Avengers VS X-Men # 4 (Round Four)

By Mark Rodriguez

The Phoenix Force is coming and the X-Men want to use it in their favor as a way to save their race, while the Avengers wants to destroy it to save the world. Where we last left our heroes… Captain America disapproved of Wolverine’s basic plan of gutting Hope upon sight, and, with the help of Giant Man, knocked him off their plane, stranding him in the Antarctic. 

The story begins with Wolverine wandering around with a polar bear as a way of keeping warm, similar to Star Wars. He finds a beer can in the snow and thanks the good Lord for it. Wolverine sees more beer cans and follows the trail, leading him to Hope. Wolverine whips out the blades upon sight.

Back in deep space, which I’m glad we returned to seeing that we didn’t see what happened in the last issue, Miss Marvel and the rest are floating in space, I assume after being knocked around by the Phoenix Force. Thor sees it coming and tosses his mighty hammer into it. The force of impact knocks it into a planet. However, as the hammer returns to Thor’s grasp, he realizes that the planet is about to explode.

Back to Hope, she convinces Wolverine to spare her for the moment and to hear her out… with the promise of not-frozen beer. She thinks the Phoenix will help her reignite mutantkind and is asked to be given the chance to try. Wolverine agrees for the moment and will pilot their plane, as Hope takes a much-needed nap.

Meanwhile in an abandoned Hellfire Club Safe House, Cyclops and Emma plan their next move. Emma controls the Toad, who is now a janitor for the Jean Grey School of Higher Learning, to use Cerebra.Thanks to Toad, Emma sees that the X-Men are fighting the Avengers in Wakanda, with no sign of Hope being there. Tabula Rasa has more fighting going on, as Thing just enjoys punching Namor for the hell of it. Latveria has more action as Daredevil and Spiderman try to take Collosusnaut down, but again there is no sign of Hope being there. 

Wundagore Mountain has more Avengers and X-Men fighting as Red Hulk fights with Ice Man, and Pyslocke is trying to get Hawkeye away from Archangel. The Savage Land, also reveals no sign of Hope, but Emma finds Captain America there, as he just took care of Warpath. Emma confirms that Hope is at none of the locations, but Cyclops wants her to read the Cap’s mind to know what the Avengers know.

Captain America talks to Iron Man as he fights against Gambit (wherever he came from…). Iron Man wants to build something to defeat the Phoenix. Just as Cap knocks out Gambit, he gets a call and  now knows where Hope is headed. However this means that Emma and the X-Men also know.

 At A.I.M Worldworks, Wolverine and Hope take out the guards and grab a ship. They take the ship to the Blue Area of the Moon, which was created by Skrulls. Just as Hope feels safe, BAM, the Avengers arrive. Hope is confused as to how they got there, and Cap tells her that Wolverine tipped them off. Wolverine made the decision while Hope was sleeping earlier. 

Just then Logan takes an Optic Blast to the face, as the X-Men also arrived. Cap tells them to leave. Cyclops says not without Hope. As the Avengers and X-Men prepare to go another round… something smashes into the moon. It’s Thor. As Thing heads over to help him up, Thor points to the sky. Everyone looks up to see that the Phoenix Force has finally arrived!!!!

I guess it'll now be in 3 weeks.

My Opinions

It’s a pretty cool issue. I do wish we saw more of the fighting, rather than just random pin-up cameos. I know this is so you can buy the tie-ins, but we need to see some free-for-alls here too. Still wonder why they randomly threw Gambit in there. All he did was take the Captain’s shield to the face. I wonder what other Avenger or X-Man they might randomly toss in there amongst the chaos. I know many people will consider Wolverine a douche or a traitor for calling in the Avengers while Hope was sleeping... but again, they're risking Armageddon if the Phoenix goes wild while controlling Hope. Good to see Logan didn't hold a grudge against the Cap from earlier... or will he?

I remember it being mentioned that Deadpool was going to be in this, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I did spot Dazzler though during the fight between Daredevil, Spider-Man and Colossus. 

At least I'm 99% sure it's Dazzler since she has so many outfits over the years, but good god, her head is huge compared to the rest of her. Again, the art looks good on solo characters, but when they start to crowd the panels, they really need an extra guy to do damage control or something.

Things are about to heat up as the Phoenix finally arrives, and with the Avengers movie making tons of cash in theaters, it's an awesome time to be a fan.