They'll Get To Genosha As Soon As Ultron Goes Away, Alright?

I was reading Chad Nevett's discussion of an earlier conflict between the Avengers and the X-Men. It's the '80s mini-series where the Avengers and Soviet Super-Soldiers are trying to bring in Magneto for his various crimes, and the X-Men end up protecting him. Nevett points out the X-Men take a protect mutants stance, regardless of the circumstances, since Magneto did actually do all the stuff he's accused of (like, you know, try to take over the world and sink Soviet subs).

In the comments, the issue is raised that the X-Men have no reason to trust the Avengers when it comes to mutant rights. The Avengers don't take stances against Weapon X or the Sentinel program. They did act against Genosha's systematic oppression of mutants*, nor did they show up to help when the country was largely wiped out. It could be construed the Avengers don't care much about mutants, except those on their team. Not necessarily a bad point, and the X-Men's point that the Phoenix has existed peacefully on Earth before has some merit.

Of course, so does the Avengers' point that the Phoenix was destroying every planet in its path on the way to Earth, inhabited or not, and oh yeah, it's done that before.

There's another aspect, and that's if you're going to play the continuity game, it isn't hard to highlight some occasions where the Avengers could question whether the X-Men care about the safety of the planet. Defending Magneto for one thing, but hell, look at the Busiek Avengers run. Ultron wipes out an entire country, then turns out to have an army of himself. I guess there were no mutants in Slorenia because the X-Men don't show up. Count Nefaria prepares to detonate an ionic bomb so he can control anyone in the world who gives him lip. Do the X-Men (who would presumably find themselves as much under his thumb as the rest) help stop him? Nope. When Kang took over the entire planet, did the X-Men help? No. Admittedly, I doubt Kang cares about mutants in any way other than if they serve or oppose him, but still, no help from the X-groups.

It can work both ways, and make both groups look bad. Or there's another option: Both sides are busy people.

I came to this conclusion reading Amazing Spider-Man #229-230. Spider-Man vs. the Juggernaut. Spidey realizes he's outclassed and tries to call reinforcements. The X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four (there's another thing, I don't see the X-Men showing up to fight Galactus), they're all out of town, busy with their own stuff. The editor even added a helpful footnote directing the reader to precisely which comics would describe those adventures.

That's become my stock answer for why such-and-such hero didn't show up to deal with a threat. They're busy with something in their own book This has been harder to maintain in the Bendis years, where Avengers spend an inordinate amount of time sitting around coffee tables talking. Prior to that, it wasn't hard to point out other heroes are occupied with their own difficulties.

It still doesn't mean both sides haven't behaved like idiots in the current mess, but I find it a useful answer to questions like "Why doesn't Batman call the Justice League to clean up Gotham?", or "How is Daredevil the only person around to fight the Hulk?" You've probably had it happen where you try to get a bunch of friends together for something. It can take awhile, because they all have their own lives, and things are happening all the time. Why wouldn't it be the same for heroes?

Look, I either go with this idea, or I accept the Avengers really don't give a damn about mutants and the X-Men are a complete pack of lunatics who don't care if the world's at risk as long as mutants aren't involved.

* I'm not clear on when that became common knowledge. The X-Men didn't even know until the Australia years, and they were pretending to be dead, so I'm guessing they didn't mention it to the Avengers. So when would they have found out. Post-X-Tinction Agenda? During the crossover in the early 90s, Bloodties, Bloodlines, something like that. And by the latter, I'm pretty sure things had changed and mutants had earned full rights.