Cyclops Prepares for a Mutant Revolution in All-New X-Men #3

Marvel Comics
Story – Brian Michael Bendis
Art – Stuart Immonen

As someone who never read an X-Men title with any consistency, and as someone who always felt at a loss where to jump into this world, I am thrilled that Marvel Now! has given us newbies All-New X-Men. In this third installment of the new series, Brian Michael Bendis is in complete control of this story, and based on the perfect pace and terrific plotting and dialogue, my hopes for this book are now astronomical. The first two issues were predominantly set-up; filling in readers about Cyclops’s budding revolution with Magneto, the death of Professor X, the Phoenix Force, and Beast’s time-bending retrieval of the original X-Men from the distant past. This issue is where I feel we’re getting down to the nitty-gritty, the implications and consequences of the remarkable set-up of the first two issues.

This book is positively cinematic. The dialogue is snappy and believable and drives the story forward effectively. The characters are lush, fully-realized, and fascinating. The art is gorgeous and lucid, and the action scenes are stunning. It’s a bit disorienting to see Cyclops and Magneto on the same team, and even stranger when Magneto asks Cyclops, “What do we do now?” That’s not really a question I’d expect from Magneto, but it just goes to show how high Cyclops’s star has risen in the mutant revolution, whether you find it a just cause or not.

Avengers Expanding; SHIELD, Arrow Casting

The Uncanny Avengers are expanding. Marvel has revealed that the team, once depicted as having only six members, will soon balloon to a total of nine. Now Captain America, Wolverine, Thor, Rogue, Scarlet Witch and Havok will be joined by Sunfire, Wonder Man and Wasp.

In Avengers vs. X-Men five mutants, Cyclops, Emma Frost, Magik, Colossus and Namor, are given the power of the Phoenix to reshape the world. Obviously that didn’t go so well. They fight amongst themselves, destroy whole civilizations and Cyclops ends up killing Professor Xavier. Now everyone hates mutants even more, if that was possible. To help the mutant image, Captain America creates a team made up of X-Men and Avengers. Captain America, Thor and Scarlet Witch are the Avengers, Wolverine, Havok and Rogue are the X-Men.

Bryan Singer returns to X-Men

It has been announced that Bryan Singer will direct the sequel to 2011’s X-Men: First Class. It was previously believed that Matthew Vaughn would return as director of the new X-Men movie franchise, however he has since backed out. Vaughn will most likely be a producer for the movie set for a 2014 release.

Singer had previously directed X-Men and its sequel X-2: X-Men United before famously abandoning the franchise, along with James Marsden (Cyclops), to work on Superman Returns. We all know what happened next. X-Men: The Last Stand was a mess and the return of Superman was met with a unanimous yawn.

X-Men: Days of Future Past will presumably be based on the 1981 story, by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, about a dystopian future where Mutants have not only been outlawed, but were placed into internment camps. The story revolves around the present day X-Men trying to prevent the events that would lead to such a disastrous future. The storyline is widely considered one of the best X-Men stories ever written.

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In the meantime, X-Men mainstay Wolverine will be starring in The Wolverine, which will be in theaters July 26 2013. Hugh Jackson will be returning for his 5th go around as the clawed mutant and will also be producing the movie. Darren Aronofsky was originally attached to direct, but left after several delays. He was replaced by James Mangold (Girl, Interrupted, 3:10 to Yuma).

The Wolverine is a sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but will take place after the original three X-Men movies. Based on the 1982 comic from Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, Wolverine travels to Japan to confront figures from his mysterious past.