Warning! Spoilers for X-Men #12!The Alpha Flight. The X-Men and the Avengers are Marvel’s biggest superhero teams, but the X-Men and Alpha Flight just displayed how their synergy makes for a superior dynamic.

In X-Men #12 by Jed MacKay and Netho Diaz, the Alaska X-Men face off against bounty hunters set on capturing Cyclops to use as leverage against the Phoenix, when the Canadian heroes, Alpha Flight, come in with a phenomenal assist. In the Aftermath, Cyclops tells Guardian that the X-Men can break them out of prison, showing that Cyclops is willing to risk getting on the bad side of another human government for his Canadian allies.

Considering the X-Men and the Avengers only recently shook on an alliance, it's clear that the X-Men's heroes are closer to Alpha Flight.

One Superhero Team Sacrificed Everything for the X-Men and Krakoa – And It Wasn’t the Avengers

X-Men #12 by Jed MacKay, Netho Diaz, Sean Parson, Livesay, Fer Sifuentes-Sujo, and Clayton Cowles

The Avengers and Alpha Flight have been both friend and foe to the X-Men, but unlike the Avengers, Alpha Flight made the ultimate sacrifice when Krakoa fell and the mutant population was under attack. In the throes of The Fall of X, Orchis banned all mutants, and Department H followed suit, sending sentinels to persecute mutants within Canadian borders. Since Alpha Flight was under Department H, secretly siding with their mutant allies was considered treason, but they did so anyway, which, in turn, resulted in the main Alpha Flight ’ subsequent arrests.

The Avengers may be Earth's mightiest heroes, but their stance on mutant rights is abysmal at best and exploitative at worst.

While the Avengers did fight alongside the X-Men on Krakoa, more often than not, the Avengers' connection with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the U.S. government has occasionally put them at odds with the X-Men. Not only have the Avengers notoriously taken a backseat in the fight for mutant acceptance, but the two hero teams have also instigated one of the biggest hero civil wars in Marvel history during the Avengers vs. X-Men crossover event. The Avengers may be Earth's mightiest heroes, but their stance on mutant rights is abysmal at best and exploitative at worst.

The Avengers and the X-Men Infamously Have a One-Sided Relationship

While Alpha Flight Continues to Show Up for Mutants and the X-Men

In the team's current era under Captain Marvel, the Avengers are putting their best foot forward to make amends for past mistakes, though it doesn’t negate the tumultuous history the two superhero teams have shared. During the events of Avengers vs. X-Men, Cyclops famously called out Captain America for how the Avengers have never been there for mutantkind but will call upon the X-Men when they need help. Cyclops has been a major critic of the Avengers' inaction and approach to heroism, so it’s not hard to see why the X-Men’s leader would prefer Alpha Flight over the Avengers.

Alpha Flight had close ties to Krakoa and was immediately willing to sacrifice their standing to help mutantkind while, in the past, the Avengers have notoriously tried to keep their hands clean of mutant issues. The X-Men and the Avengers are still part of many exciting team-ups, but, as Cyclops has shown, the X-Men and Alpha Flight’s relationship is on far more equal footing. Alpha Flight again aids the X-Men in their time of need, and Cyclops, showing his readiness to jailbreak their Canadian companions, solidifies that the Avengers are not the X-Men's main allies - at least not when compared to Alpha Flight.

X-Men #12 is available now from Marvel Comics!