After seeing the Phoenix Five pretty much have their way in their bouts against the Avengers in the main AvX title, it’s a little interesting to see such a different side of them in Uncanny X-Men #16. Here, they’re battling Mr. Sinister in his twisted version of London where everyone is Mr. Sinister, more or less. The problem is that suddenly the Phoenix Five don’t look so powerful, which has me wondering why the combined might of the Avengers seems so ineffectual.
This week in AvX #8, we saw the Avengers throw everyone they had at just one of the Phoenix Five, including Scarlet Witch, and they just barely eked out a win. In Uncanny, Mr. Sinister uses Cyclops clones, Gambit clones and so on and so forth to fight the combined might of the Phoenix Five, and he doesn’t seem to have too much trouble with them. It’s a rather confusing state of affairs after seeing all of the power the Phoenix has displayed in other titles. I’m also kind of confused as to why this whole “Sinister London” thing is even a problem the Five feel like they have to deal with personally, what with their “no more Avengers” initiative and that whole reshaping the world to be a better place stuff. I’m just not sure where this one fits in, but so it goes sometimes with tie-ins.
So, not much else going on here. Just a big ol’ battle with a bunch of Mr. Sinisters fighting the Phoenix Five with a castle that’s on the back of a huge, golem-like creature, and despite the power of the Phoenix, Scott and company apparently aren’t as powerful as they seem in other titles. Guess that’s good news for the Avengers, right? Hope they’re reading this.
Score: 4 of 7
A BIG thanks to Astro-Zombies for providing the material for this review. Learn more about them at astrozombies.com.
