Published in 2012, Avengers Vs. X-Men was a 12 issue event book that pitted the Avengers against the X-Men. Marvel pulled out all the stops with this one – it was written by five of their biggest writers (Brian Michael Bendis, Jonathan Hickman, Matt Fraction, Ed Brubaker, and Jason Aaron) with art by John Romita Jr, Olivier Coipel, and Adam Kubert.
Avengers Vs. X-Men crossed over into just about every book the publisher was putting out, had miniseries tie-ins, and was the herald of an all-new status quo for both the X-Men and the Avengers. It was a massive event but does it hold up to scrutiny all these years later? What about Avengers Vs. X-Men holds up? What doesn't?
10 Aged Well: The Art
Romita Jr, Coipel, and Kubert are three of the best artists Marvel had at the time and they made sure the book looked amazing. While artistic continuity is sometimes a good thing, having one artist do a 12 issue bi-weekly series would have been near impossible, especially if it was to stay on schedule and look good.
The three of them did a great job presenting the conflict, especially Kubert. He handled some of the biggest action set pieces of the book as well as the final issue.
9 Didn't Age Well: Captain America's Reasoning
Captain America has long been known as one of the best decision-makers in the Marvel Universe but this story wasn't one of the best examples of this skill. Captain America was afraid of what Cyclops and the X-Men would do if the Phoenix Force went to them and listened to Wolverine badmouth Cyclops.
Being afraid of the Phoenix Force is okay and Cyclops was being a bit standoffish (with good reason) at the time, but Cap was acting wildly out of character. In fact, in the early running of the series, Captain America was being pretty much the bad guy.
8 Aged Well: Namor's Attack On Wakanda
After the Phoenix Force was split into five of the X-Men, they decreed the Avengers to be enemies. Black Panther was letting the Avengers hideout in Wakanda. Namor, after being injured by the Scarlet Witch, does a very Namor thing and goes against Cyclops's order, leading the Atlanteans on an attack against Wakanda.
What followed was a massive conflict as Namor battled the Avengers. Adam Kubert drew the fight and it looked amazing. This battle is easily one of the highlights of the whole event.
7 Didn't Age Well: The Wolverine & Cap Fight
Wolverine and Cap come to blows in issue three. Cap is having misgivings about killing Hope Summers but Wolverine is pretty gung-ho about it because, well, he's Wolverine. What follows was advertised as one of the best Cap and Wolverine fights of all time; unfortunately, it was actually really disappointing.
The problem was that it was hyped so hard by Marvel. It was a good fight but reading it now, it's just an okay battle that both men should have expected they were going to have because of their difference in opinions on things.
6 Aged Well: Spider-Man's Stand
As some Avengers are being chased by Colossus and Magik, Spider-Man volunteers to slow them down. What follows is Spider-Man getting beat on by the Phoenix empowered mutants, giving his friends time to escape.
Everyone knows Spider-Man is a hero but this issue did a great job of really underlining it. Even without the Phoenix Force, Colossus and Magik would still do a number on him, but with it? It was really bad but Spider-Man kept getting up, taking the beating so his friends could escape.
5 Didn't Age Well: Hulk Hype
Later in the conflict, the Avengers make a big deal of getting the Hulk to help them; however, he really doesn't do all that much in the battle against Cyclops and Emma Frost. The weird thing is that anyone even thought he would in the first place.
The Hulk is one of the most dangerous beings on the planet but against people with Phoenix Force, someone who can punch really hard isn't a big deal. Seeing as how Avengers and the X-Men had joined forces by this time and the X-Men knew what does and doesn't work against the Phoenix, it's weird they let the Avengers have so much faith in the Hulk.
4 Aged Well: Cyclops's Hubris
Cyclops had become a different character by the time of AvX than he had been before. The mutant race was at its lowest ebb and he was desperate to protect it. When he learned the Phoenix Force was coming, he believed that it was going to be the saving grace for the mutant people.
When Cyclops and the four other X-Men got the Phoenix Force, he believed that they could control it and make the world a better place. Cyclops's years of experience with the Phoenix should have told him otherwise. He allowed his desperation to fuel his hubris and it would cost everyone.
3 Didn't Age Well: The X-Men As Villains
Marvel was going all-in on the hero versus hero events for a while. However, the books still needed a villain, and AvX went out of its way to make the X-Men the villains. Part of this was marketing – the Avengers were about to debut on the big screen and even though they started the conflict, they were the "good" guys.
The writers even went so far as to have the X-Men continue to side with the Phoenix Five even though all of them know how this stuff usually ends. There was a whole lot of out of character actions in the book.
2 Aged Well: The Final Issue
The final issue of AvX, by writer Jason Aaron and artist Adam Kubert, was the best of the bunch. The combined forces of the X-Men and the Avengers faced down Dark Phoenix Cyclops and it was just as big and great a fight as readers could imagine.
Marvel events at this time often had lackluster endings. Thankfully, AvX #12 was a throwback to when a Marvel event would end with the heroes teaming up against the big bad and it was spectacular.
1 Didn't Age Well: Too Many Cooks
AvX had five writers and it shows. Each of them had such wildly different styles that it makes the book feel a little uneven. Bendis's issues were slow and wordy, Brubaker's entries were a bit underwhelming, Hickman and Fraction did okay, and Aaron was the best of the bunch.
Five writers working on different issues just didn't work very well and it produced a book that wasn't bad but could have been better. The seams definitely showed on it and that's unfortunate, especially when compared to DC's 52, which also had a slew of writers working on it but made sure it was never obvious who was writing what.