AXE: Judgment Day is about to put the Avengers, Eternals, and X-Men in a three-way superhero conflict, drawing on some of the publisher's oldest storytelling traditions of having their heroes clash.
But Mark Brooks' just released cover for AXE: Judgment Day #5 is setting the stage for the story to embrace another tradition that goes right along with Marvel Comics heroes fighting each other: those same heroes then setting aside their differences to team up against an even bigger threat, in this case, the Celestial that is coming to judge everyone.
There are two layers to the conflict in AXE: Judgment Day. The story starts with a fight between the X-Men and the Eternals over the Eternals' newfound belief that mutantkind is a genetic offshoot of the Eternals' ancient enemies the Deviants, meaning the Eternals have come to believe that mutants must be eliminated - with the Avengers caught in the middle of the conflict.
And on the other side, there's the Celestial judgment that is coming to Earth, with heroes, villains, and others being judged to determine whether Earth and its population deserve to survive (according to whatever passes for Celestial morality, at least).
Along with the new cover, Marvel has also released an updated checklist of all the planned AXE: Judgment Day tie-ins through September, seen here.
Judging (pun intended) by the cover of AXE: Judgment Day #5, the series penultimate issue, the X-Men, Avengers, and Eternals will find it in themselves to overcome their differences in order to save the Earth from whatever fate the dispassionate Celestials may be planning once the dust clears.
AXE: Judgment Day #5 goes on sale in September. Stay tuned to Newsarama for Marvel's full September 2022 solicitations, coming later this month.
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