SDCC 2012: Marvel’s Cup o’ Joe Panel

The panel started with an audience poll as to whose side people had taken: the X-Men or the Avengers. Then Quesada asked the crowd how many of them were familiar with Marvel NOW! No one was. Axel Alonso then explained that Marvel NOW! has been focusing on Marvel’s shared universe for ten years now and building up to something big. Regarding the Uncanny Avengers, Alonso said, “They were assembled for a very specific mission, but then learned that there was so much more to them.”

From there the panel began discussing upcoming Avengers and X-Men projects, but for the most part revealed little beyond the titles. One thing they were particularly enthusiastic about, however, was a follow-up of Avengers vs. X-Men — Avengers + X-Men, which Alonso said was pretty much the opposite of AvX VS. This new series will feature work by Jeph Loeb, Dan Slott, Dale Keown, and Ron Garney, and it will see the Avengers and the X-Men working together against evil.

Another upcoming AvX series discussed was AvX: Consequences by Kieron Gillen, which will start in October 2012. AvX: Consequences will wrap up a lot of loose ends and answer questions otherwise not resolved in the other AvX series.

A special one-shot discussed was AvX Babies, by Skottie Young and Guruhiru, the idea for which came from Young’s proposed variant cover for one of the AvX issues.

The rest of the panel discussion focused on popular Avengers and X-Men characters. Alonso said that the Jean Grey of Marvel NOW! is the original Jean Grey, who has time-traveled to the present with the rest of the original five X-Men. He also said that a new dynamic between Hulk and Bruce Banner will soon be introduced, though he didn’t specify what that would be.