X-Men Legacy, Vol. 11: Avengers vs. X-Men

X-Men Legacy (2008) (Collected Editions)

by Christos Gage, Rafa Sandoval, David Baldeón (Illustrator)

Avengers She-Hulk, Falcon and Moon Knight are tasked with securing the Jean Grey School — but Rogue and her team of X-Men aren’t too happy about it!

Then, as the war between the Avengers and the X-Men rages on, Frenzy’s past is revealed — and Rogue confronts hers head-on as she battles Ms. Marvel in a clash that will leave one woman with a changed allegiance!

Plus: Trapped in another world and in the clutches of the terrifying Swarm, Rogue struggles to end a conflict between two alien tribes and stay alive long enough to find a way home! But with the Phoenix poised to raze Earth, will she make it in time? Finally, Rogue is reunited with Magneto — and he’s got an offer that will leave her speechless.

Collecting: X-Men Legacy 266-275

Genres: Comics, X Men, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Comic Book, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

232 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2013

About the author

Chris N. Gage is a writer for comic books and television.

Reviews

[Derek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed Feelings about his volume. Some bits of it were genius, some were pretty derivative and mediocre. I mean, the fight between with the Avengers? and then the splitting of the Phoenix spirit into five? Rogue's arbitrator role in the alien fighting between the Vray and those critter like hive-minders? All of it could be... more intense, or less predictable.
Overall, I think the best part of it all was Rogue finally getting her shit together, finally taking steps to gain her own independence, plus it was about time that farce of a relationship with Magneto to come to an end. On the other hand, please, enough Rogue, she doesn't have to be central in all the X-men Legacy stories, I think other characters could take a leading role, who? That's the question isn't it. But still, someone else would do, at least to break the tedium.

[Gladimore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rogue is pretty great!

[christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was basically a volume of Rogue storylines, which wasn't a bad thing! I wanted to know more of her backstory since she used to kind of be a "baddie". Trying to read her and Gambits accents, however did kind of get old fast. I think the Asgardian characters pull off the whole "different dialect" better. I didn't care for the alien world story within a story, but the scenes with Ms. Marvel were awesome and gave a better look into their rival or comrade status. The scenes with Magneto were cool too, but still creepy because I feel like he's an old man?

[Adam Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Original 2019 Review:

The Avengers Vs. X-Men era ruined most of the mutant and Avenger books for an entire year. The story was convoluted, and unfolded completely out of order in a variety of books. And, as usual, it's not collected well.

This collection features tie-ins from when Rogue and the staff of the Jean Grey school have to figure out which side of the Avengers Vs X-Men Vs Uncanny X-Men Vs New Avengers Vs Themeselves fight, then suddenly we're in the middle of the main AVX storyline, and then we're shunted off, along with Rogue for a sidestory that dares to ask the question "What if Rogue starred in Planet Hulk, but it was boring, and didn't have any other developed characters? Or purpose?" And then we're spit out after AvX is over, with absolutely no narrative conclusions to any of the issues from before Rogue was...whatevered.

It's bad editorial, and it's bad writing. The dialogue reads like the outline for a rough draft of fanfiction. I would definitely avoid this, unless you're, like me, a completist; or, unlike me, a fan of the Avengers Vs X-Men era.

***

Updated During 2025 X-Reread:

I still think my criticisms of the story are valid. The Planet Hulk-ish story with Rogue feels a bit wasted since it's not connected to anything before or after it. As a character study of Rogue, it's not as interesting as her trying to find her place in the main Avengers vs X-Men storyline. As a writer's way of treading water and bypassing certain parts of the larger storyline, it's a bold, interesting choice. While I don't think it was particularly good, it was better-paced and more coherent than what was happening in the other books. Gage told a story that wouldn't really fit anywhere else in the X-Men corner of the Marvel Universe at the time.

I also appreciated the Rogue/Mimic interactions in the final issue in this collection. Mimic is a character that I only really cared about in the X-Men Animated Series cartoon. Gage does a solid job of making him feel more developed than he has at any other point in X-history.

I think this might be a four-star book for people whose favorite character is Rogue. I like that this book emphasizes her importance in the X-Men by the villains needing to take her off the board but being afraid of other X-Men rallying around her, so instead of imprisoning or hurting her, they shunt her off to a war-torn world and tell everyone that she's "on a mission."

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

At War (266-267). The lead story is a little annoying for how massively stupid the Avengers are in not realizing they’re going to cause problems. However it’s a really nice look at Rogue’s characters, carried off well through the two issues [7/10].

Frenzy (268). I wasn’t too enthused by the start of this issue, but as we got deeper into Joanne’s backstory and character as the story went on, I became enthralled. I loved how both Carey and Gage have dealt with Frenzy, and fear she’s going to get lost after the Marvel Now reshuffle [8/10].

Rogue & Ms. Marvel (269-270). In this story after the Phoenix Force has settled on Earth, Gage manages to do a great job of showing what a utopia on Earth means to Rogue (and the mutants) and also does a terrific job of showing the interactions between Rogue and Ms. Marvel [7+/10].

Planet Rogue (271-273). I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of sending Rogue off to an alternate dimension so near the end of her series (and in the middle of a crossover), but this was nonetheless a good story [7/10].

Finales (274-275). The last two issues do a good job of once more showing off Rogue’s progress over the last 80 or so issues of this title. 274 was the best, with its focus on Magneto and Rogue’s job as Legacy, but both issues were strong and a good conclusion to the title.

[Judah Radd · Rating 3 out of 5]

It dragged a bit, but overall, this collection had heart... which is more than I can say about the rest of Legacy.

Rogue is still kind of annoying, with her “ah need to figure out who ah am and move on from mah past” schtick. It’s been 25 fucking years! DEVELOP!

Besides that, this story actually has some nice moments. Her tale of two armies thing in that other dimension was resolved in a cool way (if not a bit too neatly.) Her dumping magneto made me groan. Not because I like them together, but because I’m sick of ANY drama involving them.

I have gripes, but despite them, the story had some very charming and satisfying elements. The art was very nice too.

Not terrible, not great. It’s another decent X book.

[Aisling · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[XMCU · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm on the last two issues. Since I own Captain Marvel Vs Rogue trade paperback, I already read X-Men Legacy #269 & #270. The X-Men issues #266 & #267 are great for context of Rogue's mindset. Issue #268 is about the character Frenzy. And it's a good issue and the only one not featuring Rogue. This book is Rogue centric, BTW. Issues #271-273 has Rogue (alone) on a foreign planet and has shenanigans with two warring factions. I found this story to be kinda meandering. Like I think the story could've been done in two issues, but, personally, I usually find myself wanting comic story's to be longer.

Avengers Annual #10 is not a necessary read for X-Men Legacy #266, but it's to read it before starting this book. Issues #266 & #267 are top tier Rogue Issues.

Update: I finished reading the book. It's one of the best books for Rogue and I wish it was better and doubled the length. This X-Men Legacy volume contains a lot of what I've been looking for. So imma rate this 5 stars.

[Maddsurgeon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like that this run focuses mainly on Rogue, who's one of my favorite X-Men. Gage gets her complexity and her charm, and most of the plot seems to fit right into the overarching theme of the big crossover. There's also a great deal of humor, which is always welcome.

What seems awkward and out of place is a few issues where Rogue is sent to another dimension (by the Phoenix-Force-possessed Magik) and has to solve a big crisis there that is fairly predictable, and doesn't have a lot to do with the main story. That seems to be the rule in the AvX stuff I've read, though; the major events are pretty simple and contained, and there seem to be half a billion tie-ins that are loosely correlated.

At any rate, the upshot of this one is that it deals a bit with the Avengers/X-Men conflict but mainly has some great character development for Rogue. I particularly like the last issue, where she teams up with Mimic and uses her power creatively. There have been huge chunks of time where Rogue has been unwilling/unable to use her power, which makes sense given her personality, but it's such a fun comic-book device that it's always a big payoff when a writer really lets loose with her in a big battle sequence.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume of X-Men Legacy starts very strongly, and ends very strongly. It's the middle that lets it down. The first story has the Avengers come to the Jean Grey School and cause trouble, before Rogue gets involved in the conflict in her own special way. It's when she ends up in another dimension that the story drags for three issues in the middle, and becomes a slog to read. The volume ends well however with the final two issues dealing with Rogue's journey coming full circle and her relationship with Magneto finally getting some closure. David Baldeon and Rafa Sandoval provide enjoyable visuals throughout.

[Alex E · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the final volume of X-Men Legacy, Rogue takes center spotlight.

So this volume has to do a lot with the Avengers vs X-Men event, and it starts off by seeing the kids from the Jean Grey school talking about the whole AVX thing. The Avengers themselves are a source of the problem here, as they should really know that they are stirring it up at a school of all places. However, the storyline made sense in the context of it being a tie in to the big event.

The book then takes a weird side turn to see Rogue go cosmic, in a Planet Hulk-esque storyline. It wasn't bad, and it's cool to see Rogue take the lead like this, but it was very weird to have this storyline in the middle of AVX tie-ins. The book finishes strongly by going back to the aftermath of AVX, and dealing with Rogue's character development. We finally get some closure on her relationship with Magneto, and we see her becoming more confident and secure with herself.

Overall, a good finish. I would definitely recommend this to fans of Rogue.

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is mostly centered on Rogue. She realizes the Phoenix is turning her friends evil and Magik sends her to another dimension with warring alien factions. I'm kind of a sucker for Marvel Cosmic type stuff and this fit the bill. Then she comes home tells Magneto she needs some space, so they can't have a relationship and stops a jailbreak with Mimic, who also leaves the school to find himself.

More importantly this ends the X-men Legacy run at #275. Of course it will be restarted and there will be a whole new creative team. Looks like I only read about 20 of the 275, but that's okay, there are just too many damn X-men titles to keep up with them all.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was some good and some bad here in the final volume of this run of X-Men: Legacy. Christos Gage loves Rogue, that much is obvious. Unfortunately, for a team book he focuses on her too much. The AVX stuff at the beginning was solid and fit in with the overall AVX story. The arc where Rogue is sent away was lame. Magneto and Rogue getting a chance to "define their relationship" was good but probably not the best timing. The art here, by the same artists as last volume, was much better. Overall, an average story that just focuses on Rogue.

[Rob Marney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Christos Gage, perennial relief pitcher for the X-Men, delivers a totally OK tale that wraps up Rogue's story in a positive way, has some fun moments with Rachel and Gambit, and resolves the ill-fated Magneto romance. Unfortunately, AVX is 12 issues long, so this story is almost all either crossover padding or random alien planet adventures because there's no crossover padding left to do. This story is fine for what it does.

[Marcus Leong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Through Rogue’s interaction with Ms Marvel, we learn why the Avengers need the X-Men to remain as a target of hate.

[Thebadwolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't remember much from this book because I read it a long time ago but I remember liking it so its probably a 3.5 or 4 stars.

[Fadzlee Abdul Rahman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apart from AvX issues, the fighting scene were great. But too many wording which does not help character developments.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

My review will be spotty as I'm reading this interleaved with the rest of the Avengers vs. X-Men event books.

Ah Mr. Gage, it's comforting to see you so consistent. Dialogue is stilted and ham fisted, sounds like nothing people would actually say to each other. Gotta admit though, it's fun seeing level-headed Rogue throw down once in a while A especially with She-Hulk.

The plot here is what you typically get when the mainline event comics don't give these second-class books (that's right, now that Carey has been replaced by Gage, this book has slipped at least one rank if not more) anything crucial to the plot to do. The "get the pacifists engaged" story is absolutely forgettable and a droning repeat of themes (Rogue afraid of how her powers got the better of her in the past, Frenzy can't control her temper, Gambit is a one-trick bore) done better elsewhere, and a standee of cardboard cutout versions of the Avengers who come to fight them (like fully-realised, longstanding characters like She-Hulk, Falcon and Moon Knight - not even counting Iron Man - don't have any role to play her except as "other" proxies).

When we turn to examining Frenzy's origin and the parallels to African violence, it actually gets so I don't mind Gage's tin ear so much. I think it's masked by the great art in this book by Baldeon, but whatever it takes to prop up Gage's writing I'll welcome.

When we get to the battle/discussion between Rogue and Ms. Marvel (seriously? By now everyone knows about the new costume - why the hell are they still refusing to use it in place of the ass/crotch special?), they lose me entirely. We are *seriously* expected to believe that these two are both zapping each other with death rays and ramming into each other bodily, *and* carrying on a long, pithy conversation? Des anyone even bother to *read* these scripts before they approve them - is the editor under some blackmail scheme with pictures of him frolicking in the sheep-infested fields of New Zealand?

Wait I take back what I said about Baldeon. In the Ms. Marvel issues at least, he can't draw a face or even head to save his life. Ugh-ly.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I need to review this quick because in about a week I will have forgotten what it was about. Nothing too terribly interesting happens. There are three main parts. The first part is the A Vs. X tie-in. It's actually the best. There are some cool superhero fights and some characters from the Jean Grey School. The second part is terrible. A small child could have written it while playing with toys in the bathtub. There are two alien races that no one could ever care about, and Rogue. They talk and they fight and still no one should care. While reading, I just kept checking the page count until the thing was over. Now the third part is just slightly better than the first. In this, they feature Rogue and Mimic. I have read all the X-Men comics since Mimic was first introduced and he was never actually given a personality. It's difficult to actually care because he will be forgotten for a couple more years and then inserted into another story where his part could be played by any other third-string character with no personality. And that's it, the series has abruptly ended to make way for Marvel Now stuff.

[Jeff Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the X-Men Legacy point-of-view to what was happening during Avengers vs. X-Men. The part that included Rogue's team facing off with She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and Falcon was entertaining enough, and it definitely made sense who was responsible for instigating the actual physical portions of the confrontation. The middle portion of this graphic novel was a solo adventure by Rogue on another planet or in another dimension or something... really, it wasn't all that inspired, and Mike Carey did a much better job, in my opinion, at developing Rogue as a character. There's one issue where Magneto has an intriguing offer for Rogue that's just "eh," and then we have the final issue of the series before it's rebooted as a title about Legion that serves to tie up several loose ends. It's an "okay" story arc, but other than the AvX and closing portions, it's not all that important in the long run.

[Aaron Swensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the book was a miss, except for "Planet Rogue" issues #271-273. It was sort like a Planet Hulk type of situation. Fun read. The AvX issues sucked (#266-270), and the last part of the book, issues #274 & 275 were a nice little wrap up to the series with Rogue as the leader. If I were to collect this, I would only collect #271-273, though the last 2 issue are meant to conclude the happenings in #264 and #265. Issue #270 sets up why Rogue is where she is, but isn't at all necessary to the rest of that story.

[***Dave Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I dropped out of a lot of X-titles, including Legacy, in the past few years, as they began to resume being soap operas as overwrought as anything Chris Claremont ever did in his later years. As a result, though, I missed this particular run, during the AvX saga, focused on Rogue and her relationship with Ms Marvel. It's overall good character-building stuff, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Well done.

[JJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah Rogue how I love you. So Rogue beats the crap out of the She Hulk. Do you really need another reason to read this? If you don't know what is going on with the whole division of the Phoenix Force or Wolverine and Beast getting pissed then you might be a tad bit lost. This collection jumps around a lot in the second half but is still awesome. Dialogue is a bit basic and you don't get a ton of great wit but maybe that is because Beast is only on two pages and never speaks.

[Alex Sarll]

Gage is nobody's idea of comics' greatest writer, but he's usually entertaining enough. And even the worst crossovers (one of which this surely was) can generate fun stories out of the focus-grouped limelight, in marginal books such as this. But aside from one rather sweet issue wrapping up Rogue's relationship with Magneto, this is woeful - it opens with some rote hero versus hero smackdowns, before moving on to a Planet Hulk retread laden with creaky subtext.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. Graphic novels tied in to big events usually flop for me when read out of sequence, post-event. This one is frequently confusing (a lot of events are happening in other books but impacting this one) but as the focus is Rogue's personal arc—her history as a criminal, her present status as a hero—it works reasonably well. However the three issues where Rogue gets sucked into an alien world for sword-and-planet adventures are depressingly generic, and serve purely to pad out the length.

[Amélie · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's an excellent conclusion to the series, and a much better take on AVX than the original AVX itself (in my opinion). I loved Frenzy's story, it really fitted well there. The main storyline featuring Rogue was also a great one, I really liked the whole metaphor thing going on, usually these kind of stories don't convince me but somehow this one did.

Now I really have to find what comes next...

[Nate Deprey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rogue is a fun character but this collection just didn't do her justice. By staying mostly adjacent to the AvX story line that consumed a big hunk of the Marvel universe at that time they took one of their more interesting pieces off the board for the sake of a ho hum, fish out of water X-men space story.

[Jase · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art wasn't great and the story only tied in partially to the AvX series. Overall, I skimmed it mostly and came up with it was boring. I really hate Rogue and she wasn't bad in this arc but I still won't pick up anything soon with her in it.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of surprised that the Avengers would act as they did, but I suppose this is in a time of war and strain, etc. Felt there was too much of a jump that didn't cover the Phoenix saga, so I still need to find the right book to find out what happens exactly!

[Laurel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent book, but not excellent. Rogue repeats herself far too much and the storyline in a few arcs is way to predictable. However, I enjoyed Rogue and Magneto as well as Rogue taking on a team of Avengers. I can understand her feelings. The art was good enough superhero art.