The Good

There's only been ten parts to Battle of the Atom but it's felt like we've all been through a lot. Crossing over into several different X-titles and basically involving five different group of X-Men from three different time periods, it's been a crazy ride. The previous chapter ended with a bit of a cliffhanger. Several missiles from a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier were launched (by the Brotherhood). This is where some big seeds for the future are being planted.

As the solicit promises, there are some big things that happen here. We get a battle on top of a battle. While there are many many different X-characters involved, the art in the first part is allowed to flow smoothly without cramming too many characters onto one page or panel. This gives the story a bigger feel as we cut to different characters fighting different obstacles. There is also a superb cutaway panel within a nice two-page spread.

As the story progresses, the tension builds as there's no telling what might happen.

Once the dust settles, we are treated to four epilogues. It's a great way to give closure, to say goodbye and to mourn some.

Of course, it is the final epilogue by Brian Michael Bendis and Stuart Immonen that will have the biggest impact. It's something I didn't see coming at all.

The Bad

It's an oversized issue so it makes sense that there'd be several creators involved. The different writers works since they've all been writing the different chapters and some are more suited to writing certain voices. Unfortunately at the midway point of the issue, the art changes quite a bit. The inks are thicker and it's a bit jarring.

Parts of the ending are a little convenient. Some of the fates for certain characters are't too surprising. We were introduced to a lot of characters and while they were cool to see, they weren't entirely crucial in order to reach the big turning point at the end.

The Verdict

It's the end of Battle of the Atom. As expected, there are some big changes. If you've been enjoying the story of the original X-Men brought to the present, there is no way you'll want to miss this conclusion. Not only will their story be affected, so will those of the other X-Men in the present. The entire story could have been trimmed a bit but we are treated to a nice epic battle and, of course, that big shock of an ending. The lives of the X-Men have reached another turning point. Let's see what happens after this.

This whole event fell a little flat for me. I think I'm just really burned out on time travel stuff. It seems like every other event or crossover has something to do with it, that and/or alternate realities. I just wanna read stories about my 616 heroes for a bit dealing with their own stuff. The time travel can make things so convoluted and has a fallout. Not to say that good stories can't be told from it - it gave me one of my favorite characters (Rachel Grey), but it's just getting really played out.

Best part of this event, for me, was the dynamic between Shogo and Jubilee. I honestly couldn't care that much about the rest of it. Although I'm always confused about how Logan thinks he has the moral high ground here.

Can't wait for the trade.

Seriously... god dammit... Iceman never got a moment to show his 'potential'!!!, even his older wizard version did nothing ARRGHHHH!!!! it was all just talk -_- ... oh well... at least the conclusion was pretty sweet.

@lena_dante:

Yeah, the way Logan acts towards Cyclops since he killed Xavier has kind of annoyed me. I think it's more him hating Scott than really thinking he has the high ground, especially considering what he's been going through in Uncanny avengers. I've mostly been bugged by how everyone treats Scott like he was completely in his right mind when he killed Xavier, but Wolverine's been mind controlled so much yet everyone still trusts him. and it's not like Cyclops really chose to be the host for the Phoenix, either.

The only thing I really didn't like about this conclusion was the fact that Kitty choses Scott over Ororo, Logan and Rachel. She chooses Cyclops over her two mentors and father-like figures and her best friend, yeah, I get she feels kind of betrayed but come on!

Other than that this was a pretty damn good conclusion for a not that good event.

@spacemanspiff85:

Scott killing Xavier wasn't what made everyone hate him. They hate him because he gave up on the dream. Logan has killed more and has done worse things, but he has never stop fighting for Xavier's dream. In the end, since the 'no more mutants' thing Scott has walked a darker path. He now belives on Mutant survival, not on the whole human/mutant coexistence dream.

He's more Magneto than Xavier.

Finally this terrible event is over. Kitty seeing who's the real leader of the X-Men and how much Logan+Storm+Beast are hypocrite was the only good part of this.

@tximinoman: I disagree completely with what you're saying. Cyclops hasn't given up on the dream, in fact everything he did up till issue 12 of AvX (in which, admit tingly, he does go a little insane) was all about the dream- a world in which mutants and humans live together in harmony, free from hatred or fear (because let's face it, you can't risk losing the people who give you free food, clean water, and clean energy). Cyclops has just taken a more proactive stance towards mutant-human equality (which is seen in the pro-mutant/human equality rally in the Uncanny X-Men series). Besides, have you noticed how he never says that all humans are evil or inferior to mutant-kind. Magneto's line was more of a "mutants are your superior, we shall conquer you." And Wolverine's part of a team (the Unity Division) that preaches assimilation, which is the complete opposite of Xavier's dream

Why oh why does the manly die before his full potential for awesome can be realized, Handlebar Colossus will forever be missed.

Pissed that kitty just left like that but I'm sure she''ll be back but damn :/

@cheesesticks:

How are wolverine ,Storm, and beast hypocrites?

They are Avengers.

I was following the event and then as someone who has been reading the X-Men for over 20 years, I was having deja vu. I could have sworn that through many writers on many occasions we had gone down these proverbial roads before and to be quite honest I am tired.

Tired on the strain on my pockets and tired of the lack of vision and creativity in the X-Men Universe. How many team splits, Deaths, and Schisms have there been? How many times has the team been betrayed and reborn? Initially New X-Men was intriguing but once they folded into this event I was just tired. I love X-Men especially in the hands of a great creative team. Maybe this X-men era is not for me. Maybe I have outgrown it. My favorite X-Men was that core team during he Byrne Claremont Era. It was not necessary to have 50,000 mutants and you didn't tell stories that contradict each other over and over again.

Maybe it's me and my old age. How many teams can Wolverine be on? The series was more eye candy and Blue Wolverines as opposed to solid storytelling.

I am slowly pulling away from the madness of Marvel Comics. I am down to Superior Spider-Man and Ultimate Comics Spider-Man right now in my Marvel list. I enjoyed Brian Wood's X-Men until they got dragged into this fiasco.

The bottom line is that the X-Men need to be blown up and rebuilt. I promise you in a year or so all of this will be over and the teams will be reunited and Xavier will be back from the dead. Mark my words.

a great man with a great mustcha :(

I enjoyed this event over all but I am going to drop the X books. I feel like death is being used to much lately. And after this event everything pretty much went back to the status quo.

The only thing I am really interested in is where Kitty goes from here.

@timelord: My sentiments exactly. I dropped them. Before the event, it seems like they were headed in a decent direction. It is not just the content but its the twice a month shipping and how its affecting my pockets. I can't afford it anymore. It is just too much. I liked Brian Wood's book but I was not happy when it got sucked into this crossover. I think Marvel is motivated by its media empire and the belief that movie success translates into comic success which is debatable. The teams will be reunited and Xavier will be back in an all new Uncanny X-Men series. They are redundant and they are running out of ideas. Blow it up and start all over again. I was happy when the Scarlet Witch declared an end to Mutants. I thought it would make them better. The best X-Men Series I have read in the last 10 years is Remender's Uncanny X-Force.

@spacemanspiff85: It's more the fact that Scott still insists that he thinks what he did is the right thing and has shown almost no remorse for his actions.

A rather dumb event in my opinion. I had hoped that they would've sent the All-New X-Men back to the future, but no, Marvel wants to play out that rather uninteresting card. I do feel as though Kymera will get forgotten too, or maybe they are just trying to undo the ridiculous "Storm and Black Panther divorced" line. I liked the ending though, even if it did seem a little out of character. Annoyed that the Brotherhood escaped as well, the last we need is more temporal copies running around 616. I was really enjoying most of the X-Men books too, hope that they will get back on track.

So nobody is gonna mention Future Jean's speech to Logan and Scott about how they f*&%ed everything up with their petty quarrel's and that she pretty much tried to beat the truth into them? Or that nice homage to the X-Men's first fight against Magneto? Jeez you guys love to hang onto the negative's with Marvel's events

@g_man: Good job on the review, but gotta say I disagree on what you said here.

"While there are many many different X-characters involved, the art in the first part is allowed to flow smoothly without cramming too many characters onto one page or panel."

I have mixed feelings with issue, I think I might even give it a 3 or a 3.5. The art was sort disgusting, rushed and felt very scattered to me. I think really crammed two many characters especially with young X-Men fighting Jean Grey. It felt like I was watching a Micheal Bay movie with all the explosions. The only dialogues I really like were the arguments from Jean Grey and Kitty. I kind of wish this was more than 10 parts honestly. It looks like Bendis has a problem with cramming a lot of stories in here. Maybe Marvel should let him expand his events with more pages like Jonathan Hickman is doing with Infinity. I'm not saying your opinion is wrong. I just disagree and I wanted to give my view...so I hope I don't get bitten. lol

Ditto, over and over again

I wish they said just what happened and explained how the world is. All we were told is very encapsulated and could have been the old X-men days. Brotherhood, X-men persecuting mutants. How about some defining moment? What happens that's so bad, and why does future school still seem like a gumdrop house on Lollipop Lane? I really liked this event, but I'm confused. Did I miss an issue?

This event really sucks , the art changes looks bad and writing is terrible. I really hate Bendis , he shouldn't write event comics, I started to dropping X books but somewhat he finds a way to keep reading. The only thing I really like is the final . Finally Kitty left the hypocrite group.

One thing I really hoped to they stop professor Wolverine thing but not happened , it was a stupid idea and still a stupid idea. And it looks like Bendis hates Schism too but he screwed up more in AVX.

Maybe I missed something, but isn't it a really bad idea for the original X-Men to stay in the present since it can royally screw the timestream?

I did have a crazy question about this particular issue: why did Xorn kill herself? It really didn't seem like it did any good except to destroy the Sentinels, unless the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. had the Sentinels in the first place was supposed to be the message in its entirety.

Not to mention I thought it was particularly hypocritical how Kymera stays in the present time, despite Ice Master's (lol) sphiel about how staying in the present time could be disastrous

@thanosofatlanta:

Lol, Blue Wolverine. I still call him Wolver-stique.

@divingfalcon713:

Doesn't matter. They can't go back. The Brotherhood tried to send them back, but the "Universe" won't allow it.

Glad Kitty is finally joining the cool team. Too bad Rachel didn't leave with her. At least we get Kitty + Illyana again. Dat hug...was adorable.

Okay, I'm seriously considering dropping all X-related books. Now, more than ever after this event, all they do is piss and moan and whine towards one another. It's like watching the frickin' Kardashians.

I thought that they were going to have a universe ending cataclysm if they didn't go back? Obviously they go back unless they are from an alternate timeline or reality? Having duplicates on different teams makes no sense to me. Bendis is a highly polarizing writer. The event ended as I expected with a setup for future stories and a mandate by Marvel to get people to spend loot they don't have for the X-men Franchise.

I am going to ride out with Superior Spider-Man until the end but Marvel is going to lose a customer. I really need for them to get back to basics. In a year all of this madness will be undone and Uncanny X-men 1 with Xavier Jean Grey and the whole crew is coming. No way they keep X-men in this mess and it is a mess. Cyclops even under the influence of the Phoenix would never murder Charles Xavier. Never. Wolverine, Storm, and Rachel have all killed and have all been hardcore when need be. The writers don't have a sense of history. They don't know their own characters sometimes.

What a pointless event. Really? What is the point of the Broterhood coming to the future? -.-

I will drop All New X-Men... Wolverine and his team really come across as hypocrites. Gosh, I hated all of this. The only thing worthwhile was Kitty, Magik and Piotr aaaaaand the momentos between Jubilee and Shogo.

My thoughts after reading this issue:

1. I'm so bloody tired of this stupid fight between Logan and Scott. Can't we just move on? It doesn't have to get solved with one event, but at least they could make the two work together without stupid, pointless fighting every other page.
2. NOOOO Not Stache!Colossus! Why!!!!!! <Sigh> Oh, well, at least Magik has two Soulswords now. That should be kinda cool. Hopefully Bendis remembers this, or else has her give it to her brother and lets Hopeless deal with over in Cable and X-Force.
3. Oh joy, Raze, Kid Xavier and Evil!Molly are loose in the present, that will definitely be fun to read about later. You know what, no. I flat out refuse to believe that the Future X-Men go home because they don't want to damage the timestream, while leaving one of them behind and ignoring the fact that the Future Brotherhood is running around FULLY CAPABLE OF DOING EXACTLY THAT!!!
4. Okay, the Jubilee/Future!Shogo ending was amazing. One of the highlights of this event as a whole and my favourite epilogue by far. Even though I'd only just met her, and knew barely anything about her, Wood somehow made me care about Wolverine's death (I guess Jubilee takes up the mantle after Logan dies or something?). Now I can't wait to see how he deals with the fallout of the rest of the event.
5. I actually don't mind Kitty and the O5 joining Scott's side, I kinda guessed that after I saw Young Warren back on ANXM covers. Yeah, the reasons were stupid (unless Bendis is having her pretend to leave only to spy on Scott for Logan, which would explain why Rachel stays), but I think the end result works for me.

Overall, I like the issue, I feel it did an admirable job tying up the event, even though I feel like the event itself had some serious problems with pacing and several plotholes that weren't discussed. Probably rate it 3.5/5 if I had to but a score on it.

As someone who despises Wolverine, Beast, and Storm and has read X-men since the early 80's; I was glad to see Kitty and students make the right call. The general "hero" treatment of Cyclops vs. Wolverine always rubs me as silly as how everyone treats Wolverine like a hero and Punisher like a villain when they have similar body counts. Now if only Cyclops' team could get Juggernaut onboard they would be the perfect team.

CONFUSED: what was the point of the evil Future X-Men coming to the present? I know they said the O5 being there caused timestream troubles, but they never really elaborated on what pushed the timeline over the edge (not to mention causing a few of them to go down a darker path).

I'm sure I'll like this event more once I realize their motive.

I think the reason the original x-men can't go back is because time is broken in the marvel universe. The only reason I can think of for the future x-men being able to go back is that the fractures have not reached there yet and so time travel is still possible in the future. Just a theory.

This was super underwhelming.

The event (and the series) started out great and slowly declined into mediocrity.

EXACTLY how i feel thank you

Logan's just struck me as much more of a hypocrite the past few years. He always gets so smug and superior around Scott, even though he ran X-Force for years and almost got the world destroyed because of it.

I just want to take a second here real quick to say that I feel it's worth pointing out that while the X-Men spent this whole event arguing with each other and not being productive, the Avengers have apparently started franchising other planets and the Inhumans have started their push into the spotlight.

Future of humanity, my ass.

@tximinoman: I dont know man, they sure do come off hating him b/c of the fact he killed Xavier.

Best line of the issue was when current bobby said to young bobby you can do more than you think and young bobby replies yeah I can grow a beard, had me in stitches

Also what will all new x-men focus on? Will it still be the O5

Cyclops didn't do anything for a pacific co-existence. He just proved how good and powerful mutants are if they let them and how little humans can do. As you're saying, humans could not risk to lose all the good Cyclops and the rest of the Phoenix Five gave them, that's not pacific coexistence, that's not making humans and mutants equal, that's making humans less than you. That's showing humans their place.

And look for example his new school, he's doing the same as he did in Utopia, he doesn't have students, he have soldiers. He's training them for the worse case scenario, telling them that they should stop trying to save mankind and start trying to save themselves.

He's Magneto without the whole crazy terrorist thing going on.

Wolverine's way of doing things is closer to Xavier's right now. But that doesn't mean I agree with him either, in fact, the only mutant I agree with right now is Alex Summers, he's the only one who's working with humans and I agree with his vision of mutants and humans being one and not two.

And his speech in Uncanny Avengers was awesome.

@comicbookfan93: Yes, ANXM still focuses on the O5. Apparently the idea was to consolidate both of Bendis' X-Men books into the main "Team Cyclops" books, while Aaron handles the main "Team Wolverine" books (WatXM and Amazing X-Men)

And here's what I have to say to everyone still calling Wolverine a hypocrite. At least he owned up to what he's done, even when he had no control over himself. Cyclops has flat-out denied any responsibility in Xavier's death and refuses to face any consequences for his actions. He's a coward, as far as I'm concerned.

Why should Scott have to admit anything? He was forcibly injected with the Phoenix Force after all. And it's not like he set out to murder Xavier and kill the entire planet. First thing he did with Phoenix powers? Try and make the world a better place. If we look at some of the other characters who've committed horrible acts while under the possession of larger cosmic forces, like Jean Grey and Scarlet Witch, it becomes apparent that the MU has a precedent for forgiving people's actions while under control of things like the Life Force or Phoenix Force. Hell, even Iceman was forgiven after he was possessed by the Death seed over in Astonishing X-Men.

@raggedscarecrow: I think the second soulsword went back with colossus. He's holding it as he's being pushed through :(

Am i the only one who is tired of seeing Jean Grey die so very often.... stop killing Jean.

This was terrible and everyone acted stupid. Especially Kitty who was the biggest one of them all.

@space4rentt: Wow I can't believe I missed that, that's actually kind of disappointing. Nice catch.

@killemall said:

She's the Optimus Prime of the X-Men world.

One point I didn't quite catch... what was with Kitty's speech in Epilogue 4 about "when I needed you the most... nothing"? Where did that come from?

@lena_dante:

Logan's been killing forever, sometimes with Cyclop's OK. I don't recall him actually killing Charles Xavier. Personally, I think it reflects a lack of creativity for the creators to kill him off simply because they don't know what to do with him.

I will agree that Jubes and Shogo were the emotional link for this series, moreso than young Jean, who became less sympathetic as we saw what her older self becomes

Everyone wants to complain about Wolverine's 'body count', but he's always been like a killer. He never made an oath to never kill and then start condoning sanctioned killing (ahem, hypocrite Cyclops). Logan didn't kill his own mentor and then blame it on "The Phoenix".

Marvel is completely hypocritical when it comes to the Phoenix force anyway. Each time Jean wielded it she was killed. But with Scott, he gets knocked out and thrown in prison, which he escapes almost immediately. Then he gets his old gang back and decides he is the best one to carry on Xavier's legacy. He even names his school after the man he killed? If he's so proud of his accomplishments, why does he hide in some crappy old subterranean base?

I have mixed feelings about this issue and the whole crossover. It was a nice self contained event that did not drag down the whole universe(cough infinity). The issue itself concluded the story but left room for future plotlines to be developed and seems to have some lasting consequences. Now a few specific things.

1 - I like how Marvel limited the exposure of this crossover limiting it to the core X-Men titles with no tie-ins. I do wonder if infinity was not occuring at the same time would Marvel have been able to resist adding a bunch of tie in stories.

2 - The characters from the future that remained are interesting. I would be interested to see Molly meet her older self.

3 - Kitty and the O5 leaving Wolverines school for Cyclops seems to be the main lasting consequence of this event. I do wonder why Kitty was so mad though, I understand she put alot of time and effort into the O5 but being pissed about others wanting to send them back to their original time is plain stupid. Are Kitty and Bobby over, I hope not.

4 - The scene with Shogo and Jubilee was great, very heart warming.

5 - While I suspect old Jean was somewhat crazy she makes a good point that if Wolverine and Cyclops could get past their differences the cause of Mutants would be better served. I like how she used the word 'schism' specifically, because that was the exact moment when this artifical division in the X-Men was implemented and it seems we are now stuck with it.

I really enjoyed this event. Part of why I enjoyed it is because it was short, sweet, and not an Infinity Gauntlet spanning event.

As an X-Men man my whole life and as someone who has read a huge amount of X comics, I should mention that I out right despise Jubilee. Part of that is the 90's cartoon's fault. But I genuinely enjoyed her and Shogo in this cross over.

I enjoyed seeing Xavier as a straight out villain. Sure the original Xavier was a villain many times and oftentimes while proclaiming himself a hero. OG Xavier is a great character that has the facade of Martin Luther King but with the underneath of a cut throat dirty politician. Sure he's not accepting money from corporations but he did over write a lot of people's brains with what he considered correct. I'm glad he's dead. And I'm also glad all his children are horrible villainous people. Seriously what is up with that?

With Kitty, Cyclops, and Magik being my favorite X characters, I'm glad to see them on the same team. Storm used to be a favorite character of mine but that was in the Giant Size X-Men to Fall of the Mutants era. The Black Panther marriage always seemed dumb to me. Kitty dumping Iceman also made me happy. Colossus all the way!

I too am sad of the death of 'stache Colossus.