At the end of the day, "Avengers vs. X-Men" ends pretty much how I expected it to end in the beginning, namely with the re-birth of the mutant race thanks to Hope and Wanda. I'm including "Uncanny X-Men" #19 in this review because it presents Scott's side of the battle, making it hard to separate it from the main story.
First, before we get into the "Good" and "Bad," I want to note that I enjoyed this mini-series on the whole. Although you'll notice that the "Bad" outnumber the "Good," I would still rank this cross-over event well above "Chaos War" or "Fear Itself," the first two events from Marvel that I read since returning to comics. Although, as I note below, Marvel's sales department clearly had a hand in extending the story beyond where it probably should've stopped, I think the authors did a remarkably good job taking the ball they were handed and running with it. Having read the main mini-series and almost all the cross-over issues, I still have a pretty clear idea of the story that they told and why events happened when they happened. So, I just want to make it clear that, though I have some criticism of the way that the story was handled now that it's over, I'm still pleased as a fan for the entertainment and fun that this mini-series brought. I can't remember the last time I was as excited about reading an issue as I was when I opened up "Avengers vs. X-Men" #12.
The Good
1) The authors finally answer (or, at least, come close to answering) some questions about Hope. First, they do seem to confirm that the Phoenix Force created Hope. They don't directly draw that line, but it's pretty clear that it's probably what happened. Moreover, Hope fulfills her roll as the Mutant Messiah here. For most of her history, Hope has been little more than a means to an end, the sum of her mysterious birth and future destiny. With her origins clearer and her destiny fulfilled, I think she can now become more of a real character and less of a literary device.
2) Along those lines, the authors also draw a connection (though, again, not directly) between Wanda eliminating mutants on M-Day and the Phoenix Force deciding to undo that event. Scott was always so adamant that Phoenix was coming to Earth exactly for that reason, so it was important for the authors to address it, in some form, before the mini-series ended. Of course, as I mention below, the authors still leave some ambiguity. After all, the Phoenix Force itself never confirms why it came. Plus, if Scott had defeated Hope and Wanda, he likely would've destroyed the world, mutants included. But, the idea that the Avengers now accept that Phoenix could at least theoretically have come to undo Wanda's act and the reality that Hope fulfilled this role (even if it wasn't necessarily the one that Phoenix originally planned) have emboldened Scott to believe that his sacrifice was worth it. I'll address whether it's believable for Scott to take this position below.
3) Whereas Scott takes responsibilities for his actions but pretty much asserts that the ends justified the means (even if the means didn't necessarily mean that the end that happened was the one intended), Cap actually takes on the criticism for his failure to do more to protect mutants and vows to do something about it. I'm glad that they gave Cap this redemptive epiphany, since it eliminates some of the earlier criticism that people had of him in the beginning of this mini-series, when he appears to be blind to the plight of the mutant race. As such, I'm excited to see where we go with "Uncanny Avengers."
The Unknown
1) It's still unclear if mutants who were de-powered as a result of M-Day (like Dani Moonstar) have regained their powers.
2) I want to know more about this new Nova, who I'm depressed to see probably isn't Rich.
3) I wonder where we're going to go from here. First, it seems that mutants are now hated and feared all the more, something that Beast tries to bring to Cyclops' attention in "Uncanny X-Men" #19. Cap's organization of the "Uncanny Avengers" team seems to be speaking to this problem. But, we still obviously have questions left unanswered. With Cyclops gone, is Logan the de facto leader of the X-Men? Also, why is Magneto counted among the renegade X-Men? I get the Phoenix Five, but, if Magneto is a renegade, then so are basically all the other X-Men, since, at one point or another, they all threw in their lot with Cyclops.
The Bad
1) Although I found the ending mostly satisfying, I have to say that my first thought was, "They really could've told this story in six issues." It's clear that the whole Phoenix Five storyline was just an excuse to stretch out the story to sell more issues. If they had wanted to use Cyclops as the intermediate point between the arrival of Phoenix and Hope taking on its powers, they could've just done that. We didn't need to have him slowly but surely amass the powers of the other members Phoenix Five as they fell. Although it could've been worse (see "Fear Itself"), it's still pretty clear to me, in retrospect, that Marvel went with quantity over quality. By the time we get to Hope becoming Phoenix, the event that theoretically drove this entire series in the first place, I had practically forgotten why everyone was so concerned about her doing so.
2) I'm not sure what we're supposed to think about Cyclops. As I mentioned above, he's remarkably unrepentant in both these issues, sticking mostly to the script that we heard him reciting when this event began. In fact, he tells Hank that he'd do it all again and that he's happy spending what remains of his life paying for his crimes. However, it seems a little remarkable that he'd be so unmoved by his experience as the Dark Phoenix. First, he had a moment of brief control over Phoenix where he asked Hope and Wanda to kill him. Then, he has a vision of Jean telling him that it was time to let go. I thought that she meant of life, but it seems that she just meant of Phoenix. He manages to do so, but it's hard to believe that he'd do so willingly without realizing just how destructive it was in the first place. It seems like the only reason that he'd do so was because he'd admit that the damage he was doing was too great. (He had just, after all, killed his surrogate father.) However, after the event, he doesn't seem to make the connection that he himself made it improbable that the mutant race would survive, since he almost destroyed the world. The fact that it was reborn had nothing to do with him; in fact, it was the opposite of what he wanted at the time. His decision that he somehow played a role in it lacks any sort of reflection on his role. In fact, he's now essentially become his generation's Magneto.
3) Along those lines, the authors never explain why Scott didn't re-start humanity in the first place. I think we're supposed to believe that he was just too overwhelmed by the destructive nature of the Phoenix Force to do so, but it would've been nice if someone had drawn that line more directly. Without that line drawn, it makes it all the weirder that Scott would lay claim that his action brought about the rebirth, since he could've done it himself.
4) Did we rally need the connection to Iron Fist? I can't really point to anything here that required it. I think the argument is that Hope's training under his tutelage helped her to defeat Scott, but I don't think anyone really questioned that she could've defeated him in the first place. In theory, to justify its inclusion, we should've seen that it helped her control the Phoenix Force. But, I don't really think that we see that. It's Wanda who helps her decide to sacrifice the Phoenix Force, not anything that she learned from Iron Fist.
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