The ongoing war between the X-Men and the Eternals in the A.X.E.: Judgment Day event carries a host of ramifications to the Marvel Universe, particularly the cosmic landscape, but it also addresses some grim real-world issues. Legendary Eternal Uranos the Undying may be a lingering threat for these core heroes, but at the forefront of Judgment Day are the Celestials, some of Marvel’s most ancient aliens.
As the title seems to imply, Marvel’s Judgment Day event centers around an event that Earth's heroes are helpless to prevent: the judging of humanity's worth to continue living. Judgment Day is the culmination of years of storylines involving the Eternals and their interstellar creators, the Celestials. The first issue of the event depicts footage of countless human protestors and their reaction to the actions of the X-Men and the Eternals. One particular sequence features a group of protestors applauding for the Eternals’ victory over the mutant X-Men. A large point of recent contention between humans and mutants has been the exposure of the X-Men’s resurrection technology that allows their dead to return to the land of the living. Mutants have always been significantly stronger than humans, and now they’re only gaining even greater resources to decide who will live and die, which is a cause for concern.
A.X.E. Judgment Day #1 by Kieron Gillen and Valerio Schiti helps reinforce the looming threat that the Celestials present to the human race, which mirrors real-world despair over a sense of looming catastrophe. In an interview with cosmic beings that can obliterate the planet Earth at the slight twitch of a finger.
AIPT: X-Fan SweetsOne said one of the most poignant scenes in A.X.E.: Judgment Day #1 was the of the human protestors cheering on the Eternals’ fight against mutants. Why was it important to you to include that emotional beat?
Kieron: I think by asking the question you already know my answer. I think this is only going to become more clear as we progress into Act 2, and especially in Act 3.
Were I to talk about a theme of Judgment Day, I’d perhaps boil it down to: are we all just f----d?
I hope not, clearly, but despair for humanity and the world is very much what drives the book, and certainly drove that .
Within many religions, Judgment Day is known as the “end times,” wherein God will act as a judge on the chosen few of mankind. The Marvel Universe has no shortage of godlike figures to challenge Earth’s superheroes but arguably the most recurring are the Celestials. Unlike a vast majority of Marvel villains who have their share of selfish tendencies and ambitions, the Celestials lack any ounce of human empathy. In a sense, the Celestials are not even conventional villains, but cosmic pillars that must impose their judgment to maintain universal balance, even if it means the deaths of millions. The idea that it could be the actions of humanity at large, not Marvel's heroes, that brings about this end of the world is a grim prospect for a superhero story.
It’s quite ironic and even a bit morbid that the Avengers have been living in the corpse of a fallen Celestial, which has now been reawakened and is judging mankind. These gods have been treated as tools to be utilized by the people of Earth, and now may be the instruments of their destruction. If all seems lost, there will always be heroes such as the X-Men and Eternals who will step forward to oppose those above them, no matter how slim the odds may be in their favor.
A.X.E.: Judgment Day #1-3 are now available.
Source: AIPT
