OK, Hickman throws A LOT at us in this issue, so I'm going to do my best to try to untangle it all. To be honest, I kept having to re-read sections to make sure I got everything, since it was pretty densely scripted. I'm not saying that it's a good or bad thing, yet. I've never read anything by Hickman, so I'm not really sure if it's his style or if he's just trying to set up the story as quickly as he can. I guess we'll see.
The overarching premise of the series appears to be that Steve and Tony realized that a threat was looming on the horizon and that it would hit them so hard and fast that they wouldn't be prepared for it. Hickman wasn't saying that they anticipated Ex Nihilo, exactly, but more that they anticipated someone like Ex Nihlo. To defend against their eventuality, they created a roster to be activated when the need arose. Given the easy defeat of the Avengers on Mars by Ex Nihlo and his crew, Steve realized that the time is now and activates the team with the words, "Wake the world."
Like "All-New X-Men" and "Uncanny Avengers," "Avengers" is very much a book depicting a time and a place. "Avengers vs. X-Men" is implicitly, if not explicitly, the driving force behind Steve and Tony's realization that the threats keep getting badder and bigger. Moreover, the roster revealed on the last page has at least three X-Men on it: Cannonball, Sunspot, and Wolverine. (I'm not sure who the two guys to the right of Sunspot and Wolverine were, but it's possible that they're also X-Men.) Although it's not going to focus on the "mutant issue" like "Uncanny Avengers" does, it's clear that mutants are going to play a large part in the new roster.
However, if "Avengers vs. X-Men" provides the establishing foundation for the series, Hickman quickly builds on it. Using the graphic design of the new Avengers logo as a guide, it appears that Hickman is implying that the core team will be Cap, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Hulk (Bruce Banner), Iron Man, and Thor. The good news is that this team feels more inspired by a return to basics than it does mimicking the movie's roster. Moreover, it seems that the larger group of heroes assembled on the last page will each be assigned, if it's the right word, to a specific member of the core team. It's an interesting idea, if I'm reading it correctly, since it definitely seems to allow for an endless number of stories. In one arc, you could get the core team fighting a villain; in another arc, you could get Black Widow's team going undercover somewhere or Thor's team taking on a god toe-to-toe. Moreover, beyond the X-contingent, Hickman appears to bring in some characters that we haven't seen for ages. After all, the issue starts with Hyperion being rescued from the Squadron Supreme's universe, which we learn is dying. How Hickman integrates all these characters into a coherent team (or set of teams) will clearly be his challenge. He'll want to be much more Bendis on "All-New X-Men," than he will be Bendis on "Avengers and "New Avengers."
Beyond the roster and the potential (and pitfalls) that it has, the most notable aspect of this issue is that Hickman is painting in broad strokes here. This opening arc begins with a galactic threat, a creature that feels like Thanos in terms of his power, even though I'm pretty sure that we haven't seen him previously. It also seems to possibly serve as a harbinger for the Ultron War, given that some of the Iron Men lying destroyed in one of the opening panels have a distinctly Ultron look to them and Aleph itself has certain Ultron characteristics. Hickman has clearly embraced the mandate to focus this title on bigger threats and I'm excited, if cautiously so, to see where he goes with it.
In the end, it's a pretty great start. It didn't quite wow me like "All-New X-Men" #1 did, but I'm definitely excited about the new start and direction. Plus, Cannonball!
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