One phrase that is almost always thrown out during a comic book crossover is "Things will never be the same". 90% of the time it's not true. It's a phrase that's thrown out to make people buy more comics in hopes that things will actually change. There was a time when there would only be a crossover once every couple of years (except the X-Men who almost always have forty things going on with their ten or more titles), but now they come out every years and sometimes more than once a year. This article is going to break down the Marvel Comics crossover arcs and see if there was a major change, was the crossover any good, or if it was just pointless.
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Avengers Disassembled:
In 2004, The Avengers crossover was labeled as "The Avengers' darkest hour" and that was not an exaggeration. First, an Avenger (Jack of Hearts) that was presumed dead shows up on their doorstep and explodes destroying the mansion and killing Scott Lang (Ant Man) in the process. Meanwhile, Tony Stark is drunk in front of leaders and ambassadors of the world and threatened to kill the Latverian Ambassador because he feels Latveria is a waste of space. After he gets off stage, Iron man admits he was drunk, but he's crying because he hasn't had a drink in years.
Back at the destroyed mansion, while the Avengers were getting their selves together the Vision crashes a plane and apologizes for what he's about to do and says it's someone else controlling his body. Vision spits out Ultron bots and melts away (That's three dead Avengers for those keeping count). After the Avengers dispatch of the Ultron, She-Hulk goes full blown Hulk and knock out the Wasp (who is in tiny wasp form) and it takes Iron Man flying at full speed to knock her out. Iron Man later said it was one of the worst moments of his life.
After things calm down, all over the news the replay of Iron Man's "drunkenness" and it was announced that Tony Stark had been fired as the Secretary of Defense. Clint Barton and Hank Pym don't believe him and Stark flies away angry. As he flies away, Captain America, Falcon, and Hawkeye get an alarm at the mansion. Every Avenger ever was there to help in their time of need. As Nick Fury is explaining to them that they had to leave because the mansion is a crime scene, the Avengers are attacked by a fleet of Kree warriors.
The Avengers are holding their own, but to take out a ship, Hawkeye flies into one of the ships vents and blew up the ship (that's four dead Avengers). The Kree then disappeared. While they were all morning, Dr. Strange appears and lets them know exactly what happened. Wanda Maximoff (the Scarlett Witch) and her hex powers had gotten out of control. She was behind this the whole time. Eventually, Dr. Strange took Wanda down with a series of spells and when the Eye of Agomotto showed her all the wrong she had done. When the Avengers couldn't figure out what to do with her, her father Magneto appeared from a wormhole and took her away.
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The Avengers got together one more time and decided that it was time to disband the Avengers. They all went their separate ways and the Avengers were disbanded.
Changes:
There were actually changes in this arc and the team was never the same again. First, this made way for the New Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman, Spider-Man, Sentry, and Wolverine) Luke Cage, Wolverine, and Spider-Man weren't big on the team dynamic and prefer to work alone or with one other person. This was a group unlike any other team. This was a more realistic and aggressive team for a world that needed a more realistic and aggressive world. While Cap didn't like it, he agreed that some changes needed to be made. This arc got the ball rolling for years of changes. Not even how they are teams are assemble stayed the same.
House of M:
After Wanda went crazy, Magneto took her to Genosha where him and Charles Xavier were trying to get her to control her powers over reality. In New York, the Avengers and X-Men were trying to find a resolution as well. Some X-Men (Emma and Wolverine) were voting to kill her. If it got out that a mutant killed the world's greatest heroes then it would be the end for mutants and their rights. The Avengers were against it all together. So they decided to take a trip to Genosha to talk to Wanda.
Back in Genosha, Quicksilver talked Wanda into changing the universe with her powers (yes. She is that powerful) and give all of the heroes everything they wanted. For Wolverine, it was knowing his whole life. Not only did he remember his whole life as Wanda made it, but his prior life before the world changed. With that knowledge, Logan went looking for answers and it led him to Layla Miller who had the power to make people remember their past life. A team was put together to find Xavier (who was dead) and make Wanda change her the world back. While everyone thought it was Magneto who talked Wanda into changing the world, Dr. Strange found out it was Quicksilver. When Wanda came out of hiding and found out that people were still fighting, she thought that no matter what mutants were going to fight and she thought she and her kind were an abomination. So with three words, "No more Mutants" Wanda eliminated 90% of the world's mutants.
Changes:
1. Wanda all but ended an entire race by herself. This stayed the same for the next eight years.
2. With 90% of mutants gone, Cyclops felt like he failed as a leader of mutants causing a downward spiral of "bad decisions" that may have lead to his downfall, arrest, and the death of Professor Xavier.
3. Wolverine kept all of his old memories and remembered all of his past. Hawkeye was also brought back from the dead. This made every comic book fan angry. He was barely gone a year.
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Civil War:
When it comes to meaningful arcs and the changes that were made because of it, Marvel Civil War is the perfect example of something that affected everyone from the Avengers to Bullseye. The New Warriors (D-List Superhero team no one cares about) thought it would be a good idea to film a reality TV. show about them saving the day. Unfortunately, they made a mistake going up against a villain named Nitro who used his powers and blew up an entire town in Connecticut. The aftermath of that forced the government to pass a law that all persons with powers to register their names and powers with the government. This split the heroes down the middle. In one corner, you have Captain America, Falcon, and Luke Cage who are leading a team against the registration act because they feel that heroes shouldn't have to register.
In the other corner you have Iron Man, Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic) and Hank Pym (Giant Man) who don't think that registration is a bad idea. In the middle of this fight is Spider-Man who understands why staying anonymous is a good thing, but also got why registering is good for the public. Spider-Man eventually sided with Iron Man and the pro-registration team and did it by publically unmasking on live TV. (which almost gave his old boss J. Jonah Jameson a heart attack). The government had their big name supporter.
After a major battle that had the clone of Thor that was created by Stark and Reed Richards kill Goliath, Spider-Man realized that he was on the wrong side and after fighting Iron Man, Spider-Man left to join the Anti-Registration team. One more battle would take place. It started in the Baxter Building and ended up in the middle of New York. Captain America realized that this wasn't about the cause and that they were just fighting. Cap surrendered to the authorities and ordered his team to stand down.
Changes:
First off, The Marvel Civil War arc lead to the "Death of Captain America". Captain America was died handcuffed on a court’s steps. That left a void for leadership for those who still opposed the Superhero Registration Act and Luke cage stepped up and carried on like Cap would have. Also, the majority of the superhero community started to hate tony Stark because they felt he was responsible for Cap's death. This resulted in no one trusting or wanting to deal with Stark on any level. This disarray made it easier for the skrulls to invade and infiltrate the world. Maybe the biggest change was the death of Aunt May. Because Spider-Man unmasked, his identity was public became public and every one of his villains came looking for him. His Aunt took a bullet intended for him. Spider-Man went looking for a cure that lead him to Mephisto and a deal that erased 20 years of Spider-Man continuity.