Avengers-X-Men-Eternals- EVE OF JUDGEMENT # 1

 By Mark Rodriguez

It seems the Marvel heroes are always fighting each other rather than fighting villains. From what I gather, the X-Men have overcome death with some sort of cloning technology in their current base of Krakoa. This brings the attention of other-worldly beings that will bring judgment upon the Earth. I'm assuming the Avengers, X-Men and Eternals will fight each other a lot before they team up to stop these guys, but let's see how this huge crossover event gets started. 

The story opens with 'The Machine Called Earth' narrating how happy it is that everything is in peace. The Avengers are relaxing and eating Tony Stark's slightly overdone waffles, the X-Men are chilling out on the living island of Krakoa, but on Olympia, one of the Eternals is up to no good. 

Druig, who is now Eternal Prime, asks Domo how he would kill all the mutants if he were him. Domo simply answers he can set a anti-matter bomb set beneath the island. The bomb would be created with generalized technology so the mutants on Mars would never know who did it. Assuming they don't go into full blown civil war, they can be dealt with down the line. Druig is impressed by such a simple solution. He wants it prepared quickly so mutantkind is wiped out just in time for evening drinks. 

Yeah, literally 'so simple'. Why did Domo have one of those lying around anyway?

Elsewhere in Lemuria, hidden in a shadow dimension under the sea, a different sect of Eternals are recovering from Thanos and another faction of Eternals. The Eternals have 3 main objectives, to protect Celestials, to protect the machine and to correct excess deviation. This particular group of Eternals have left their society after discovering the fact that every time they die, the machine takes the life or a mortal in order to bring them back to life. Ikaris in particular is bothered by this as he sees protecting the machine to include protecting humans. 

Suddenly a mutant named Crimson Karlau angrily attacks Ikaris, seeing as they were attacked by Eternals and she doesn't trust this separate faction. Ikaris takes to the sky while holding onto her and throws her back to the ground. He tells Sersi to trap her as the ground starts to shift and wrap itself around her. Crimson Karlau says this just proves they could have stopped the other Eternals at any time and chose not to. Ikaris has no way to explain their actions and says he rejects everything from his people and they have much to make amends for. As he flies off, Sersi regrets tricking Ikaris into keeping the fact that Eternals must trade lives with mortals to be eternal a secret. She knows what this information would do to the best of them, and how it affected Phastos. 

Phastos is currently held in a hell-like prison called The Exclusion. Druig goes to see him and sends him to 2 priestesses named Makkari and Ajak that can mindwipe him of this knowledge. Even if they mindwipe Phastos so he can work for them, Ikaris and the others will still know the truth. Druig plans to increase his political status by helping out the priestesses until he can get them to mindwipe them all. 

On Celestia, the priestesses tell Phastos their plans to create a god by kidnapping a mutant expert. He says the mutants on Krakoa would make terrible enemies. He also warns that even if this plan would work, there is no guarantee that this god will be to their liking. He refuses to help but the priestesses say he has already helped them by confirming that their plan is possible. Phastos tells them that he had tried to stop the great machine itself, but in trying to end the deaths of mankind, he had only caused more deaths. He warns them to not play so lightly with their souls and leaves in a portal he created.

Makkari says they're lucky they didn't introduce him to their guest, as we see that they have captured and contained none other than Mr. Sinister. 

Elsewhere, Kro and Thena discuss how Phastos blames himself for Thanos comes to attack them and is working too hard. Kro says even if Lemuria is rebuilt and Tolau is gone they will continue to be seen as Deviants while Thena's people will be seen as Eternals. Even though Tolau did horrible things, he is still one of the Eternals, and the statue they are working on will remind everyone what it means to be a Deviant among them. Kro says he's reminded why it's so easy to fall in love with her. Thena says they are both in mourning and he 's seeking distractions. She asks if he's currently pursuing Sersi. Kro jokes that she's eat him alive, not that he wouldn't enjoy it. Just then Sersi arrives.

Thena says they will work on a cure or a treatment and also tell the people the truth. Kro says Deviants are trapped as a people but free as individuals. He can imagine a world where their curse are cured but not one where Eternals are free. Sersi says she can learn from mortals. Kro says if she learns too much from mortals, she might become one and asks if she wants to die. Sersi says she doesn't but she would like to find a new way to live.

Meanwhile, Druig is watching over the X-Men, Nightcrawler, Magik and Beast just relaxing and carrying on with their day, as Domo is nearly finished with the anti-matter bomb. Domo asks exactly why they are wiping out mutantkind. Druig explains that Deviants have acted as genetic carriers for the strange beings on Earth, but it seems particularly focused on mutants. They must 'correct excess deviation', and with mutants now being on Mars and immortal, he says that is excess enough. 

In reality, Druig sees this as the fact tract to build his reputation. The death of mutants will make Druig look like the merciless upholder of the principles in a fallen age. As the bomb has been sent to its destination, Druig invites Domo over to a diner in Vancouver to celebrate. 

Suddenly Druig and Domo are hit with violent pain as blood splurts from their eyes and ears, getting the mental command to 'protect the machine'. Druig yells at Domo to recover the bomb as he tries to pull it back from the underwater portal. He tells Domo to turn it off as the bomb returns to them. The bomb has been deactivated in time.

Druig wonder why the bomb activated their principles. Domo says Krakoa, the island itself, is a sentient being and must be part of the machine in some fundamental way. They just can't blow it up. Druig says they'll have to skip out on the celebratory breakfast. Domo asks if he should start thinking of another method. Druig says not yet, and he should have known that if he was going to plan mass genocide, he would need to contact an expert. He goes to see his grandfather Uranos. Uranos taunts him for being so desperate so soon.

My Thoughts- 

This is an quick little prelude to Marvel's big event that will seemingly run from mid-July through November. I won't be getting every single comic because the checklist is just ridiculous, but I will be doing my best to get the actual AXE Judgment Day books and the AXE Death to the Mutants books.

I know almost nothing of the Eternals, so this prelude did a good job of catching me up to what I need to know. The Eternals obtain three basic principles, but once some of them found out that mortal lives must be sacrificed so they can revive, they abandoned the cause and became known as Deviants. Some are recovering from a recent attack from Thanos and some misguided Eternals. Druig is a corrupt little creep that managed to sneak his way into being Eternal Prime, and he wishes to wipe out the mutants to further his political standing. 

The next issue seems to imply that the Avengers know nothing of what the X-Men have been up to as of late so as these truths start popping up, it will cause a huge divide at a time that need to stand together to defend themselves against the Eternals. Seeing that the Eternals are also divided among themselves this could be one hell of a story.

I guess my only nitpicks are how cartoonishly easy and convenient it was to simply ask 'so how would you eradicate all mutantkind?' 'oh, with a huge bomb, which I just so happen to have right here'. Sheesh. Any sillier and I would have expected the bomb to blow up on Druig and Domo and leave them covered in soot. The only other odd detail is it looks like the small cameos of the characters back on Earth were drawn by another artist, and maybe that was the intention, but the art style looks a bit weird and it does clash with how everyone else is drawn. 

c'mon now Nightcrawler, you're just flexin', both literally and figuratively.

Looking forward to see where this goes though. I'm curious what will happen when more and more Eternals learn the truth behind their immortality and how it will affect them and Druig's plans. I do wonder if the X-Men clone lives count as mortal lives though. I mean, the X-Men aren't really immortal, they just have access to non-stop self-cloning to the likes that even Rick Sanchez would have said enough is enough. Guess we'll have to wait and see.