X-Men vs. Avengers

The X-Men vs. the Avengers #1-4

by Roger Stern, Stan Lee, Marc Silvestri

When Magneto's on trial, he needs all the help he can get; he finds it in the remnants of his former fortress, Asteroid M The X-Men aren't sure what his scheme is, but they're positive they don't want the Avengers and the Soviet Super-Soldiers to find out first Multi-team warfare with the eyes of the world on all three Also featuring the X-Men's fabulous first fight with the Avengers, to keep them from unleashing the legendary Lucifer Collects X-Men vs. the Avengers #1-4, and Uncanny X-Men #9.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, X Men, Superheroes, Marvel, Comic Book, Fantasy

136 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1993

About the author

Roger Stern is an American comic book author and novelist.

Reviews

[Nicolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The X-Men Vs. Avengers miniseries is a great example of how editorial direction interferes with the creative vision of the writer and here it is preserved for posterity on a Marvel Premiere hardcover. Writer Roger Stern had a different ending in meaning, one rumored to be a return to Magneto's villainous roots; one that would never see the light of day and is said to be fully penciled by Marc Silvestri.

Still, it is pretty hard to mess up an Avengers and X-Men crossover and I did enjoy the first three-quarters of the series before the discordant ending which threw away all the plot threads that Stern was percolating.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.0 to 2.5 stars. This was an okay mini-series. It is pretty hard to mess up an Avengers/X-men crossover and this one does a decent job.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

The first three issues of X-Men vs. Avengers are pretty great; Roger Stern on good form in the writer’s chair, cool early Marc Silvestri artwork, three Marvel teams going head-to-head in an exciting clash over Magneto (they don’t make the title but the old Soviet Super Soldiers are the third faction).

Issue four, on the other hand, stinks like last week’s takeaway leftovers. Stern and Silvestri are both gone, replaced by Tom DeFalco and Keith Pollard. Joe Rubinstein does his best to give all four issues a consistent look with his inks, to be fair, but there’s no hiding the change of writers as issue four is an unholy mess.

Legend has it that the reason for this was that Roger Stern only agreed to write this miniseries on the condition he could return Magneto to his original villainous roots and the signs are there in the first three issues that this is exactly what was going to happen. At the last minute, however, then-Marvel-editor-in-chief Jim Shooter apparently decided the work Chris Claremont had spent the last several years doing to give Maggie a genuine redemption arc in the X-Men’s own book was too good to throw away (I can’t imagine Claremont would have been any too pleased either).

Honestly, I can see it from both sides. Personally, I never really believed Magneto could truly be completely reformed, considering he was a mass murderer many times over, not to mention a preacher of genocide… and I think Stern agreed with me.

On the other hand, this was not a good way to overthrow years’ worth of meticulous and often very powerful storytelling by Claremont. If Marvel wanted Magneto to return to villainy, it should have been done gradually and they should have let Claremont do it in the main X-Men book.

In hindsight, as much as I’m a huge fan of Roger Stern, and as much as I enjoyed the first three issues, I don’t think this book should ever have existed.

[Tony Calder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comics fans generally love a superheroes vs superheroes fight, and X-Men vs the Avengers is a fight that had been on the cards for a while when this mini-series first came out in 1987. Throw in the Soviet Super Soldiers, themselves mostly mutants, and we have more supers than you can poke a stick at. And we get plenty o battles - X-Men vs Avengers, X-Men vs Soviets, and Avengers vs Soviets.

However, as well as being a superhero slugfest, this mini-series does attempt to advance one of the ongoing themes in Marvel Comics - the prejudice of humans against mutants. Roger Stern did a pretty good job on the first 3 issues but rumour has it that the editorial staff were unhappy with his resolution (Magneto becomes a villain again), so he and penciller Marc Silvestri were replaced for the final issue by Tom DeFalco and Keith Pollard, who give us a different ending. I do wonder if it was actually the Marvel editorial staff who objected to that ending - I suspect if anyone was going to block it, it would have been Chris Claremont who, at that point, had pretty much total control over Marvel's mutants.

This raises another issue with superhero crossover events - generally the story will be written by the writer of one of the series or the other, rarely by a collaborative effort between the two of them. In this case, Roger Stern was writing the Avengers at the time, and he did an ok job with the X-Men, but certainly not a great job. If he did plan such a change in a major Marvel character, I can't imagine that Claremont would have agreed, as he had a Magneto storyline running in the New Mutants at the time. Ultimately, DeFalco's issue maintained the status quo.

Silvestri did a nice job with the art and Pollard was also good in the final issue.

[Blake Petit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Magneto, supposedly reformed and now a member of the X-Men, is lured to the site of an old satellite base of his that has fallen to Earth. Fearing that he's returning to his old ways, both the Avengers and the Soviet Super Soldiers set out to investigate, with both teams determined to see him stand trial for crimes he committed during his villainous days. Even when I was a kid and I read this miniseries as it came out, I thought the last issue felt very odd, like it was from a different book entirely. As an adult, I realize the final issue was by an entirely different creative team, and that for some reason Marvel blanched from publishing the original ending (whatever it was) and replaced it at the last minute. The result is four-chapter graphic novel with three fun, entertaining chapters and a conclusion that comes out of nowhere and almost, but not quite, derails the whole thing.

[Trevor · Rating 1 out of 5]

When Roger Stern agreed to write this miniseries he did so only on the condition that he may end it with Magneto, who had been redeemed in Uncanny X-Men, be revealed to still be an evil super-villain.

However, after the final issue had been completed, someone on Marvel's editorial staff changed their mind and insisted that Stern rewrite the ending so that Magneto remains a hero. He refused. And so Jim Shooter and Tom DeFalco wrote the new issue. And it is so so terrible. It feels like they had a list of plotpoints which they forced to occur even though they're wildly inconsistent with the previous three issues and are out of character for everyone involved. Just awful.

Interestingly, this was not the only time that Marvel had behind-the-scene battles over whether Magneto should be a villain or a hero. A similar issue occurred in the early 2000s when Grant Morrison ended New X-Men with a decidedly evil Magneto only for it to be retconned almost immediately.

[Alex E · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is it! The fight we've all been waiting for, the X-Men versus the Avengers! Both teams vying for the Phoenix Forc.... oh wait... oh it's not that... ok ok. This is not that event!

So this is a X-Men vs Avengers event before the modern one, and it is certainly much less bombastic than the one we are all thinking of. In this one, part of Magneto's asteroid base comes crashing down to Earth. Magneto wants to retrieve technology that is on the asteroid, but the Avengers are after Magneto for previous crimes that he has done when he was a villain. Of course this leads to battles between the two teams which ultimately results in a trial of Magneto.

This story is pretty entertaining yet very much a product of it's time. The over exposition and dialogue feel a bit dated, but it's not bad enough to make this a chore to read. Actually it is pretty good up until the last issue. The whole series seems to have Magneto leaning one way, then in the end... he doesn't. I read online that the original ending was for Magneto to revert to his villainous ways, only for editorial to nix that idea. It very much shows and takes away from the overall story in my opinion.

However, not a bad chapter of the X-Men. If you are a fan of the team and the Marvel U in general, you should check this out.

[Adam Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid follow-up to the Trial Of Magneto. Like most Heroes vs Heroes book, there are minor kerfuffles between the teams but they mainly end up working together because they're heroes.

There's also a fun additional dynamic to this series in that it's X-Men vs Avengers vs a Russian mutant superhero team. Their involvement is hugely important to the action and the plot.

The centerpiece of the battles is that Magneto has been led to a remnant of Asteroid M and has decided to destroy most of it, lest it fall into "the wrong hands", while keeping some mind control circuitry for himself.

Apparently, the author of the first 3/4 of this story intended to turn Magneto back into a villain at the end of the series and refused to rewrite his ending so notoriously evil editor Jim Shooter put a new creative team on the final issue.

While I do hate editorial interference, the use of Magneto as an anti-hero, as opposed to a villain, was a great transition in Marvel history, and Claremont definitely needed him not to be evil for at least a few more years of his run. I don't dislike the ending of this series, even if it conflicts with Stern's original vision.

If you enjoyed X-Men vs. Fantastic Four, this is not quite as good but it's on a similar enough wavelength that you might like this as well. It ends up being a part of continuity so if you're a completist, this is a must read.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

This miniseries is a bit of a mess. You know something is wrong when a writer is fired midstory... on a four issue miniseries. It's the type of thing that now a days would be left unfinished if it weren't a fight between what were at the time the two biggest super teams at Marvel.
If you read the book's special features you can see why this. it is clear from reading Roger Stern, who is usually a great writer, REALLY didn't like what Claremont and Simonson were doing with Magneto in X-Men and New Mutants at the time. He really wanted him back as a villain again. Nor was he the only one. (Enough writers and editors wanted this that Claremont was forced to speed up his plans on that front.) But the WAY Stern wanted to accomplish this was not great.
The problem is, the story completely changes on a dime in the fourth issue when it was handed over to Tom DeFalco. it's absolutely tonal whiplash.

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as worth a read as the Fan Four/X-Men book they did shortly before this. It tries to pick up the hanging threads of Uncanny #200, that didn't necessarily feeling hanging. There are some decent moments with some solid rosters of the two teams, but if you miss reading this, as I had for many years, you won't likely realize it.

[Timo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Silly superhero fun from the 80s with all the silly superhero fun cliches and rushed looking sexy art.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

X-Men vs. The Avengers (#1-4). In Uncanny X-Men #200, Magneto faced the world court, but then fled. Now, Roger Stern writes a comic about the Avengers coming to take him in. It's a decent (if repetitive) premise, and Avengers writer Roger Stern really focuses the story on Magneto by bringing in the remnants of Asteroid M.

Unfortunately, his writing of the X-Men isn't as good: he leaves some out and the rest of this new team doesn't shine, like they do when Chris Claremont is writing. We also get a lot of dull fighting. The fourth issue is worse: Stern is abruptly kicked off because his final issue made Magneto too malevolent and the replacement authors write a heavy-handed story that doesn't feel like it matches well with the rest (though it turns out, it hits most of the same major plot points as Stern's original script).

Lessons? Don't have another comic's author write a major plot for your characters. And don't kick the mini-series' author out when he turns in his final issue. Nonetheless, this was an interesting book at the time because of its very unusual team-up of the X-Men and the Avengers [3/5].

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather typical of Marvel's forced product mini-series. Lots of hype but little inspiration or power behind the character motivations or emotional reponses. The X-Men in particular felt very out-of-character, either as just being along-for-the-ride or just stereotypical responses. Disappointing to say the least. There are good moments, but sadly these are too few and don't make up for a lot of poorly developed character interactions. It does seem odd that Magneto doesn't trust Captain America's sincerity when it was Cap who recruited and trained two of Magneto's former teammates to be longtime members of the Avengers. But then that is also a fact that most writers who promote the antipathy between the to teams love to ignore.

The addition of the original meeting of the two teams from the pages of the classic X-Men #9 is a nice added bonus but isn't enough to offset the general mediocrity of the main story.

[Scott Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A curiously un-fulfilling ending to a pretty good story. This is clearly one of Marvel's many attempts to deal with the occasionally ambiguous question of just how is good in the Marvel Universe. Magneto is one of several characters that truly embody that question, having been ruthless villain, reformed villain, and honorable/misunderstood villain each in his time. But the ending to this leaves Magneto's action unclear, and the outcome of this comic terribly undefined. The story is handled in a surprisingly non-slugfesty mature manner. Neither the Avengers nor the X-Men are depicted as over aggressive idiots. At the same time that means there's relatively little for them to do...An interesting story that is, in reality a character examination of the then current version of Magneto.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the first three issues by Stern were pretty boring except for the tension between Crimson Dynamo and the Soviet Super-Soldiers. However I quite liked the last issue by DeFalco. The final panel after Magneto's trial is very ominous.

[Pturingan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too bad for a comic written in 1987.

[Morbus Iff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed it, but it seemed like they merged two sidequest stories into one miniseries.

[Matthew Ledrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best dissection of Magneto as a character, bar none.