The Avengers became the king of superheroes in the 2010s, paying off years of work by some of the greatest creators ever. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes have had decades of amazing stories, building the group into something very special. The ’60s saw the groundwork for the team laid, the ’70s was when they hit their stride and started expanding, and the ’80s was when they were perfected. The ’90s were a massive decade for the House of Ideas, with the Spider-Man and X-Men books selling millions of copies. However, while they were having salad days, the Avengers weren’t doing well. In fact, it was quite the opposite.
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Longtime Avengers fans know the terrors of early to mid ’90s Avengers comics. There were some good stories, mainly “Operation: Galactic Storm” and “The Proctor Saga”, but most of the first five years of the decade weren’t great. Avengers was being written by Bob Harras, who was also the editor of the X-Men books and would go on to become Marvel editor in chief, so there was no way to get rid of him. Eventually, Harras decided to take a page from the X-books that he had edited and “The Crossing” was born. It’s a prime example of ’90s cheese and it was the lowest moment in Avengers history, one that should have destroyed the team forever.
“The Crossing” Was All About ’90s-ing Up the Avengers and It Failed Miserably
It all started with the X-Traitor. Uncanny X-Men #287 gave readers more of the origin of Bishop, revealing that the met Gambit in the future and learned that at some point the X-Men were betrayed and killed. This story started a firestorm, with fans trying to guess who it would be, one that would eventually be put on the back burner, but Harras learned a lesson from it – fans loved traitor stories. He’d eventually bring the idea to the Avengers books he had been quietly writing into a hole that he could never get them out of.
The ’90s were amazing for the X-Men but terrible for the Avengers. The team was seen as a relic of the past and ’90s readers just weren’t interested in their adventures and it really didn’t matter what Harras tried to do. Gimmick covers gave sales a bump, but readers never stayed with them. The members were given more ’90s-style costume and a heaping helping of “extreme” was added to them, making them look more like the Image books that were all the rage. Nothing worked. The bad sales on the Avengers book were a huge problem for Marvel and Harras decided that the best thing to do with the books was to try to copy the success of the X-Men with “The Crossing”.
“The Crossing” was about a traitor within the Avengers, targeting the group from within. Eventually, it was revealed to be the last person anyone expected – Iron Man. Kang had gone back in time at some point and reprogrammed Tony Stark’s mind, making him into a sleeper agent. The Avengers decided that the best thing to do was to also go back in time and recruit teen Tony Stark to defeat the older Tony. They succeeded and Kang’s plans were foiled, with a newer, younger Tony Stark in the present and the team full of “extreme” costume changes.
Harras has never been a good creator. He’s the editor who was responsible for Chris Claremont leaving the X-books, and the reason Jim Lee, Whilce Potracio, and Rob Liefeld were writing comics (which was a mistake; they were great artists not writers). He made terrible decisions that made things worse for Marvel and “The Crossing” was the moment that everyone truly realized how bad the Avengers comics were. There were so many problems with the story and it honestly felt like no one was actually trying with the Avengers book. It was so blatantly trying to copy the X-Men and their successes that the fact that it backfired wasn’t at all surprising. What few fans had tried the story hated it and the Avengers book got ever closer to cancellation, before Marvel decided to throw a Hail Mary.
“The Crossing” Was Terrible but What Came Next Was Worse
“The Crossing” was the last straw for the Avengers comics. Things had been circling the drain for years as the X-Men and Spider-Man sucked up all the oxygen in the room and “The Crossing” was a moment of panic. Speaking as someone who was around back then, the Avengers were a non-entity for most fans. By the time I saw the chromium-covered Avengers: The Crossing #1, I hadn’t cared about a new Avengers story in years and neither had anyone else. The story was mocked from the beginning and most fans hoped that the worst was over. They were wrong.
As “The Crossing” floundered, Marvel was negotiating with Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld to take over the Avengers and Fantastic Four books. Harras went back to the artists who had made his editorial decisions seem smart and hoped they would save the two teams. The deal would have went through even if “The Crossing” was a success, because Harras had spent years destroying the Avengers in the minds of fans. “Heroes Reborn” was so bad that it made readers forget about “The Crossing”, which is saying something. The story was a symptom of the rot of mid ’90s Marvel, a black mark that will stain the team forever.
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