Marvel's the aliens turned out to be the Brood, who were using the tournament to pick off the competitors and serve up the most powerful heroes for their queen.
The Phoenix Force is one of the most powerful entities in the Marvel Universe, but it must bond with a mortal avatar in order to pursue its mission of razing the old so that new things can grow. The Avengers' ongoing 'Enter the Phoenix' event sees a ragtag group of heroes - including Captain America, Namor, Wolverine, Black Panther, and even Howard the Duck - each empowered by the Phoenix, with the Phoenix Force itself promising to bond with the victor. It's an amazing way of pitting these heroes against each other in battles where each competitor possesses incredible power, and has led to some jaw-dropping fights. But the merit of Contest of Champions II as a story is precisely that it doesn't level the playing field, allowing it to answer a huge range of 'who would win?' questions that fans had been asking for decades.
Mr. Fantastic thinks he has a way to take down the Hulk (and he's wrong), Deadpool outsmarts Daredevil, the Black Panther wipes out the entire New Warriors roster, and Thor manages to prove his weather mastery over Storm. Marvel's hero clashes are one of comics' oldest cliches, but generally there's some proviso that explains why the victory doesn't quite count - someone is mind-controlled, or injured, or defeated with a one-time solution. Contest of Champions II avoids that get-out, showing either full battles or deciding moments that all have definite winners.
Where 'Enter the Phoenix' might be the more compelling story is in having a definitive winner. Contest of Champions II doesn't go that far. Instead, the Brood Queen takes control of Rogue's body, using it to siphon away the powers of the final-round competitors: Hulk, Spider-Man, Thor, Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Gambit, and Jean Grey, aka Phoenix. With a burst of fire, the fake Rogue siphons away Jean's Phoenix Force abilities, stopped at the last minute thanks to Hawkeye - who the organizers just forgot was competing - and an army of heroes Iron Man and Psylocke have been cultivating among the defeated contestants.
Thankfully, the Brood Queen's desire to try out all her new powers, and a clever last-minute feint from Psylocke, eventually puts her in a position where she is forced to abandon Rogue's body, but all of Marvel's greatest heroes battling against a villain with their mightiest powers is an awesome ending to a tournament story that delivers exactly the kind of decisive victories it promised. While 'Enter the Phoenix' has guaranteed every fight is a fiery showdown, the victories lack the significance of this earlier event, partly because the characters have recognized throughout that the Phoenix Force is interfering in the bouts, ing those it thinks will be better avatars for its unlimited power.
While it's fun to see who wins each fight (and especially how), the Phoenix made for a better final challenge in Contest of Champions II than as the prize/referee of 'Enter the Phoenix,' especially since the former fulfills its promise to offer the definitive word on many fans debates. Happily, readers don't need to choose between the two, especially since both contain unique match-ups and surprising contenders, so anyone enjoying the Avengers Phoenix Tournament should also hunt down this gem from Chris Claremont, Oscar Jimenez, and Michael Ryan.
