Jean Grey is about to be judged for her crimes as the cosmic avatar of the Phoenix Force. A.X.E.: Judgment Day is the currently-running Marvel event that brings the powerhouse franchises Avengers, X-Men, and Eternals together in a global conflict. There are plenty of tie-ins that further advance the Judgement Day plot, which finds the Eternals going to war with the X-Men after the Prime Eternal Druig deems mutation an excess Deviation. The Avengers, X-Men, and Eternals will all have specific one-shots penned by Judgment Day writer Kieron Gillen, and the X-Men issue will put the focus on Jean Grey's time as Dark Phoenix.
ComicBook.com has the exclusive first look at A.X.E.: X-Men #1 by Kieron Gillen, Francesco Mobili, and Frank Martin. It finds Jean Grey being judged by Progenitor, the Celestial that served as Avengers Mountain, a.k.a. the home base of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Iron Man teamed up with Mister Sinister, Ajak, and Makarri to revive Avengers Mountain in order to bring a cease-fire between mutants and Eternals. While the Celestial named Progenitor was able to fulfill that task, it also kickstarted its base programming of passing judgment, which it decided to do on all mankind.
Humans, mutants, gods, Eternals, and everyone living on Earth has 24 hours to be judged individually, then judged as a unit. If Progenitor finds Earth has passed its judgment, then the planet will be spared. If not, then Earth will be terminated. As for Jean Grey, her judgment comes when Progenitor looks back at her time as Dark Phoenix, and the galactic destruction she left in her wake.
Of course, Marvel has retconned much of Jean Grey's past as Dark Phoenix, revealing she was in stasis under the ocean while a Phoenix-created avatar of Jean Grey committed those genocidal crimes. It may make no difference to Progenitor, however. Preview pages by Mobili and Martin show the X-Men, Avengers, and Eternals trying to help Jean, who is under psychic attack as memories flood her brain.
You can find the first look at A.X.E.: X-Men #1 below. The issue goes on sale October 5th.
- A.X.E.: X-MEN #1
- Cover by NIC KLEIN
- Variant Cover by ARTHUR ADAMS
- Connecting Variant Cover by SALVADOR LARROCA
- THE SECOND STORY-CRITICAL A.X.E. ONE-SHOT!
- It wasn't her. It wasn't her. It wasn't her. It wasn't her. It wasn't her. Yet: "I am fire and life incarnate! Now and forever." Which part of "Now and forever" is confusing to you? As one world burns, can Jean justify her existence after burning another?
- 32 PGS./ONE-SHOT/Rated T+ …$3.99