All summer long, battle has raged on between the Avengers and The X-Men, and now, after this issue, there is only one book remaining in the main series. But what an ordeal to get through before the end!

The last issue didn’t impress me so much, even though I did enjoy parts of the battle between Cyclops and the Avengers, but the inadequacies of issue ten were more than made up for in issue eleven. In this latest installment of AvX, Captain America has regrouped his team, welcomed some X-Men to fight Cyclops alongside him, and formed a plan with Charles Xavier to try to stop Scott Summers once and for all.

While I loved the script written by Brian Michael Bendis, there were instances that Olivier Coipel’s panel placements were confusing to me. I had to read some pages a few different ways multiple times to really understand which order we were supposed to read them in. But after a while, the storytelling just took over and I was engulfed in Scott’s descent into madness.

Another thing that I was slightly bothered by was the lack of Hulk. This isn’t randomly coming out of nowhere, I assure you. In the first two pages, Captain America approached The Hulk in the middle of the desert and asked him to join the fight. But then after that, he was only seen in passing during the battle. It’s a little thing, but I wish that Hulk played a bigger role in the book considering that he got the introduction that he did. Bendis put the shotgun on the wall and never used it. As my teachers in school often reminded me, that’s a no-no in storytelling.

But aside from those small grievances, the final moments of the book were really what made this issue worthwhile. I don’t usually post **SPOILERS** in my reviews, but this is too big not to talk about. In the final pages of this issue, Cyclops, possessed by the dark powers of the Phoenix Force, attacks Emma Frost to gain her portion of the Phoenix and murders his mentor, Charles Xavier with a snap of his fingers!

The repercussions of this death are sure to reverberate throughout the entire Marvel Universe. Professor X is one of the most prominent figures in the world, and now that he’s gone, what could that mean for the X-Men, the remainder of mutantkind, and all of those who look to him for guidance.

Over the years, there were instances where Xavier has been MIA or presumed dead, but this one will be pretty hard to cover up or take back since Cyclops killed him in front of everyone. Maybe this will be one of those irreversible comic book deaths that definite a character, like Uncle Ben, Gwen Stacy, or Thomas and Martha Wayne. Or, which is probably more likely, they could find some way to bring Professor X back somewhere down the line. But as much as I love the character, for his students to grow from here on out, I’d like to see how things develop in a post-Xavier world especially for Scott Summers, who’s had such a storied history with Charles. After all, Scott was the very first student of the Xavier Institute. He was like the son that Xavier never had, and now he’s gone and killed the good professor.

From the promotional images for Marvel NOW, we know that Cyclops stays around, but in what condition will he be? How will he function as a hero when he has this on his conscience? I’m interested to see how this all plays out, especially after this powerful panel:

Although another battle has been ended, the war is not over yet. With one more issue of ‘Avengers Vs. X-Men’ left, we shall see what the best and brightest Marvel has to offer as things jump from AvX to Marvel NOW as the comic event of the summer comes to a close.

 

Final Score:

 

 

AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #11

Written By BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS

Art By OLIVIER COIPEL, MARK MORALES, & LAURA MARTIN

Cover By JIM CHEUNG & JUSTIN PONSOR