'AVX: Versus' #1 Unleashes Adam Kubert & Stuart Immonen [Preview]

But it's been done and Done and DONE. It's exhausting. Marvel has always done the 'misunderstanding or distrust leads to heroes fighting' thing, practically since day one, so that's not new. But the 'mega-crossover where heroes fight heroes' is radically overused lately. House of M: 2005. Civil War: 2006. World War Hulk: 2007. Secret Invasion: 2008. Dark Reign: 2009. Shadowland: 2010. Fear Itself: 2011. Schism: 2011.

Every year, another crossover where Marvel's heroes fight each other. Can we give it a rest for just a year?

@WizarDru: I think it's pretty obvious why they have to go Hero v Hero.....because the Villians are all beaten. Given the size, scope, and funding of the Avengers or the X-men it would take nothing less than a country to give them more than 3 issues of trouble.

Let's say Klaw shows up and starts a fight with Captain America, is there any question about who is going to win? Of course not, the hero wins, the villian gets shuffled off to the Raft and then cycles into the Thunderbolts eventually. The only way to avoid giving away the ending the moment the characters are introduced is by piting one unbeatable hero against an equally unbeatable hero. Now the winner is in question.

Unfortunately, they've gone to the well too many times with this story, and we all know that the answer is "No one actually wins" they just punch each other until they realize they are all being dumb/used/mindcontrolled/cloned.

On the other hand, what other choice do the writers have? The villians cant keep up with the heros anymore and the public doesnt fear/hate/not know about the vigilantes anymore.
The X-men are the last vestige of the "fear/hate super powers" aspect and the only reason is some strange genetic reference they made up that humans instinctively know that mutants are there to replace humans as the dominant species so they react negatively toward them. But even that doesnt make a whole lot of sense considering the "50 state initiative" showed us exactly HOW MANY non-mutant powered people are running around the world already.

oops, that went on too long...TL:DR - It's Hero v Hero because the Villians cant offer a threat anymore.

Yes, that's the setup, but I continue to be puzzled as to how the Avengers "remember" that. Dark Phoenix's story was well-contained within X-Men in the days before constant crossovers. Unless Xavier showed up to the next Illuminati meeting and said, "hey, Tony, let me tell you the heart-crushing story of my favorite student's seduction, corruption, genocide, and suicide," I don't know why the central Avengers should have any particular awareness of what happened. The preview pages for the main book make it sound as though Cap and Iron Man took part in trying to subdue Dark Phoenix or something, which just isn't so.

@ Jacob - The Avengers probably found out around Avengers #263 & Fantastic Four #286, which was the prelude to the original X-Factor series where they found Jean Grey at the bottom of Jamaica Bay in the cocoon and discovered that she had never been Phoenix.