Editorial: X-Men vs The Avengers

       At Comic-Con a comment was made that the Guardians of The Galaxy could in fact take the Avengers.  This got me thinking; just who is the strongest team of film supereroes?  The more I thought about it I realized it ultimately came down to two teams, Disney/Marvel's Avengers and Fox/Marvel's X-Men (DC needs to step it up and release Justice League already).  So after examining the powers and rosters of the teams in the movie I hope to finally put this question to rest.

X-Men

       First up we have the X-Men, if you count the First Class team there are 3 different X-teams to grace the silver screen (More if you include the TV movies).  But for this fight I'm going with the original roster simply because they have experience and the more powerful roster for this bout.  At their peak the team includes Cyclops, Jean Grey, Storm, Wolverine, Rogue, Beast, Colossus, Angel, Shadowcat, and Iceman.  So a few more members than the Avengers.  A few members didn't make the cut based on the fact they never officially joined the team, so they aren't included.

Pros

       The obvious advantage this team has is numbers, with a roster of 9 field members they are the largest superhero team on film that I can think of.  Another plus they have is how well they work together, considering the Xavier institute is a school many of these guys have worked together since childhood and know how to complement each other in battle.  The last big advantage is the diversity of powers they have, not one member doubles up on powers making each member unique.

Cons

       Even with the teams incredible powers, they still can be taken down one at a time if outmatched.  Another downside is that the public is against mutants, not a huge deal in a fight, but when fighting a team like the Avengers the public opinion may need to be considered.  The X-Men are also all still human.  Meaning they have human limits and can still be killed by conventional weapons.

Avengers

       The Avengers are the product of 4 years of  build up, and they certainly didn't disappoint.  The roster is Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Hulk.  A group brought together by a shadow organization to fight the treats ordinary people simply weren't equip to handle.  For the sake of this battle we will take everyone at the point they are at now, so Iron Man through Iron Man 3.

Pros

       Perhaps the biggest advantage the Avengers have is that they are resilient, able to overcome incredible odds simply by refusing to give up.  Another advantage they have is the power levels of the members, unlike the X-Men some of the Avengers are borderline unstoppable.  The next major advantage they have is training; half of the Avengers have military training that is vastly superior to anything Xavier's Danger Room can cook up, and Thor was raised fighting giants and monsters across the 9 realms.  Lastly the Avengers have the backing of SHIELD, meaning resources, technology, and even backup if needed.

Cons

       The biggest con the Avengers have is that they spend little time acting as a team and usually do things their own way, the best example being Iron Man.  Also because of the SHIELD overview the Avengers have a bit of a trust issue.

The Fight

       Against each other we start with who has the best leadership, in this case I believe Captain America can out strategize Cyclops,  partly due to the numbers being easier to control with a smaller team, but also because Captain America has military training and a super soldier formula allowing him to process information faster than Cyclops.  But this won't have a huge effect on the fight until later on.

       Next we move on to heavy hitters.  The Avengers have Thor and Hulk, both of which are incredibly powerful, however Rogue provides a bit of a wildcard, in the films she can take abilities and memories of those she touches, does this transfer affect non-mutants?  I don't know but for the sake of an epic fight I say yes.  So Rouge ends up Hulking out early on in the battle, taking Hulk out of the fight.

       Because a nullifier does exist in cannon for mutant powers SHIELD would have access to it, the problem being how close you have to be in order for it to work, but Hawkeye's arrows would be perfect for getting the "Cure" into the X-Men, this would take at least 1 X-Men down, probably the untrained Angel, evening the score.  Of course this won't work more than once.

       After one loss on each side Cap will try for a shock and awe by taking the X-Men's big gun Wolverine.  As the movies have shown he can't be stopped, but he can be restrained or taken off the board.  Add the fact his bones are laced with metal all that needs to be done is Thor hits him, really hard, into a large body of water.  Then Cap moves on to the next target, the hulked out Rogue and has Iron Man fight her.  Because there is no skin to touch Iron Man is able to get in close with a Hulkbuster armor (or whatever the equivalent is in his movie armory) and simply wear her out until the Hulk powers wear off, then incapacitates her.

       Cyclops, seeing the fight being lost then has the X-Men pair off with an enemy to divide and conquer, like in every other X-Men film and  Storm battles Thor, Iceman is up against Hawkeye, Colossus battles Hulk, Shadowcat fights Black Widow, Cyclops battles Captain America, and Iron Man fights Beast.

       Thor easily is able to best Storm, and is a little insulted she claims to control the thunder.

       Black Widow's superior fighting skills allow her to out maneuver Shadowcat until she makes a mistake, Black Widow wins her fight.

       Colossus battles Hulk to a standstill, but as time goes on Colossus simply isn't able to keep up with the relentless attack from Hulk and is defeated from exhaustion.

       Iceman fares better, able to keep the fight at a distance Hawkeye is unable to get an arrow past the Ice barrage.  Eventually he runs out of arrows and Iceman is able to beat him.

       Iron Man's armor proves to strong for Beast to penetrate, and even with his heightened abilities he is unable to beat him.

       As for the leaders, Cyclops is trying to keep the fight at a distance with his optic blasts, but Caps shield is protecting him.  He slowly moves in closer until a hand to hand fight breaks out.  Doe to his increased physical strength and training Cap is able to incapacitate Cyclops.

       Seeing his entire team defeated Iceman surrenders to the Avengers knowing he can't take them all.

       Meanwhile as the fighting has been going on Jean's powers have been causing problems for herself.  Unable to hold back anymore she becomes the Phoenix.  The Avengers prove to be no match for her and call in support.  Tony analyses the Phoenix and comes up with a way to beat her.  SHIELD support arrives armed with Destroyer and Chitauri guns (See Item 47 short).  Seeing no other option Cap recruits all non-incapacitated X-Man into the Avengers for support.  The Avengers distract Phoenix as Thor and Hulk move in with a cure arrow, unable to focus on the more immediate threat the plan works and Phoenix is "cured".  Victory goes to the Avengers.

Final word

       I know some will disagree with my choice of winner, but honestly I feel that the Avengers simply have more powerful members, at least in the movies.  But please feel free to leave your comments below.

Comic Reviews: Avengers vs X-Men

       This last summer Marvel did an event that many fans, myself included wanted to see, with a premiss that can be enjoyed by Avengers fans...not so much for the X-fans out there.  Quick warning, as with all of my reviews I will spoil some major elements.  Without further a due, lets dive into this event and tear it apart.

Plot

       The plot here is simple, the Phoenix force is back, this time for Hope Summers, and the Avengers want to protect her and stop the Phoenix.  Cyclops on the other hand, wants nothing to do with this.  He believes the Phoenix force is here to recreate the Earth in the mutant image.  This inevitably ends with a grudge match between the two groups.
     
        Being a child of the 90s, I know that whenever the Phoenix shows up, it never ends well, so you would think that the X-Men, who have relearned this lesson over and over again, would be all for protecting the mutant messiah and stopping the most dangerous being ever.  This is where the problem starts, it is hard to side with Cyclops when he is being retarded like this.  Granted I've personally never been a fan of Cyclops, but here I don't even get the change to see his side of things.  In fact halfway through the event Cyclops himself gains the Phoenix force and goes about threatening the world with it.  Then at the end he even kills his former mentor Charles Xavier.

       Personally I feel that the X-Men events of the past few years has led up to this, the death of Jean Grey, the devastation of the mutant race, the forming of X-Force, the creation of Utopia, The Schism, all of this has established Cyclops going down a dark road, one similar to the one Magneto took years ago.  This all ends with the logical conclusion, Cyclops is now the villain.  Though personally I feel he started down this road a bit earlier, when he chose to cheat on the epitome of good within the X-Men, Jean, with the plastic bimbo that is Emma Frost.

       As for the Avengers, Captain America is my all time favorite superhero, so naturally I'm gonna side with him in any argument.  From the first issue Hope is willing to go with them, but Cyclops keeps fighting it and tells Cap to "Get the hell off his island."  Cyclops even makes the first attack.  The Avengers spend the first arc of the event trying to reason with Cyclops and stop the Phoenix, once this proves futile and the Phoenix is divided amongst five of the X-Men, The Avengers are in hiding, training Hope to fight the Phoenix, and making strategic attacks on the "Phoenix Five", taking them out one at a time.

Characters

       As mentioned, the fight is between the Avengers and the X-Men, but who are the major players of these teams.  The main series, which is what I'm focusing on, has a relatively small cast.  The X-Men is basically the Phoenix Five, five members who the Phoenix divided its power into, they are Cyclops, Emma Frost, Namor, Magik, and Colossus.  The Phoenix force is slowly driving them crazy and eventually this leads to the involvement of other members who are actually on the side of the Avengers, like Xavier, Magneto, and basically everyone else.

       The Avengers are of course led by Captain America, Iron Man is trying to find a way to stop the Phoenix, Scarlet Witch who can actually harm the Phoenix, and Iron Fist, who is training Hope and providing a temporary HQ for the group.

       Other characters are involved, but to a lesser extent, although Spider-Man does defeat 2 members of the Phoenix Five on his own.  I feel this works well because having too many characters can take away from the story, sure there are side stories that give other characters the spotlight, but they don't contribute too much to the story here. 

My views

       Because I am a product of the 90s, I was a huge fan of the X-men, the cartoons, the movies, the video games, but I could never fully enjoy the comics for some reason.  Thus any event that puts them front and center, but not the only spotlight, I'm gonna enjoy.  Also this is a fight that I've been wanting for years.  My issues with this event stem from the X-Men, they're simply overpowered.  I know this is a plot point, but even without the Phoenix charging them up they seem to have little to no problem taking the Avengers.  In fact at one point Colossus' kid sister out-magics Doctor Strange himself. 

       Though honestly I do enjoy watching a hero that I've never liked crack under pressure and go evil, in this case Cyclops became obsessed with saving the mutant race, in the Ultimate series Mr. Fantastic loses his tether to humanity, these stories are great, and usually way better than when its the other way around.  Ultimately though, Marvel's events are what shapes the comics for the coming year, then a new event happens and the cycle repeats itself.  Thus the real gauge of how an event is depends on what happens next, with Cyclops gone many of his supporters are now criminals, Cyclops mentioned the Avengers never really cared about the mutants, so now there is an Avengers team that is half mutant, Xavier is dead, so now Wolverine is the new advocate for mutant peace.  Personally, I kinda like where this is going.  Thus I'm giving this event a B+.

       Disagree with me?  Have a question, comment, or opinion?  feel free to post it in the comment section, it may even change my views on some things.