Now that the big brawl is over, it seems like the real fun is going to begin. I really enjoyed this issue of Avengers vs. X-Men, as the story moves from the rather sudden, impromptu fight of last issue to some downtime that raises the pacing of the series even higher. I’m glad that this series isn’t just going to be a big brawl to end it all, because that would have become real boring real fast. Instead it seems there’s going to be more to Avengers vs. X-Men than just fight scenes. This issue contains strong dialogue, some excellent character moments and what I consider to be a real exciting shift forward.

AvX #3

And with Captain America’s actions this issue, I’m confident that siding with the X-Men is the right call. Cap kind of crosses a few lines here. He almost seems out of character.

Comic rating: 4/5: Good!

This issue starts with some great dialogue between Captain America and Iron Man as they try to assess the consequences of their actions. I really liked how it felt, especially coming from Iron Man. Then the X-Men pull a fantastic twist, and the story jumps into a whole new gear. This series is 12 issues long and now I have no idea what to expect. Avengers vs. X-Men is definitely keeping my attention, though the issue doesn’t end as strongly as it started. Still, I like what I’m seeing. The story is told very clearly, the events are ramping up and getting more exciting and I don’t feel lost when it comes to the central conflict. This event feels as important as it should feel.

Even though some of the individual players are a little off, it still makes sense for these two heroic teams to come to blows. And best yet: I don’t have any complaints about the art this issue! So we’re looking at another solid chapter of Avengers vs. X-Men. Nothing to blow me out of the water with excitement yet, but maybe we’re getting there.

We open with the charred husk of Wolverine, because why not? Everybody loves it when Wolverine is just a naked, burned up chunk of a man, screaming and writhing in all manner of pain, right? He got torched by the Phoenix-empowered Hope last issue, and only now is he finally recovering enough to be conscious. Spider-Man is standing by with a helpful quip and some clothes. It seems Wolverine is going to be the focus of this Ed Brubaker-scripted issue.

Spidey also fills us in that Cyclops and the X-Men surrendered to Captain America and the Avengers after Hope fled Utopia. Why we didn’t get to see that scene on panel, who knows. That sounds like it would have been a pretty important scene. The surrender doesn’t sit right with Wolverine, nor does it sit right with Iron Man. Because as the armored Avenger points out, what the heck are they supposed to do with the X-Men? The Avengers started the fight, came to X-Men’s turf. Does Captain America have some big prison to hold all the X-Men in?

Cyclops’ cunning strategy: losing

Cap insists that he’s trying to save the world, and Iron Man reminds him of a little event called Civil War. Iron Man once said some very similar things to Cap, but back then Cap was on the other side. I really liked this small scene between the top two Avengers. It adds a bit of depth to the two, and fleshes out what this whole conflict means in the larger Marvel Universe. It was a good character moment.

Wolverine and Spider-Man show up, and Wolverine knows that something is wrong. Sure enough, Magik was pretending to be Doctor Strange. And when Wolverine sees through the deception, the X-Men have Magik teleport them out of Avengers’ custody. Although now that I think about it, I’m not sure what they were waiting for…unless they were waiting for Magik to get into position.

Smell ya later

The X-Men teleport to Long Beach and begin their search for Hope. They need Cerebra to find her, but the only working Cerebra is at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. Not a problem, Cyclops says, because he knows someone on the inside who might help.

Speaking of Hope, she’s in San Francisco, building a device that will shield her from any mutant tracking systems. She was raised to be a hi tech solider, after all. I guess she plans to tackle this problem on her own. Fair enough. As I’ve said before, I have no particular interest in Hope as a character, so I don’t particularly care about her scenes. She makes a nice Macguffin though.

The Avengers, meanwhile, have regrouped at Stark Tower in Manhattan. Wolverine gets on the video phone with Rachel Grey back at his school, who has been using Cerebra to try and track Hope. Nothing is mentioned about how Rachel has been the host of the Phoenix before without the world blowing up. I’m not sure how Marvel is dealing with this fact, other than straight up ignoring it. Anyway, according to Cerebra, Hope is giving off five different energy signatures – probably due to her fancy device. Rachel expresses some hesitation, and Wolverine asks if there’s a problem with her doing as she’s told. Captain America quickly steps in and thanks Rachel for her service, ending the call. Wolverine is a little pissed.

Captain America is in charge of ALL the people!

I like the simmering tension there, and the fact that the X-Men at the school might be a whole different faction in this fight. They’re supposed to be Wolverine’s ‘people’, and therefore on the Avengers’ side. But we know based on other tie-ins that the Avengers are going to attack the school. What’s up with that?

Anyway, it’s revealed that Rachel is Cyclops’ mole, and she feeds him the same information on Hope’s whereabouts. Or maybe she gives Cyclops the correct information, and what she told Wolverine was a lie. It’s not very clear.

Then we get a big panel of the Avengers getting dispatched to those five locations.

What’s with the Thing standing away from the group? Does he smell, or something?

I just find this kind of silly. Do they really think Hope has gone to one of those five locations? Five of the most famous places in the Marvel Universe? Nobody thinks it might be a trick that Hope might be in Latveria? And Spider-Man and Spider-Woman are expected to search all of Latveria? Just fly into Doctor Doom’s sovereign country and start poking around? And what would Hope be doing in the Savage Land? I dunno, I would think that someone on this team would recognize how silly this goose chase suddenly sounds.

Anyway, the Avengers split up and we follow Captain America and Wolverine in one of the Quinjets. Captain America asks to speak to Wolverine alone for a moment, and they find a quiet place on the Quinjet to talk angrily to one another. The area is bathed in red lights, which I guess makes some sense on a plane, but it just looks silly to have the whole rest of the comic bathed in red light.

Captain America basically states that he doesn’t trust Wolverine to follow orders, especially not when it’s clear that Wolverine just wants to kill Hope. Cap says that’s not going to happen, and Wolverine yells at him that everybody’s going to die if they don’ t kill the girl!

The Captain America makes the choice that guarantees, in my mind, that he’s going too far.

Punching is all that Cap knows

Fight! Fight! Fight! So we finally get a fight that lasts more than a panel in this series, as Wolverine and Captain America duke it out over the course of several pages. It’s a pretty badass fight too, drawn with skill by John Romita Jr. Strangely, Wolverine seems to be going for some definite killshots with his claws. What’s up with that? Was he going to kill Captain America? Still, awesome fight. Until Captain America reveals the ace up his sleeve.

Namely, Giant-Man.

Surprise!

Captain America then opens a door on the Quinjet and they kick Wolverine out. He crashes somewhere in a snowy climate, probably Antarctica. Cap then orders the jet to continue to the Savage Land, and I wince at remembering how much time the Avengers wasted in the Savage Land in the middle of Secret Invasion. I pray this isn’t the same case, because I highly doubt Hope is in the Savage Land. I don’t want several issues of Captain America and Giant-Man getting lost in the Savage Land for absolutely no reason just to pad the series out some more. I suppose we’ll see.

But do you see why I think Cap is making some pretty wild decisions here? Captain America doesn’t seem to mind who he has to cut down or go through to get the girl. What’s he going to do with Hope once he gets her into custody? Does he have some kind of Phoenix-proof prison cell he can stash Hope in forever? What’s Cap’s endgame here? And why’s he so willing to take down the X-men and alienate Wolverine to make it happen?

Anyway, Wolverine is pissed.

Now doesn’t this look a little familiar…

And that ends the issue.

I’m glad we didn’t spend too many issues dealing with the big fight on Utopia. The shift now to searching for Hope, the two teams competing instead of fighting, is a good one. They need to keep the story going and pace it well, and I hope we’re not in for 9 issues of padding and filler. As I mentioned before, Secret Invasion was absolutely terrible in that it spent more than half the series with the Avengers on a wild goose chase to the Savage Land for absolutely no reason. I hope we don’t have to slog through multiple issues of everybody not finding Hope. And strangely, there were no appearances of the actual Phoenix this issue.

Anyway, I’m definitely still on the side of the X-Men. They just want to find and take care of Hope to prepare her for what’s going to happen. Whereas Captain America doesn’t seem to have an end game in mind, at least he hasn’t shared it with us. But he’s gladly and almost eagerly cutting down his friends to reach it. Cap clearly knew from the moment he got on that Quinjet that he was going to just ditch Wolverine in the Antarctic. In fact he seems to have discussed it in advance with Sharon Carter. I’m pretty sure that Captain America would be a little more open to diplomacy than this.

Still, it was another good  issue. The story is moving at a nice pace, the conflict between the Avengers and the X-Men still feels real and the art is improving. I would like a bit more depth, and maybe a bit more focus on individual characters, but that’s probably what the tie-ins are for. Maybe I should start reading more of them.