Joss Whedon wrote one of my favorite X-Men arcs, the first twenty-four issues of Astonishing X-Men including its Giant Sized Annual. In it, he resurrects Colossus, makes Kitty Pryde into a Buffy clone, and furthers Emma Frost ambition to be the hottest mutant alive. It's one helluva run on an X-Men book that rivals any of the Claremont/Byrne stories. Whedon forged a team from Cyclops, Emma Frost, Colossus, Wolverine, Kitty Pryde, and the Beast even though they battled each other throughout. Then he threw in an alien invasion that had to be stopped. All this and more happened too in Whedon's The Avengers.

What was good about Astonishing X-Men is that he added tons of action to the team and gave them a purpose. He changed their dour whining into something heroic. He made them heroes that would give all they can to save the world. He did it too with the Avengers.

They wrap up the Avengers in a great way bringing everything and everyone together from their individual movies. You've got Iron Man and his brashness, Captain America and his patriotism, Hawkeye and Black Widow and Thor. Then you have the Hulk. HULK SMASH!

It was great seeing Thor versus the Hulk. The two most powerful superheroes in the Marvel universe. They were beating each other up! And just like in Astonishing X-Men, they had to forge themselves into a team to defeat an alien invasion. And they did. And they were still a fun thing to watch.

4 of 5 stars.

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