In an interview with Newsarama, Marvel senior vice president of publishing Tom Brevoort has talked in detail about the ending of Avengers Vs. X-Men, touching on such key points as the introduction of new mutants and the fate of characters such as Cyclops, Hope Summers and Magneto. It's particularly interesting to read his thoughts on how the downfall of Scott Summers was handled by Marvel, especially as that has left a VERY sour taste in the mouths of many fans. Be sure to click on the link at the bottom of the page to read the rest of Brevoort's comments on the final part of Avengers Vs. X-Men.
On The Reversal Of House Of M's "No More Mutants":
The X-Men had been in this status quo for long enough, and we told any number of stories within it. The idea that we could start seeing new mutants, new characters, pop up in and around — not just the X-world, but other books as well — coming from this source, was exciting to people. I think that one of the reasons that we did M-Day at the end of House of M to begin with was just the feeling that mutants had become ubiquitous. Not only were there hundreds of them, there were thousands, there were millions; there was practically a mutant around every corner. They were the only minority on the planet who seemed like a majority. In trying to address that fact, we went to the extreme of House of M, and we winnowed the number of mutants down by an astronomical number. And when you say that we "reversed" that, that's not entirely true, in that the mutants that were depowered as part of M-Day are still, so far as we know, depowered. What's happening now is that new mutants are appearing, which means a wellspring of new characters, and new people who can be heroes, villains, bystanders caught in the middle, and the original purpose of the X-Men and Xavier's dream can kind of re-assert itself again in a way it hasn't had to in seven, eight years now.
On The Reaction From Fans To How Cyclops Was Portrayed In Avengers Vs. X-Men:
To some people, the things he did, the lengths that he went to, and the choices he made, make him villainous. In every case, he did them for the right reasons, as he saw them. It really depends upon whether you think those reasons were right and justified. At the end of the day, as he sort of says to Cap, he got as good an outcome as he could possibly have wanted. All he ever wanted to do was safeguard what remained of his people until the point came when this world-changing event happened, and the mutant race was reborn — and he did it. There were casualties along the way, and that's the tragedy, and that's the burden that he's going to carry going forward. Your viewpoint on Cyclops really depends on where you stand on the choices he made. I think at the very least, if he's not a heroic figure, he's a sympathetic figure, and I wouldn't necessarily even rule out that he's a heroic figure.
On Where Fans Should Expect To Find Cyclops Next:
Actually, most directly in AvX: Consequences. But you'll also see a little bit of him in Uncanny Avengers; you'll see him in All-New X-Men. He's not by any means a character that we're done with. There's a lot of Cyclops stuff coming in the weeks and months ahead. His story is in no way, shape or form over. In the case of Scott Summers, [we're] not at all finished with him, and certainly his place in the world now, I think, is just as interesting, in a different way, as it was when we began.
On What Awaits Hope Summers In Marvel NOW!:
You will see her in AvX: Consequences as well. Her story, too, is not quite done. She's in a very interesting place as well, in that pretty much from the moment that she was born, she lived under the specter of this great destiny that everybody said was coming for her. Now, that moment has passed. She's suddenly looking, very literally at the end of AvX #12, at pages that haven't been written. This thing that she has prepared for her entire life has come and gone, and it was done well and properly in the end, and now, infinite possibilities await her of one sort of another, and we'll see where that road begins to take her in Consequences, and then later on in other Marvel NOW! stuff that we will tell you about at some point.
On Why The End Of Avengers Vs. X-Men #12 Featured Magneto On The Run:
He was one of the last people standing among the Phoenix Five, even to the end. In that last fight, he called Professor X in, he helped the Avengers get in, but before that he was really the right-hand man of Cyclops, and by extension the Phoenix Five, all through the course of AvX. That'll become a little clearer as we get into Consequences and we get into All-New X-Men and the newer books that are coming out. Some of that is simply, "He's Magneto." For all that he's been walking a penitent-at-best road these last few years, that's really in context to the X-Men. I don't know that the rest of the world has accepted him as a nice, good guy, and now that the X-Men are no longer there in that way, there is no Utopia for him to chill out on without having a problem. He's back to being Magneto out in the world on his own, or out in the world in concert with the other mutants that he had these strong alliances with.