So what the heck is Marvel going to do now that Avengers vs. X-Men is over? It sold incredibly well, and definitely got a lot of mileage out of the hero vs. hero concept. Marvel pretty much struck gold! No doubt they want to capture that same magic again. Because if the entertainment industry has taught us anything, it’s that if one thing is popular, then repeating that thing over and over again will be just as popular! How else do you think we get most movie sequels?

But what can Marvel do next after Avengers vs. X-Men?

The only AvX battle that really mattered

I don’t know about you, but I liked Avengers vs. X-Men. It was action-packed and had a lot of neat, complicated character growth, even if the whole thing was a little bloated. But it was big in scope, and really took the characters on an epic, world-saving adventure. If Marvel is hoping that lightning strikes twice in the same place, I have a few suggestions for them.

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6. Young Avengers vs. Young X-Men

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If it was good enough for the main teams, then it should be dynamite for the junior, knock-off kiddie versions, right? Because if there’s one thing Marvel Comics loves, it’s the prolific use of adjectives to stretch a franchise as far as it’ll go. But we’re not talking the Muppet Babies here. The Young Avengers are a very popular off and on series starring a group of super-powered teens who modeled themselves after the Avengers. Patriot, Wiccan, Hulkling and the rest quickly became major players in the superhero biz. The Young X-Men, on the other hand, were a desperate attempt to throw a bunch of also-ran teenage mutants into a comic and hope for sales. It was mercifully cancelled within a year, and the characters spread back into the general teenage mutant ether. Now is the perfect time for these two sides to do battle!

The Winner: Young Avengers!

After a lot of teenage navel-gazing about having what it takes to be a hero, the two teams decide to settle the matter with a prom. But since none of the girls will go out with Rockslide, he decides to raise a fuss, but is promptly put in his place by Wiccan and Hulking, both elected prom king.

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5. Masters of Evil vs. Brotherhood of Evil Mutants

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When hero battles hero, what the heck are their villains getting up to? Were all the bad guys just on vacation while the Avengers were battling the X-Men? Or maybe they were getting into a scuffle all their own! The Masters of Evil and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants are both longtime villain teams for the Avengers and X-Men respectively, and neither one seems to understand the liability of putting the word ‘evil’ right in their name. Especially the Brotherhood, which was fighting Magneto’s fight for mutant superiority, which they didn’t actually view as ‘evil’. Semantics aside, both teams have had a myriad of members over the years, from Baron Zemo, the Grey Gargoyle and the Enchantress to Blob, Avalanche and Mystique.

The Winner: Masters of Evil!

The two teams are pretty matched as they duke it out over who is more evil than the other. Blob sits on Tiger Shark. Whirlwind flattens the Toad. Mystique and Enchantress enjoy a hearty catfight. But the Masters of Evil pull out the win with assistance from the Thunderbolts (former Masters of Evil members now posing as superheroes). It pays to have backup.

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4. Wrecking Crew vs. Damage Control

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One is a group of bad guys using construction-themed villainy, like the Wrecker and Bulldozer. The other is the construction company that cleans up New York after all those big superhero brawls, some with powers and some just regular, blue collar workers. The Wrecking Crew are perennial jobbers, always good to throw into a story when the hero needs an easy win. Damage Control has had a few short-lived series in the past, playing up a very unique and fun idea that answers an age-old question in superhero comics: who cleans up the mess?

The Winner: Damage Control!

Leave out the fact that the Wrecking Crew never wins, they could at least mop up the floor with the workers of Damage Control, few of whom have actual super powers. Perhaps Wrecking Crew tries to get the workers at Damage Control to join them in a damage-for-hire scam, but the good people at Damage Control don’t go for those kinds of shenanigans. And they get their faces knocked in for that decision. But in the end, it would be Damage Control cleaning up the mess anyway, and that’s good for their bottom line. They probably made a killing with Avengers vs. X-Men. What, too soon?

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3. Nova Corps vs. Captain Britain Corps

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One is an intergalactic police force dressed in gold and blue armor. The other is an interdimensional police force dressed in the Union Jack. So we’d basically have two large armies of nearly identical cops battling each other for some reason! I don’t know why they would fight, though. Maybe some kind of macguffin? Those usually help. Nova was a Peter Parker-esque hero created in the 1970s, a down on his luck everyman who got drafted into the intergalactic Nova Corps. Captain Britain was basically just Captain America for the Brits in the 1970s, until a few legendary writers (including Alan Moore, writer of Watchmen) got their hands on him and declared that Captain Britain is much, much more.

Marvel adheres to the multiverse theory, that there are countless different alternate realities out there, similar to our own. And in each of those realities exists a Captain Britain, who defends that world’s Great Britain. And it was decided that all of these Captain Britains know each other and hang out, sworn to protect their own Britains and the multiverse as a whole. And who leads the Captain Britain Corps? Why, the wizard Merlin, of course. Because hells yeah!

The Winner: Nova Corps!

The Captain Britain Corps may have access to Merlin, but there is only one Captain Britain per dimension – but that means the entire Nova Corps likely exists in each of those dimensions. So after some space anomaly causes these two mighty agencies to do battle, Rich Ryder (Nova of Earth) is able to unite all of the different Nova Corps from all of the different dimensions to completely overwhelm and outnumber the Captain Britain Corps. Done and done.

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2. Defenders vs. Champions

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The Defenders and the Champions are the also-rans of the superhero world. When putting Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and Captain America on a team together proved to be such a winning success for the Avengers, Marvel decided to try again…and again…and again. The Defenders came first in 1971, when Marvel put together Doctor Strange, Prince Namor, the Hulk and Silver Surfer, with a few nobodies like Hellcat and Nighthawk. The Champions came later in 1975, starring Iceman, Angel, Ghost Rider, Hercules and Black Widow. Both teams were essentially just about a random assortment of superheroes teaming up together, though neither team had the staying power of the Avengers. Of the two, the Defenders has had the most success, getting rebooted and relaunched every few years. The Champions, however, fell apart after their first team, and I don’t think Marvel even owns the right to the name anymore.

The Winner: The Defenders!

When the Incredible Hulk threatens to destroy downtown Las Vegas, only the reunited Champions (for some reason) stand in his way. But when the freakin’ Incredible Hulk is backed up by the likes of Silver Surfer, Namor and Doctor “Sorcerer Supreme” Strange, it doesn’t take long before Iceman and Nighthawk are squished under foot.

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1. Great Lakes Avengers vs. X-Statix

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Why hasn’t anyone made this parody comic yet? All of the members of X-Statix might be dead, but since when has that stopped comic book writers? The Great Lakes Avengers are Marvel’s answer to the fact that the regular Avengers tend to stick to New York City. So who’s taking care of all the crime and super-villains in Wisconsin? When resurrection-happy superhero Mr. Immortal realized fighting crime alone wasn’t getting him anywhere, he put an ad in the paper looking for some superhero cohorts. With the likes of Big Bertha, Doorman, Flatman and Squirrel Girl, the Great Lakes Avengers are the perfect comedy troupe of comics, popping in for a few quick cameos here and there since 1989.

X-Statix, despite being absolutely brilliant in hindsight, was extremely controversial when they debuted in 2001. Marvel was rebranding their X-Men line following the success of the movie, and they decided to completely change the semi-popular X-Force series into one starring completely new characters who were all vapid, narcissistic reality TV stars. They were still superheros, with costumes and mutant powers, but they did everything for the publicity, satirizing both superheroes and the growing celebrity culture. Marvel later changed the name from X-Force to X-Statix a few issues down the line, for yet another rebranding.

This is the clash I want to see. The comedic Great Lakes Avengers, a group of mostly pathetic heroes with their hearts in the right place, versus X-Statix, a bunch of shallow publicity-whores with a lot of dangerous power at their command!

The Winner: Great Lakes Avengers!

After the media blows an innocent comment Big Bertha made about U-Go Girl completely out of proportion, X-Statix take their show on the road in the hopes that the ‘superhero’ cameo and the ‘Avengers’ name will get them some more headlines. The two teams battle it out at the Milwaukee Senior Center, a virtual bloodbath of epic proportions. But in the end, the members of X-Statix do have a tendency to die all the time. And everybody knows that a little thing like death will not stop Mr. Immortal!

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What super teams would you like to see go head-to-head in another big Marvel crossover? Let me know in the comments!