- Editor’s Note – Heading into Axis: Avengers & X-Men #5, we have the teaser released by Marvel that includes a spoilers-filled recap leading into Axis #5; plus the book’s cool covers via CBR.
- Axis: Avengers & X-Men #1 review & spoilers
- Axis: Avengers & X-Men #2 review & spoilers
- Axis: Avengers & X-Men #3 review & spoilers is below
- Axis: Avengers & X-Men #4 review & spoilers
In addition to that recap in the preview of issue #5, the Comics Nexus’ Skitch has reviewed the previous issues of Axis: Avengers & X-Men, which are available as per the below:
With that, below is Skitch’s review and spoilers for Axis #3! – End of Editor’s Note.
Axis: Avengers & X-Men #3 Review & Spoilers
Written by: Rick Remender
Penciled by: Leinil Francis Yu
Inked by: Gerry Alanguilan & Leinil Francis Yu
Cover by: Jim Cheung &; Justin Ponsor
Colored by: Matt Milla, Laura Martin & Edgar Delgado
Lettered by: Chris Eliopoulos
Published by: Marvel
Cover Price: $3.99
Note: This is a review of the digital version which can be found on Comixology.
Warning! This review contains quite a few spoilers!
Summary (contains spoilers): Issue 2 ended with a small army of villains arriving to save the day, led by Magneto. At that point, the last hero
standing was Iron Man…and he wasn’t doing much standing either. This issue starts with Deadpool dragging Iron Man to safety and immediately pestering him to make him an Avenger.
The villians seem to be doing very well against Red Onslaught and his Sentinels.
Enchantress is briefly able to make Red Onslaught fall under her spell, until she is distracted by Absorbing Man smashing through a nearby Sentinel. But it’s still enough to give Magneto the chance to release Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange so they can once more attempt to help Xavier regain control off Red Onslaught.
Quintin Quire is working to keep Red Onslaught’s mental influence from messing with the villains, but he’s definitely straining, even with Evan trying to help prop him up. Red Onslaught is finally able to overwhelm him, and turns the villains under his control.
Deadpool gives Iron Man a recharge by zapping him with some power lines. Iron Man returns to the fight, bringing his telepathic dampener back online to free the villains from Onslaught’s control. ]
Red Onslaught does manage to take Strange out of the fight, but Dr Doom steps in to offer his services. Scarlet Witch refuses to trust him, but realizes she has no point but to work with him. The spell is cast, and all he heroes are knocked out. By the time they wake up, Red Onslaught is unconscious and Doctor Doom is nowhere to be found.
The mutants realize that Xavier could still be in charge, so they want custody of Red Onslaught. The Avengers demand they must have custody of Red Onslaught. Things get heated, and Havok quits the Avengers, returning to the X-Men. Evan has changed from a kid to full grown Apocalypse.
The issue ends with Red Onslaught in the Avengers custody, and the X-Men and Avengers in conflict once more.
Review: You know…I think Marvel has basically driven Deadpool into the ground at this point, but I thought he was used really well in this issue. I loved his opening narration and his attempts to try and suck up to Iron Man. Marvel tends to take the whole “Deadpool is crazy and breaks the fourth wall” thing too far, and I thought this toned down Deadpool was a lot closer to the characters I used to like. I have said a lot in my reviews of Axis that Remender seems to have a knack for these characters, and he definitely worked well on Deadpool.
I will just say that he did get a little too banter heavy in this one. It worked for most of the characters, but it felt really overdone when he had Enchantress saying “That’s the kind of oversight that gets you uninvited to fondue parties.” It was even more painful since it was in “Asgardian font.”
That said, most of the banter did work well, so I am not going to hold a grudge over the few times it fell flat.
One thing that amazed me about the ending of this issue was that a lot of readers didn’t seem to get it. I know it’s a few weeks later, and the next issue put it in perspective, but I want to go on record as having said the day the issue came out that the X-Men and Avengers fighting was part of Inversion, not Marvel replaying Avengers Vs X-Men. I thought it was especially clear from the Deadpool issue that came out the same day which spelled it out. And the first issues of Carnage and Hobgoblin. But over and over again, I keep hearing “Everyone is acting so out of character…” which is sort of the point of the Inversion segment of Axis.
When I reviewed issue 4, I incorrectly said that Leinil Francis Yu had taken over the art chores with issue 4, as the second “chapter” of Axis was starting. Someone had corrected me, and pointed out that Yu had done the art on this issue too. Re-reading it to write this review, there was definitely a drastic improvement in the quality of the art from the first two issues. Yu definitely seemed to have a better handle on the chaotic action required to pull this series off.
I really enjoyed seeing the villains saving the day, but still remaining in character. Remender worked a tricky balance here, and I thought he pulled it off really well. It is hard to root for villains, but for the most part, I was definitely cheering them on here. Basically, if you ever want to create a character that everyone will hate, just make him a Nazi. Everyone hates Nazis!!
I will definitely say it was real weird to have what seemed to be the climax of the story in the third issue, so I am really curious where the story goes from here. One thing you can definitely say about Axis is that it sure didn’t feel drawn out. They got to the action quick, and took down Red Onslaught by the end of issue 3. Now we just have to see what the hell Doom did, and how he plans to capitalize from this Inversion.
I really didn’t plan to reviewing every issue of Axis, but I will probably be back today or Thursday to do issue 5. I’ve really enjoyed this series, and I keep finding that I have a lot to say about it.
| Title: | Axis: Avengers & X-Men #4 |
| Written By: | Rick Remender |
| Art By: | Leinil Francis Yu |
| Company: | Marvel |
| Price: | $3.99 |
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| Cons: |
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| Is it worth your $3.99? | 8.5/10 – Remender did a great job here having the villains save the day. Axis has been a lot of fun so far, and this was a satisfying ending to the first act. |
