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Avengers vs. X-Men: Who will win in Avengers: Doomsday? Here’s what the comics reveal
With the Avengers: Doomsday trailer showing the Avengers and X-Men fighting before presumably teaming up against a common threat, Polygon looks back at how rarely these two teams have actually clashed in Marvel's comic history. Despite decades of crossovers between individual heroes, full team-on-team battles between the Avengers and X-Men have been surprisingly uncommon, partly because the X-Men have historically operated in something of a separate bubble within the wider Marvel Universe.
The article highlights two early examples: their first-ever meeting in X-Men vol. 1 #9 (1964) by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, a lighthearted Silver Age tale in which the outgunned original X-Men lineup barely puts up a fight against the classic Avengers; and Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #3 (1984), part of the pioneering Shooter/Zeck crossover in which heroes and villains are forced to fight each other on the alien "Battleworld", reportedly reflecting editor-in-chief Jim Shooter's own tensions with the X-Men titles at the time.
In short
- Avengers: Doomsday trailer teases an Avengers vs. X-Men showdown.
- Comics history shows few full-team clashes between the two groups.
- Key examples: X-Men #9 (1964) and Secret Wars #3 (1984).
Explained simply
A new film trailer has shown Marvel's two biggest superhero teams, the Avengers and the X-Men, fighting each other. An article in Polygon has explored what this means by looking back at the comics on which these films are based.
The Avengers and X-Men have existed in the same fictional universe for decades, yet full team-on-team battles between them have been surprisingly rare. This is partly because the X-Men have historically operated somewhat apart from the rest of Marvel's superhero world, with their own separate storylines and concerns.
The two teams have clashed only a handful of times in comic book history. Their first meeting came in 1964 in a lighthearted early story. A more notable encounter happened in 1984 as part of a major crossover event where many Marvel characters were forced to fight one another.
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