 3 No. 10 (2014-09-24), written by Cullen Bunn.
- ^ Uncanny Avengers, Vol. 1 No. 24 (2014-09-17), written by Rick Remender.
- ^ Uncanny Avengers, Vol. 1 No. 25 (2014-10-01), written by Rick Remender.
- ^ Avengers & X-Men: AXIS, Vol. 1 No. 1 (2014-10-08), written by Rick Remender.
- ^ Avengers & X-Men: AXIS, Vol. 1 No. 2 (2014-10-15), written by Rick Remender.
- ^ Avengers & X-Men: AXIS, Vol. 1 No. 3 (2014-10-22), written by Rick Remender.
- ^ Avengers & X-Men: AXIS, Vol. 1 No. 4 (2014-11-05), written by Rick Remender.
- ^ Avengers & X-Men: AXIS, Vol. 1 No. 5 (2014-11-12), written by Rick Remender.
- ^ Avengers & X-Men: AXIS, Vol. 1 No. 6 (2014-11-19), written by Rick Remender.
- ^ Avengers & X-Men: AXIS, Vol. 1 No. 7 (2014-12-10), written by Rick Remender.
- ^ Avengers & X-Men: AXIS, Vol. 1 No. 8 (2014-12-17), written by Rick Remender.
- ^ a b Avengers & X-Men: AXIS, Vol. 1 No. 9 (2014-12-24), written by Rick Remender.
- ^ AXIS: Carnage, Vol. 1 No. 1 (2014-10-29), written by Rick Spears.
- ^ AXIS: Carnage, Vol. 1 No. 2 (2014-11-19), written by Rick Spears.
- ^ AXIS: Carnage, Vol. 1 No. 3 (2014-12-10), written by Rick Spears.
- ^ AXIS: Hobgoblin, Vol. 1 No. 1 (2014-10-22), written by Kevin Shinick.
- ^ AXIS: Hobgoblin, Vol. 1 No. 2 (2014-11-12), written by Kevin Shinick.
- ^ AXIS: Hobgoblin, Vol. 1 No. 3 (2014-12-17), written by Kevin Shinick.
- ^ Avengers World, Vol. 1 No. 15 (2014-11-19), written by Nick Spencer and Frank Barbiere.
- ^ Avengers World, Vol. 1 No. 16 (2014-12-10), written by Nick Spencer and Frank Barbiere.
- ^ Avengers: The Children's Crusade, Vol. 1 No. 8 (2011-12-28), written by Allan Heinberg.
- ^ Deadpool, Vol. 5 No. 36 (2014-10-22), written by Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn.
- ^ Magneto, Vol. 3 No. 11 (2014-10-15), written by Cullen Bunn.
- ^ Magneto, Vol. 3 No. 12 (2014-11-19), written by Cullen Bunn.
- ^ Nova, Vol. 5 No. 23 (2014-11-12), written by Gerry Duggan.
- ^ Superior Iron Man, Vol. 1 No. 1 (2014-11-12), written by Tom Taylor.
- ^ "Avengers & X-Men: AXIS". Marvel Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2015-10-17. Retrieved 18 July 2019.