Warning: SPOILERS for Immortal X-Men #7!A.X.E. Judgment Day is not quite over yet, but already it's proving to be one of Marvel's most R-Rated crossover events in recent memory. Mature themes were at play from the outset of the clash between Krakoa and Eternal society. However, many readers may be surprised at the amount of explicit content on prominent display throughout the main series and its tie-ins. Superheroic violence is nothing new for these kinds of event-epics; remember Civil War or House of M? However, paired with the prevalence of sexual elements within the story it's clear that Judgment Day would earn an R-Rating if it were a film.
Due to the nature of the communities involved in Kieron Gillen and Valerio Schiti's massive tale, Judgment Day is rife with adult themes for the audience to engage with. Are the mutants just in only providing resurrection for their own kind? How can the Eternals reconcile their own immortality with the hypocritical price it requires? How does one respond to the possibility of divine judgment? Can the peoples of Earth unite to make a better world? These are just a smattering of the mature ideas at play throughout Judgment Day thus far. It's fitting then that the event matches the adult subtext with equally suggestive material on-panel.
The conflict that Judgment Day finds the Avengers, X-Men, and Eternals embroiled in is resulting in shocking displays of violence and increasingly provocative levels of nude content. Early on Magneto gets his heart punched out of his chest by Uranos. In dark detail, Steve Rogers is depicted as the only survivor of the Progenitor's Central Park Massacre. The North Pole assault on the newborn Celestial crescendos in a mass slaughter of nearly all of Marvel's Earthbound heroes in gross detail. This kind of violence is not new to Marvel Comics, but the sheer scale is jaw-dropping. Alternatively, the prominent role that Krakoan resurrection plays in Judgment Day sets up the amount of sexually suggestive nudity displayed on the page. Characters such as Nightcrawler and Exodus have been given multiple shots of their nude forms shortly after being resurrected throughout the event. The most prominent instance of this arrived in Kieron Gillen, Lucas Werneck, David Curiel, VC's Clayton Cowles, and Jordan D. White's Immortal X-Men #7. Werneck and Curiel's work in the issue is instantly iconic if for nothing else than how they capture the newly-resurrected Steve Rogers in the nude, standing tall with only the shadow of his shield left to obscure the Captain's privates.
Marvel Comics' Biggest Crossover of the Year and It's Definitely R-Rated
Many fans of Marvel Comics harbor fears of the comics they love being reshaped for the sake of corporate synergy with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Further still, the era of corporate comics as a whole has made fans more cognizant than ever about the potential censorship that creators and editors face in today's context. This makes the level of mature content in Judgment Day a refreshing change of pace. In terms of scope, Judgment Day is Marvel Comics' largest crossover story of 2022, and it features many of the hallmarks of an R-Rated film. Intense, persistent violence, plenty of suggestive nudity, and some drinking with the occasional swear word enhance the story and surely feels rewarding for adult fans of Marvel Comics.
Famously it's been said that the Marvel Universe is meant to be "the world outside your window." That's a whole world full of stories that are appropriate for numerous age groups. But for a story so world-shaking, the integration of mature story elements makes sense. For children under a certain age, it seems that the Progenitor withholds judging them categorically. If that is not enough of a signal that Judgment Day is an R-Rated Marvel story, then the amount of violence and nudity that supplements the story is sure to be convincing.
Immortal X-Men #7 is available now from Marvel Comics.