When All-New X-Men #11 came to a close, it promised what looked to be an epic fight between The Uncanny Avengers and the All-New X-Men as Havok’s team had just knocked the students’ blackbird out of the sky. Are we going to be seeing the opening rounds of a new AVX story line? Read on, true believers, to learn more about what Captain America has in store for Wolverine’s newest students!

First off don’t be fooled by the covers. There is no epic Havok vs Cyclops rematch in this issue nor is there any hint at a return of The Phoenix. Right off the bat we see Wolverine and Captain America in a shouting match with one another about what’s going on. It seems to be an increasing trend between the two, but one with no actual ill consequences as when they aren’t shouting, they do get along. The real meat of the story, though, is threefold and the first act is right as we see Cap’s newest mutant poster child for the world, Havok, step forward and talk to the younger version of his brother.

The entire scene plays out beautifully. It’s clearly the reunion with his brother that Havok wanted to have when he came home and the amazement on Cyclops’s face to know that his flesh and blood is still alive was priceless. While it’s a single reunion, it honestly feels like two as they are both looking to reconnect with their brother from different times and views. It’s offsetting but timed perfectly and I enjoyed every moment of it!

Not only that, but the non-focused-on characters had little phrases all slip out of their mouths in the background. Both Avengers and X-Men alike had some great catchphrase-ish moments that were perfectly done in the voice of the characters. While there were clearly foreground and background characters in the issue, it felt right to have the these characters addressed and not ignored.

Of course an issue of the X-Men can’t all be buddy buddy. While there, Jean decides to take a peak into the minds of those who have brought down their plane, and when she gets to the Scarlet Witch’s, all hell breaks loose. Apparently, all that is on Wanda’s mind is one little phrase that anyone familiar with the X-Men universe the past few years knows all too well, “no more mutants.”

When Jean sees what Wanda has done, she launches an all out attack. It’s no matter that Wanda is an Avenger. It’s no matter that the thoughts in her mind are full of self loathing. Wanda helped nearly destroy the mutant cause and Jean can’t fight back her disgust and hatred of it. Fortunately Wanda can give as good as she gets and puts things to rest though the All-New X-Men appear to be a little miffed that there is a former member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants on The Avengers team and that she was responsible for nearly wiping out mutant kind.

While not much else comes from it here, I can see that being a sore issue that comes up again in the near future. Still The Avengers were here for a reason and it was to question them about Mystique’s recent robbery spree where they all appeared to be involved. When it was clear that they weren’t, we have two things set in motion.

On the one hand we see Mystique’s crew figuring out she isn’t planning on just stealing money to retire in style, but has an ulterior motive. We may not yet know what it is though that is clearly going to come up soon. The second piece put into motion is Wolverine taking the All-New X-Men to track down Mystique with the goal of teaching her the lesson that crime doesn’t pay.

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Stuart Immonen