Marvel gears up for their next big event: Avengers vs. X-Men! Here’s the cover for AvX #2.
First off: you notice Iron Man and Magneto facing off in the foreground there? That’s a clear reference to the AvX Versus tie-in series. Each issue is dedicated to an epic, cinematic, drag-out fight between two of the Marvel world’s greatest heroes. And issue one will feature – you guessed – the Master of Magnetism against everyone’s favorite billionaire super-genius.
Nick Lowe spoke a bit about the match-up on Saturday at Planet Comicon in Kansas City, where he shared the panel with X-Men creative team members (and KC natives) Jason Aaron and Douglas Hopeless. “Iron Man against the Master of Magnetism – doesn’t seem like much of a fight, does it? But Tony Stark’s no dummy. He’ll have something special planned – several plans, actually” Lowe also said, unlike some Marvel events in the past, AvX Versus will be the only major tie-in (excluding the overlap in Wolverine and the X-Men and Avengers titles).
By now you may know that the Cap is coming to recruit Wolverine for the Avengers. It’s an interesting topic: not only is Wolverine caught between the two sides (having fought on both teams in the past), but Storm is in the same position. We may soon see even more fall-out between the teams. Jason Aaron has this to say about Wolverine, “Though Wolverine is still on the outs with Cyclops, the idea of wetting claws against X-Men isn’t something he’s going to take lightly. His students will start taking sides too, so watch for that.” Also, X-23 is in charge of training the New Avengers, but she’s also Logan’s daughter and they’re on good terms. If Logan sides with the X-Men, will X-23 lead the fight against her own father?
The panel talked about a number of topics, but they did hit on something very topical. If you’re like me (and half the Word of the Nerd staff, it seems) you’ve gotten caught up in the Marvel: Avengers Alliance Facebook game. Fun combat aside, a lot of people have remarked on the series’ strong writing. Lowe: “We actually have very close contact with the gaming people on the West Coast. We review what they do and make sure that their plot goes together with what we’re planning for the X-Men team. We definitely want the game to be the best it can be and that it reflects our own plans.”
About Marshall Edwards
Marshall fell in love with the X-Men as a kid, and loves strategy and role-playing games. As an adult he fell in love with Warren Ellis' Transmetropolitan and started consuming comics at an accelerated rate. He has since married a fellow Transmet fan and is preparing his own fictional forays for publication. Marshall is always down for exploring any genre of comic, from memoir to super-hero to experimental. Also, he fights with swords for fun! Check out his blog at www.marshalledwards.net
