An Infographics of Marvel Comics Events Leading to Avengers versus X-Men
By Hervé St-Louis
April 9, 2012 - 12:05
AVX may seem easy to understand if you've been reading comic books for years, but while working on this infographics, I noticed how complex Marvel Comics' history is. And we didn't even include all possible references to series that led to AVX like the Young Avengers The Children's Crusade. There'S a lot of material in there and it took me three days to fully complete this AVX inforgraphics.
You're feedback is really appreciated. If you like this, tell the world about it, tweet it and send the link to your friends on Facebook, leave us some comments below. P.S. The file is almost 4mb.
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What Is AvX?
AVX is Marvel Comics' latest crossover events also known as Avengers Versus X-Men. In the last two decades, Marvel Comics has published more than one yearly event that affects its entire universe. AVX is years in the making. Through various previous events, the stage was set to pit Marvel Comics' two most important franchise families against one another. AVX is a 12 issue bi-weekly mini-series with several tie ins.
The Story
The Phoenix Force is returning to Earth and the Avengers want to stop it before it destroy the planet as it has destroyed millions of worlds before. Cable is back from the future and the Scarlet Witch has regained her memory. The Avengers want to stop the Phoenix Force. The X-Men don't want to interfere.
Who Are The Avengers?
The Avengers are Marvel's top super hero team founded by Hulk, Wasp, Ant-Man, Thor and Iron Man. The team is lead by Captain America and includes many other super heroes such as Spider-man, Doctor Strange, Ms.Marvel, Hawkeye, the Vision, Luke Cage and characters with shared member ship with the X-Men such as Beast and Wolverine. Recently, the Avengers have been the top franchise at Marvel Comics, after being overshadowed by the X-Men since the 1970s.
Who Are The X-Men?
The X-Men are Marvel's mutant super hero team split into various smaller teams. Mutants, also known as homo superior, are born with special abilities, often making the rest of humankind scared and jealous of them. The X-Men were founded by Professor Charles Xavier to combat evil mutants and to create a peaceful bridge with homo-sapiens. For years the X-Men were Marvel Comics' top franchise, but in the 2000s, even with the success of several film adaptations, the comics have not had as much importance as the Avengers to Marvel Comics.
Crossovers?
Crossovers have occurred in comics since their beginnings with one character making an appearance into another one's story. Comic book readers have often like crossovers because they build a sense of continuity where all these characters exist together. Dedicated company-wide crossovers started in the 1980s with Marvel and DC Comics and are often published as standalone mini-series with tie-ins to regular series and special oneshots and mini-series created to support the comic book event. There are more crossover events than ever at Marvel Comics, with several per years since the 2000s. Most of the crossovers leading to AVX were either Avengers or X-Men-related only with a few reaching out and affecting both families of books. AVX is the first one to pit the two families at Marvel, the X-Men and the Avengers against one another directly. The crossover that first implicated the Avengers and the X-Men was House of M where the entire world was changed. Mutants became dominant. The X-Men and the Avengers actually collaborated to end the House of M. Will they collaborate this time?
Chronology
- Long-time Avenger and former X-Men foe Scarlet Witch X-Men has a breakdown destroys the old Avengers.
- Prompted by father mutant villain Magneto and brother Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch changes reality.
- Ramifications of Scarlet Witch depowering most mutants in the world seen through the eyes of Quicksilver.
- The Illuminati sends Hulk to the planet Sakaar to rid the world of his destruction.
- Iron Man support a super hero registration act. Captain America doesn't. The X-Men stay neutral.
- The Inhumans led by Black Bolt declare war on humanity after years of being repressed.
- Hulk returns to Earth and vows revenge against the Illuminati and the world.
- Beast tries to understand and undo the effect of the Scarlet Witch's depowering of mutants.
- Iron Man has won the Civil War and wants to control every super human, including the X-Men.
- In the aftermath of losing his secret identity in the Civil War, Peter Parker reboots his life.
- After years of preparation, the Skrull have infiltrated Earth and are about to take it over.
- A new baby mutant is born and everyone is chasing after her to unravel her secrets.
- The X-Men are no more. Vive the X-Men.
- Norman Osborne is the leader of H.A.M.M.E.R. the replacement to S.H.I.E.L.D. with his own Dark X-Men team.
- Gabriel Summers, ruler of Sh'iar empire attacks the new king of the Kree, Black bolt of the Inhumans.
- Cyclops sends X-Force in the future to retrieve Hope and Cable.
- San Francisco is under martial law due to mutant-related riots. Norman Osborne and the X-Men intervene.
- The X-Men move to a new island off the coast of San Francisco and declare themselves a sovereign nation.
- M.O.D.O.K. captures the world's smartest people and takes on all of the Hulks, red, green, male, female.
- The Fault comes to the Marvel 616 universe and wants to gobble everything like a cancer.
- Norman Osborne with the Sentry destroys Asgard by declaring war on it.
- Now led by Steve Rogers, the Avengers have the upper hand against the villains of the world.
- Doctor Doom grabs all the vibranium in the world in his war against the Black Panther and the Fantastic Four.
- Last ditch effort to save Hope from Bishop and a long time X-Men dies.
- Daredevil has another breakdown and becomes the boss of the Hand ninja group and terrorizes New York.
- Dark gods want to destroy the universe. Good gods like Hercules lead the charge against the void.
- Hydra and other villains led by the new Red Skull revive the old Asgardian god of fear.
- Aftermath of Fear Itself. It's rebuilding time for the Avengers as Thor has died.
- New Yorkers, including several super heroes gain Spider-man-like powers.
- The X-Men split in two factions. It's Wolverine versus Cyclops, the new leaders of mutantkind.
- Wolverine rebuilds the School for Gifted youngsters to train a new generation of mutants.
- The Phoenix Force is returning to Earth and pits the Avengers versus the X-Men about what to do about it.
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