The Mutants Strike Back in Avengers & X-Men: Axis #5

The big Marvel event series that is running right now, Axis, has really provided a lot of different takes on characters and has also provided some very large scale battles, and during all of this, the real big bad causing so much havoc has been each other. Yes, originally the Red Onslaught caused some serious trouble for the Avengers and X-Men but all hell has broken loose since that nasty little inversion spell was cast by Scarlet Witch and Doctor Doom.

Heroes have lost their morals and are fighting each other, and the X-Men taking offense that the Avengers would have them all wiped out have given over their leadership to none other than Apocalypse himself. Yes, you read that right. Apocalypse. Heroes like Thor, Captain America (Falcon not Steve Rogers), Iron Man, Cyclops and more have all been affected in drastic ways and really care quite a bit less about the well being of those around them and are truly thinking only about their own gains right now. Hulk being one of the strongest and scariest of the Avengers has reverted to an even larger and more dangerous version of himself, submitting to a deeper part of his consciousness and becoming Kluh who only cares about one thing: total destruction.

While all that is going on, the inversion has had a reverse effect on some of our favourite villains as well. Magneto has really become a driving force behind trying to right the world rather than just being out for the gains of mutant society. The most drastic change that I have found so far, and consequently the most hilarious, is Carnage. He has taken up the idea of becoming a true hero and has left people shocked at the actions of the once bloodthirsty sociopath. Not all of his attempts have worked properly, since he’s still working out the kinks of being a hero like not killing people and not severely maiming and doling out grievous injuries.

This has all led up to a point where there is three sides; the Avengers who want to strike down the X-Men, the X-Men who want to wipe out humanity and elevate the mutant race, and those heroes who were left unaffected like Spider-Man, Nova, and Steve Rogers, who are trying to right the world with the inverted villains who are working alongside them.

Rick Remender does a good job of explaining why the heroes who are not inverted weren’t turned to the “dark side” and why they don’t just stop the ones who are under the sway of inversion. However, this issue focuses a lot of the battle for Manhattan between the inverted Avengers and X-Men; the writers give us a decent reason but really, why is it always New York? Why not go after any other Metropolitan area, or anywhere else in the world?

Being that this is the middle of a nine part event series, this is more about moving pieces into the right places to move the story forward, and if anything is to be expected its that Rick Remender delivers solid writing as usual. This issue also gives us a third art team in the fifth issue, which can be a little jarring considering the change in art styles along the way. Terry and Rachel Dodson are more of Marvel‘s name talent as far as art teams go, but the fact that if you collect the whole series you will visibly notice the almost drastic change in art style along the way.

A lot of questions still need to be answered but luckily there are four more parts to the series and all the tie ins will fill in all the blanks.

Axis has been a fantastic event so far as has seen a lot of our favourite heroes turn into some very dark versions of themselves, I recommend reading this series and the Axis tie-ins, especially Carnage’s, because its hilarious.