![]() This plot twist is a swerve that achieves a handful of outcomes: it reminds the reader that they don’t actually know what’s going to happen in the story after all - a great benefit when it comes to events, which many readers approach with a cynical eye, certain they know what’s coming - while also repositioning the story in a direction that doesn’t closely parallel earlier events (Civil War, Civil War II, Inhumans vs. ![]() Yes, there’s no denying that the idea of the X-Men fighting the Eternals over whether or not they count as Deviants and therefore have to be eradicated has a pleasing nod to the 'heroes meet and fight because of a simple misunderstanding' tradition of Marvel comics, and sure it’s fun when the Avengers get stuck in the middle of events, trying and failing to keep the peace - but that’s nowhere near as fun as the idea that, as the result of a misguided attempt to bring events to an end, parties from all three groups accidentally unleash a near-omnipotent being on Earth who wants to judge humanity with genocide if things don’t go well. ![]() The first of these two feints took place at the end of the story’s first act, in the second issue in the series - when it was gleefully revealed that the entire series promotion and high concept wasn’t actually what the story was about. Spoilers are going to follow, so continue at your own risk. Marvel’s current event miniseries A.X.E.: Judgment Day has managed to pull that trick twice, and it’s only two thirds of the way through its run. When a superhero comic executes a feint particularly well, it feels almost like a magic trick to me we’re all so very familiar with these kinds of stories, but we really didn’t see this twist coming? How did that even happen? After more than three decades as a comic book fan, there’s little I enjoy more in my superhero stories than when everything in any given story is telling you that it’s going to go in Direction A, only for it to head in Direction B, and it somehow feels entirely right.
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