Fit to Be Tied In: A History of Marvel Crossovers and Events- Part 7: All-New Crossovers NOW!

Avengers Vs. X-Men brought about a mass renumbering and creator roulette known as Marvel NOW, heralding a new era in which the original five X-Men from the ’60s were pulled to the present, the Avengers expanded to deal with the just-simmering end of the universe, Dr. Octopus went gallivanting around in Peter Parker’s body, and Daredevil and Hawkeye became two of the Best Books Ever.

The first big event of the NOW era was Age of Ultron, a 10-part series by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Bryan Hitch, Brandon Peterson, Carlos Pacheco, Butch Guice, Alex Maleev, David Marquez and Joe Quesada.

Ultron opens in media res, with the killer robot already having won and platoons of Ultron Sentinels prowling the streets looking for the remaining heroes. Time-travel hijinks ensue. A common theme of the Marvel NOW era is how Earth’s heroes keep screwing up the timestream with their shenanigans, vis a vis their actions in Ultron (Wolverine and the Invisible Woman travel back in time to kill Hank Pym before he creates Ultron, creating an alternate reality in which Earth is a casualty of the Kree-Skrull War, necessitating even more time travel), Beast pulling the ’60s X-Men to Earth, Kang being himself, etc.

Among its effects, Age of Ultron brought Angela – a character Neil Gaiman created for Image – into the Marvel Universe (and made her Odin’s secret daughter from a heretofore unseen 10^th realm), Galactus was shipped to the Ultimate Universe and the company launched Avengers A.I., a book about Hank Pym and a bunch of android characters, which lasted 12 issues.

Marvel has been scheduling two events a year for most of the NOW era, so later in 2013 we got Infinity, written by Jonathan Hickman (also the architect of the upcoming Secret Wars) and drawn by Jim Cheung, Jerome Opena and Dustin Weaver.

“Infinity” at Marvel has always implied a universe-spanning cosmic adventure, and so we get the mad titan Thanos attacking Earth while the Avengers are away in space trying to fight the Builders, a race of aliens introduced in Hickman’s first Avengers arc. Part of the storyline involves Hickman’s ongoing series of incursions – the collisions of Earths across the multiverse, which is how the upcoming Secret Wars will start.

Thanos and the Inhuman king Black Bolt wail on each other pretty hard, as BB tries to prevent Thanos from finding his Inhuman-descended son, Thane. In the process, Thanos sets off a Terrigen Bomb, creating more Inhumans, including the new Ms. Marvel. Among the event’s other effects, a new volume of Mighty Avengers launched, starring Luke Cage and a group of other street-level heroes (Monica Rambeau, Blade, Spider-Man, etc.), who were left behind on Earth during Infinity.

The next event is a murder-mystery. Original Sin, by Jason Aaron and Mike Deodato, centers on the death of Uatu the Watcher and the theft of his eyes, which have dirt on everyone. Teams of investigators scour here, there and everywhere to determine who may have killed him. One of the eyes is in the possession of the Orb, an old Ghost Rider villain with a giant eyeball for a head. So that’s appropriate.

Along the way, the heroes also find the real Nick Fury, an old man with a seemingly limitless supply of Life Model Decoys of himself. Original-recipe Fury reveals that, in addition to running SHIELD for decades, he had a secret job protecting Earth from extradimensional threats, which jibes with his underground work during Secret Invasion. He’s also revealed to be the man who murdered Uatu, but ends up becoming his replacement. Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, in turn, replaces Fury as Earth’s guardian against extra-dimensional forces, so who’s gonna have an army of LMDs now?

Sin revealed secrets about a number of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Spider-Man learned someone else had been bitten by the same radioactive spider that bit him, the character Silk, who now has her own series. Tony Stark apparently had tinkered with the gamma bomb that turned Bruce Banner into the Hulk. Angela is revealed as Thor’s half-sister from the Tenth Realm. Dum Dum Dugan, the Howling Commando, learns he died in the 1960s and is, in fact, an LMD.

Oh, and at some point, Fury whispers something in Thor’s ear that makes him unworthy of wielding Mjolnir and being Thor. Hence, new lady Thor.

Finally, we come to Axis, an Avengers/X-Men crossover that wraps up a storyline – the Red Skull stealing Charles Xavier’s brain – that Rick Remender launched in his Uncanny Avengers title. Remender wrote Axis with art by Adam Kubert, Leinil Francis Yu, Terry Dodson and Jim Cheung.

The Red Skull has taken over Genosha – Magneto’s former mutant haven – and turned it into a concentration camp and base for broadcasting a global message of hate. Magneto is predictably pissed and confronts the Skull, who turns into a being called Red Onslaught.

Doctor Doom and the Scarlet Witch cast an “inversion spell,” intended to bring out the Xavier aspect of the Red Onslaught’s mind. The spell casts a wider net, however, and suddenly guys like Carnage, the Hobgoblin and Sabretooth are acting like heroes, Tony Stark is being a huge jerk (and is drinking again), Deadpool is a pacifist and the X-Men have pledged their loyalty to Apocalypse. Eventually, a reinversion spell is cast, returning most of the heroes and villains to their normal selves, with Stark among the few exceptions.

Oh, and at some point, it’s revealed that Magneto is not the biological father of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. Because movie rights stuff, I assume.

Among the new series spun out of Axis were Superior Iron Man, about the new, jerkier Stark; a new volume of Uncanny Avengers starring Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, and Wolverines, which features an inverted Sabretooth among other characters directly affected by the death of Wolverine.

That brings us to the present, mere days from the start of Secret Wars. But wait, there’s more! Check back later this week for a bonus installment, featuring a few of the crossovers we overlooked.

Dan Grote’s new novel, Magic Pier, is available however you get your books online. He has been writing for The Matt Signal since 2014. He and Matt have been friends since the days when making it to issue 25 guaranteed you a foil cover.

Special Review: Dan on All-New Captain America #1

All-New Captain America #1
Story: Rick Remender
Pencils: Stuart Immonen
Inks: Wade von Grawbadger
Colors: Marte Garcia & Eduardo Navarro

We are officially neck-deep in the Avengers NOW! era, with Wednesday seeing the releases of All-New Captain America #1, Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #1, Superior Iron Man #1 and Thor #2. Of the four, this was the one I was most excited about; no offense to Lady Thor and Jerkface Iron Man.

As a quick referesher, Sam Wilson, the former Falcon, is now Captain America, after Steve Rogers had the Super Soldier Serum sucked out of him. His partner is the new Nomad, aka Ian Rogers, Steve Rogers’ adopted son from Dimension Z.

The series opens with Wilson on a mission to foil a Hydra doomsday plot, standard Cap fare, obviously. But the cookie-cutter mission is exactly what allows us to see the characters interact in the new order. Sam takes point, Ian works undercover and Steve gives orders from a boat in the middle of a lake, where he is supposed to be fishing and enjoying retirement.

If you loved the banter between Steve and Sam in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, you’ll be pleased. The commlink discussion between the two about “frills” alone is worth the price of admission. Sam and Ian’s relationship, meanwhile, is decidedly more headbutt-y. The two snipe over when it’s time to kill, who’s better with the shield, etc., which is to be expected of new partners raised in two different dimensions, one of whom just happened to sleep with the other’s sister.

Though All-New Cap is decidedly less bleak than Uncanny X-Force or Uncanny Avengers, it wouldn’t be a Rick Remender book unless every major villain were trying to destroy our hero at the same time. Keep that in mind as you reach the last page.

Before that, however, there is Batroc. Couple issues here: America’s favorite leaping Frenchman appears to have traded in his classic purple-and-yellow duds for garb that makes him look like Brown Arrow. Also, his role in Hydra’s doomsday scheme seems to run counter to the classic Roger Stern/John Byrne run, when he turned on Mr. Hyde upon realizing Hyde saw fit to kill thousands of New Yorkers. Also also, he calls Sam a diabetic burger-eater, which I’m pretty sure is racist.

The FalCap costume is a bit of a mishmash, admittedly, combining elements of the classic Cap costume (the red-and-white torso stripes), the classic Falcon costume (the wings and gloves), the Commander Rogers costume (the white star on the chest), the darker blues that generally connote substitute Caps such as Bucky or U.S. Agent, and goggles that add more red to the costume but also give Sam bug eyes. Also, if someone can tell me why the new Nomad costume looks like the Constrictor’s duds, I’ll give you a no-prize.

Nevertheless, Stuart Immomen’s art combines with inks by Wade von Grawbadger (best name ever!) and colors by Marte Gracia and Eduardo Navarro to give the book just the right amount of lightness to balance Remender’s ever-gathering darkness, for a series I intend to keep reading.

P.S.: Deadpool fans, keep your eyes peeled for a supporting character from Fabian Nicieza’s Cable & Deadpool.

No Fear of a Black Cap, or Why Sam as Cap Sends Me

On Wednesday night, Marvel announced that Sam Wilson, heretofore known as the Falcon, will take up the stars, stripes and shield as the new Captain America, due to events set in motion by Rick Remender in Cap’s solo title.

Now, for some of us, it wasn’t that long ago when another of Steve Rogers’ longtime cohorts, James “Bucky” Barnes, wore the costume. Or maybe you’re a little older and you remember when John Walker wore the costume, before he became USAgent. Maybe you’re really up on your Cap continuity and you know that his published 1950s adventures were retconned as having been undertaken by other dudes wearing his costume, one of whom was driven crazy by the Super-Soldier Serum. Or you remember the story of Isaiah Bradley, who underwent a Tuskegee-style Super Soldier experiment as depicted in Truth: Red White & Black.

My point is, yeah, it’s been done before, and it’ll be done again. And also COUGH COUGH – James Rhodes, Eric Masterson, Dick Grayson, Kyle Rayner, Wally West, Miles Morales, Jamie Reyes, Sam Alexander, every Robin – COUGH COUGH. Sorry, sarcastic throat tickle. You know how it is.

Of all of Cap’s partners, sidekicks, pals and body doubles over the years, Falcon is at least the most deserving of the costume, perhaps moreso than Bucky. While Bucky needed to become Cap after the Civil War to set his redemption arc in motion and find his place in the modern Marvel Universe, Sam fought at Cap’s side for much longer and has proved himself in battle more times over the years.

Also – and this is the most important distinction between the two – Bucky was Cap’s sidekick, but the Falcon was his PARTNER. For recent evidence of this, look no further than Anthony Mackie’s most-excellent portrayal of Wilson in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Sam doesn’t follow Cap around like some awestruck fanboy. The two bust each other’s chops right off the bat, like a pair of mismatched cops that have already gotten through all the “He’s crazy”-“He’s too rigid” character work in front of their angry captain. They’re Riggs and Murtaugh in Lethal Weapon 2; Schmidt and Jenko in 22 Jump Street. Hell, they’re Mahoney, Hightower, Tackleberry, Hooks and the rest of the gang in Police Academy 2 rolled into two people.

Remender writing Falcon also seems like an amazing opportunity to continue harkening to one of the craziest, most breathless, ASTONISHING, PULSE-POUNDING, ALL CAPS, END-EVERY-SENTENCE-WITH-AN-EXCLAMATION-POINT-AND-DON’T-STOP-FOR-A-CUP-OF-BENDIS-BRAND-COFFEE runs in Cap history: Jack Kirby’s stretch in the mid 1970s. Remender started his volume of Cap with a Kirby throwback story in which Steve Rogers finds himself trapped in a dimension ruled by Arnim Zola, the Nazi scientist created by Kirby in the ’70s, immediately differentiating his run from the more grounded espionage-and-intrigue of Ed Brubaker’s eight-year arc.

And while I’m not saying Remender should just rehash characters such as the Midnight People, the Swine and Mr. Budda (the latter would be a bit insensitive), it would be refreshing to revisit that sort of new-threat-every-issue, stakes-have-never-been-higher tone with Sam. Because while the Falcon has tended to be a grounding voice for Cap, he’s not immune to crazy. Remember, he spent much of his early years thinking he shared a split personality with a West Coast drug dealer named Snap Wilson, even though he grew up in Harlem and worked as a social worker. I could see Remender having a field day with that. Although maybe not, after that nonsense from the other week.

Of course, change is the order of the day for the Avengers’ big three. Marvel unloaded a wheelbarrow full of pre-San Diego news this week, not the least of which is that a woman will become Thor and that Thor will become the un-Thor or something, and that Tony Stark’s title will change to Superior Iron Man, with a West Coast move in the works a la Daredevil and the Punisher.

The key thing to remember, nonsports fans, is this: If you don’t like these changes, wait. There’s always the next creative team, and you’re likely to get your precious status quo back sooner than you think.

Dan Grote has been a Matt Signal contributor since 2014 and friends with Matt since there were four Supermen and two Psylockes. His two novels, My Evil Twin and I and Of Robots, God and Government, are available on Amazon.

I’ve Got the Runs: Rick Remender’s Uncanny X-Force, issues 1-35, 2010-12

It's a weird week to be writing about Rick Remender, I suppose, after all that business from a couple days ago. But I actually wrote this last month. I was prepared to write a different column, based on something I'd read Sunday that I was pretty excited about, but that announcement was never made, replaced instead by damage control over a firestorm created by a few people misreading 21 issues of Captain America.

Anyway, this is what you get. Enjoy!

Killing is bad. Some people are killers. Those people won’t stop killing unless they are killed. But killing killers makes the killers into killers. And then what’s the difference between the killers and the killer killers? And if you don’t kill the killers, are you responsible for all their future kills?

Cross-eyed yet? Welcome to the rabbit hole that is Rick Remender’s Uncanny X-Force, quite possibly the best book ever to bear the name X-Force. The series is 37 issues (Marvel threw two of those .1 issues into the mix) of the above moral dilemma, featuring five of the darker, edgier, more X-treme X-Men, and nothing but the biggest villains.

Magneto, Apocalypse, Sabertooth, the Shadow King, Mystique, the Blob, Daken, the Reavers, Lady Deathstrike, the fake children of Omega Red, the gang’s all here. Literally: Many of the aforementioned villains formed an alliance to take down Wolverine & Co.

The team also goes on reality-hopping adventures in the Age of Apocalypse and Otherworld, the omniversal home of the Captain Britain Corps., and travels to the future to see what their actions hath wrought, complete with elderly super guest stars.

Our story starts with the age-old dilemma: Would you kill Hitler as a baby? Only in this case, baby Hitler is a 10-year-old Apocalypse. How the team decides to handle young Evan sets into motion the events of the entire series, which alternate between bloodbaths and mental anguish.

“I’m making sure to tell you stories with beginnings, middles and ends, and when those stories are put together, they form a much bigger story – like a Voltron of nerdocity,” Remender told Comic Book Resources in a 2012 interview.

One of Remender’s greatest feats is fleshing out Weapon XIII, Fantomex, the smooth-talking spy/sentinel created during Grant Morrison’s run on New X-Men. Fantomex’s actions at the end of the first arc set in motion much of the plot of the rest of the series. Watch the master of misdirection woo Psylocke, stand trial by order of Betsy’s brothers and face off against the Skinless Man, aka Weapon III, a newly introduced graduate of the Weapon Plus program, another Morrison-bred concept. Fantomex is hands-down the most physically tortured member of the team, but in undergoing said tortures – and remember, this book is for mature readers, so it’s some pretty grisly stuff – he finds redemption.

But if Fantomex spends the series being physically tortured, Psylocke, the team’s resident telepath, spends it being mentally tortured. Betsy hasn’t been this interesting since Chris Claremont turned a purple-haired British woman into the Mandarin’s personal ninja in the late ’80s. In her attempts to be the team’s conscience, Psylocke is repeatedly forced to make difficult choices and then forced to watch in horror as the consequences of those choices play out, both in the present and in the future. Her despair is so great that at one point she makes a deal that requires her to yield her ability to feel sorrow, and though she makes it, it really doesn’t stick, as her former captive, the Shadow King, exacts revenge on her as a member of a newly formed Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

Remender’s Deadpool may be my favorite version of the character in any of his ongoing titles of the past few years, primarily because he’s sharing the spotlight with four other people and therefore not exhaustingly front and center as he is in his solo title and spinoff series. You could argue the fact that he’s not the center of attention makes the character work harder for it. I’m pretty sure I laughed harder at his heart-to-heart with Evan at the end of the series than I have in much of Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn’s current Deadpool solo book. And I’m a Deadpool fan from way back.

And lest we forget, there’s Wolverine, the whole reason this incarnation of X-Force exists. At this point in his career, Wolverine has become all things to all people. On X-Force, he’s the head killer in charge. In Wolverine & the X-Men, he’s the head of a school, raising the next generation of mutants to fight the good fight. On the Avengers, he’s a brawler in an army of supermen ready to be fastball-specialed at Thanos on a moment’s notice. And while Wolverine is the best at what he does, he still struggles with his conscience and the animal inside, just like he did 40 years ago when Claremont first gave the character depth. And nowhere is his conscience more active than when it comes to his son, Daken, who assembles an Army of royal X-pains – including Sabertooth – to work out his daddy-abandonment issues.

Archangel is also in this book, but I’m not quite sure how to talk about what happens to him without spoiling one of the series’ best arcs, except to say about midway through the series, Nightcrawler joins the team. Not the 616 Nightcrawler, of course, he’s dead at this point. Instead, we get the Age of Apocalypse Nightcrawler, who is much like our Nightcrawler, except he has a red face tattoo, he doesn’t like being called Elf, he’ll betray the team if it means getting revenge on the ones who wronged him, he gets along well with his mother, Mystique, and he really likes teleporting people’s heads off their bodies. Otherwise, totally the same old Kurt Wagner.

And then there’s Deathlok, who serves as the team’s Jiminy Cricket, crossing the time stream to show X-Force how its kills affect the future.

One of the best things about Remender’s run is that it’s self-contained. You don’t have to read a whole bunch of other X-titles or drown in an incomprehensible crossover to enjoy the book. It even completely sidesteps Fear Itself and Avengers Vs. X-Men.

Speaking of the latter crossover, Remender’s next book, Uncanny Avengers, picks up after the events of AvX with a combined team of Avengers and X-Men who spend much of their time cleaning up the messes X-Force made in their last book, in addition to facing big Avengers villains such as the Red Skull and Kang. So if you like Uncanny X-Force, keep reading.

Remender’s Uncanny X-Force is collected in seven trade paperbacks: The Apocalypse Solution, Deathlok Nation, The Dark Angel Saga Books 1 and 2, Otherworld, and Final Execution Books 1 and 2. The series is also available in a hardcover omnibus.