Brian Michael Bendis To Leave The Avengers...And Maybe Join The X-Men? [Op-Ed]
Lost in the hype over Marvel’s announcement that, at some point in the near future, a superhero team would be fighting another superhero team in a mainstream comic book was the slightly bigger news that in 2012, writer Brian Michael Bendis will be leaving The Avengers.
As reported over at CBR, Bendis – who, whatever you think of his run on the Avengers titles – has nearly single-handedly reinvigorated the franchise to the point that it may viably be the inspiration for one of the biggest movies of all time, wants to go out on a high note. So post Avengers vs. X-Men (the Event we snarkily referred to in the first paragraph), which he’s co-plotting and writing with Marvel’s other “Architects,” Bendis will stop writing The Avengers, New Avengers, and even Avengers Assemble, a new title he’s just launching in March to draw in potential new fans from the movies.
Here’s the quote from Bendis himself:
"I'm going to wrap up 'Avengers' and 'New Avengers.' At the same time the first storyline of 'Avengers Assemble' will be done. It's a good time to move on to other things. Before I go, though, I'm ending things big. I'm in countdown mode. You know when you're watching a show like 'Breaking Bad,' and every episode feels like the second to last episode? That's where I'm at. I've been on the Avengers longer than anybody in the history of the book. When you take everything into account, I've written over 200 issues. I'm very, very proud of that, and what we have coming up this summer gives me the opportunity to go out on a high note. I know enough about showbiz to know that's a great time to go."
Already, we’ve seen outcry online, mostly saying, “Good! I never liked him anyway!” But the fact of the matter is, fans have never liked him all the way to the bank. Pre-Bendis, Avengers didn’t really sell, and didn’t galvanize fans or launch franchises the way that, say, Justice League over at DC did. With a few simple – controversial – moves in the Avengers: Disassembled storyline, Bendis tweaked the line-up, adding Wolverine and Spider-Man, and rocketed Avengers to the top of the charts for over half a decade.
Not only that, but he raised the profile of nearly every character involved in the book, allowing multiple spin-offs and ongoing series; and making Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man the true center of the Marvel Universe. That’s nothing to scoff at, and he’ll clearly leave a long legacy on The Avengers franchise that won’t be soon forgotten.
There’s a few questions about this, of course: what is Bendis doing next; and who is taking over The Avengers books?
The first one is pretty easy, actually… As long as we accept we’re now entering the zone of pure speculation. Like most crossovers, Avengers vs. X-Men will clearly be followed by a shake-up of titles, writing and art teams, and storylines as the Marvel Universe deals with the epic fall-out from the battle royale that shook the universe to its very foundation. With that ending in August, we’re going to get those all new teams in – unless we have an “Aftermath!” month – September. Which is in 2012. Which is when, I’m guessing, Bendis is leaving the Avengers books.
Could the scribe be leaving to concentrate on his Hollywood work, like the Powers and Ultimate Spider-Man TV shows? We guess, but he’s been successfully juggling those and writing several titles – including both Avengers titles – for years now.
Could he want to get back to more indie work, and smaller titles? Hey, he’s been doing that too, with books like Takio, and Brilliant, and even the currently running Moon Knight.
No, he’s going to keep writing big comics, because he can. And Marvel is certainly not going to let one of the only “name” writers in the industry leave their top selling franchise, and then not take on something that could sell as big as that.
Here’s the thing: Bendis has written nearly the entirety of the Marvel Universe, he’s done Spider-Man, and Avengers, even a long seminal run on Daredevil. But there’s only one major franchise he hasn’t tackled, other than in crossovers, the Ultimate Universe, and a high school novelization he submitted for an assignment and got an A+ for (thanks, Wikipedia).
It’s a franchise that USED to be the top one at Marvel, before Bendis took over The Avengers, and even with big storylines and some crack writing and art teams, has flagged in recent years. That’s right:
Brian Michael Bendis is going to write The X-Men.
It’s kind of blindingly obvious when you think about it, right? Have Bendis take on Marvel’s Merry Mutants in the wake of Avengers vs. X-Men, essentially switching from one side to the other. Avengers will still be on a high from the crossover, and the massive attention from the feature film, so the Avengers office can take some risks with less proven name writers. Not only will this rocket X-Men back to the top of the sales charts, it will get mainstream buzz going. And Bendis has – even though I searched and can’t find the quote, I swear this is true – said on a few occasions that X-Men is the one book he hasn’t gotten to write yet, that he wants to take on.
Will it be controversial move, given Brian “No More Mutants” Bendis’ history with Cyclops and Friends? Surely. But controversy sells copies, and if this does happen, it’s a smart move on Marvel’s part. Let The X-Men build back up to the top, and when Avengers starts to look like second citizens, turn the spotlight back on them. Rinse, repeat.
Now if we assume that crazy-pants thing I just said is true, that ties in neatly to our second question: what happens to the people who are currently writing X-Men, like Kieron Gillen and Jason Aaron. Why, move them over to The Avengers, right? There’s two titles, and Gillen has experience with Thor’s world (Journey Into Mystery), while Aaron has started writing Hulk and clearly knows how to pen big action events, too – as we saw with X-Men Schism.
Will it be as clear-cut as that? Heck no, but taking the Architects (and the rest of the Marvel stable), and shuffling them around is a great way of reinvigorating the whole line without full-scale rebooting Marvel New 52 style… Which is something a few Internet-ers have suggested may be the way things are going (though that’s a whole different article).
Is any of this accurate? Well, we’ll probably know soon enough, or at least in another six months or so. If the timeline here is accurate at all, we should know what the aftermath of Avengers vs. X-Men is around June or July – perfect timing for announcements during Convention season. By then, we can either look back on this article and laugh, or look back on this article and say, “Why did I remember this article from six months ago? Anyway, that was a pretty good theory.”
Regardless, and whatever Bendis is doing, he’s promised to go out big. We’ll be reading every issue.
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