The Avengers, the Eternals, and the X-Men are set to collide this summer.
Here’s how it’s going to go down.
But as all readers of superhero comics know, it’s not really summer without a huge crossover event.
The Avengers, X-Men, and Eternals collide in the new crossover story ‘Judgment Day’.Dustin Weaver/Marvel Comics
His run onUncanny X-Menwas all about tying in and out of events likeSchismandAvengers vs. X-Men.
And nowJudgment Daymarks the first Marvel event written and built by Gillen.
“I’ve never written an event,” Gillen tells EW.
The Quiet Council stars on the cover of ‘Immortal X-Men’ #1, by Kieron Gillen and Lucas Werneck.Mark Brooks for Marvel
“A lot of my peers have, I’ve seen them go through it.
I’ve seen their experience of it.
I’ve read the lot and I’ve absolutely had my own takes on them.
The Eternals are hunting key X-Men in this preview art from ‘Judgment Day’.Valerio Schiti and Marte Gracia for Marvel Comics
I said, ‘What do I like in an event?
What do I think is fun and interesting and poetic?'”
He told us his answers.
The Eternal Druig appears to be conspiring with X-Men foe Moira McTaggert in ‘Judgment Day’.Valerio Schiti and Marte Gracia for Marvel Comics
In the 21st century, these gave way to hero-vs.-hero events likeCivil WarandAvengers vs. X-Men.
“Up front, I’ve black-hatted the Eternals,” Gillen says.
But the Eternals are a complicated group of people.
Professor X and Cerebro face off against the Eternals' Uni-Mind in ‘Judgment Day’.Valerio Schiti and Marte Gracia for Marvel Comics
Especially since I’m writing both theEternalstie-ins andImmortal X-Men, I’m always writing the complexities."
That’s where the Avengers come in.
They can come in and ask, ‘Wait, you did what to who?'"
Druig consults Uranos, the Eternals' genocidal ancestor, in ‘Judgment Day’.Valerio Schiti and Marte Gracia for Marvel Comics
Plus, we’ve seen the cost of the Eternals' immortality.
This is opposed to DC characters, which (in broad strokes) are more about a fallen world.
Gillen says he asked himself, “What can I do to make them feel more Marvel?
That’s where I got the cost of their immortality.
That democratic politics might possibly go wrong?
One of my favorite bits inEternalswas that double-paged spread where we showed the gerrymandering of the Eternals.
My favorite thing is when people go, ‘The Eternals would never elect Thanos!’
Now Marvel’s mutants are less a superhero team than a society, and society means politics.
“The Eternals are a really awful portrait of how Krakoa could end up.
No indeed and the Eternals know how to hit where it hurts.
Gillen has the good fortune of working with artist Valerio Schiti and colorist Marte Gracia onJudgment Day.
Gillen says we haven’t seen anything yet.
“Valerio and Marte really are good.
InJudgment Dayyou have a Greek chorus of real people living their lives, and Valerio makes it all real.
Then he draws 800,000-foot killing machines.
He can literally draw anything and turn into a single aesthetic unit.”
As an example of what Schiti and Gracia can do, check out the preview art above.
