The growing friendship between the X-Men and Avengers/MU Heroes

[JB]

There have always been collaborations and team-ups between our merry mutants and earth's mightiest heroes over the years: Crossovers, unity squads, the A+X series, mutants serving on the Avengers and Fantastic Four, Spider-Man teaching at the Jean Grey school, Logan teaming up with everyone, etc.

One of my favorite things about the Krakoan era has been the increasingly warm relations between the X-Men and Avengers/other heroes. It's become a regular thing seeing characters cross over again from Jean helping Wong and Dr. Strange, Emma helping Captain America, Spider-Man swinging into action with Iceman and Firestar during Dark Web. The Avengers went from attending the first Hellfire Gala in their uniforms to getting in on the fun with their own cool fashion moments when they attended the second one. There was even a fun interview in the Daily Bugle, a conversation between The Wasp and Jumbo Carnation on creating the looks for the Hellfire Gala.

With the third Gala just days away and Fall of X around the corner, these growing friendships may be put to the test as it seems mutant/human relations are about to hit an all-time low. This thread will serve as a place for us to highlight and discuss these relations and share some of our favorite moments, past and present. How do you feel about the warming relations? Do you like them, love them, dislike them, hate them, couldn't possibly care less?

I'll start us off with some content. From X-Men #1 by Duggan:



From next week's Invincible Iron Man #8:



And oh yeah, we have a big wedding coming up!

[DarkMagnus]

How always should have been

To the Avengers FF or Gotg to.grow the relationship with the xmen must grow as well

[JB]

Soon our boy Nightcrawler will be donning a spidey costume and having a chat with Peter.



And a new unity squad will be born next month.

[JB]

How always should have been

To the Avengers FF or Gotg to.grow the relationship with the xmen must grow as well

Hear, hear! I agree.

[JB]

Spider-Woman showing some love and excitement during her first visit to the Treehouse, X-Men headquarters in NYC. It's quite cute how "cool" everyone is being. Captain Marvel #43.





This arc has a TON of great moments between the two teams but we'll save those for later.

[Sutekh]

I do miss the eighties when there was a floating poker game hosted by Ben Grimm, and Beast was among the regulars, with occasional sit-ins by Fury, Carol Danvers, Wonder Man, etc. The various
teams felt a bit more like colleagues in the same line of work, and sometimes friends, instead of rivals or potential enemies.

Byrne had his issues (whole spinner-racks of them, it seems at times), but he was great at having various other parts of the Marvel universe intersect. Spider-Man, Daredevil, Dr. Strange *and* the Avengers show up for a Galactus vs. Fantastic Four fight downtown. Jean Grey shares a room with Colleen Wing, which leads to X-Men/Iron Fist crossovers. Jean gets pulled out of the bay in an issue of Fantastic Four to set up the new X-Factor series, and various Avengers are also present (and we get to see Jean 'manhandle' Hercules, showing off her new telekinetic moxie!). Not just his personal creations, like Alpha Flight showing up in X-books, but various other heroes, *when it makes sense.* That was cool. Even when he's not using the characters, he's suggesting that they are part of the shared universe. Skrulls are impersonating the X-Men in a Fantastic Four issue guest-starring Gladiator, for example, and when Jean goes all Dark Phoenix, Dr. Strange looks up and has a mystical portent of great danger, while Mr. Fantastic reads energy readings rivaling those of Galactus. Just cool stuff like that.

[JB]

I do miss the eighties when there was a floating poker game hosted by Ben Grimm, and Beast was among the regulars, with occasional sit-ins by Fury, Carol Danvers, Wonder Man, etc. The various
teams felt a bit more like colleagues in the same line of work, and sometimes friends, instead of rivals or potential enemies.

Byrne had his issues (whole spinner-racks of them, it seems at times), but he was great at having various other parts of the Marvel universe intersect. Spider-Man, Daredevil, Dr. Strange *and* the Avengers show up for a Galactus vs. Fantastic Four fight downtown. Jean Grey shares a room with Colleen Wing, which leads to X-Men/Iron Fist crossovers. Jean gets pulled out of the bay in an issue of Fantastic Four to set up the new X-Factor series, and various Avengers are also present (and we get to see Jean 'manhandle' Hercules, showing off her new telekinetic moxie!). Not just his personal creations, like Alpha Flight showing up in X-books, but various other heroes, *when it makes sense.* That was cool. Even when he's not using the characters, he's suggesting that they are part of the shared universe. Skrulls are impersonating the X-Men in a Fantastic Four issue guest-starring Gladiator, for example, and when Jean goes all Dark Phoenix, Dr. Strange looks up and has a mystical portent of great danger, while Mr. Fantastic reads energy readings rivaling those of Galactus. Just cool stuff like that.

See, I love shared universe moments like that. It's smart because you never know when a reader's ears will perk when they see a moment like that and become curious enough to explore a character or situation/arc they didn't consider before. I'm happy to see bits of that going on again with more guest appearances and cameos.

Thank you for bringing up the poker games. That reminds me of this fun scene from Duggan's X-Men #2.



If anyone happens to have scans of any of the classic poker game scenes I'd love to see them.

[RAWRlrus]

Uggh, not the damn wedding.

On the one hand I'm glad to see that things are getting better between the X-Men and the other Marvel properties, since it felt like AvX onwards was mostly the X-Men being away or against other Marvel groups (with the exception of a few characters). On the other hand I'm the type of person who likes things addressed so I'd want to see why the relationships are improved rather than them just being better.

The last part is going to bite me but it's made me concerned about the new Ms. Marvel mini. Talking about how the Inhumans and X-Men have a bad history when things are generally improving for them.

[JB]

Uggh, not the damn wedding.

On the one hand I'm glad to see that things are getting better between the X-Men and the other Marvel properties, since it felt like AvX onwards was mostly the X-Men being away or against other Marvel groups (with the exception of a few characters). On the other hand I'm the type of person who likes things addressed so I'd want to see why the relationships are improved rather than them just being better.

The last part is going to bite me but it's made me concerned about the new Ms. Marvel mini. Talking about how the Inhumans and X-Men have a bad history when things are generally improving for them.

True, it'd be nice to see some more discussion about the repairing relations. We almost got a tiny dose of it in Judgment Day between Cyclops and Captain America but the Hex were attacking the island so there wasn't time. But I appreciated the Avengers acting fast as soon as they learned the Hex were on their way.

Maybe Kamala will serve as a bridge between the X-Men and the Inhumans, if Marvel is even thinking of bringing them back in any kind of big way.

[Nicoclaws]

The FF, while cold to Xavier, are still friends with some of Krakoa inhabitants. They just had dinner with the Madrox family.

[Frontier]

We've come a long way from how bad the FF and X-Men mini was.

[RAWRlrus]

True, it'd be nice to see some more discussion about the repairing relations. We almost got a tiny dose of it in Judgment Day between Cyclops and Captain America but the Hex were attacking the island so there wasn't time. But I appreciated the Avengers acting fast as soon as they learned the Hex were on their way.

Maybe Kamala will serve as a bridge between the X-Men and the Inhumans, if Marvel is even thinking of bringing them back in any kind of big way.

I can see them doing it even if they don't bring the inhumans back just because its part of her story. But I'm concerned about how they'd do it.

The FF, while cold to Xavier, are still friends with some of Krakoa inhabitants. They just had dinner with the Madrox family.

They're pretty good with Kate too. Reed was looking into the gate issue for her, where ever that went lol.

[Uncanny X-Man]

I enjoy the interaction with the wider Marvel Universe, I don't necessarily crave it but I welcome it when done well. I definitely prefer the heroes being friendly with each other rather than at odds and stuff like the Unity Squad is a fun concept to further develop. To this day, this remains one of my favourite moments:

[JB]

The FF, while cold to Xavier, are still friends with some of Krakoa inhabitants. They just had dinner with the Madrox family.

Yeah it was nice to see the FF visiting Krakoa and hanging out with mutant friends. The Madrox family cleaning the house ahead of their arrival was cute and I especially enjoyed the playful banter between Ben and Guido over the Yankees vs the Mets. I grew up in Queens NY so I've heard that argument a million times.

Marvel Unlimited is a great vehicle for those kind of moments. I just finished the Iceman infinity comic (so good!) in preparation of his upcoming book. Bobby helping out the Avengers and this particular moment were great.

I enjoy the interaction with the wider Marvel Universe, I don't necessarily crave it but I welcome it when done well. I definitely prefer the heroes being friendly with each other rather than at odds and stuff like the Unity Squad is a fun concept to further develop. To this day, this remains one of my favourite moments:

LOL I love this kind of stuff. Thank you for posting!

[Galerion]

Uggh, not the damn wedding.

On the one hand I'm glad to see that things are getting better between the X-Men and the other Marvel properties, since it felt like AvX onwards was mostly the X-Men being away or against other Marvel groups (with the exception of a few characters). On the other hand I'm the type of person who likes things addressed so I'd want to see why the relationships are improved rather than them just being better.

The last part is going to bite me but it's made me concerned about the new Ms. Marvel mini. Talking about how the Inhumans and X-Men have a bad history when things are generally improving for them.

That's the big self-made problem of the X-line though. They are trying to portray humanity and a world that doesn't line up with how is in every other book. The more they play up that angle the bigger the conflict becomes and then suddenly heroes whose entire history and lifework consists of protecting the innocent are antagonists. How does that make sense? It doesn't. But it's cheap and fast drama as opposed to a more elaborate and creative form of story-telling and so here we are.

While you could try to explain this on page I don't think it's that important since previous conflicts were fake, unbelievable and badly written anyway. In this instance the Krakoa era reset was actually something good. It's done and it's time to look forward.
We can only hope that with this "Fall" storyline they are not repeating the same mistakes of previous writers and editors.