Scans_Daily

This week, the Age of X ended with the defeat of its motive force.

It also began in AoX: Universe #2, with the end of another legion's story: that of the mean and nasty fucked up Avengers and their run at Fortress X.

It's not hard to figure out if they took it down, or if they even lived, but the story is still a good one as alternate reality hero-to-antagonist recastings go.



When writer Simon Spurrier confirmed that it was Steve under the mask, and no one else, a lot of people cried foul: the Hulk, Jessica Drew, Iron Man, and Sue Storm, sure!

But Cap, no! No way would Steve countenance concentration camps and sterilization of the genetically different, no matter his circumstances.. right?

Well, #1 tried to explain why he would, using the Phoenix's blowup in Albany: " [She] snubbed surrender and razed Albany in an instant of cosmic rage.. and took with her two thousand of my fellow soldiers. "

#2 takes a similar tack, as the team breaks into Fortress X (with Jessica slitting an inattentive Pyro's throat) while General Frank Castle and the Hulk wait outside.

Doctor Banner's playing control over the headset, to Cap's irritation:



(Despite Tony being a techno-organic terror, they're still on a first name basis. How nice.)

As they make their way through the in-progress Fortress, tranqing all they meet, they also learn that.. Callisto's senses trump Sue's force fields.

So a melee begins.

(funny thing, considering Namor's presence at the Fortress? A lot of people wanted him to turn up in this, just so he could have a "What the hell, you guys?!" reaction to Steve and Sue.)

And Steve gives in to the exultation of battle:



(I think that's legitimate glee in the third panel, and petulance in the fourth.)

But now it's time for Steve and friends to see another side of those demonized..



(Sue, obviously, understands the plight of innocent mutant children.)

Naturally, such a visual pauses the Phalanx-infested man of iron, the killer who never spoke a word yet, the woman who sold her friends and family out, and the great soldier.

Sue's shaken in her belief that mutants need to be controlled: "These aren't military targets!"

Steve still holds on to his, though:



(Captain America using the "I was just following orders" defense, even to himself.. that's got to have annoyed someone.)

But then a dying Mystique lectures him: "..Anyone special and unpredictable and unique who you can't control.. where does it end, Captain Am.. amer.."

This leads Jessica to opine that "This is wrong", and for Tony to wonder "You have a voice?" in an economical little beat.

So finally, Steve Rogers does out, to the relief of many:



It's a bit pat, I have to say, turning Steve and friends around just because they saw some scared kids.. but I'm not yet sure there's any other way you could have swung it in 21 pages.

(And besides, if they weren't this decent, would Reaper have taken Cap?)

Of course, General Castle's been listening in via Tony, and he is not happy.

Frank activates an override in him, very nearly causing him to repulsor the kids, and all Steve can do is get him first (which Tony accepts: "Not me. Help them.").

General Castle is entirely nonplussed, though, breaking out a monologue:



(It's interesting to contrast Frank and Steve here; I'd never have thought the former to ever hold strong enough opinions about mutantkind's worth, but it's all in the world around, eh?)

From there, things proceed as expected: the remaining Avengers die stopping the Hulk (whose lack of redemption is understandable; why would this Banner forgive mutants for their role in his creation, really?) and Reaper takes a dying Cap in.

(I'm oddly amused at the speculation that any uncharacteristic competence that she had in AoX can be attributed to having Steve's skillset up in her..)

About the only loose end is Ghost Rider; guess Spurrier had a reason for not telling us much about him, which I have to say was very honest in retrospect.

(Though I do like to imagine two endings, in a sort of post-credit fashion; either him having just beat up Chamber and friends somewhere near the Grand Canyon, or a slightly perturbed Mephisto appearing to Jono: "Looking for a job?")

There's also a backup, featuring Dazzler and mutant hunter Stephen Strange: the twist is one you can see coming (though it does make me imagine Strange and Wong, somewhere down the road, doing that one scene from Schindler's List.. You know the one.)