1987 - X-Men vs Avengers Revisited (Part 4 - Wrapping it all up...)

Well, it's not hard to see how different this miniseries might have been. Interestingly, it must have been re-written at some point by Stern to reflect the way the series actually turned out. Obviously, from an editor point of view, Mark Gruenwald, he wanted this to be more of a character piece focusing on Magneto rather than the event it was billed up to be. Personally, an all-out battle miniseries would have been great. This miniseries almost needed to be renamed to properly fit its story and theme.

Stern's actual plot for issue #4 is also included in X-Men vs Avengers Marvel Premiere Edition. His plot is quite similar and seems to add more reluctance from Magneto which does line up with Magneto's story arc over the next few years as he becomes the School Master for Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngersters.

Here's a couple of pieces of original art featuring Marc Silvestri's pencils:

1987 - X-Men vs Avengers Revisited (Part 3)

X-Men vs Avengers #4 (original plot outline by Roger Stern)

Mandarin has the X-Men helpless…basically holding them hostage to convince Magneto to throw in with him. Mandarin has assembled some truly world shaking devices from the remains of Magneto’s old headquarters, but he needs Magneto to make them work effectively. Magneto reluctantly agrees.

The Avengers with some help from the Super-Soldiers launch an attack against the Mandarin’s fortress stronghold. Mandarin throws the kitchen sink at them, besides the Titanium Man, the Crimson Dynamo is also secretly in his employ…and he has the X-Men mesmerized by the power of his rings as well.

The Avengers make mincemeat of the stuff the Mandarin throws at them in a BIG DEAL battle. Magneto takes advantage of this to release the X-Men from the Mandarin’s hold and start turning the tables on the Mandarin. But, from the looks of things, magneto could be intending to use the equipment (which he was so hot to recover, remember) to do a little world shaking himself. Any such intent on Magneto’s part is thwarted by a counter-attack of the Mandarin, amid all the confusion of the battling Avengers and X-Men.

Mandarin and Magneto apparently perish in an explosion which levels the Mandarin’s fortress. Avengers (with Super-Soldiers) and X-Men are left declaring a truce. Avengers are able to point out that Magneto was apparently going to use his equipment to do bad nastiness…X-Men stand up for Magneto, but privately they have many worrying doubts. After the Soviets depart, the Avengers also express doubts that Magneto and Mandarin actually perished (Mandarin had used teleportation after all)…Avengers tell the X_men that if magneto does live, and if they ever get wind that he’s operating with them, they’ll cover after the X-Men again! Cap and the others are determined to see to it that a fugitive from justice such as Magneto go to trial and – if found guilty – pay for his crimes! They hammer home the point to the X-Men that until Magneto faces justice, there is little chance of ever ending the world’s anti-mutant hysteria!

1987 - X-Men vs Avengers Revisited (Part 2)

Here are Roger Stern's original plot summaries for the X-Men vs Avengers #2 & 3 from 1987. The Thor vs Magneto battle in issue #3 would have been amazing, especially drawn by a young Marc Silvestri.

Issue #2

An Avengers Quinjet streaks high over the island…aboard are Black Knight, Captain America, Thor and She-Hulk. They confer on their missions, filling in on how Captain Marvel and Doctor Druid slipped into Kampuchea to check out one of the squads of X-Men, looking for Magneto. The decision has been made as to who is checking out what. Thor and the Black Knight (on his atomic steed) take off for a possible location in Australia…Cap and the She-Hulk descend in the Quinjet into the wilderness of Java.

The Crimson Dynamo and Major Ursus are already searching in the area and the Dynamo gets a fix on the Quinjet. The Dynamo relays word of this to Gremlin, who is manning a distant communications center. Gremlin communicates with Vanguard and Darkstar, who have situation under control in Kampuchea with Wolverine and Dazzler as well as Captain Marvel and Doctor Druid their prisoners (or so they think). No sooner has Vanguard broken contact with the Gremlin than there’s a major dust-up with the two Avengers.

Wolverine and Dazzler manage to escape… they finally locate their chunk of Magneto’s asteroid. But no sooner do they find the thing than they and the asteroid fragment vanish! (Actually, they’re spirited away by the Mandarin who is a secret mastermind behind the scenes.)

Meanwhile in the jugles of Java, Cap and She-Hulk get caught up in battle with Storm and Rogue…and with the Crimson Dynamo and Major Ursus…at the second asteroid impact site. Once again, fragment and mutants mysteriously vanish.

Issue #3

On the great sandy desert of Australia, Havok and Magneto are in the process of unearthing the last of the asteroid fragments (a BIG chunk, complete with part of Magneto’s old orbital headquarters when Thor and the Black Knight close in on them. big battle erupts.

Meanwhile the Gremlin knows that something is very wrong. The mutant X-Men have been mysteriously vanishing and he is certain that somone’s been capturing them via some form of teleportation. He communicates his suspicions to his Super-Soldiers and through them to the Avengers.

Back in the desert, Thor goes one-on-one with Magneto in pitched battle…a real knock-down, drag-out fight between Thor and the “World’s Most Powerful Super-Villain!” Much to Thor’s surprise, the Titanium Man shows up …and assists Magneto against Thor. While Thor is temporarily at a disadvantage, Titanium Man suddenly turns on Magneto and knocks him out. Then, Titanium Man, Magneto, and the final asteroid fragment all vanish.

Avengers and Super-Soldiers regroup, discovering through Gremlin’s help that the mandarin is behind all this. And if Mandarin wanted the mutants and Magneto’s stuff that badly, it can’t be for any good purpose…they have to go into China and settle this!

1987 - X-Men vs Avengers Revisited

Here's a follow up to an earlier post on the X-Men Vs Avengers miniseries:
http://marvel1980s.blogspot.com/2009/05/1987-x-men-versus-avengers.html

I finally picked a copy of the Marvel Premiere Edition of the X-Men Vs Avengers miniseries. I was reluctant to pick this hardcover up since I already owned the floppies and since I know it wasn't the story that writer Roger Stern had envisioned. Fortunately I did pick it up as it had Stern's original plot summary by issue and a few pages of script for his version of issue #4.

So for those of you who haven't picked this hardcover yet, I'll be posting Stern's plot summary, issue by issue. Roger Stern’s plot was revamped obviously as his resolution didn’t fit with the plans of the X-Office at that time as they were attempting to redeem Magneto as they prepped him to take over the X-Men and the School.

The X-Men VS. The Avengers #1

We open with the X-Men meeting secretly in Singapore with Magneto. Magneto briefly outlines the situation: he’s traced chucks of his old asteroid headquarters to three impact sites in the Southeast Asia/Australia area. Magneto tells the X-Men there could be dangerous stuff in those chunks, and he needs their help to find out if that’s the case and take appropriate action. The meeting is observed by CIA agents. As the agents are transmitting their report, they’re ambushed by a second group of spies. [These are presumable KGB agents, but at least some are in the service of the Mandarin.

 

Cut to an Air Force jet being escorted down to a landing at the Avengers’ new Hydrobase headquarters by Thor & Captain Marvel. An intelligence officer briefs the Avengers on the X-Men/Magneto connection. There’s division and in-fighting among the US intelligence community, but a consensus of factions wants to see Magneto apprehended and returned to the World Court for trial (in hopes of easing anti-mutant hysteria). However, the CIA knows that the Soviets undoubtedly have the same information on Magneto’s whereabouts that they have…and the Soviets understandable want Magneto dead. The catch is that neither the US nor the Soviets know at which one of three possible locations Magneto might be. US intelligence is asking the Avengers to find and apprehend Magneto before the Soviets track him down and kill him.

 

Cut to a remote section of Siberia, where the Crimson Dynamo rockets through a raging blizzard. The Dynamo is shot down by a blast of black energy…he crashes. As the Dynamo struggles to get to his feet, he finds himself surrounded by the Soviet Super Soldiers…they’re not happy to see him. Dynamo kowtows a little, says he knows they have an uneasy truce with the State, but appeals to them to help “in the apprehension of the terrorist-murderer Magneto!”

 

Cut to Wolverine and Dazzler stalking through the jungles of Kampuchea. They’ve been searching for days for the impact site of one of the chunks of Magneto’s asteroid. Wolverine picks up a scent and goes on ahead to check it out…as he closes in on the scent, its source seems to vanish…then it’s behind him. It’s Captain Marvel turning from energy to physical and back again to lure him away from Dazzler, who is being stalked by Doctor Druid. Battle erupts between the two mutants and the two Avengers…Avengers k.o. the mutants. Captain Marvel and Doctor Druid have the two X-Men bound and are bringing them around to consciousness for questioning when Druid sense the approach of others. He goes off to investigate…but is swiftly sent flying. And the Avengers and mutants are swiftly surrounded by a squad of elite Kampuchean army regulars led by Darkstar and Vanguard, declaring them all under arrest as enemies of the state.

Issue #2 tommorrow...

1984 - Best 10 Books

From Amazing Heroes #63 – Best 10 Books of 1984 by R.A. Jones

1 – Swamp Thing

2 – Jon Sable

3 – American Flagg

4 – Teen Titans

5 – Fantastic Four

6 – X-Men

7 – Blue Devil

8 – Atari Force

9 – Dr. Strange

10 – Power Pack

If you collected comics in 1984, which ones were you picking up…

I was a little late to the game on Swamp Thing and would pick up Moore’s amazing run through trade paperbacks. I couldn’t get into Sable and Flagg at that age. I was picking up Teen Titans, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Dr. Strange. Picked up a few issues of Power Pack, but was never into the young kids point-of-view. And I loved the early issues of Blue Devil. It had a fun 1980s storyline with loads of crossovers and wonderful art.

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day to all my neighbors to the south!

1984 - Avengers East & West

Cool print of the Avengers East & West by Bob Hall and Allen Milgrom. I believe this was made into a poster in the mid-1980s.