Warning: SPOILERS for A.X.E: Judgment Day #5What started as a simple war between the Avengers, the X-Men and the Eternals has turned into the greatest Marvel comic event in years - and the massive game-changing twist means the event has only just begun. Marvel's A.X.E: Judgment Day event is the latest in a long line of world-ending events from the company, and admittedly it shares plenty of elements with other crossover events including doomsday scenarios and enigmatic, supremely overpowered villains. But A.X.E: Judgment Day #5 proves the event stands out from the rest with deep storytelling, character development, and a twist that even longtime readers will never see coming.
In 2019, the X-Men's Krakoa reboot introduced the concept of mutant resurrection - and in 2022, the greatest secret of the new mutant nation was revealed to the public. Anti-mutant sentiment reached a fever pitch among humanity, and the Eternals ultimately decided the mutant ability to cheat death represented "excess deviation": something they are compelled to correct. The Eternals thus attack Krakoa, the X-Men retaliate, and the Avengers desperately attempt to broker a peace before the war escalates. In a misguided attempt to force peace, Iron Man awakens the Godlike Progenitor Celestial - who quickly assumes control of the entire event. The Celestial gives humanity 24 hours to justify its own existence - and, if found lacking, the planet will be destroyed.
In A.X.E: Judgment Day #5, written by Keiron Gillen with art by Valerio Schiti, 24 hours have passed, the Celestial has judged all intelligent beings on Earth - and has decided the planet would be better off without them. It brings about the apocalypse in dramatic fashion: oceans boil, cities collapse, and millions are killed. Heroes are not exempt from the slaughter, as Captain Marvel, Thor, Captain America and countless others are destroyed. A last stand against the Celestial proves absolutely fruitless (they can only distract it, but cannot damage it in any way). Typically, a being that judges humanity would eventually be swayed by the masses of humanity - but not this time.
Unlike other similar events in the last few years (Fantastic Four: Reckoning War, Heroes Reborn and King in Black), Judgment Day's major beats are not punctuated by action scenes, but quiet moments of contemplation after numerous heroes are judged and fail the Celestial's test. Even Captain America, widely considered the paragon of the Marvel Universe, fails - meaning the Celestial isn't simply judging a person by their thoughts and actions, but by more nebulous qualities that humanity simply cannot understand. The only way to defeat the Celestial is to reason with it - but who can talk down God himself from destroying the world?
This is the question that faces the surviving heroes at the end of the fifth issue - and their answer is Captain America, newly brought back from the dead via the X-Men's resurrection technology. To resurrect a human instead of a mutant means the X-Men are truly desperate - as is everyone else. Judgment Day forces Avengers, X-Men and Eternals alike to reconcile with their flaws and their failures; the quiet moments in the face of annihilation make for one of Marvel's greatest crossover stories in recent memory.