by Meredith Placko
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

If you’re an X-Men fan, this is a plot long in the making. Since New York Comic Con, Marvel has been teasing us with the return of The Phoenix, and now the Avengers are getting wrapped up in the whole mess. Marvel’s big cross over plan for next year has this geek girl on her toes! I can only hope it means Jean will come back, but I’m not hedging any bets on that.

“The Avengers and X-Men have learned that the all-powerful embodiment of both death and rebirth known as the Phoenix Force is on a crash course for Earth…and it needs a new host to unleash its immeasurable power. But what is the shocking decision tied to the Phoenix’s return that will pit the Avengers against the X-Men? And when good friends become bitter enemies, what does this mean for the future of the Marvel Universe?”

For those of you who may be a bit out of the loop with the X-series, we have a mutant messiah by the name of Hope Summers (who bears a striking resemblance to Jean Grey). She was raised by Cable, and hence adopted the Summers surname. She can mimic the powers of her fellow mutants, but there’s been a few times the Phoenix Force has manifested around her. It seems Marvel is leaning heavily towards Hope being the new Phoenix host, but I wonder if it’s just a big set up?

Marvel will have a virtual press conference Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 3:00pm EST for the AvX event! I’ll be live tweeting in case you can’t tune in.

You can access the LiveStream here – http://new.livestream.com/marveluniverse

My live Tweets will post here – http://twitter.com/anaaesthetic

[Via Marvel.com]