SnowyMountain

Agreed! Cyke's decisions seem to be wavering on desperation and delusionment. I thought that the reason why he booted Xavier out was because he didn't like Xavier's manipulating things, but I have to wonder if the rest of the X-Men know if the Phoenix is coming and why Cyclops is so adamant on keeping Hope with them in the frankly desperate belief that it will somehow save the mutant race. It smacks of hugely deceptive and grossly hypocritical.

The Scarlet Witch's reappearance in the Children's Crusade series showed that she could restore a former mutant's lost powers. Isn't that enough? With her in their custody, they can begin to restore some of the former mutants' powers. Yet now he's gambling with the fate of the entire world, not just a percentage of the population.

I know that there were quite a few mutants who were actually relieved to lose their powers. Yet, he doesn't really care about that it. For all of Cyke's talking about peaceful co-existence, it seems that it's just PR. He knows that the mutants would lose due to sheer numbers and he's out to have such an overwhelming advantage that he can force the human race into accepting mutants. Or else. And to that end, he's willing to sacrifice anyone if that's what counts.

He seems to have become a lot more like Magneto's old agenda and beliefs than Xavier. I don't think that the X-Men should win the war and that they ultimately reject Cyclops' leadership as being dangerous.

Captain America vs. Cyclops

Rulk vs. Colossus

Thor vs. Storm

Spider-Man vs. Ice Man

Iron Man vs. Magneto

Ms. Marvel vs. Rogue

Luke Cage vs. Beast

Hulk vs. Emma Frost

Black Widow vs. Psylocke

My money is on Cap owning Cyclops. Cap's shield I think is probably the best neutralizer of Cyke's optic blasts and I think Cap's fighting skills will allow him to beat down Cyke.

Colossus' recent upgrade to the Juggernaut power will unfortunately I think give him too much of an advantage over Rulk.

Thor vs. Storm. The God of Thunder vs a pretend goddess is no match.

While I like Spidey, I have to say that in terms of raw power, he's out of his class against Ice Man. Unless Bobby Drake makes some sort of stupid, overconfident mistake; I have to think that Spidey will be going down.

While I'm sure that Tony Stark isn't stupid enough to go after Magneto without some sort of protection against his magnetism; Magneto just has too much of an advantage over the Armored Avenger. This is the guy who used to go up against the entire X-Men team and usually won or tied against them. Not to mention that Utopia is supposed to be built out of his old headquarters right? An iron asteroid? He's got the home field advantage and an overwhelming array of magnetic tricks to use against Iron Man.

Rogue and Ms. Marvel already fought once and Rogue came off on top way back then. Rogue's powers are also a lot more advanced now, she has an entire island of mutants to absorb the power of in order to equalize the fight against Marvel. By the way, sending someone with as much exposed skin as Carol's outfit has against someone who absorbs power through skin contact? Not the most brilliant of ideas.

Luke is the man. He's got the strength, the fighting skills, and the street saavy to bring down the Beast. While the Beast might try to outwit Luke and lure him into some sort of trap, I gotta think that Cage won't fall for it.

Hulk is the Strongest One there is. Sure, use a telepath like Emma Frost to knock him out. But I have a feeling that it won't be that easy. It hasn't worked out that well before and I think that Frost's psychic whammy just won't do the trick and her diamond-form simply doesn't have the muscle to go toe-to-toe with Green Giant.

Black Widow vs. Psylocke is a bit tricky. They got a lot of overlapping fields and although Betsy does have her telepathic and telekinetic powers, I have to think that Natasha won't be that easy. She's got a lot more experience that Betsy and she's been fighting against superpowered beings for years. Simply put, I have to think that her experience will win out.

Avengers: 5 wins vs. X-Men: 4 wins.

Advantage: Avengers!

@Osian2: Agree to disagree. I simply don't think much of her as a character and this huge build-up seems just a bit overblown to me. I have a feeling that it's going to happen anyways and Hope will be the new Phoenix, but I just prefer Jean or Rachel over her. I just think the story possibilities would be a whole lot more interesting if Jean did get reborn and Scott has to answer to his infidelity to the new Messiah that he's been putting all of his faith and trust in. That would be a real uncomfortable conversation he'd have to deal with.

One of the things that the X-Men writers have been teasing us about for years is that Hope is destined to be the new Messiah of Mutant-kind. Frankly though, she has never struck me as being that great leader or inspiration. A lot of the time, she just seems to follow someone else's lead. They've been having all of these brief hints and glimpses that she is the next host or avatar of the Phoenix Force which is the main source of the conflict in the A vs X comics.

The Avengers are afraid of what will happen to the planet and everybody should the Phoenix come back while the X-Men seem to be placing a lot of faith in that this time, the Phoenix won't go nutso and destroy everything and that this time, the Phoenix is going to be on their side. While the X-Men have always been champions of mutants, they used to be strong proponents of equality with humanity. It's a feeling that I've been getting less and less in the current group of X-Men that co-existence is less of a concern. There is a selfishness in their whole attitude that really grinds at me. I read the recent X-Men comics about the Extinction Team and they're not about helping people or alturisim but making sure that humans are scared of them and grateful to mutants. Not exactly the most heroic or noble of attitudes or maybe it's just me.

But I really think that having Hope as the new Phoenix is a bit predictable. If the writers really want to surprise us or astonish us, they should stick a surprise person to be the reborn Phoenix. I mean they have Rachel Grey, a former Phoenix host around. Why not her? Also, Madelyne Pryor who is the clone-sister of Jean Grey, the former Phoenix host is also lurking about somewhere. Or maybe, they should actually think about resurrecting Jean Grey herself as the Phoenix.

I think I'd prefer any of those three as the new Phoenix over Hope. Rachel has been a major character for years as the Phoenix and has since been reduced to second-stringer status as merely Marvel Girl. And having Madelyne as the Phoenix would be a real wrench in the X-Men's expectations over how the Phoenix is supposed to "save" them. And the reappearance of Jean Grey would really, really screw up the Cyclops-Emma Frost affair that they got going on. It's a bit sadistic of me, but I will admit that I have never cared for Cyclops dumping Jean and going off and having an affair with the White Queen.

Quite frankly I don't think that any comic book character are really capable of transitioning themselves to the silver screen.  The writers often try to compact an entire storyline into a SINGLE movie and it's hard.  They have to try and simplify things and make things fit in a very short period of time usually about 2 hours.
 
For example, the Sam Raimi first Spider-Man movie was one of the better ones in how it had Peter Parker's origin and how he became a superhero in the first place, but there was also a bit rushed feel in how the Green Goblin got shoehorned into the thing in a duel to the death at the climax of the film.  I think that is how a lot of superhero movies fail, in that they have to try and introduce the audience to the character which usually details their secret origin and then try to work in the super villain.

On contrast, having the heroes in a TV series enables them to work in a longer and more intricate storyline.  Yet I've noticed that rarely happens and instead many times, they have to fit in a single story in one episode because they might lose their audience if they can't understand it and they usually have a 20-minute window (minus commercials) for an animated cartoon that has been 'kid-ified'.  
 

Congratulations!

I just also remembered another point that several people in the discussion made in that Peter seems to be just about everywhere these days.  I mean it was one thing when Wolverine was a member of the X-Men and the Avengers, but it seems that everybody is now on multiple teams these days!  
 
Wolverine is part of Cage's Avengers as well as the main Avengers team, he leads X-Force, plus he also hangs around the regular X-Men; Spider-Woman is doubling up as part of SWORD and the Avengers and the Beast is the same, only he's part of the Secret Avengers; the Thing is a member of the Future Foundation and Cage's Avengers; Luke Cage is doubling up as the leader of his own team of Avengers and the Thunderbolts.
 
Spider-Man is part of the Future Foundation and Cage's Avengers plus the main Avengers team.  Now he also apparently patrols on his own plus he works at this Horizon Labs.  And unlike all of the other guys I just mentioned; he still maintains a regular life and identity as Peter Parker.  I realize that Marvel probably likes this and wants to have Spider-Man to have as much exposure as he can, but I have a tough enough time finding enough time to do everything in my life; I can't imagine how Pete manages to juggle all of those balls at the same time. 

That said, having Ben return to life would enable them to pass off some of Pete's extracurricular activities.  He could take on Pete's place on one of the Avengers rosters or maybe even get the current Scarlet Spider, one of the MVP clones to take it up.  It makes a bit more sense than to have Pete running around everywhere as he seems to be doing these days.  When you think about it; a lot of the Marvel characters have secondary characters with near identical powers and identities; Iron Man has War Machine and Rescue; Steve Rogers has Bucky Barnes/Captain America; Namor has Namora and Namorita; the Hulk has his cousin Jennifer Walters, his son Skaar, his daughter from another timeline Lyra, the Red Hulk and the Red She-Hulk; Nova has an entire Corps flying around with identical powers and costumes; and even Hawkeye has a teenager kid with the same name running around (unless she came up with another one when I wasn't looking).  
 
It's not huge a leap as to have more than one Spider-Man running around.  A version of Venom is back, not to mention the Anti-Venom.  And I think that MVP clone is still around ... though I haven't seen him much lately.   Bringing back Ben wouldn't dilute things and frankly, they might be able to tie off or resolve some of those plot holes and knots that the entire Clone Debacle created ... provided that Marvel has managed to figure out a way to fix things.  Sometimes their patches work and sometimes make things even more baffling and confusing.  I mean, I'm glad that they resurrected Steve Rogers, but I could not understand why they expect us to believe that the Red Skull came up with such a convoluted scheme by freezing him in time?

I admit that I liked Ben when he first appeared.   He was an interesting take on a retelling of the Spider-Man history.   The fact that the clone of Spidey had actually survived and had been in hiding all this time made for an intriguing and compelling storyline.   However, Marvel really dragged it out and made all sorts of plot twists and mindf**ks that I got totally lost and confused and it really turned me off to the character; not to mention that I hated the part when they tried to make it seem like Ben was the REAL Spider-Man and not a clone.  

Still, I think that was more to the confusing storyline and rather than the character.   I wouldn’t mind seeing Ben back … provided they do it right.   Personally, I don’t buy the fact that he has spent all of this time captured by Norman Osborne or the Jackal and they faked his death to screw with Peter … I think they pulled that stunt with Aunt May and Mary Jane on two separate occasions.   It’s a bit of a old and tired attempt to solve the problem.

That said, if they do bring Ben back, I pray that they have the decency to give him a new and better costume.   One of the things that I also despised about him was that he had some of the WORST costumes I had ever seen.   One of Ben’s powers was clearly not fashion design.   His first make-shift costume with the torn sweatshirt didn’t even seem to qualify as a real costume to me … and that Spider-Man suit he came up with was just awful.

I also hope that they make him different and not just a copy of Peter.   One of the things that I actually genuinely enjoyed about the Scarlet Spider was that he had those neat Impact Webbing and Spider Stingers.   He needs something to differentiate himself from Spider-Man, not just a replacement.

I'm not entirely sure what the big deal is about having more Super Soldiers and the Super Soldier Serum hasn't exactly been missing from the Marvel-verse.  
 
I mean when you think about it, sure Cap might have been the first but he is hardly the most powerful Super-Soldier created.  A number of other people have been exposed to derivatives and any number of them have been as powerful or even more superhumanly powerful compared to Cap.  
 
Isaiah Bradley, Union Jack, Master Man, Warrior Woman were all WWII super soldiers and since then Nomad (Jack Munroe), the Grand Director, Luke Cage, and even the Sentry all used it to gain superpowers.  And that's not even counting all of those experimental test subjects from the Weapon X series like Wolverine, Deadpool, Fantomex, and the rest.  
 
I think they did a good thing with gifting Mockingbird with this as a means to reinvigorate a character that quite frankly, was on the verge of slowly sidelined.  Mockingbird's greatest claim to fame for years was that she was Hawkeye's wife and I wasn't too surprised that she was axed to try and shake things up.  I really enjoyed how they brought her back with the Secret Invasion and how they tried to reinvent her with a new updated costume and everything but frankly, I saw she was getting stale and was wondering if she was going to be killed off ... again.  Up until this point, all she had going for her were those metal staves that she combined to form a bo staff.  I always thought she needed something more; like a power blaster or something in it.  But she lacked that sort of oomph that would have given her a unique signature or mark.  I suppose it wouldn't be too bad if the enhanced abilities slowly faded away too, but I think maybe Marvel should keep the immortality.  It might not be such a bad thing for them to keep as a permanent reminder of what she has to live with as a type of angst for the character.  Maybe she can step in as the new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. as a female version of Nick Fury.
 
Cap might be back, but it's a big bad world out there and they need all of the help they can get.  One more Super Soldier isn't a bad thing!

To be frank, I didn't like Wolverine when he first came out.  He seemed like a crude, belligerent, and amoral individual who felt justified in killing and maiming his enemies.  I could not understand was doing with a superhero team.  He evolved over the years; although now I don't like how he seems to be everywhere in the Marvel-verse.  I think I remember reading a crack that "it's his new mutant power or something".  
 
Deadpool is an interesting creation and I honestly think he's both; hilarious comic relief and a sociopathic murderer.  He's a 21st-Century version of Wolvie.  It's in how he's tested that shows how he and his character is evolving.  
 
In the beginning he was nothing but a murderer and a mercenary-for-hire yet now he's become an anti-hero who I think wants to be something better than what he has become and is struggling with his own nature and his redemption.  It won't be easy and I doubt he'll ever be as noble as Captain America or Spidey, but he's not a villain anymore and maybe he might become another Wolverine in time.  Meanwhile, I'll enjoy his quips and funny humor.