Marvel Going Back to Superheroes Fighting Superheroes Is Disappointing

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Marvel got its biggest success of the 2000s with the superhero versus superhero event Civil War, a comic that would go on to inspire Captain America: Civil War. Superhero comics have always used heroes fighting heroes as a trope — two heroes would meet and have a misunderstanding, fight, and then team up to face off against a bigger foe. However, for years after Civil War, Marvel threw more and more stories that pit heroes against each other at readers. At first, it was novel and interesting, but after a while it became a little much. Fans stopped enjoying these stories as much as they used to, and they began to have diminishing returns for Marvel. This led to the publisher using them much less, and fans breathed a sigh of relief.

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However, that was until editor Tom Brevoort, who was behind most of the superhero versus superhero events, took over the X-Men books with the From the Ashes reboot . Suddenly, readers are getting two superhero versus superhero stories — “Raid On Graymalkin,” which puts the two X-Men teams against each other, and an Avengers vs. X-Men rematch in Avengers, stemming from the fact that Jed MacKay is writing both X-Men and Avengers. Marvel had seemed to turn a corner on these kinds of stories, and going back to this well is disappointing, especially with how their place in the new X-Men reboot.

The Marvel Universe Works Better When It’s United

Marvel wasn’t the first superhero universe, but the company revolutionized the concept. The Silver Age Marvel superhero comics mostly all took place in New York City. Spider-Man was friends with Human Torch, and he tried to join the Fantastic Four, because he thought they could pay him. The Avengers all lived at Avengers Mansion, which was formerly the Stark family home. The X-Men didn’t live in the city, but they were an hour’s drive away. Eventually, heroes like Daredevil, the Punisher, Iron Fist, and many more would be introduced, have their introductory fights, and then become friends, or in the Punisher’s case, uneasy quasi-allies.

The Marvel Universe was built on a sense of camaraderie, and readers felt that. The company even did something similar with their creators, with Stan Lee creating the myth of the Marvel Bullpen, where all … Read More