I stopped reading weekly and monthly issues of comic books when I was younger. For one, if I was going to read every issue of every comic I wanted to read, I'd be spending $100 at the comic shop every week. And for two, its just very time consuming. The problem is, I kinda stopped reading them all together. Over the last couple years, I started picking up graphic novels and trade paper backs whenever a story arch I was interested in was finished and collected in to one solid book. This is easier for me. I do the same thing with TV shows. I like to sit down and zone out for a couple hours on the full story instead of having to remember exactly what happened last time and what not. Granted...I was also smoking a lot of weed. Which probably wasn't helping my attention span.
I tell you that to tell you this. I have not read a single issue of Avengers Vs X-Men. I know the basic story. The Phoenix Force is on its way back to Earth with its eye set on Hope, who I don't know anything about but assume is some sort of clone or reincarnated version of Jean Grey. I could be completely wrong and she could just be another red head telepath that the Phoenix wants to inhabit, but if that's the case, the Marvel universe has a hard on for red head telepaths. Anyway, the Avengers pick up on it and try and take Hope in to protective custody. Makes sense right? Well Cyclops is having none of that. So of course, they go to war. The interesting aspects of this to me are characters like Wolverine, who is an X-Man as well as an Avenger, and Storm who is an X-Man but is married to the Avenger Black Panther. Also, Beast has long been a reserve member of Avengers, but primarily an X-Man. Having not read the story, I think its weird that the Phoenix Force inhabits 5 different members of the X-Men instead of Hope. Did Hope die? Did the Phoenix change its mind and realize that instead of inhabiting ONE telepath, it can inhabit FIVE mutants, one being a telepath, and the rest being some of the most powerful heroes on the planet? I have no idea. But one thing is for sure. Cyclops was one of the five, and he will never be the same.
Not to spoil anything for anybody, but this was spoiled for me, so suck it. Cyc kills Professor X. Yeah...Prof dies...AGAIN! But by the hands of his very first student. And now that the Marvel NOW! series' have started, it seems like Cyc isn't reverting back to the boy scout we all know and some of us love. He's staying bad. And this is where it gets interesting.
When I stopped reading comics, one of the last big events I remember reading was Age Of Apocalypse. I loved that storyline. It basically re-wrote Days Of Future Past in to the exact opposite. Instead of Sentinels winning the war and taking over the Earth, leaving humans mostly dead and mutants on the run, mutants win...but the bad ones. Apocalypse is the ruler of Earth, the X-Men are led by Magneto who is married and has a child with Rogue (I think I remember a child...pretty sure), Charles is dead, Wolverine has one hand and is with Jean, and Apocalypse has Mr Sinister, Havok, and (GASP!) Cyclops as his lieutenants. Cyclops is also now an actual Cyclops. He has only one eye, and his other has 3 scars running down over it. Hmmmm...Wolverine has one hand and is with Jean and Cyc has one eye with 3 scars...guesses anyone?
If you're still following me, maybe you see where I'm going with this...maybe not. So here it is. In the present day timeline of what has been going on in Marvel, Apocalypse hasn't been around. I'm not sure what happened (like I said, I'm not fully up to date yet), but he's presumably been dead. In Marvel NOW! it has been revealed that Apocalypse will be making a return in a big way. I find this interesting because at the same time that he's coming back, Cyc is going bad. I feel like Marvel might be making an attempt to bridge the present day universe in to the events of Age Of Apocalypse. Granted, there is a couple of things that don't line up, such as Jean being dead. But its not like she hasn't come back before. And what better way to push the teetering Scott fully over the top then to bring back Jean...and then hook her up with the now far less animal, more leader version of Logan. The problem with the two of them has always been that he's too flighty, too fierce. And she wants a responsible man who takes care of his family and doesn't leave on a personal vendetta every 2 months. Over the last few years, Wolverine has become a full blown member of Avengers, has severed ties and gone to battle with Cyclops, and has branched off and started his own school, the Jean Grey School For Gifted Youngsters, with his own team of X-Men that HE leads. While Cyclops started an island colony where humans weren't allowed and mutants could live freely...kinda like Genosha and Magneto, a principle that the original X-Men and Professor Xavier were strongly against. Wolverine has accepted and embraced Xavier's dream while Cyclops has slowly turned his back on it. So if Jean was to miraculously come back...which one do you think she would choose now? Especially since all evidence points to Cyclops being a complete jack ass. So Apocalypse comes back, see's the change in Cyclops, who has always been an object of desire for Sinister (no homo), and Sinister has ALWAYS been a lap dog of Apocalypse. Sinister and Apocalypse recruit Cyc, Cyc helps them recruit Havoc (who is also now a member of Avengers alongside Wolverine and Captain America), and the Age Of Apocolypse begins.
This is just me speculating, but I can see Marvel taking us down the road of the war that leads to Apocalypse's rule over earth. That shit obviously didn't happen over night, and characters like the Avengers would of clearly been involved. Where did they go? What happened to Thor and Cap and Hawkeye when this war was over? This is something that could turn into a very colorful and exciting couple of years in Marvel Comics and if I'm right (which I'm probably not, but who cares?), I'm going to be one happy bugger. I think I'll start buying some monthly issues again.
-Ripynt