I think I forgot to breathe for the first few pages.
First, we get confirmation, right on the first page, that Cyclops is looking to build his own school. In issue #1, I was unclear what exactly he was planning. In "AVX: Consequences," he sounded like he was talking about the Jean Grey School when telling Jake about a place where he could go to learn how to use his powers. As such, it almost seemed liked he was going to drop off the new mutants that he rescued on Wolverine's doorstep in the middle of the night. But, here, it's clear that he was talking about Xavier's School, which, to his mind, no longer exists. To remedy that, he's decided to create the New Xavier School in the old Weapon X facility since he (probably correctly) assumed no one will look for a bunch of mutants there. (Also, it's certainly a nice dig at Wolverine, when he eventually discovers them.) It's a clever move on Bendis' part, since it keeps with the status quo established by "X-Men: Schism:" Wolverine will educate young mutants the way that he sees fit and, now, once again, so will Scott. Of course, it also shows how deeply Scott believes that the Phoenix Force, and not he, was responsible for his actions in "Avengers vs. X-Men," since it takes a lot of chutzpah to name a school after someone you killed.
After that page, we get a dizzying sequence of moments that completely change what we thought that we knew. Immonen really conveys the confusion that Cyclops and Magneto feel about their haywire powers. I actually felt Magneto's fear as he realized that he couldn't stop the helicopter's machine gun as well as Scott's panic as his worst nightmares were realized and he lost any semblance of control over his powers, even with his visor. I'm intrigued to see where Bendis goes with the revelation that it was their exposure to the Phoenix Force that changed Emma, Magneto, and Scott's powers. (I'm also going to have to re-read the first issue to see if they actually use their powers or not.) At any rate, I definitely dig the twist. We're not just adjusting to Scott as the leader of a new Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and the headmaster of this era's Massachusetts Academy, but also to the fact that he and his allies aren't the same as they used to be.
Surprisingly for Bendis, who isn't necessarily known for his ability to work a character on multiple levels, he successfully uses the Brotherhood's altered powers as a metaphor for other changes wrought by the Phoenix Force. Magneto has resumed killing people, as he does here, killing two guards trying to stop them. Emma seems truly distraught over the destruction of Utopia and the death of Xavier and she's clearly reeling at finding herself on the "bad guy" side of the ledge once again. But, as mentioned previously, Scott is desperately clinging to the hope that the Phoenix Force was responsible for his actions, despite Magneto's insistence that, for all the moments of madness and rage that drove him to do things that he regrets, he was always in control of his actions. I thought Bendis was at his best in this scene. Magneto finally felt powerful again and Bendis made it clear that Scott is not going to rule this team unquestioned. He may have commanded Magneto's respect before "Avengers vs. X-Men," but, as we saw throughout this issue, things have changed.
In the end, between the revelation of the lost (or, at least, misfiring) powers and the creation of the New Xavier School, Bendis shows that this series isn't just going to be a war between Scott's side and Logan's side. Instead, it's two groups of people trying to figure out where they stand after a pretty horrific series of events. In other words, "Avengers vs. X-Men" is very much present in this series. It's not just going to be the slugfest that the X-Men have been in the past, but a view into how the two sides of this story are going to handle the physical and mental changes that came from the events that got them here. Great stuff.
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