Avengers and X-Men: Axis #3: Review

Review: Wait, the vanished heroes were inside the two Sentinels? Who knew? Certainly not anyone who read issue #2. When I have to read the next issue’s “Previously…” page to understand what was going on something has gone wrong—and I find myself doing that more and more lately. Oh yeah, the comic. The plot: a bunch of bad guys team up to fight a giant villain and rescue the heroes. That happens and everything is wrapped up at the end, except for the recriminations. Looks like the end for the Uncanny Avengers, a comic I was never able to get into. I was kind of surprised that there is no hook to draw us into the next issue. The story comes to a conclusion here. Odd. The oddest thing about the story is that the villains are constantly exchanging wisecracks like the heroes in the first tow issues. Does Rick Remender have a secret wish to write for Spider-Man? Could be. Verdict: Not one of the more interesting Mega Events. But I’ll keep reading since what happens here will probably influence all of Marvel’s big titles until next year.

Comments: Heroes from issue #2 who do not appear here are Colossus, Invisible Woman, Medusa, and Sunfire; many heroes can only be seen in the back of crowd scenes including Hulk, Thor, Vision, and Nova. The cover shows Beast who was not in ish #2.

This week's tie-ins are starting to spread out across the event. In ALL-NEW X-FACTOR #15 the team have implants to protect them from Red Skull's hate thoughts in Axis #1-3. They try to save Washington in general, and in particular steal the nuclear football to stop the President launching the nukes. In retaliation he sends Sentinels after them. DEADPOOL #36 manages to fit in lots of DP's own continuity as well as covering him:- getting recruited by Magneto in Mag#11; saving Iron Man in Axis #3; and showing his inverted personality before other people presumably will in Axis #4. AXIS: HOBGOBLIN #1 is completely in post-Axis#3 mode. He was a villain in Magneto's gang, but now he's been converted to good. But he'll still find a way to make money out of it.

I must say this this is a let-down. Rick Remender has been building the threat of Red Skull up throughout Uncanny Avengers, with the future dominated by his rule. Now that's all over 1/3 of the way through Axis. And the battle was really just an excuse for the Dr Doom/Scarlet Witch spell which presumably causes the personality-inversions that are the *real* purpose of this event. The publisher's blurb promises the 'return of 1 of the Marvel Universe's great villains'. I presume this *isn't* Red Skull, who's only been replaced by Red Onslaught for a few weeks (or in Marvel time a few hours). I guess it means that Genesis has grown up into Apocalypse.