#the cover of the issue is Iron Man fighting the new villain Hawkeye

[daydreamerdrew]

Tales of Suspense (1959) #57

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #17: OUTTA TIME!

February, 1987

How many new super-villains can you spot?

What a fun idea for a cover.

And the answer may surprise you.

But we’ll get there late.

For now it is time for the West Coast Avengers to start an eight issue arc, probably specifically to piss me off.

An eight issue arc is ridiculous in the year 1987!

But we’re embarking on one anyway.

Last relevant times on West Coast Avengers: There was a time when Hawkeye was really trying to get the Thing to join the West Coast Avengers. Credit where its due, it coulda been fun. But he was ignoring (somewhat intentionally) Firebird who was also hanging around wanting to be an Avenger.

By the time the Thing got drawn back to the Fantastic Four book, Firebird decided to take some time away from the team. But its been some time so Hawkeye figures its time to go bug her into joining.

Also, Tigra had been too horny and started dating Hank Pym (and other people simultaneously). But after a quest to hell and demon cat hell, her cat and human souls were more harmoniously merged and now she’s not horny. So she dumped Hank Pym.

Hank Pym was - unhealthily - pinning his entire emotional well-being after his robot son died on dating Tigra. So after she dumped him, he tried organizing a capture of his old enemy Whirlwind to prove that he was still a cool guy even if he wasn’t an action guy.

The plan went without a hitch except Hank falling off a building a little but Whirlwind also viciously mocked him for quitting being a superhero for mental health reasons. Now Hank is contemplating suicide.

And will attempt it. So this is a content warning.

The opening splash kind of sets the tone, I’m afraid.

The West Coast Avengers are living their best superhero lives, about to go off on a rollicking adventure.

Completely unaware of Hank’s dark mood as he chooses to isolate himself at the West Coast Avengers Compound.

Half of this issue is going to be a downer (although as I said last time the downer is going to get interrupted). The other half is going to be a bizarre random encounter with a quirky miniboss squad.

Since the Hank half of the plot is mostly  quick one page checking in on how he’s doing, I’m going to do all the Hank plot together, after the West Coast Avengers stuff.

By the way: even with Tigra’s cat instincts not going haywire and making her hate all strange women, she still kind of hates Firebird.

She thinks she has a “holier-than-thou” attitude. Which is amazing, considering Firebird spent most of her panel time with Tigra confused why Tigra hated her so much.

Anyway.

Hawkeye isn’t taking Tigra’s opinion on Firebird into consideration (although how a group clicks interpersonally really should be his concern as leader of the team), he just finally wants a sixth team member dammit!

Off they go, living their best superhero lives!

Flying way too low, Hawkeye holy shit!

And to pass the time and for dramatic irony, Iron Man starts talking about how cool Hank Pym was in the old days, when he was Ant-Man. When the Avengers first formed. When he used his ants in cool ways and proposed that the team become a team.

Yeah, good ol’ Hank Pym.

Mockingbird wonders if Hank will ever come back to being a superhero which Tigra thinks probably not because of how comfortable he was at just organizing the fight against Whirlwind.

Wonder Man: “Well, anybody who’d choose an identity of ‘Ant-Man’ -- what can you expect? I mean, Hank’s a good guy, but not everybody in the old guard was cut out for life in the fast lane!”

Hawkeye: ‘So you’ve chosen death.’

No, but seriously, shit talking Hank pisses off Hawkeye, who tells him to knock it off, and Iron Man, who is starting to get irritated with Wonder Simon’s newfound confidence.

Like a lot of places Albuquerque just isn’t familiar with superheroes walking around the place. More familiar than some, since the Defenders used to headquarter in the Rockies.

But the Defenders left the area and its been back to normal for a time.

So the Avengers attract a lot of attention when they just start walking around town.

The West Coast Avengers don’t want to mess up Firebird’s secret identity (if she has a secret identity?) by having a bunch of superheroes show up on a Completely Normal Civilian’s doorstep.

So Tigra decides they should go in plainclothes.

Which she makes Hawkeye pay for.

I think she just wanted a new outfit but you know what, that’s fair. Extort Hawkeye for money. He’s the boss, that’s part of being boss.

The comic also does what comics sometimes do. Spend time thinking about how something mundane would work.

The other West Coast Avengers can just take off their costumes and look like Completely Normal Civilians. Tony Stark is a millionaire but I guess people don’t really know his face? Wonder Man is the only one who gets singled out as maybe recognizable but he can turn his glowy eyes off and sure he’s a movie star now but the movie isn’t out and he has glowy eyes in it.

(Its a nice touch that apparently everyone knows everyone’s identity so they’re comfortable doing this)

Anyway. Tigra is covered in fur and has bestial facial features like teefs and also a tail. So she gets long sleeves blouse and long skirt to cover her up as much as possible. And a shawl to cover her face. And she wraps the tail around her leg because I guess she can’t stop it from doing what it wants? Alas, she didn’t think of the Saiyan tail belt maneuver.

WAIT

DOESN’T SHE HAVE THAT AMULET THAT TURNS HER HUMAN FORM? MAKING THIS ENTIRELY UNNECESSARY?

Or does it not work at all now that her souls have been merged better?

Either is plausible.

Funny exchange happens where Wonder Simon mentions that covering his orange body by bundling up is what the Thing would do.

Tigra: “Thanks for the comparison, Simon! I’ll be sure and invite Sylvester Stallone to our next party!”

Tigra: ‘You two are basically the same, right?’

The West Coast Avengers head off to find Firebird’s place, her address being something that Tony or Clint learned off-panel at some point. Can’t tell, the panel where they’re discussing this is silhouetted but I guess since this trip was Clint’s idea, it makes more sense that he did the research.

Except when the team knocks on Bonita Juarez’s (Firebird) door, there’s no answer. And the landlord says she hasn’t been seen in about forty days.

Alllllso. He wants the rent she owes or he’s going to repossess all her stuff.

Tigra, who has claimed in this issue that she doesn’t really like Firebird, decides that they need to stay in Albuquerque until they find her, to make sure she’s alright.

Also (her tail twitching in annoyance with landlord man), she gets Hawkeye to pay Firebird’s rent.

Hawkeye grumbles about being treated like a piggybank but does it.

You’re a cool person sometimes, Tigra and also Hawkeye.

Next, the West Coast Avengers go to the Office of Social Services where Bonita Juarez works.

Huh, she did mention being a social worker!

Except she doesn’t work there anymore. She was fired a month ago because she missed a week of work. Or rather, she is fired if anyone manages to tell her she is because they also haven’t seen her for probably around the same forty days.

Playing off anything else they know about Firebird, they ask her coworkers about her priest, Father Ramirez and they direct the team to Sister Teresa’s church in Buena Vista.

Which is a very churchy looking church, with the huge buff Jesus on a crucifix hanging on the pulpit.

Father Ramirez also hasn’t seen her for a while, which is weird because she WAS one of his most devout parishioners but she stopped coming to confession.

But she saw someone who MIGHT have been her about forty days ago.

Gasp, the dates match!

He saw someone strange in the chapel late at night praying. And then there was a bright flare from the praying candles and she was gone. And he hasn’t seen Bonita since, if that was Bonita.

Having exhausted their leads, Tony suggests they check with the police. Maybe file a missing person report?

Tigra: “Much as I hate to admit it, guys, Tony’s right! Firebird may be a religious fanatic, but the Avengers have to protect everybody!”

Mockingbird: “I don’t know that I’d call her a ‘fanatic’, Tigra -- but I’m glad to see some signs of the maturity the integration of your two souls brought you!”

What??

Tigra is the one who insisted they stay and investigate the disappearance in the first place!

What is going on with the writing that everybody forgot what happened a couple pages ago?

Anyway, the group of villains teased on the cover show up and gloat that the Avengers won’t have to worry about Firebird’s well-being for long because they’re about to get beaten up by a dumb group of goofy idiots with silly names.

Editorializing a little but come on. One is named Butte.

But yeah, speaking of the cover, here’s the answer.

The rock woman is 1. The lizard was 2. The man hiding in the sun was 3. And for the trick answer, that innocuous cactus was actually a cactus man 4.

Four, four new vilains ah ah.

Despite it being me who was making fun of the names and not any of the in-universe characters, Sunstroke reacts like Wonder Man personally slapped Cactus in the face for having a stupid name.

Sunstroke: “I didn’t name him, Wonder Man -- but why don’t you laugh at him after you’ve fought him?”

Wonder Man: “Look out! He can throw his spines -- hard!”

And Cactus just machine guns them at Wonder Man, who has to defend his squishier teammates by blocking the spines with his invulnerable ass.

... Is Cactus just a cactuar from Final Fantasy? Yes or yes?

C’mon, he even looks like one.

HE PREDATES THEM THOUGH which leads me to the horrifying possibility that Cactuars from Final Fantasy might have been inspired by this... this supervillain de jour who only has five appearances.

Anyway, Gila starts tail whipping Iron Man.

Tigra jumps on Butte but is surprised to learn that the woman made of stone is hard to cut.

And Wonder Man tries punching off Cactus’ arm but the guy just grows it back.

Wonder Man is more than happy to test how often Cactus can regrow his arms (the one and only time that Simon has ever reminded me of Abridged Freeza) but Mockingbird calls for a CHANGE PLACES!

And steals Cactus from Wonder Man.

As she points out, she can.... she can bat his thorns aside with her battle-staves.

Really?

Even though he’s machine gunning them??

Okay, sure.

She tells Wonder Man to help the others.

Tigra says she doesn’t need help fighting Butte but she ditches the rock girl soon enough anyway.

Hawkeye remembers a fun science fact that Gila Monsters rely more on scent than vision. So he shoots a stink arrow at Gila.

Yes, Hawkeye has a stink arrow. Why wouldn’t he have a stink arrow? You sound like a fool.

And while Gila is disoriented by the sudden stink, Tigra ditches Butte and leaps on Gila.

Cat fighting a lizard. Hah.

Sunstroke starts narrating how Butte, Gila, and Cactus weren’t humans before “Dominus” created them “but Sunstroke was -- and Sunstroke created himself!”

So the West Coast Avengers know now that a “Dominus” is maybe behind this possibly.

But the fight is still going on so Iron Man doesn’t have time for 20 questions.

Sunstroke also brags about how he has “a man’s sense of strategy, melded with the molten power of the daystar -- !” and blasts Iron Man with waves of heat, trying to melt his armor off of him.

Except Tony has been fighting jokers like the Melter for years and Master Pandemonium recently, so he’s upgraded his suit’s coating to reflect excess heat and light, right back at its source.

Doesn’t help here because Sunstroke can absorb heat and light to get stronger. Which... wouldn’t that just bring him back to how strong he was before he blasted that energy at Iron Man? Whatever.

It doesn't matter.

Wonder Man has been impatiently trying to decide who needs help and he decided to just do what Mockingbird did and steal someone’s fight. So now he’s fighting Sunstroke.

Deal with it, Iron Man.

Iron Man deals with it by fighting Butte to prevent her from ganging up on Tigra with Gila. But he’s not happy.

Iron Man: I liked it when we started clicking as a team, but this is getting out of hand! Who does Simon think he is anyway? His ionic energy may make him stronger than I am, but we’ve never found that out for sure! It’s almost as if he lumps me in with the “old guard” he dismissed when talking about Hank -- !

Everyone just stealing everyone’s opponents here.

Sunstroke praises that the West Coast Avengers are impressive but claims to be more impressive still.

Sunstroke: “You people are impressive, Wonder Man -- but my veins are filled with fire! My very flesh sizzles and sears!

Wonder Man: “That’s only heat and light Sunstroke -- and I’m -- well, you know -- !

Wonder Man tanks that heat like its nothing. His clothing and jetpack also tank that heat like its nothing. Best not to think about it.

Then he shreds the wings on Sunstroke’s costume. Which he apparently needed to catch thermals and fly.

Sunstroke: “Impossible! You should be charred ashes!”

Wonder Man: “No way, lightning bug! You’re only a sun -- and I’m a star!”

Hah!

Now I’m pretty convinced Wonder Man is going to have a humbling pretty soon. They’re really playing up his ego in this issue.

Anyway, with Sunstroke grounded, Cactus caught in a net by Hawkeye off-panel, and Butte and Gila bonked together... well, look, I never bought these goobers as a threat to the West Coast Avengers.

Some very careful choreography had to be used to downplay the fact that the West Coast Avengers had these doofs outnumbered.

So they’re done. They’re so done that they get suddenly yoinked off the battlefield.

As the fastest on the team, Iron Man jets after them but finds that even at his full speed, the force yoinking them is slowly widening the gap.

But he’s not just a pretty face under a pretty helmet. Iron Man tracks the infrared of Sunstroke and tells the Avengers to get in the Quinjet and follow his signal.

While still tracking the villains, Iron Man finds himself flying into the middle of nowhere, Arizona. Three hundred and eleven miles southwest of where he started, I guess, and only twenty-one miles from the Mexican border.

These villains expeditiously retreating have taken him on a merry flight.

But Iron Man tracks Sunstroke to a hill that looks like a hundred other hills but is in fact a special hill because it’s a hidden base. Iron Man’s Iron Sensors can detect the hum of electricity and a magnetic field from the hill.

The other West Coast Avengers arrive and join Iron Man in storming the cave, expecting the villain group’s boss Dominus to be there to make it a five on five fight.

Dominus is there, yup.

And he’s apparently the successor to the alien Lucifer who Iron Man and I think Professor Xavier have dealt with before.

He’s here to enslave the planet and set up shop in Arizona.

He was worried that Firebird or the Rangers would discover his plan but he’s perfectly happy to eliminate the Avengers if they’re the ones who stumble on him instead.

So as soon as the West Coast Avengers cluelessly walk onto Doctor Doom’s time platform, Dominus just sends them BACK IN TIIIIIIME!

Dominus: “Gone! As simple as that -- gone! I spent months seeking the Latverian’s device in this endless desert -- and then, when I’d succeeded, I found it damaged beyond repair -- so that it only goes BACKWARD IN TIME! Those meddlers can never return to the present! They’re gone -- forever! HA HA HA HA HA”

Y’know what? Sure. I’ll give it to him.

Good job, Dominus.

Tricking the Avengers into walking on a specific spot and then sending them into the past forever? A good scheme.

I’m sure the West Coast Avengers will neverrrrrr be back to punch you.

But that’s the team’s subplot. Now what has Hank been up to?

So the reason why Hank decided to skip out on the Fun Arizona Adventure to put his affairs in order and kill himself.

Because Tigra broke up with him and because Whirlwind sassed him and because of other things. I guess recent events were more final straws.

But he’s going to leave everything perfect for when the West Coast Avengers come back so nobody can say he failed as manager of the compound.

One of the things we see him dealing with is the landscaping.

Yes, it’s been mentioned a few times and I think appeared once, yes there’s a landscaping team. And Hank had BIG PLANS for his vision of the West Coast Avengers Compound. A long-term plan. To make the place look as GRAND as it did as a silent movie star’s palace.

The landscaping crew is a little confused why he’s telling them this because there’s so much ground to cover on these grounds that any BIG PLAN is going to take six months to a year of work. They’re taking it one job at a time, the big picture is not really going to help them.

Which is fine! Hank Pym wrote down everything he wanted done and the order he wants them done in!

Just in case!

So if they ever need to know what to do when and he’s not available for some reason, he put the list in an envelope and put it in the desk in his bungalow! Just in case!

The landscaping crew is kinda weirded out by this conversation but also he’s the boss so they don’t really want to engage with it? Not their place to get involved and such.

With the grand landscaping plan scene serving to illustrate Hank putting all his majordomo duties in order, he next sits down to write letters to everyone.

Everyone except Janet van Dyne.

He can’t bring himself to just leave her with a letter and decides to call her and leave her with a cryptic, slightly ominous conversation.

She assumes he’s calling about Avengers business -- maybe the business with Tiger Shark and Whirlwind? Because the East Coast Avengers have just finished up with the Masters of Evil arc so those two were loose ends.

Hank mentions that Tigra and Hellcat beat the two villains, sending Jan asking about whether Hellcat is on the team now and how she’s doing. Hank just answering that Hellcat’s doing fine, she’s married. Annoying Jan because that’s not much detail!

Wasp: “Honestly! You never tell me anything!”

Hank Pym: “No -- I guess I don’t, do I? We never could communicate as well as we’d have liked! I was serious -- I saw the consequences of everything! You were flighty, and saw no consequences at all! Over time, we each grew to be like the other, so I lost sight of consequences and ruined myself -- while you because a chairman! -- chairperson!”

Wasp: ““Hank? Are you all right?”

Hank Pym: “Oh, sure! It’s just -- even when we’d each become the other, we were still in two different places!”

Wasp: “It happens to some couples, Hank! Divorce gets more common every year... I’m sorry to say!”

Hank Pym: “Yeah -- me, too! It was all my fault -- I’ve never denied that. And I want you to know I don’t blame you in the slightest -- for anything, honey!”

Wasp: “Well -- if I’d been a different sort of wife... I wish we could have made it work, Hank!”

Hank Pym: “That’s... that’s what I wanted to hear now! That’s a good way to end it -- !”

Wasp: “Hank? Hank, would you mind if I spoke with Hawkeye for a moment -- ?”

Hank Pym: “Clint’s not here right now, honey! None of them are. Goodbye! I love you!”

Not going to be surprised if Wasp and/or the East Coast Avengers show up at some point to check on Hank.

She was picking up on the vibe by the end of the conversation.

I looked ahead in the East Coast Avengers book and she definitely doesn’t do that there. In that book, she’s going to step down as chairperson to take some personal time after all that Masters of Evil stuff.

Coulda happened off-panel though.

Anyway.

Hank sits down with a gun, screws up his nerve, gets ready to shoot himself, and then gets interrupted by Firebird.

Or La Espirita now, I guess.

Nice new costume, Bonita.

It’s almost funny that if the West Coast Avengers had stayed home instead of going looking for her, they would have had a much easier time and still met her anyway.

Or maybe she wouldn’t have popped out unless Hank gave her the opportunity to play Clarence Odbody and maybe it wouldn’t have happened when it did if the Avengers were hanging around.

Anyway, of the ways I thought this subplot would go, I didn’t expect it to lead to someone sharing the good news about Jesus.

Follow @essential-avengers​ because I hit 20 followers and now I need to do that thing I promised to do at 20 and also I need to remember what it was. Also like and reblog.

[geenawrites]

'Black Widow' and undermining Dramatic Intent (II)

[PART ONE]

The 'Civil War' Effect

4): Elements that could’ve made Black Widow Natasha's personal journey are reduced to quick conversational bites told to Natasha instead of experienced by Natasha and the audience first hand.

The film could've built the story around her family selling her off to the government (on some eugenics mess). It could've set the stage for the subplot regarding her mother’s search for her until she was murdered, and Natasha trying to learn about her past pre-assassin.

For all the moments where we simply see her on her own, a lot of that alone time isn't used to explore how she feels, what she's thinking, or a personal throughline. It's just a montage of her looking gloomy and wearing comfy sweatshirts.

The only time Natasha truly feels like she is the emotional center of the movie is the opening act of the film. There, she’s portrayed by Ever (Gabo) Anderson and not Scarlett Johansson.

And as a film touted-as a vehicle for Johansson, that is bad. But also underlines why Florence Pugh’s Yelena was considered the real protagonist of the movie.

Black Widow could've been about Natasha wanting to reclaim her past from the Red Room (her abductors) because she reunites with her sister and parents (her surrogate family), and needed to finally deal with the consequences of killing Antonia (her ghost).

Instead, Black Widow is really Yelena’s story and emotional journey. Yelena justifies the presence of Alexei and Melina more-so than anything in Natasha’s history. As centered as Natasha was in the prologue, it works more as a establishing point for Yelena versus something like Natasha’s lost family or working with Clint Barton in Budapest.

Yelena being tasked to save the Widows (by the elder Widow who created the mind control cure), killing Dreykov, and destroying the Red Room are immediate issues that directly impact her arc and development as a character. Natasha is largely along for the ride, bringing Yelena where she needs to be in each act.

Natasha isn't as centered in her own her film as she should be. Simply compare the structure of her story to the structure in the Captain America (x2), Ant Man (x2), Thor (x3), and Iron Man (x3) films, and how those narratives focus on Steve Rogers, Scott Lang, Thor Odinson, and Tony Stark. Those films are about their emotional journeys while maintaining a healthy supporting cast that don't overshadow them.

Black Widow in comparison feels more like Captain America: Civil War, which is more of an Avengers film than it is a Captain America story. The emotional center of Civil War is Tony Stark and Zemo. Steve and his cast are simply underpinning Stark and Zemo's arcs. It also tries to introduce a new character (Black Panther) with the exact same story beat (revenge) as Stark and Zemo, and a MCU-wide subplot (Sakovia Accords) that ultimately goes nowhere later on.

The consequences of Civil War "Avengering" a solo film are on display in Black Widow in a big way. It's introducing new characters, and trying to tackle a trilogy's worth of storylines (the Red Room, Budapest, the Widow family, Civil War-fallout).

She doesn't even get a decent postmortem send off. The post credits, wherein Yelena mourns Natasha, is turned into a comedic skit and a teaser for the Hawkeye series. It's not allowed to remain a moment of mourning between two sisters separated by literal death.

As an Executive Producer of the film, I know this was not lost on Johansson. She might be an awful person, but she doesn’t strike me as someone so unaware of her environment that she set the stage to be undermined by her co-star. No, I think, given the timing, Johansson knew this was always going to be about setting up her successor.

Wrong Time, Wrong Place

Choosing to set Black Widow after Civil War was just a poor choice on Marvel’s part. Natasha circa 2016 has more or less come-to-terms with her history as a state-sponsored assassin for both Russia and the United States. Her arc as seen throughout the Avengers and Captain America films has come full circle following the events of The Winter Soldier. Now all she has left going forward is the arc dealing with Thanos' genocide and resurrecting everyone.

There is nothing to mine in terms of personal character drama because, at this point, she has laid it all to rest. It's nothing that torments her akin to Bucky trying to square away with his past as an amnesiac assassin.

All of Natasha’s threads are focused on the break-up of the Avengers. At first, seemed like her arc was going to be about not falling back into bad habits (being mistrustful of everyone). That it was going to deal with how she felt let down by the team (after trying to be the reasonable party among everyone), but the film doesn't really commit.

After that one conversation in Budapest, "getting the Avengers back together" isn't even a focal point. We just get awkward callbacks that tell the audience that Natasha isn't on the same level as Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor.

Yelena forgiving her family is used to tack on the sudden parallel idea that Natasha has been convinced she can personally bring the Avengers together again as a surrogate family once things work with her Widow Family.

Again, even in her own film, Natasha is playing the sacrificial matriarch of a Boy’s Club (whose event films she features only as a supporting character. Something I think people are only just realizing). That says to me the MCU never valued her beyond her ties to the male Avenger cast.

”You’re such a mom!” becomes a lot less funny in that context.

If this film was immediately set after The Winter Soldier or even Age of Ultron, wherein all of her history and SHIELD’s was leaked for public record, then there might’ve been a chance for an emotionally resonant story arc.

How would a Natasha scrambling to create new covers, and new ways to protect herself, deal with the sudden public attention of the world knowing that she was a foreign assassin that bought her way into the United States and became a celebrity superhero? How would a post-Winter Soldier solo film deal with Natasha’s past in way that she didn't become overshadowed by her own supporting cast?

How would a post-Age of Ultron solo film handle her past as informed by her nightmare (which stuck closer to her history as a trained dancer in the comics) on top of the events of The Winter Soldier?

But even as a post-Civil War narrative, Black Widow should've really cared to explore how Natasha felt about having to revisit her history with the Red Room, on top of being betrayed by Alexei and Melina. Instead of giving all those emotional beats to Yelena, actually show us Natasha confronting them beyond “it wasn’t real!”

How would the story turn out if parent with the biggest hand in the facilitation of her abuse (Alexei) wasn't turned into a flat comic relief character? What if he actually got chance to really consider her grievances, show remorse for his actions, without being turned into a “ha, ha, he’s do dumb (and fat)!” punchline (after setting him up as the total opposite in the prologue)?

Melina could've been an interesting co-antagonist working with Dreykov, but the film skirts past how she is complicit in the harm that her daughters faced (Yelena especially) with a fake Heel Turn moment that only undermined Dreykov as a threat.

And that’s really the problem with Black Widow. The film, or rather Marvel Studios, doesn’t want to really tackle Natasha’s past or pain like they were willing to do with Steve Rogers in The First Avenger, and The Winter Soldier.

Maybe because that would mean approaching the story with the emotional maturity of The Bourne Identity, a PG-13 film that was plenty violent without being excessive. It was also emotionally resonate by dealing with the fact that Jason Bourne was, pre-amnesia, a US assassin that did awful shit.

Instead we get a plot about mind-control, and magic red dust that can break said mind control (that apparently requires invasive surgery of the brain).

Whedon seemed comfortable with getting close to the actual violence that was asked of Natasha (vs. done to) by the Russian government as a kid. The screenplay for Black Widow can talk past Natasha willingly doing awful things, but doesn’t want to confront that by having her or Yelena deal with an army of assassins who are walking down the same path Natasha did, fighting and killing for another government without any sort of mind control.

This is why Natasha's assassination of “Dreykov’s Daughter” (Antonia) as the thing that happened in Budapest also doesn't land. The movie doesn't want to deal with how Natasha learned to live with murdering a child to buy her freedom into America. They make it so that she didn’t kill her, actually, just gave her a bad case of pizza face. She’s not even the one that pulls the trigger, the film suggests that it was Hawkeye.

Her mustache-twirling villain of a father, who somehow survived the explosion and building collapse with zero burns or broken bones, is the one who does all the truly horrible things to his daughter (turning her into a mindless slave).

The Original Sin that Natasha is defined by is swept under the rug in the same way her history as a killer is blurred by the script. It’s akin to rewriting Xena’s history with Callisto as the killer of her family and village, and deciding, “No, Xena didn’t kill them. They all survived with minor burns! Callisto can now forgive Xena!”

Natasha's Antagonist

Dreykov is a weak antagonist/villain because the screenwriting seems determined to accredit the abuse of the Red Room entirely to him instead of making a systemic issue. What started off as a clandestine organization for the KGB throughout most of the MCU is rewritten in Black Widow as the personal playground of a thinly veiled Harvey Weinstein analogue who puppeteers his personal assassins to do bad things, thus rendering them all innocent of their wrongdoings. It makes them "perfect victims" in way.

(Johansson has gone on record saying that this film was influenced by the #MeToo Movement. Well, celebrification of it, anyway)

Dreykov doesn’t challenge Natasha, or her family. There’s never an immediate danger or stakes being driven by Dreykov. He’s not doing something they have to stop “before time runs out”, he doesn’t have anything on any of the characters that could push their actions.

He takes a backseat to the family hijinks, so the journey to finding and destroying the Red Room has no urgency (Natasha being dead already notwithstanding). As the supposed architect of their misery, he’s about as threatening as Mason (Natasha’s Black Best Friend who buys her things while in hiding).

Dreykov fails like the rest of the MCU’s villains (not named Erik Killmonger) because there's no depth to the character. There's no real loyalty to the character as a demonstration of his power or influence. Again, all his victims are blameless in their violent actions. No one with speaking lines or face time (that isn't a G.I Joe grunt) is working with him because they believe in his goals or ideology.

Complicating that matter is that the script never reveals what his goals or ideologies are besides, "I can create chaos with an army of assassins. I am so evil."

It’s wild to me that so many are rushing to defend the implementation of this sloppily written (and miscast) character because, “he works as a villain because he's a human trafficker” and “he mind controlled his own daughter.”

“He does terrible things”, or a character representing awful things that happen in the real world, isn't enough to make an effective villain. If that was all it took, then 90% the MCU’s villains wouldn’t be so forgetabble.

(He’s not real, I shouldn’t be reading posts like, “he doesn’t deserve screentime b/c he’s an awful human being! He earned his lazy death scene.” Girl, what???)

If you’re gonna tackle human/child trafficking as defined by one antagonist, then really make it part of the story. Make it something that Natasha and Yelena are actively trying to stop. Don’t montage it over a bad Nirvana cover and then shift gears into a G.I. Joe scenario in a floating fortress.

If you're gonna make Dreykov the abuser of so many women, then make it crucial to your protagonist's narrative. Don't add a silly Angry Beavers plot where his stinky musk can control a woman's bodily functions because as a weak analogue to "how men police women's bodies".

Because Natasha has no real conflict with Dreykov, confronting him in the climax goes nowhere. Dreykov is Yelena’s antagonist. It's why Yelena gets to kill him instead of Natasha, so it would've made more sense for her to confront him instead.

The film eventually establishes he's no real threat to Natasha because the writing pulled a Xanatos. The character feels like he exists only so Johansson can sass him, and make a callback to the Loki Interrogation scene (a scene that only worked because of the audience misdirection.)

Dreykov could've been an effective villain if he was anything like the Headmistress characters in the Samee-Waid Black Widow series from 2016.

The Headmistress and Anya (the new Headmistress later on) were characters with emotional connections to Natasha and the Widow children she was trying to save. They taught these girls to believe in the totalitarian philosophy of the ruling class. Natasha and the other Widows couldn't live without them until they were able to escape their influence.

The Headmistresses were women, which makes it plain that women are also perpetrators of abuse. It isn’t just something that men do, which is how this script has approached this subject entirely (Captain Marvel did the same thing as well). Abuse being exclusively a male theater of action.

Antonia's death could've been meaningful in regards to Natasha and Dreykov as characters if Dreykov cared that Antonia was murdered by a Red Room assassin. Natasha admitting that she killed his daughter and regretted it would've made a lot more impact than just having him shrug it off because he's so heartless and so evil.

Or, as other people have said, imagine if it was Antonia who was the antagonist gunning after Natasha because of what she did, not only to her, but her father as well.

It would not only render the mind-control plot pointless, it would re-center the focus on Natasha, and force the writers to do something else with Yelena, Alexei, and Melina (assuming they're even necessary in this scenario). Then, Natasha would have a genuinely threatening antagonist because the stakes are personal on both sides.

It would've been a hellva lot more meaningful than using Taskmasker as a plot-twist (after hyping the character up as the controller of the Red Room and Natasha's personal nemesis).

Callisto’s story as a villain resonates because she cared about what she lost, and Xena knew there was no real forgiveness for what she did to her. Imagine if they approached Natasha’s role in Antonia’s death like that.

(But that's probably asking for too much nuance from Disney and Marvel.)

Conclusions

In story that wants to be about the abused reconciling with their past and family, the film effectively robs the abused of their autonomy by going the extra of mile of making them zombies. In the same way the Star Wars sequel trilogy avoided Finn’s history as an indoctrinated and enslaved Stormtrooper, Black Widow doesn’t want to deal with the ramifications of indoctrination.

How people buy into and protect organizations that strip them of their humanity by making them complicit in violent systems. Oh, sure, they’ll nod and wink at it (as they do with Natasha and Melina’s past), but they won’t go any further than that.

Instead of dealing with how a forced hysterectomy effects Natasha physically and emotionally, we get a joke that isn’t any better than Natasha calling herself a monster, or the “time of the month” joke that got rebuked by the director and the cast.

Instead of reflecting on her time with SHIELD and the United States, the United States is portrayed as "the good-guys who gave her a real family” (ignoring even the half-hearted criticism of the US that The Winter Soldier made), while Russia is still out there doing nefarious Cold War Things and ruining people's families. All of which just feeds into uncritical Russian stereotypes and Red Scare that the film’s foundation is built on.

I enjoyed the film, but the more I think about it, the more I realize Black Widow really does nothing except undermine Natasha's darker elements and self-imposed redemption arc (as written by Whedon).

On top of rewriting key elements about the Red Room (the movies being broken as the comics is a true irony), It minimizes Natasha's violent past to make her into a clean, and boring superhero whose solo film thinks lamp-shading sexism is the same as subverting it.

[bobbimorses]

Hi ! I was sent your way by @clintbartoncomics ,regarding a comics question. I’ve read everything Hawkeye that I know of,and anything I could find with Clint & Bobbi, and now am trying to find comics where Clint and Natasha are together/dating. I know how they started out,but can’t seem to find much else,other than them being together in the beginning of Old Man Hawkeye. Would you be able to recommend anything? Thanks !😁

ok, let’s try to break this down-

clint and natasha meet in his first ever appearance, tales of suspense #57. nat pulls up in her car as clint flees a robbery he tried to stop. clint thinks “sweet! free getaway-wait i’m in love,” and nat thinks, “sweet! free lackey!”

they spend tales of suspense #60 & 64 fighting iron man; natasha bc her soviet handlers ordered her too, and clint bc natasha told him to. sure, he started out trying to be a hero, but it’s been a whole 5 minutes with nat since then, so he loves her. and when clint falls in love, he falls hard. he feels morally conflicted, but what’s a little treason for your poor gf when you are but a simultaneously overconfident and insecure carny?

unfortunately for nat, clint sucks at being a villain’s lackey, and joins the avengers. natasha pops back into clint’s life in avengers #29. it’s here that i should make it abundantly clear that clint is one of comics’ most hopeless romantics:

she shows up periodically through the range of avengers #29-76, during which time they’re dating. natasha’s a hero now, too! but she’s working with SHIELD, so things get complicated, as spywork does--at one point she rejects the avengers’ offer of membership, an idea championed only by clint, bc SHIELD says it’ll ruin her cover. hurdles like that meant sometimes they’d discuss a drive to the beach and sometimes they’d be held hostage in test tubes. clint spent many an issue moping about as the other avengers went “is...is hawkeye ok?”

it was all very tragic.

due to increasing complications, natasha breaks up with clint in avengers #76 by telling him she never loved him:

you know, like a liar

while thinking over her tragic love life and all the guilt therein, she sneaks a check-up on him in amazing adventures v2 #7:

some time later, clint very suddenly confesses his love to wanda maximoff, a pining that only ever occurred in his thought bubbles, but gets rejected as she’s engaged to a robot. again, hopeless romantic. he laments both tragic outcomes in avengers #109:

now doubly rejected, clint goes across the country in daredevil #99 to tell nat he still loves her and fight matt murdock, her new flame. nat isn’t impressed by his show of jealousy, and more importantly, the destruction of her beautiful bay window:

clint, obviously, sulks about her relationship with matt in typical hawkeye fashion in avengers #111:

after that, however, there was no tension whatsoever once clint returned to the avengers after his long absence. natasha and clint were now good friends. things went smoothly when clint introduced natasha to bobbi (who you know he married after knowing for 9 days, what with his propensity to fall deeply in love so very, very quickly) in avengers #239:

they basically remained broken up since that fateful issue in 1970. some series revisited the dynamics of that relationship, though-- whether it be in their reminiscing, like in thunderbolts #43, or hawkeye v3 #7-8, or in flashback form, like here in black widow: deadly origin #2:

nat, bobbi, and clint even work together, with clint now broken up with both of them, in widowmaker (2010)

at this point you’re probably thinking “geez, they’ve been broken up for 40+ years. where did this talk of dating again come from?” well, a movie happened.

as with most sudden marvel comics changes and additions around 2012 (clint’s costume turning bland, phil coulson suddenly existing in 616, hulk being a full avenger for the first time since 1963), natasha and clint’s place in 616 was shuffled around a little in an attempt to draw in new readers from those who had only seen the movie. cue avengers assemble (2012) #5:

them making out was the cover of the issue, i’m sure to draw in some movie folks, but they stop immediately because clint has a girlfriend: jessica drew. i feel like at this point clint’s relationship with jess, which was never really fleshed out/developed to the extent of his previous relationships, became another casualty with the new 616 status quo. remember, clint has always been fiercely loyal to whoever he’s dating at the time--but then there’s this kiss, and penny in hawkeye v4 (2012). by then, no one was really sure about the status of clint and jess’ relationship in any series.

anyways! clint and jess break up at some point. clint and natasha proceed to pop up in each other’s respective series, like clint did in a few issues of black widow v6, and frequently work alongside each other in other avengers titles. then, secret empire (2017) finally ends their newfound will-they-won’t-they tension:

and because of their own storied histories after all those decades, it’s an evolved dynamic, so it’s all very interesting--but oops, natasha gets immediately killed. comics!

(she was half right)

clint breaks down sobbing at her funeral. and then, once again because comics, natasha comes back and clint teams up with bucky to find/stop her in tales of suspense (where it all started!) #100-104

most recently, natasha had an appearance in hawkeye: freefall for one issue, and clint is currently showing up in black widow v8. no, they aren’t currently dating--it’s, as always, complicated.

[bamfdaddio]

X-Men Abridged: 1981 - Bonus: Avengers Annual 10/What If? 27

The X-Men, those Claremontian mutants that have sworn to protect a world that hates and fears them, are a cultural juggernaut with a long, tangled history. Want to unravel this tapestry? Then read the Abridged X-Men! [more here]

(Avengers Annual 10 & What If? 27) - by Chris Claremont and Mary Jo Duffy, Michael Golden and Jerry Bingham

Avengers? You’re not here for Avengers! Let me make the following counterpoint:

Holy eye shadow, Rogue!

See, Avengers Annual 10 is less about the Avengers and more about three other things:

The rehabilitation of Carol Danvers who, after this, has had her fill of the Avengers and becomes an honorary member of the X-Men;

Spider-Woman and the X-Men trying to figure out what has happened to Ms. Marvel;

Mystique trying to spring her Brotherhood from prison, using a secret weapon: Rogue.

Depending on my mood that day, I might name Rogue as my favourite-ever X-Man, so I really could not skip her debut issue. Instantly iconic, all of this:

Her streak;

Her signature green outfit with hoodie;

Her accent.

Queen.

I love how Claremont once again almost effortlessly introduces a strong female character, one that single-handedly takes down three of the strongest Avengers. Also note how free Rogue still is with her powers: fun, flirty, without the tragic can’t-touch-anyone-angle that will define her for the next three decades.

I’m sorry, am I getting ahead of myself?

This story begins as a whodunit: who pushed an amnesiac Carol Danvers off the Golden Gate Bridge and stole her mind? For that matter, where did she came from? Wasn’t she happily married and pregnant in some alternative dimension last time the readers saw her? Spider-Woman rescues her from the choppy water and calls Professor Xavier to help out. He manages to retrieve the Jane Doe’s identity and knows who attacked her: a woman named Rogue.

Rogue, meanwhile, skulks about the Avengers Mansion, first taking out Captain America and then attacking Thor.

Considering what this comic is about, I don’t believe Hawkeye’s throwaway mysognism is accidental here.

Rogue’s powers work as follows: through touch, she can steal other people’s powers and memories. The longer she touches someone, the longer she’ll have them - with the looming threat of the theft becoming permanent.

After absorbing Thor, Rogue is faced with three Avengers who’s powers she can’t absorb - Spider-Woman (covered in a suit); Vision (robot) and Wonder Man (being of pure energy? Idk, I’m not really familiar with him other than his bromance with Beast). Hoping the three powers she has in her arsenal - Ms. Marvel’s, Thor’s and Cap’s - will be enough, Rogue flees.

Mystique, meanwhile, has duped Iron Man by pretending to be the Wasp and has paralysed Tony Stark in his suit with some sort of device. She picks up the powered-up Rogue and their plan becomes clear:

Rogue immediately earns her place in my heart by using billionaire Tony Stark the way the Coyote uses anvils. (Also note the odd way of spelling ‘sugah’.)

I love how both the Brotherhood and the X-Men continually pull focus from the Avengers: for an Avengers-comic, it's surprising how much they're pushed to the background. Again, this makes sense if you know what this issue really is about, but that won’t become clear until the epilogue. I don’t mind, it means we get a ton of great moments, like the Blob calling Mystique ‘Misty’:

My God, this era’s Destiny/Mystique is even more obvious than 90’s Rictor/Shatterstar.

A battle erupts. One funny moment is actually seeing Destiny fight. I’ve never really read comics about this incarnation of the Brotherhood and my collection mostly takes off after Legion Quest, so I mostly know Destiny posthumously. I always figured that, as a villain, she stood somewhere off on the side, delivering cryptic messages. I never realized she was the one to almost shoot Senator Kelly, nor that her powers are this practical.

X-Men drinking game rule 11: Drink anytime someone fatshames the Blob.

The fight is pretty evenly matched until Spider-Woman releases Iron Man from Mystique’s little trap. Soon, the Avengers overwhelm the Brotherhood. While Mystique and Rogue manage to flee, Destiny, Avalanche, Pyro and the Blob are detained again.

With the main antagonists sorted, we return to the actual storyline: the rehabilitation of Ms. Marvel. Professor X has managed to tease her out of her catatonic state and offers her therapy to restore her missing memories and powers. (The ones stolen by Rogue.) The Avengers, not fully understanding why Carol won’t ask them for help, eventually come by for a house call.

Carol asks the X-Men to leave while the Avengers gingerly confront her. It’s very awkward.

“Fuck the Avengers. Taking my beer.” - Wolverine, probably.

See, what all this refers to is the rape of Ms. Marvel. I haven’t read the particular comic in which this happens (Avengers 200), so if you want all the details, I’ll refer you to this article. Before I get into the details, it’s important to note that Claremont was the writer for Carol Danvers in her solo-series, giving her agency and turning Ms. Marvel into a three-dimensional character. The title was then cancelled and Carol was shuffled off to the Avengers. (Rogue was, in fact, planned to make her debut in that the solo-Ms. Marvel series, as one of Ms. Marvel’s new antagonists. Presumably, Rogue would steal her powers there, too. We all know Claremont loves to strip his heroes and heroines of their powers to show they’re even more badass without them.)

As an Avenger, Carol was wooed by some other-dimensional dude/entity named Marcus. He courted her by giving her flowers, worshipping the ground she stepped on and, oh yeah, ‘subtly’ influencing her mind to make her fall in love with him and consequently impregnating her.

Yes.

Now, Claremont is no stranger to putting his characters through their paces and he gleefully makes use of the whole mental manipulation-trope. In fact, telepathically coercing someone to fall in love with you is absolutely what Mastermind did to Jean Grey: he probably violated her just as much as Marcus did Carol. The difference is how it’s treated in the narrative: Mastermind’s actions are never laughed away or apologized for and are the direct cause for his downfall. They help trigger Jean’s transformation to the Dark Phoenix, whose first deed is taking out her fury on ‘Jason Wyngarde’.

That’s… not what happened with Ms. Marvel. There, the narrative condones Marcus’ actions by framing it as ‘her happy ending’ (married and pregnant, yay!), something which is celebrated by the Avengers.

This is where Carol calls them out for their bullshit.

We call this ‘The Reason You Suck’-Speech. It’s a thing of beauty.

The Avengers depart, tail between their legs, and Carol hangs out with the cool X-kids from now on. For now, at least.

So, this issue is not only a landmark because it’s where Rogue debuts, but you can also see Chris Claremont going to bat for one of characters: he (presumably reluctantly) gave back the character of Carol Danvers when her solo was cancelled, proceeded to see how terribly they massacred his girl and then claimed that ownership right back.

Good for you, Claremont.

***

The “What If… the Phoenix Had Not Died”-issue is kind of boring, because it’s basically a rehash of the Phoenix Saga. Why am I paying attention to it? Because of the (mild) gore (and because the Avengers Annual wouldn’t fill a whole post). Anyway, it’s like watching a Final Destination-movie: it’s silly, light on plot and never a particularly thought-provoking movie, but it’s still fun to see all those people inventively but haplessly die.

Plot! Instead of committing suicide on the moon, the Shi’ar strip Jean of her powers after her trial. Jean is trapped in a barren mental state, almost feeling like she's a veggie. But Jean's powers refuse to remain dormant: slowly, her telepathy returns.

When Galactus threatens the Shi’ar homestead, Lilandra summons the X-Men as her champions. Jean embraces her Phoenix-side and defeats Galactus. Everyone is grateful and super-convinced Jean can handle the Phoenix this time! Yay!

And, because that battle with Galactus took a lot out of her, Jean decides she can have a little asteroid. As a treat. She keeps slipping up on her diet, supping on the occasional meteor and lonely planet to keep her power levels up. It turns out to be a slippery slope: finally, she consumes another star (in an uninhabited system! And a small one! How dare you judge her!), but when she returns to the mansion…

The absolute worst moment to forget you have powers, Kitty.

Xavier attempts to bind the Phoenix, but last time, Jean helped him fight from within. This time, there's not much Jean left. Without breaking a sweat, the Phoenix wipes his brain. But she doesn’t stop there. Maybe the Phoenix remembers that, last time, she was undone by the principles of “friendship is magic”. This time, she’s determined to not let it get so far.

It’s absolutely bone-chilling.

And the stars blinked As they watched her carefully Jealous of the way she shone - Atticus

I wonder if there’s a rhyme or reason to the way Jean murders her friends: is it random? Does she go for the ones she loves the most first? Does she save Cyclops for last, knowing killing him might trigger Jean to respond?

The narration mentions that the three remaining X-Men are the most powerful ones: Polaris, Havok and Cyclops. (I would’ve swapped in Storm for Cyclops, but whatever.) They have formulated a quick plan: Polaris pulls focus while Havok and Cyclops shift into position. Phoenix disintegrates Polaris while Havok and Scott try and blast Phoenix to smithereens.

But at the last moment, Scott can’t. Havok’s blast alone is not enough. Phoenix shoots him through the heart and then, finally, kills Cyclops. That’s when Jean resurfaces, realizing what she’s done. She can’t take it - she’s in the mood to dissolve in the sky, as per Virginia Woolf - and she lets the Phoenix take over.

Phoenix finally lives up to her potential: The End of All That Is.

It's a mediocre plot with a lame ramp-up to a terrifying conclusion. In the regular universe, the thing that triggers the Phoenix is the utter violation of Jean’s body and mind; here, it’s being confronted by Kitty. One is the proverbial red cloth in front of the bull, the other is being assaulted by an ineffective wet cloth. The Phoenix Saga is iconic because all the pieces were carefully put in place; this just feels rushed an unearned.

Also, the Watcher is full of shit. You can’t say you don’t pass judgment whilst simultaneously comparing the merits of one tragedy to the other. Shut up, Uatu.

Check back next week for your regularly scheduled X-Men Abridged! It’s time for 1982 and the brood saga!

[cruciatusforeplay]

Do you know of a comprehensive list of Hawkeye appearances in the comics, with summaries?

So when I first saw this ask I thought "a comprehensive list of Hawkeye? With summaries? That is absolutely madness, who would have done that?"

I had a quick glance at Marvel Unlimited and found there was over 500 issues listed under Hawkeye (and that's not considering his time spent under other names, or alternative universes, or Kate Bishop doing her thing) and confirmed to myself that a comprehensive list would indeed be completely unmanageable. So obviously I decided to give it a go.

I absolutely cannot give you an entire rundown, because ya boy's been busy, but I can try to give you a little bit of an overview. (Head's up, I said "little" but that was a lie. This is a BIG post and I'm hoping it might give you some key points for Clint's comic career and his background which will hopefully be useful for figuring out which comics to read or anyone writing canon-based fanfic)

A not-so-brief history of Hawkeye in Comics (spoilers below the cut)

First appearance: Tales of Suspense #57 (1964)

We run into Clint working at Carson's Carnival, where he is being underappreciated by the audience and very unhappy about it. He's a proactive lad, so he makes himself a new costume and arrows to be utterly unforgettable. He accidentally gets himself implicated in a crime and meets the Black Widow. They become allies and he uses trick arrows and nearly manages to take out Iron Man, but must abandon his plans to save Black Widow from a blast of his own arrow. He kicks off as an enemy to Stark basically. There is also a bunch of Iron Man shenanigans happening here and it's a fun read.

He sticks around as a villain for two more issues in Tales of Suspense #60 and #64 (1964 and 1965).

First appearance as an Avenger: Avengers #16 (1965)

Clint shows up about halfway through and has determined that he'd like to be an Avenger instead now, thanks. He tells them a little about his doomed love with Nat and how she paid the price and they decide they're on board. He is introduced to the press. There's a bunch of other Avenger member swapping around in this issue (and if you want the most of it, you should start with issue 15 because it's a direct follow up story wise)

He's a key member of the Avengers from hereon in and features in most issues. He spends his time shooting arrows and having problems with authority (particularly Cap)

Key background: Avengers #19 (1965)

This issue gives us a bunch of background on Clint. The Swordsman shows up wanting to be an Avenger (because he wants an Avengers ID - yes really). Clint objects and we find out Clint's an orphan and that the Swordsman took him in and trained him at Carson's Carnival. Clint then caught him stealing from the circus and they fight where he leaves Clint for dead. It's a big old betrayal. The Swordsman then spends the rest of comic kidnapping and trying to kill Cap, so all round that's a no on the Avengers ID.

Hawkeye quits the Avengers: Avengers #109 (1973)

Hawkeye doesn't like that Scarlet Witch and Vision are in a relationship, and essentially he plays the jealous jilted lover who throws a tantrum (door slamming included). He quits the Avengers, immediately realises he didn't actually love Wanda after all. He spends his fresh downtime teaching The Champion archery, who then promptly betrays him. The Avengers come to the rescue.

His involvement in the Avengers is spotty over the next decade.

Hawkeye gets Hitched: Hawkeye #1-4 (1983)

This is Clint's first solo run. It's important for two reasons. He meets Mockingbird who he marries by the end of the run, in what can be described as an enemies to lovers speed-run. This is also the series where Clint is originally deafened; he has to make a sacrifice play with one of his own sonic arrows which is how he ends up deafened. There are some other classic Clint moments: he starts the run by getting dumped, he rides on the skycycle/sky-sled and he ends up with his outfit getting mostly ripped off more than once. We also get some background about him and his brother Barney running from the orphanage to join circus, how Barney got him to hospital after the incident with the Swordsman, and we find out that Clint didn't speak to his brother for years and that he's dead now. Honestly this run is great fun and I have a big soft spot for it.

The West Coast Avengers: West Coast Avengers #1-4 (1984)

Clint helps found and then leads the West Coast Avengers with his wife Mockingbird. This is another mini series, but it led to a much longer run starting the following year that ended in 1994. Real talk: I've only skimmed this iteration of WCA but what I've seen is campy fun, the skycycle is back, Clint really settles into being a leader and the sun is always shining. Special shout out to Tigra who is a bad-ass in this mini series. During the longer run, Clint and Bobbi's marriage is put through the ringer amongst other things, and they eventually separate. Truthfully there is a lot of other stuff going on regarding their relationship in that run and onwards. If their marriage is something you want to know more about I recommend checking out the full summary listed at the back of Hawkeye and Mockingbird #1 (2010) - it starts on page 22 of that issue - be aware it contains major spoilers for later stories.

Key background: Solo Avengers #1-5 (1987)

We get to meet Clint's other circus mentor here: Trickshot aka Buck Chisholm. You'll be shocked to hear that Clint gets betrayed. We kick things off with some circus shenanigans where his charity performance/showing off opportunity is interrupted by mercs sent to kill him, by Trickshot wanting to settle a debt. The second issue presents us with a lengthy flashback where we find out Hawkeye's dirty secret: it wasn't actually the Swordsman who taught him archery, but instead an actual archer called Trickshot. We see Clint get trained up only to be immediately pushed into a life of crime where he ends up shooting his own brother. Buck then shoots Clint when Clint wants to take his brother Barney to hospital. Trickshot is shown to have an unsavoury taste for killing for pleasure and promises to kill Clint when he's got something to lose. In addition we also get some flashbacks to Clint's abusive home situation and his time in care before joining the circus. The next two issues cover a side story that honestly doesn't lead anywhere or get resolved by the end of the run. Issue #5 (which is the first of this run available on Marvel Unlimited if that's how you're reading) then brings you into the real action. For reasons that aren't entirely clear, Clint spends this entire issue in only his undershorts. There's some fun archer Vs archer antics, before an emotional reveal where Trickshot begs Hawkeye to end his life because he has cancer and doesn't want a slow death. Trick has a cry, Clint refuses to kill him and instead they have a comforting cuddle on a beach under a sunset. It's an unusual run, but Trickshot will show up again later in Clint's arc, and it's got a lot of fun quips and action sequences.

Quick note on the 90s

In my opinion, the 90s weren't real good to Clint. He had a couple of solo runs, but imo nothing with major substance, or character development so I'm skipping them. If you want to know what you're missing check out Hawkeye #1-4 (1994) aka Clint broods in Canada and there are wolves, and Hawkeye: World's Mightiest Marksman #1 (1998) aka Clint is stubborn and goes head to head with Taskmaster.

Key background: Hawkeye #1-6 (2003)

This series, which has Clint travelling on a motorcycle in order to find the best chilli and sporting some 90s boyband hair, also gives us some really great insight into his and Barney's relationship. We get snapshots in amongst the rest of the story of Barney being the moral compass for Clint. We see Barney getting his GED while Clint works on archery, and later we see Buck encouraging Clint into crime and Barney telling him it's wrong. We get another retelling of the Swordsman story, this time with both Buck and Barney coming to rescue Clint. While Clint's broken leg is healing, Barney tells him he's joining the army and Clint should come with. Clint says no, then changes his mind, but ends up missing the bus. We again see Clint on a job with Buck where he shoots a guard only to realise it's Barney, and is subsequently shot by Trickshot for wanting to help Barney. They both make it to hospital. Clint asks what happened and Barney tells him "guess you are what you are." Years later we see Clint at Barney's grave and are informed that he was involved with the mob. Clint is upset, only to then be informed Barney was actually working undercover for the FBI. These snapshots are my favourite part of the entire series. The rest of the series focuses on Clint doing some detective style work and shooting arrows. If this is the first run you've checked out since the WCA or Solo Avengers runs, you'll note this is very different in both art and story style. There was a definite shift in the 90s that brought us closer to the style we have today.

Clint doesn't have any solo runs for a while, but he is involved in a bunch of bigger stories which we'll take look at in part two of this post.

The MCU push and key background

In the lead up to the movie premiere of Avengers Assemble (2012), Marvel produced a lot of content for the Big Six as promo to their preexisting market. Hawkeye and Mockingbird #1-6 (2010), Widow maker #1-4 (2010) and Hawkeye Blindspot #1-4 (2011) follow on directly from one another, though you could read any of them independently and the first two are less about Clint. Avengers Solo #1-5 (2011) also featured during this time. All but Blindspot are simple action comics without any lasting impact for Hawkeye. Blindspot has a pretty comprehensive rundown on Clint's history including his abusive dad, the circus, the Swordsman, Trickshot, his relationship with Cap and the Avengers, him becoming Goliath and some very important information regarding his brother and their relationship, all woven into a well paced plot. Additionally, he's going blind. There is a lot of story in these four issues. It also provides the foundation on which Fraction set his run, so it's a good story for anyone who had any unanswered questions regarding the start point for Hawkeye (2012).

The Fraction/Aja Run: Hawkeye #1-21 (2012)

This is the big one. Either you're here because you've read it and now you love this idiot, or you want to start reading Hawkeye. This is where you start. I'm not gonna summarise this one because everyone deserves to read it without spoilers. But I'll say this: this is Clint when he's not being an Avenger. He's messy and relatable and he loves dogs. This is a character defining run and it is one of my all time favourite comics. There is so much good stuff in here and I could talk for hours about it. Go forth and feast your eyes.

If I've missed anything major, or listed something incorrectly or you just have some Clint related opinions that I need to know about, do hit me up.

I've run out of images, so this post will continue in part 2 which you can read here.

[multiverseforger]

The Enchantress' parentage is unknown, though it is known she was born in Asgard and has a sister by the name of Lorelei. Amora began learning magic as an apprentice of Karnilla, Queen of the Norns, but was eventually banished.[3] She continued learning magic on her own, notably by seducing others well versed in magic and learning their secrets. In time, Amora became one of the more powerful magic-wielders in Asgard, with her magical arsenal focused on (but not limited to) charming and mind-controlling people. Her by-then well-renowned beauty did not hinder in this.

In her first appearance, she is sent by Odin to eliminate Thor's human love interest, whom Odin sees as a distraction. She also hopes to have the thunder god for herself. She is assisted by a powerful minion — Skurge, the Executioner. The Executioner loved the Enchantress, and she strings him along with her feminine wiles, using him as her muscle.[4] She aids Loki by attempting to seduce Thor in his Don Blake identity and by sending the Executioner to kill Jane Foster, but though the Executioner traps Foster in another dimension Thor is able to bring her back by giving Skurge his hammer. When the Enchantress, angry at Skurge returning Jane, begins to turn Skurge into a tree, Skurge releases Thor from the pact in exchange for his help. Amora then tries to change Thor's hammer into a hissing serpent, but it is immune to her magic. Thor then transports the two back to Asgard.[5]

The Enchantress and the Executioner are exiled to Earth by Odin. They become members of Baron Heinrich Zemo's original Masters of Evil, the opposite number to the Avengers, a superhero team that Thor had joined. The Enchantress hypnotizes Thor into attacking the other Avengers with her own spells and a special brew, making him believe they are enemies of humanity, but Iron Man wakes Thor from his trance by reflecting sunlight into his eyes. Thor sends the Masters to another dimension through a space warp, but two issues later, the Enchantress uses a spell to send them back to Earth. She recruits Wonder Man into the Masters of Evil after paying his bail. She also meets Immortus, who helps Zemo attack the Avengers. When this attempt fails, she turns back time to prevent it from happening, though the Masters retain their memories of this event. When Immortus begins to contact the Masters, the Enchantress prevents this from happening.[6] She then joins in the Masters of Evil's final assault against the Avengers and breaks the Black Knight and Melter out of jail. She manages to escape in the end with the Executioner when the other two are transported to another dimension where their weapons rebound due to different scientific laws.[7] As a member of the Masters of Evil, the Enchantress (and Executioner) repeatedly face the Avengers. She is especially affronted by the attempts of the Scarlet Witch, a mortal, to subvert her divine spells, though she is occasionally genuinely challenged by the Scarlet Witch's mutant gifts.



Art by Alan Davis.

With the Executioner, she menaces Jane Foster again at Loki's behest.[8]

The Enchantress is also notable in that she has given other superhumans their powers. For example, she used the deceased Zemo's equipment to make a henchman of his, Erik Josten, into the original Power Man, who aids her in battling the Avengers. Her illusions and traps turn the city against the Avengers, forcing them to disband and making Power Man seem like a hero. Captain America, in disguise, corrects this by obtaining a taped confession from the Enchantress and Power Man. Power Man is able to defeat him, but the Enchantress is knocked out by gas from Hawkeye's arrow. Realizing the tape is on its way to the police, the Enchantress used her spells to teleport away.[9] The Enchantress is then recruited by the Mandarin, along with the Executioner, Swordsman, Power Man, and Living Laser for his plan for world domination. With the Executioner, she attacked the Asian sub-continent with an army of trolls, but they were defeated by Hercules and the Scarlet Witch.[10]

Amora poses as the Valkyrie and forms the Lady Liberators, which battle the male Avengers. She dupes Arkon into fighting the Avengers.[11] Amora also uses her magics to make Samantha Parrington and later Barbara Norris into the Valkyrie.[12] With the Executioner, she battles the Defenders and the Thing.[13]

With the Executioner, Amora attempts to conquer Asgard with a troll army. She also served as Loki's lieutenant in his brief rule of Asgard.[14]

During the "Secret Wars," she is placed on the villains's side, but she spurns the idea of fighting a gladiatorial game for the amusement of a higher being. She instead proposes to Thor that the two of them simply join forces, leave both heroes and villains behind, and go back home to Asgard.[volume & issue needed]

On the appearance of Amora's sister Lorelei, it is established that the two sisters have something of a strained relationship, rooted in rivalry. More than a little friction is seen between the pair, not the least due to competition over which one of them would manage to seduce Thor.[15]

The Enchantress joined the Asgardian gods and heroes in final battle against the world-ender Surtur. She establishes that she is motivated by enlightened self-interest: Surtur seeks to end the world, in which case Amora would perish.[16]



Another regular foe of Amora's is the Scarlet Witch, as seen here in The Vision and the Scarlet Witch (Vol. 2) #9. Cover art by Richard Howell and P. Craig Russell.

Soon after the Surtur War, Thor leads a number of Asgardian heroes to Hel, the realm of the death goddess Hela. The Executioner asks Thor to let him join the expedition for reasons he does not immediately reveal. In truth, he had seen the Enchantress dallying with Heimdall, and, heartbroken, Skurge wishes to lose himself in a noble cause — such as rescuing lost souls from Hela. Thor's forces accomplish their mission but need one man to guard their retreat from Hel by holding the bridge Gjallerbru. The Executioner, knowing there was no more Amora for him, chooses to be that man, giving his life so the others might flee. When Amora hears the news, to everyone's surprise, she is truly grief-stricken.[17]

After Skurge's death, Amora continues her regular hi-jinks, occasionally helping Asgard, occasionally opposing it. She aids Asgard against the evil Egyptian God Seth's legions.[18]

Lorelei later perishes as Amora refused to give her life for her sister's. The deceased Skurge (in Valhalla) rejects the Enchantress, and Amora goes on to empower the Earthman Brute Benhurst into a short-lived new Executioner to serve as her minion in Skurge's stead.[19] Amora becomes vexed with the Avenger Wonder Man and assists Thor and the Warriors Three in their quest to return Odin to the throne of Asgard. During this time, an attraction between Amora and Asgard's guardian Heimdall is explored. Amora even battles the powerful entity Nightmare on behalf of both of them as Heimdall was unable to protect himself at the time. She ultimately rejects Heimdall when she realizes that he wishes to be married and she does not.[volume & issue needed]

In Acts of Vengeance, Amora and Skurge join forces and attack Doctor Strange, only to be bested by Clea when she flies to his aid.[volume & issue needed]

Later, Thor has been spurned by his father Odin, exiled to Earth and disempowered. In this vulnerable state, Thor ends up forming a willing liaison with Amora, with the two of them living out of a loft in New York City as lovers. This status quo would remain until Thor goes missing during Heroes Reborn and is presumed dead.[20]

During Ragnarök, Amora is present with the other Asgardian deities and dwarves when Eitri and his brothers are sealed into a tomb they had carved due to the Mjolnir mold destroying them, albeit accidentally. When Surtur's forging of new Mjolnirs creates chaos, Thor attempts to fly to the skies to discern the source, but is at once struck down by a blast from a Mjolnir duplicate of Loki's; Amora is slain by the same blast, one of the first victims of Loki during this event. Neither her magic nor her inherent durability is capable of shielding her. Heimdall falls soon afterward; Amora is not seen again except, seemingly, in one of the realms of death, unable to use her magic to assist her once-lover.[volume & issue needed]

After Ragnarök, when Thor, Asgard and the other Asgardians return, Thor is manipulated by Loki into inadvertently awakening some of Thor's enemies, among them Amora, though when she was last seen, she is the victim, falling by Loki's hands and mourned by Thor and the other Asgardians. She does not return to Asgard but instead goes to attack the world tree, Yggdrasil in order to resurrect Skurge and release him from Valhalla. Amora is ultimately thwarted after Thor, Loki, and Balder convince her that she is dishonoring his memory with her actions.[21]

She has returned after Thor's resurrection, with Donald Blake - bitter about his separation from Thor and his non-existent past - offering the Enchantress his soul if she can make him a god again.[22] The resulting god is a twisted abomination, with Thor defeating the Enchantress and her new god before banishing them from Asgard, leaving Blake - reduced to a living head after his body was consumed to create the god - connected to a series of dream-weaving creatures to make him dream that he is living a full life.[23]

After this Amora was defeated by Thor and banished to the forest in Norway. She was trapped in an Odinforce barrier and stripped of her powers. Lady Deathstrike and Typhoid Mary were on a quest to find Arkea, an intelligent gestalt microorganism capable of controlling machines and people. They found Amora and offered to help her regain her powers.[24] In exchange they founded a new sisterhood to battle the X-Men, who were hunting Arkea and Lady Deathstrike. Arkea hacked the Odinforce spell and restored Amora's full powers. In exchange for this, Amora restored the physical form of the immortal mutant witch, Selene,[25] and helped Arkea resurrect Madelyne Pryor. Before the Sisterhood could add more members, the X-Men attacked and killed Arkea. Amora was ambushed by the X-Man M, who defeated her in a surprise attack. However, Madelyne Pryor swore to continue the Sisterhood, which presently has Madelyne, Selene, Lady Deathstrike, Amora, and Typhoid Mary as members.[26]

During the "AXIS" storyline, Enchantress appears as a member of Magneto's unnamed supervillain group during the fight against Red Skull's Red Onslaught form.[27] After the heroes and villains present at the battle experience a moral inversion due to the Scarlet Witch and Doctor Doom's attempt to bring out the Xavier in Onslaught backfiring,[volume & issue needed] Magneto recruits Enchantress as one of his new 'Avengers' to stop the now-villainous Avengers and X-Men.[volume & issue needed]

Following the "Secret Wars" storyline, she has become a member of Malekith the Accursed's Dark Council.[28] Through a spell, she takes control of the queen of the Light Elves, allowing her marriage to Malekith to happen and the conquest of their realm.[29]

During the "War of the Realms" storyline, Enchantress accompanies Malekith the Accursed in his invasion on Midgard.[30] She and Kurse fight Ghost Rider and She-Hulk until Jane Foster slams Skidbladnir into Enchantress.[31] In Uruguay, the Enchantress raises the dead, but Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange, and Balder ward her off.[32]

[juststeveandtonythings]

Silver Age Avengers: A Summary

This is a summary of the Avengers in the Silver Age, which covers Avengers Vol 1 #1-#71, including the two Avengers Annuals, which ran from 1963-1969 (1969 being my arbitrary end date for the Silver Age). If this post was mildly interesting to you, guess what, I have one for Tony Stark and another for Steve Rogers too!

Issue-by-Issue Synopsis

Significant events are in bold.

[A #1] Iron Man (Tony), Ant-Man (Hank), Wasp (Jan), Thor, and Hulk join forces to defeat Loki. Jan names them the Avengers.

[A #2] The Avengers fight a bad guy. Hulk leaves the team. Tony offers the Avengers use of his mansion as their headquarters.

[A #3] The Avengers go after Hulk and Namor.

[A #4] The Avengers find Captain America, who joins the team. First appearance of Baron Zemo.

[A #5] The Avengers fight some bad guys.

[A #6] The Avengers fight the Masters of Evil. Iron Man tricks out Cap's shield with transistors.

[A #7] The Avengers fight the Masters of Evil. Rick annoys Steve by putting on Bucky's old costume.

[A #8] First appearance of Kang the Conqueror. The Avengers fight him.

[A #9] First appearance of Simon Williams, who the Masters of Evil turn into Wonder Man. He infiltrates the Avengers and lures them into a trap, but ends up turning on Zemo and pals and dies afterward.

[A #10] The Avengers fight the Masters of Evil. Avengers Assemble is said (by Thor) for the first time, though Enchantress turns back time at the end of the issue so this technically never happened.

[A #11] The Avengers fight Kang.

[A #12] The Avengers fight the Mole Man and the Red Ghost.

[A #13] The Avengers fight Count Nefaria. Jan gets critically wounded.

[A #14] The Avengers, minus Jan, fight some bad guys in order to retrieve a doctor to perform life-saving surgery on her. Thor utters the first non-time-erased Avengers Assemble.

[A #15] The Avengers fight the Masters of Evil. Steve, Rick, and Zemo have their own fight in South America, and Zemo is killed.

[A #16] The Avengers, minus Steve, defeat the remaining Masters of Evil and want to take a break. Clint, Wanda, and Pietro are recruited. Steve and Rick return from South America and are abruptly told that Steve will be leading the new recruits. Tony, Thor, Jan, and Hank leave the team. Cap's Kooky Quartet is formed.

[A #17] The Avengers fight the Mole Man.

[A #18] The Avengers fight a bad guy.

[A #19] Swordsman, in his first appearance, attempts to force the Avengers into accepting him as a member.

[A #20] The Avengers are fooled into accepting Swordsman, but later find out his deception and run him off.

[A #21] Enchantress frames the Avengers and makes it look like they did a bunch of bad stuff, resulting in them being disgraced and being asked to disband.

[A #22] The Avengers disband, but Steve investigates and discovers Enchantress' involvement. The Avengers clear their name, but Steve chooses to leave the team.

[A #23] The Avengers get kidnapped by Kang and brought to a different century, but Steve finds out and goes after them.

[A #24] The Avengers end up working with Kang because Kang wants to protect a woman he's in love with. Afterward, he sands them back to their own time.

[A #25] The Avengers fight Doctor Doom in Latveria.

[A #26] The Avengers, minus Clint, respond to Jan's call for help in fighting Attuma, but end up trapped in a sinking submarine.

[A #27] Clint manages to save the others, and they defeat Attuma for the time being.

[A #28] Hank asks the Avengers for help in finding Jan and reveals his true identity; he also adopts the name Goliath. They fight the Collector, though afterward Hank gets stuck at being 10 feet tall. Hank and Jan join the team again.

[A #29] The Avengers fight Natasha, who has been brainwashed and only wants to destroy them. She gets away.

[A #30] Clint goes after Natasha, whose brainwashing wears off in time for her to save him against her minions. They reunite. Wanda and Pietro take a leave of absence due to their waning powers.

[A #31] The Avengers fight some bad guys in South America.

[A #32] First appearance of Bill Foster, who starts working with Hank to fix his 10-foot problem. The Avengers fight some racists.

[A #33] The Avengers defeat the above racists.

[A #34] The Living Laser creeps on Jan, kidnaps her, and attacks the other Avengers.

[A #35] Jan is rescued and the Living Laser is defeated.

[A #36] Clint tries to get Natasha admitted as an Avenger but is denied. The Avengers go to Transia to save Pietro and Wanda from trouble but are captured.

[A #37] Natasha saves the other Avengers by threatening the villain's life, contrary to the Avengers' code; only Clint knows she did this.

[A #38] Natasha makes a show of leaving the Avengers and Clint because she actually needs to do a secret mission for Nick Fury. Enchantress and a charmed Hercules attack them, but they are defeated and the charm on Hercules is broken.

[A #39] Thinker attacks the Avengers but are saved by Hercules.

[A #40] The Avengers look for the Cosmic Cube at Steve's request; Namor also searches and finds it. Namor manages to lose the ensuing battle anyway, as well as the Cube.

[A #41] Natasha gets captured during her secret S.H.I.E.L.D. mission. The Avengers have a rough battle against Diablo.

[A #42] Steve saves the other Avengers from Diablo. They learn Natasha is in danger.

[A #43] Jan comes into money. Clint and Hercules go after Natasha.

[A #44] The Avengers save Natasha and defeat the Red Guard, her husband. Natasha is alive but hospitalized.

[AA #1] All the Avengers, including Iron Man and Thor, team up to defeat the Mandarin and some other bad guys he assembled.

[A #45] On Avengers Day, the team gets attacked by the Super-Adaptoid, but they win. Hercules officially joins the Avengers. Natasha returns to civilian life and gives up being the Black Widow.

[A #46] The Avengers fight Whirlwind, though Whirlwind is able to escape. Hank discards the Goliath identity and goes back to being Ant-Man.

[A #47] Steve leaves the Avengers. Magneto lures Pietro and Wanda into a trap.

[A #48] The Avengers meet the new Black Knight, who help them find Pietro, Wanda, and Magneto, though the three are already gone by the time they arrive. Hercules goes to Olympus.

[A #49] Magneto manipulates Pietro and Wanda into joining him. Pietro and Wanda are no longer Avengers.

[A #50] The Avengers find Hercules and help him; however, Hercules chooses to stay in Olympus afterward and leaves the Avengers.

[A #51] The Avengers fight the Collector. Steve tells them that T'Challa will be joining them.

[A #52] The Grim Reaper "kills" Hank, Jan, and Clint, but T'Challa saves them. T'Challa officially joins the Avengers.

[A #53] The Avengers fight Magneto and some mind-controlled X-Men.

[A #54] The Masters of Evil attack Avengers Mansion and appear to be led by Jarvis, to everyone's dismay.

[A #55] First appearance of Ultron, here known as Ultron-5; he is revealed to be the true mastermind while Jarvis was a pawn. The other Masters of Evil are defeated, but Ultron escapes.

[A #56] The Avengers and Steve go back in time to get some closure regarding Bucky.

[AA #2] The Avengers and Steve wind up in an alternate universe where their other selves are kind of extremists and defeat the Scarlet Centurion to get back.

[A #57] First appearance of Vision, who attacks them while being mind-controlled but then takes them to his boss, Ultron. Natasha picks up the identity of Black Widow again.

[A #58] The Avengers learn that Ultron created Vision and used Simon Williams' memory bank as a basis for his mind. Vision joins the Avengers.

[A #59] Someone calling himself Yellowjacket says he beat up Hank. He then kidnaps Jan, who then later tells the Avengers that they're getting married.

[A #60] Yellowjacket and Jan get married. Yellowjacket is revealed to be Hank after a schizophrenic episode. The Circus of Crime foolishly attacks the superhero-packed wedding.

[A #61] First appearance of the quinjet. The Avengers help Strange and Black Knight fight bad guys.

[A #62] The Avengers go to Wakanda. T'Challa defeats Man-Ape.

[A #63] Hank decides to stay as Yellowjacket. Clint takes Hank's growth serum and trades his Hawkeye identity for Goliath. He saves Natasha, who was captured by Egghead while on a S.H.I.E.L.D. mission.

[A #64] Barney Barton comes to the Avengers to help them foil Egghead's evil plot, and they go into space. However, Barney dies. Clint's name is finally revealed.

[A #65] Egghead escapes back to Earth. Clint personally goes after him and captures him.

[A #66] First appearance of adamantium, which Vision steals after starting to act strange. Ultron-6 (upgraded from Ultron-5) makes his return.

[A #67] The Avengers fight Ultron.

[A #68] The Avengers trick Ultron into self-destructing.

[A #69] Kang kidnaps a dying Tony, which lures the other Avengers (and Steve and Thor) into going after him. Kang reveals that he needs them to defeat the Grandmaster.

[A #70] Tony, Steve, Thor, and Clint are tasked to fight some of the Grandmaster's champions. Dane accidentally interferes.

[A #71] T'Challa, Hank, and Vision are teleported to 1941 and must fight the Invaders; they win. Kang tries to kill them after he doesn't need them anymore, but Dane manages to intervene. Dane joins the Avengers.

Characters

Tony Stark/Iron Man is one of the founding Avengers. No other Avengers know his identity. He's an active Avenger from Avengers #1-#16 (16 issues), but even though he leaves, as Tony Stark he continues to provide lodging and tech (such as aero-cars and various gadgets) for the Avengers to the extent that several other characters often wonder why Tony himself isn't an Avenger as well.

Thor/Donald Blake is one of the founding Avengers. No other Avengers know that he's Donald Blake, a doctor, and that he reverts to that form if he doesn't touch his hammer for more than a minute. He's an active Avenger from Avengers #1-#16 (16 issues).

Janet van Dyne/Wasp is one of the founding Avengers and is the one who names the team. Her identity is secret at first, but becomes public when she rejoins the team in Avengers #28. She's an active Avenger from Avengers #1-#16 and #28-71 (62 issues including AA #1-#2). She is the girlfriend, then wife, of Hank, and can switch between human and Wasp size at will. She unabashedly thirsts over hot guys.

Hank Pym/Ant-Man/Goliath/Yellowjacket is one of the founding Avengers. His identity is secret at first, but becomes public when he rejoins the team in Avengers #28. He's an active Avenger from Avengers #1-#16 and #28-71 (62 issues including AA #1-#2). He is the boyfriend, then husband, of Jan, and can switch sizes at will, although his size-changing abilities sometimes cause issues (once he got stuck at ten feet for several issues, plus the size-changing induced a schizophrenic episode in him).

Bruce Banner/Hulk is one of the founding Avengers, though he probably shouldn't be because he kind of forced his way onto the team at the end of one issue and left partway through the second one, meaning his Avengers tenure is from Avengers #1-#2 (2 issues). No other Avengers know his identity, nor do they like him much.

Steve Rogers/Captain America is the first new addition to the Avengers after they find him in the ice. His identity is known to the rest of the team. He's an active Avenger from Avengers #4-#47 (45 issues including AA #1). During the Kooky Quartet era, he took on a leadership role, but after Jan and Hank rejoined, the chairman position went back to a rotating schedule. He spends time training other people, both fellow Avengers and regular civilians. He also spends a lot of time moping over Bucky.

Clint Barton/Hawkeye/Goliath joins the Avengers to repent for his past actions as an accidental Soviet spy. Though he is occasionally shown maskless around the other Avengers, his name is not revealed until Avengers #64. He's an active Avenger from Avengers #16-#71 (57 issues including AA #1-#2). He and Natasha are in a serious relationship which is apparently public. Steve is more or less his BFF after their extremely rocky start. He makes his own arrows. He becomes Goliath after taking one of Hank's growth serums on purpose.

Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch joins the Avengers after answering their recruitment ad. Her identity is known to the rest of the team. She's an active Avenger from Avengers #16-#49 (35 issues including AA #1). She has a crush on Steve and a developing relationship with Hercules that doesn't end up going anywhere. Magneto eventually gets her to leave them and join him.

Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver joins the Avengers after answering their recruitment ad. His identity is known to the rest of the team. He's an active Avenger from Avengers #16-#49 (35 issues including AA #1). He is faster than Hawkeye's arrow. Magneto eventually gets him to leave them and join him.

Hercules joins the Avengers while exiled from Olympus. He's an active Avenger from Avengers #45-#50 (6 issues). He has a thing for Wanda, but leaves the Avengers before it goes anywhere. He did get his beard shaved while with them, though.

T'Challa/Black Panther joins the Avengers as Steve's replacement. His identity as King of Wakanda is known to the rest of the team, though the location of Wakanda remains a secret. He's an active Avenger from Avengers #52-#71 (21 issues including AA #2). He is the creator of the quinjet.

Vision joins the Avengers after Ultron creates him. He's an active Avenger from Avengers #58-#71 (14 issues). His brainwaves are based off of Simon Williams'. He is solar-powered.

Dane Whitman/Black Knight joins the Avengers after a rocky start due to his identity previously belonging to a villain. No other Avengers know his identity. He's an active Avenger as of Avengers #71 (1 issue). He has a horse named Aragorn and a magic sword.

Rick Jones is a teen who runs the Teen Brigade. He is friendly with both Hulk and Steve and wants very much to be an Avenger, but no one cares. Steve treats him as a Bucky expy.

Natasha Romanova/Black Widow is a former Soviet spy now working for S.H.I.E.L.D. on Fury's behalf. Clint tries to get her added to the Avengers, but when they finally agree, she ends up temporarily hanging up the Black Widow costume.

Edwin Jarvis is the Avengers' butler. He seems mostly loyal except for when his mom is in danger, at which point he sells out the Avengers to make some money.

Trivia

[A #2] The Avengers hold monthly meetings at Tony's mansion.

[A #5] Tony apparently smokes.

[A #11] The Avengers chairman is based on a rotating schedule, so everyone gets a turn at it.

[A #37] The Avengers have a code that forbids them from harming any living thing.

[A #38] Steve likes ham and cheese sandwiches. Also, in addition to a rotating chairman, they also have a rotating officer-of-the-day who hangs around to receive communications at the mansion.

[A #39] The Avengers have different distress signals, one being "condition blue" which only two people are allowed to answer.

[A #43] Jan turns 23 and receives an inheritance worth $3m in 1967 dollars.

[AA #1] A diagram of Avengers Mansion.

[A #45] There is such a thing as Avengers Day.

[A #46] Steve reads Tolkien and "always was a sucker for far-out fantasy".

Noteworthy Panels

These are mostly just panels that I find particularly amusing, as opposed to noteworthy in terms of plot.

[A #5] Thor, son of Odin, Lord of Asgard, does not beg for help!

[A #5] Tony thinks "What a man!" about Steve.

[A #6] Have some Hank and Steve butts.

[A #12] Tony rocks his roller skates.

[A #23] Wanda sheds a tear because she misses watching Steve working out.

[A #43] Prior to her inheritance, Jan was living on a "paltry" $25k a year... in 1967 dollars.

[A #56] Steve is SUPER SURE that Bucky is gone forever.

[A #58] Thor catches an indignant Iron Man.

[A #62] Clint's pants get stolen.

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Does Spider-Man NEED to be in a shared universe?

As of right now it seems as though Peter Parker is going to be out of the MCU and in his own entirely separate universe.

Most people have reacted negatively to this and one of the most frequently cited reasons for that is the inability of Spider-Man to interact with the wider MCU.

We can talk a lot about whether from a production and audience interest POV, there is any steam behind the idea of Spider-Man in his own separate universe again.

However I want to take a different angle with this and talk more broadly about the character rather than strictly just the movies.

Essentially I want to address whether or not Spider-Man truly NEEDS to be in a shared Marvel Universe at all or not?

Now look I’m not advocating Spider-Man pull a Transformers or ROM Space Knight and be pulled out of the Marvel Universe.

Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut from a creative POV strictly speaking...he really, really, really does not NEED to be in that universe.

There are advantages and disadvantages to that.

In a shared Marvel Universe Peter operates as the ‘heart’ of that universe as was the intention with Civil War 2006. He also has close ties to the F4, the First Family of the Marvel Universe and to Captain America who is more or less THE leader of the whole Marvel universe. His kinship with Daredevil in particular is a joy to behold and has rarely been used badly. His status as an outsider in the eyes of the more publically accepted Marvel heroes like the Avengers offers a great parallel to his initial life as an outsider in high school and helps to highlight part of Lee and Ditko’s conceit with the character, that he was atypical of the heroes who’d come before him.

On the other hand though...The Marvel Universe of the comics at least demands a shitton of suspension of disbelief because you have all this huge concepts co-existing with one another but also within a context of trying to keep the world relatively similar to our own, the world outside your window.

Sooner or later though this presents a challenge to the suspension of disbelief for guys like Spider-Man who’re not merely supposed to exist in a world relatively like our own with heroes, but in fact be relatively normal within it besides the fact that they are heroes.

But if Spider-Man is a superhero, lives in a world of heroes, and has interacted with so many of them inevitably you have to wilfully ignore the obvious facts that so many of his relatable problems in life could be fixed through the fantastical elements of the universe he lives in and is aware of.

Just one example would be if Aunt May was dying there would be at least half a dozen solutions to that problem. Magic, clones, suspended animation, time travel, healing factors, transferring her mind to a robotic body, extra terrestrial medical care and if all else fails resurrection and higher deities are a fact of life in the Marvel Universe and Peter knows it.

Now the way around this stuff is, in the context of the story you are telling, to simply treat such things as not existing and thus side step the issue.

Suspension of disbelief might stretch to ignoring all the older appearances of Reed Richards or Doctor Strange in Spider-Man’s history, but if they show up in an issue where Aunt May’s death is also a factor then having Peter ignore their abilities to obviously help is nonsensical.

All of this is leading me to saying that, for the most part, Spider-Man is actually able to be MORE realistic and cohesive if in his own isolated universe than if he is in the same universe as magicians and aliens.

When you watch the Raimi movies or the Spec cartoon you never really have to scratch your head over why Spider-Man couldn’t just do this or that to solve his problems because other than his own fairly grounded cast and villains those other solutions don’t exist.

Even having other heroes exist but still be fairly grounded presents problems as you always have to ignore or contrive a reason for their lack of help when Spider-Man needs it.

Moving on, let’s talk about Spider-Man’s ability to team up with other heroes.

Of course there have been whole ongoing series specifically about that...and they mostly suck.

Don’t believe me?

Okay, ask yourselves this, how many New Avengers, Avengers, Marvel Team Up, Avenging Spider-Man or Superior Spider-Man Team-Up stories starring Spider-Man make it into most top 10 or even top 20 Spider-Man stories of all time?

Not many if any at all.

How many of the top 10-20 Spidey stories could be regarded as team ups, as in Spider-Man himself is actively interacting with figures from the wider Marvel universe as opposed to people introduced in his own series? And we aren’t talking cameos either.

Again, not that many.

ASM #1 perhaps.

Nothing Can Stop the Juggernaut, but that’s just giving Spider-Man someone to fight he’s not really teaming up with anyone, a juiced up Rhino could’ve done basically the same thing.

The Alien Costume Saga arguably

The Death of Jean DeWolff

Spider-Man vs. Wolverine.

Spider-Man/Human Torch

MAYBE ASM #500, though that was mostly a background feature a means to an end (sending Spidey time travelling) that could’ve been achieved by numerous other means.

Arguably the first Carnage story though that was also a background feature, the main focus was Spidey fighting Carnage and teaming up with Venom.

...I honestly can’t think of any more off the top of my head.

You see what I mean. Sure, providing villains for Peter to fight is a real advantage the wider Marvel Universe holds for Spider-Man but actually milking great stories from his ability to interact with other heroes, not so much.

In fact Daredevil and the Human Torch or F4 are the most reliable examples of Spider-Man team ups working out but not for nothing there are quite a few similarities between them and Peter.

It doesn’t help most of these stories happened so Marvel could grant exposure to lesser selling characters by having them show up with their A-list hero.

I think more significantly the reason there are so few great Spider-Man team up stories is because of the core concept powering Spider-Man as a character and a lot of his appeal.

He was created in large part to be the hero who could be you, the average joe, the character for whom Peter Parker and his regular life was as much, if not MORE, of a draw than the superheroics of Spider-Man.

The nature of superhero team ups though are that they emphasis the costumed identities over civilian identities. This is a limitation of page space a lot of the time, but it’s also because the characters look iconic when they are dressed in their outfits and seeing them together in their outfits is really the main ticket draw of team up stories. How many people want to see Cap, Iron Man and Spider-Man interacting but it’s just in their civilian identities? Not many I’d wager, it wouldn’t make for a very eye catching cover that’s for sure.

The end result is that at best you focus upon an explore merely one half of who these characters are (and in Peter’s case it is arguably the less interesting half) or it becomes incredibly generic, it’s just heroes with different outfits, powers, maybe speech patterns hitting each other or hitting bad guys together with no exploration of their personalities bouncing off of one another.

And hey that is fine as a change of pace but not as the default setting, hence MTU usually was the lesser of the Spider-Man titles.

If you look at most of the team up stories I listed, noticeably all of them DO explore who the characters (or at least Peter) are and involve a lot of page time to them out of costume, their personal lives and such.

This brings us back to Spidey’s appeal. Like I said a huge part of it is his regular life and a huge part of what makes that appealing is his personal life dramas with his amazing supporting cast. He is said to have the best supporting cast in comics and that’s absolutely true, but when combined with one of the best rogue’s galleries in comics is it any wonder he was so successful?

Because Spider-Man has such a robust group of characters to interact with in both his identities his world is already pretty populated and can already do a lot of character exploration. And honestly when you have so many options to explore the human condition in a way so similar to the lives we lead are you really worse off if you can’t also have Spider-Man go on wacky adventures to the Negative Zone too? Are you really going to tell me that any of the psychedelic crazy scenes from Doctor Strange 2016 are as impactful or as meaty as May and Peter just talking at a table in Spider-Man 2?

 Whether in the movies or in other media so long as Spider-Man has supporting cast and a strong villain pool to explore he’s got a universe to play in no matter what. This isn’t the case for a lot of Marvel heroes. Iron Man for instance does not have a great rogue’s gallery or villain pool, it’s why in every TV adaptation of the character he is either lumped in with other heroes so that collectively they have a lot on offer or in his solo shows the wider Marvel Universe plays a significant part. In Iron man’s 1990s cartoon Force Works were regular characters, in Iron man Armored Adventures Nick Fury and SHIELD were recurring characters and the finale of the show involved them, Black Panther, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Hulk and others working together. The consistency of this with Iron Man points to his own series not being able to sustain itself without the wider Marvel Universe to support it.

 In contrast the majority of Spider-Man adaptations (which are much more numerous than any other Marvel character’s) either don’t feature characters outside his own series or they are relatively minimal. Even the 1994 Spider-Man cartoon which did feature a lot of guest characters and even did a Secret Wars adaptation, didn’t have most of it’s episodes involving guest stars.

 To return to the topic of Spider-Man’s concept and appeal, because the character was supposed to be more realistic and relatable, smaller scale more street level stories have been the preference by writers and fans and indeed his most celebrated outings have usually been cut from that cloth; even a lot of the well regarded team ups.

Because of this doing more personal stories works better for the character and a wider Marvel universe hurts that. Having Spidey be the ONLY hero in NYC and the scale be citywide creates if anything much greater dramatic impact in a story than saving the world or saving the universe. Big fish in a small pond situation I guess you could say.

Finally I’d add that Ditko himself didn’t really care for Spider-Man being in a wider universe.

In conclusion the notion that it would be inherently bad for Spider-Man to be ‘stuck in a smaller’ universe not connected to anything else is wrongheaded.

At best it simply offers some advantages but also some disadvantages.

However you wanna slice it though it’s absolutely not something Spider-Man NEEDS

[aion-rsa]

Who Is Taskmaster? Black Widow Movie Villain Explained

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Marvel's Black Widow movie features Taskmaster as its main villain. Here's everything you need to know about him.

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With Marvel's MCU Phase 4 rapidly approaching, it’s almost surprising that it has taken this long for the Taskmaster to show his skull-covered face. Taskmaster has been taking on various Marvel heroes since 1980 and has gone on to star in two miniseries while getting the occasional supporting character role. He’s on that border where it was hard to tell whether he’d show up in the movies or get relegated to TV, showing up as a villain on Agents of SHIELD or something from the Defenders’ neck of the woods on Netflix. But now we know he'll be the villain of the Black Widow movie, and we got our first look at him in the trailer.

Taskmaster first appeared in Avengers #195, created by David Michelinie and George Perez, mainly as a cliffhanger villain to set up his showcase in the next issue. A fifth-rate villain by the name of Pernell Solomon had a rather inconsequential plot involving cloning himself that ended badly, mostly because it exposed the Avengers to the existence of the Taskmaster and his secret villain school. You see, Taskmaster has a special power called “photographic” reflexes. If he sees someone perform an action – as long as it is a human movement – he can do the same on command. He’s essentially a greatest hits mixtape of every great warrior in the Marvel Universe. That shot of him in the Black Widow trailer wielding a bow might tell us that he has encountered Hawkeye at some point, for example.

But seriously, he can’t do superhuman stuff. He once tried to copy the movements of living cartoon character Slapstick and Bane’d himself.

At first he was going to become a superhero, but he realized that being a villain is where the money’s at. Then he came up with an even better and safer plan: keep the mercenary part of the job minimal and instead make money by teaching goons how to fight. If you’re joining Hydra or AIM and you want to know how to fight, just pay the guy who knows exactly how Captain America throws his shield so well and can perform Daredevil’s exact flips. He’d be able to make all that money using his skills while refraining from taking on superheroes head-on.

In his first appearance, Taskmaster easily took down Scott Lang Ant-Man, Hank Pym, and Wasp. He was even able to take on Captain America and Iron Man at the same time. His downfall was when he got in a one-on-one with Jocasta, who had no human movement to play off of, plus she was straight-up out of his league in terms of power. The other Avengers caught up and Taskmaster barely escaped.

In the years that followed, he remained the renowned villain coach while taking the occasional job if the money was right. Taskmaster was driven by greed as he had no trouble working for Crossbones or the US government if they paid up. During the memorable storyline where Steve Rogers was stripped of his Captain America title, the government had Taskmaster train John Walker, the star-spangled replacement who would later go on to be US Agent.

Marvel was weird about Taskmaster’s identity. For the longest time, they never gave him a real name, but they also didn’t seem to mind showing him unmasked from time to time. Like one time the Punisher nearly killed him and Daredevil later visited him in the hospital. Other than some bandages on his head, Taskmaster looked like a completely average white dude, albeit with a history of plastic surgery. We would eventually get some answers on his backstory, but there would be some contradictions.

Taskmaster appeared in the second issue of Joe Kelly and Ed McGuinness’ legendary Deadpool run where Taskmaster kidnapped Deadpool’s sidekick/abused best friend Weasel. The showdown was played for laughs as Taskmaster, boasting about how he can read anyone’s movements and can predict your attacks before you even think about it, was completely helpless against the unpredictable Deadpool. Initially, this was supposed to build towards Taskmaster as a major nemesis for Deadpool during the Kelly run where the plan was that he’d start gaining the ability to inherit strategies the same way he inherits movements. That subplot was cut early on.

Regardless, Taskmaster remained a major part of Deadpool’s corner of the Marvel Universe and would appear in countless runs. While at times Taskmaster would be targeting Deadpool, other times, he would be his long-suffering partner in crime. One of their more memorable meet-ups had Taskmaster one of many hired guns working for a mobster against Deadpool and Spider-Man. Taskmaster whispered to Deadpool that his heart wasn’t really in it and offered to throw the fight for old time’s sake.

It was through that Deadpool connection that we got the brief “UDON Taskmaster” phase in the early '00s. The art studio UDON was drawing the Gail Simone run of Deadpool while also taking care of Ken Siu-Chong’s Taskmaster miniseries. The connecting tissue of this was mainly Sandi Brandenberg, a love interest to Taskmaster and secretary to Deadpool. But also, Taskmaster changed up his appearance, going from “albino Skeletor” to “street-wise Skull Man.” He was more gun-based than sword and shield.

The miniseries went deeper into his abilities, showing that he can remember every moment of his life with 100% clarity. He can also amp up his powers by watching fight footage in fast-forward, which makes him move at super speed at the cost of his body breaking down if he does it for too long. There’s also a neat anecdote about the pitfalls of his powers, as when he was a kid, he watched someone perform a perfect dive, copied it, and then almost drowned because he didn’t know how to swim.

Also, they finally revealed that Taskmaster’s real name is Tony Masters. Of course it is.

The miniseries and the cancellation of Deadpool coned into a new series called Agent X, centered around a scarred-up amnesiac named Alex Hayden who had Deadpool’s powers and personality and appeared months after Deadpool’s supposed death. Taskmaster was a major part of the series, taking time to be annoyed by Hayden’s antics, pining for Sandi, and being an all-around badass.

read more: Agent X: The Strange History of the Other Deadpool

While the UDON Taskmaster look showed up here and there, he was back to his original appearance by the time he was going after Moon Knight. He ended up getting more play thanks in part to Civil War and its aftermath, going from a member of the government’s pro-registration force to training cadets in Avengers: The Initiative. It was there that he became friends with one of his students, Eric O’Grady, the Irredeemable Ant-Man.

Once Norman Osborn took over the superhero wing of the government, Taskmaster briefly joined Osborn’s inner-circle of top villains, otherwise known as the Cabal. Taskmaster ultimately hated being Osborn’s whipping boy and secretly worked against him, eventually escaping and laughing when Osborn’s empire came crumbling down.

In 2011, Fred Van Lente and Jefte Palo joined together to create another Taskmaster miniseries, which was not only fantastic, but it added a few twists and retcons to the character’s backstory. It showed that Taskmaster answers to a higher power called the Org that calls him and gives him orders. Also, Taskmaster has a mental problem where he can only retain so much knowledge, so his brain tends to dump information that isn’t based on physical survival. In other words, he can fight in countless ways, but he can’t remember who he is or really anything about his past. Just a nagging feeling of unforgiveable guilt.

In this story, he protected a diner waitress named Mercedes from all sorts of assassins, only to discover that not only is Mercedes his Org handler, but she’s also his wife. Taskmaster is in fact a SHIELD agent who took a special kind of Super Soldier Serum that gave him his powers, but forces him to constantly forget the woman he loves. Hence the endless guilt.

There's also the thing that he's been unwittingly working for SHIELD all these years.

While that take on Taskmaster was eventually forgotten about (how fitting), it did lead to Avengers Academy member Finesse. Finesse is an Audrey Hepburn lookalike with powers exactly like Taskmaster’s who may or may not be his illegitimate daughter. When she tracked him down and fought him, it was heartbreaking to Taskmaster, as she only fought with copied movesets and he’d never be able to remember her for being her.

Since then, Taskmaster has shown up here and there, usually working alongside Black Ant, who is a robot duplicate of the Eric O’Grady Ant-Man. He tends to pop up whenever Marvel needs a throwaway villain and they’re tired of calling in the Wrecking Crew.

Outside of main continuity, Taskmaster’s shown up in a handful of alternate universe stories. One thing I find amusing is how there’s a What If issue based on the whole “John Walker as Captain America” storyline that has Taskmaster explain his powers by claiming to be a mutant because back then, nobody at Marvel thought too hard about how he got his skills. Then there’s House of M: Avengers, where Taskmaster does the same for the sake of fitting in with the high-status mutant community.

read more: Marvel Movies Release Schedule: Complete MCU Timeline

Taskmaster only showed up in the Ultimate comics towards the end of its run, but there wasn’t much to him. The only thing memorable was that they made him black.

The series Deadpool MAX reimagined Taskmaster as a grizzled and horny woman assassin who turned Wade Wilson into a killing machine and groomed him in the sexual sense. It's probably better that they didn’t go with this version of the character for the movie.

Taskmaster has shown up on several cartoons and in some video games. One of the more memorable is the recent Spider-Man for PlayStation 4 where he acts as a bonus threat, serving a similar purpose as Riddler in the Batman Arkham games. In a look that merged his classic appearance with his UDON appearance, he stalked Spider-Man through the city and came off as more of a knockoff of Deathstroke.

No wonder he and Deadpool keep crossing paths.

Lastly, I can’t help but mention Taskmaster’s appearance in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Not just because you get to play as him and pull off sweet moves stolen from Hawkeye, Captain America, and Black Knight. Not just for his charming Brooklyn accent. Instead, it's for his rad-as-hell theme song.

Hopefully we'll hear this when he goes into action in Black Widow. I’m pumped for anything after listening to that song.

Gavin Jasper writes for Den of Geek and feels that if Taskmaster was more realistic, he’d be doing way more breakdancing. Read Gavin’s other articles here and follow him on Twitter @Gavin4L

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Feature

Books

Gavin Jasper

Dec 3, 2019

Marvel

Black Widow

from Books https://ift.tt/32zDd3x

[eddycurrents]

For the week of 11 March 2019

Quick Bits:

Age of Conan: Bêlit #1 expands Marvel’s Conan franchise further with the beginning of this limited series featuring the early days of the notorious pirate Queen of the Black Coast. Tini Howard, Kate Niemczyk, Jason Keith, and Travis Lanham deliver a compelling story setting up the tragedy of Bêlit’s early life and her one-track mind for adventure on the high seas.

| Published by Marvel

Amazing Spider-Man #17, after two preludes (one branded, one not) and a simmering sub-plot of Taskmaster and Black Ant kidnapping the villains running for months, finally gives us part one of “Hunted” from Nick Spencer, Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba, Edgar Delgado, and Joe Caramagna. And it’s essentially more set-up. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still great, building anticipation for the hunt to really start in earnest, but it’s a slow build.

| Published by Marvel

Animosity #19 starts trying to pick up the pieces after the fall of the Walled City. There’s some very interesting questions raised regarding survival and existence from Marguerite Bennett in this one, as both the animals and humans try to figure out a way to bridge the divide.

| Published by AfterShock

Asgardians of the Galaxy #7 concludes this arc with Sera and the Ravagers, as they team up to help refugees and Ego, the Living Planet. I still think it’s weird to see essentially the movie version of Yondu in present day 616 continuity, but Cullen Bunn keeps this fun. I suspect that Sera/Angela fans will still be disappointed, though.

| Published by Marvel

Assassin Nation #1 is the exciting debut of this action thriller, somewhat in the vein of Skybound’s other title Die!Die!Die! mixing elements of extreme violence, action, and a bit of humour, from Kyle Starks, Erica Henderson, and Deron Bennett. It’s a damn good set up, immersing us into a world of assassins jockeying for a number one spot, screwing one another over and turning on them for the highest bidder, with two interesting hooks of “Chekhov’s Gun” trying to figure out who’s trying to kill him and Bishop searching for who killed his husband. Phenomenal art from Henderson, with some very inventive death sequences.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Avengers: No Road Home #5 takes it up another notch as the Avengers continue to battle against Nyx and her children, this time narrated by Scarlet Witch. The fight on Nightmare’s front gets particularly interesting as we see how scary Hulk has really become, along with a humorous fight between Hawkeyes. Sean Izaakse and Marcio Menyz really turn in some incredible artwork here. And the final scene is pretty savage.

| Published by Marvel

The Batman Who Laughs: The Grim Knight #1 isn’t something I was going to pick up, but I saw some gushing about it from people I trust and decided on a last minute purchase. Like the rest of the Batman Who Laughs mini-series, this is dark, giving us a “Batman” who picked up the gun that was used to murder his parents, and, though technically proficient, isn’t really for me. What I do really appreciate, though, is the artwork from Eduardo Risso and Dave Stewart. It is gorgeous, with Risso continuing to explore some of the softer, painted style that he’s used in Moonshine and Hit-Girl. It really is worth the price of admission.

| Published by DC Comics

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #3 continues to be one of my favourite comics each month. Jordie Bellaire, Dan Mora, Raúl Angulo, and Ed Dukeshire are presenting a story here that so perfectly captures the spirit and fun of the television series, while also just being a great original tale. It’s fun to see the old faces in new situations, but it’s also an enjoyable story in its own right, introducing us to the characters and tossing them into the chaos.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

By Night #9 gives us Jane’s mom’s history with Charlesco and more or less the origin of the portal and the experiment. It’s particularly interesting as John Allison, Christine Larsen, Sarah Stern, and Jim Campbell tell the story in the visual style of an early ‘90s comic. There’s even a nice little nod to the Marvel Bullpen in there.

| Published by Boom Entertainment / BOOM! Box

Calamity Kate #1 introduces us to Kate, Vera, Jade and a world of monster hunting in this debut from Magdalene Visaggio, Corin Howell, Valentina Pinto, and Zakk Saam. Between this, The Girl in the Bay, and the forthcoming Dark Red, I’m loving the higher profile that Howell is carving for herself. She’s a great artist with excellent versatility.

| Published by Dark Horse

Catwoman #9 is a fill-in issue from Ram V, John Timms, and Josh Reed that’s one part revenge tale and one part heist, resulting overall in one hell of a good single issue. There’s a nice sense of rhythm and pacing to the story that fits with the theme of the heist, with some great artwork.

| Published by DC Comics

Cover #6 brings what has been one of the most unique, ambitious, and inventive uses of the comics medium I’ve seen in a long time to a close, with a bit of conversation and some gorgeous art from Brian Michael Bendis, David Mack, Zu Orzu, and Carlos M. Mangual. It get even more meta this issue, along with the usual multi-layered storytelling that delves into the comics world.

| Published by DC Comics / Jinxworld

Cyber Force #9 more or less completes the gathering of the team, presenting a bit of a quiet moment to collect themselves before setting up a confrontation with Cyberdata. There’s some interesting soul-searching between Dominique and Ripclaw on whether or not with the change they’re still them. And, as usual, the art from Atilio Rojo is pretty much worth the price of admission on its own.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

The Empty Man #5 has some gorgeous artwork by Jesús Hervás and Niko Guardia, especially among the repeating cycles of the opening and closing scenes.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

The Flash #66 brings back the single issue Rogue profile format for an origin story of the original Trickster, James Jesse, from Joshua Williamson, Scott Kolins, Luis Guerrero, and Steve Wands. Great art from Kolins and Guerrero.

| Published by DC Comics

The Freeze #4 concludes the first arc, with a very satisfying reveal of the serial killer and confirmation on a few other ongoing plot threads that nicely serve as a hook for future arcs. I’m really enjoying this one. Dan Wickline, Phillip Sevy, and Troy Peteri are telling a very compelling story here about essentially rebuilding society from a very different form of cataclysm, with some wonderful character-building and enough intrigue to keep you on your toes.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Grimm Tales of Terror #13 is one of the better recent issues, with Joe Brusha, Umberto Giampà, Fran Gamboa, JC Ruiz, and Fabio Amelia diving into the story of a true crime writer investigating a serial killer in Detroit utilizing the signatures of other famous serial killers. There are a few really nice twists throughout the tale.

| Published by Zenescope

Gunning for Hits #3 throws a few wrinkles into Martin’s plans for Stunted Growth and Brian Slade as Slade’s bodyguard, “Mr. Gladstone”, causes problems while trying to extort Martin. This continues to be a dense, but satisfying, read every month. It feels like Jeff Rougvie, Moritat, and Casey Silver are just packing in as much content as they possibly can.

| Published by Image

Hawkman #10 features a larger than life confrontation between Hawkman and Idamm. Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, and Jeremiah Skipper deliver nicely on that widescreen epic feel of the assault on London.

| Published by DC Comics

Hit-Girl Season 2 #2 gets up close and personal with the uglier side of Hollywood as Kevin Smith, Pernille Ørum, Sunny Gho, and Clem Robins continue their arc featuring the adaptation of Hit-Girl’s side of the story from Kick-Ass by the film industry. Things get a little complicated.

| Published by Image

House Amok #5 concludes what has been an excellent, mind-bending series exploring truth and delusion and the power of family, from Christopher Sebela, Shawn McManus, Lee Loughridge, and Neil Uyetake. This finale doesn’t give any easy answers and actually raises a few more questions, all with some gorgeous artwork from McManus and Loughridge.

| Published by IDW / Black Crown

James Bond: Origin #7 begins “Russian Ruse” with Ibrahim Moustafa and Roman Stevens taking over art duties, joining Jeff Parker and Simon Bowland in this tale of essentially piracy in the Barents Sea. Nice set up of the Russians’ duplicity here and an inept Commander not listening to Bond’s observations.

| Published by Dynamite

Justice League Dark #9 unleashes the Lords of Order against pretty much everyone, causing death and destruction as they try to “cleanse” reality of the chaos they think infests it. Between them and the Otherkind, things aren’t looking particularly cheery for existence. Incredible artwork from Alvaro Martínez Bueno, Miguel Mendonça, Raul Fernandez, and Brad Anderson.

| Published by DC Comics

Little Bird #1 is an experience. Darcy Van Poelgeest, Ian Bertram, Matt Hollingsworth, and Aditya Bidikar launch a dystopian future where a theocratic America seems to rule with an iron fist and a pocket resistance holds out in the Canadian Rockies. There’s a bit of a feel of Akira here, and Grendel: God and the Devil, maybe even a little Martha Washington, but still with its own unique elements and some seriously awesome art from Bertram and Hollingsworth.

| Published by Image

Livewire #4 concludes the first arc with a nice bit of soul-searching as Amanda comes to terms with what she did during Harbinger Wars 2. Between this, Age of X-Man: Prisoner X, and this week’s Shuri, Vita Ayala is definitely on fire right now. They’re doing some great character-driven work and it shines in this finale. Also, Raúl Allén and Patricia Martín can do no wrong. The layouts on this book are stunning.

| Published by Valiant

The Magnificent Ms. Marvel #1 is the beginning of a new era for Kamala Khan from Saladin Ahmed, Minkyu Jung, Juan Vlasco, Ian Herring, and Joe Caramagna. Using a kind of fable narration, setting up something new for the future while dealing with a continuation from Kamala’s current status in the presents, is a nice approach from Ahmed. It also marks a good jumping-on point for new readers as it recaps more or less what you need to know about Ms. Marvel’s history. Beautiful art from Jung, Vlasco, and Herring.

| Published by Marvel

Murder Falcon #6 is an epic, face-melting issue. Daniel Warren Johnson and Mike Spicer give us a bit of a tearjerker as Anne comes to terms with her situation with Jake and finally finds her voice. It’s really incredible. Also, giant monsters and metal.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Oblivion Song #13 jumps ahead three years for a new status quo, a few shuffled faces, and new situations for many of the cast of characters, providing an excellent jumping on point for new readers. There are some interesting bits about harnessing the flora and fauna of Oblivion for medical advances and the growing mystery about what the Faceless Men are doing. Gorgeous art as always from Lorenzo De Felici and Annalisa Leoni. De Felici really does some amazing reaction shots.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Old Man Quill #3 advances the Guardians’ story a bit further as they celebrate what little hope they’ve brought to the Wastelands, while hell in various forms circulates around them. It certainly pretty bleak, even in the good times.

| Published by Marvel

Outer Darkness #5 drops hell on the crew’s head as they crash on a relatively inhospitable ice planet with an ancient evil prowling and the crew at “Each Other’s Throats”. Also, naked cat girls. John Layman, Afu Chan, and Pat Brosseau are doing an incredible job with this mix of sci-fi and horror and the stakes seem to have been raised this issue.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Shuri #6 begins a two-part guest arc from Vita Ayala, Paul Davidson, Tríona Farrell, and Joe Sabino as Shuri travels to New York in search for the Lubber. Great art from Davidson and Farrell and Ayala has a wonderful feel for Miles and Shuri’s voices.

| Published by Marvel

Spider-Gwen: Ghost Spider #6 continues to suss out a new role for Gwen now that her identity is public and she’s returned to her own Earth. The character building that Seanan McGuire is doing here is pretty spectacular, especially given how strong the interpersonal relationships in the series were to begin with under Jason Latour and Robbi Rodriguez. Also, the art from Takeshi Miyazawa and Ian Herring is perfect.

| Published by Marvel

Star Wars: Age of Republic - General Grievous #1 is the last of these Age of Republic one-shots from Jody Houser, with Age of Rebellion coming next from Greg Pak and a rotating team of Chris Sprouse, Marc Laming, and others. This one focuses on Grievous and is a nice look into what he traded of himself in order to become the even worse monster that we see in the prequel trilogy and Clone Wars.

| Published by Marvel

The Stone King #4 concludes what has been a wonderful light fantasy adventure Comixology original series from Kel McDonald and Tyler Crook. There’s an interesting throughline in the story of responsibility for family versus responsibility for the greater society that comes to a head here, along with misunderstandings continuing to cause conflict. It’s not exactly a happy ending, but there is a set up for something more down the road that I’d love to see. Beautiful artwork from Crook.

| Published by Kel McDonald

Supergirl #28 concludes her jaunt with the Omega Men and the Supergirl clones, opening up more questions about The Circle and the destruction of Krypton. I’ve enjoyed the circuitous route Marc Andreyko has been taking us on to advance Supergirl’s mission, tossing bits of side adventure in growing out of her search, but it feels like we’re going to get down to brass tacks soon. Great art again this issue from Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira, FCO Plascencia, and Chris Sotomayor. Pansica does some great horror and creature work and it shines through in the Kryptonian monstrosities. 

| Published by DC Comics

Superman #9 tells of Jonathan’s ordeal trapped on Earth 3, tortured at the hands of Ultraman. Great art from Brandon Peterson and Alex Sinclair during the Earth 3 sequences. It’s also interesting to see that dream still haunting Superman.

| Published by DC Comics

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder in Hell #2 continues to be revelatory. Mateus Santolouco, Marcelo Costa, and Shawn Lee are doing some incredible work as Shredder continues to be plagued by nightmares, demons, and the undead as he tries to figure out his way through hell and his status as a vessel for the dragon god’s spirit. Over the years, Santolouco has grown exponentially as a storyteller and this is just a masterpiece.

| Published by IDW

Titans #35 continues the team’s nightmare excursion to Unearth, fighting a possessed enraged Beast Boy, Raven’s angry aggressive side, and Mother Blood as we head into the series conclusion next issue. This is a very entertaining story from Dan Abnett, Bruno Redondo, Christian Duce, Marcelo Maiolo, and Dave Sharpe, really putting the team behind the 8-ball wondering how they’re going to get out of this mess. If they get out this mess.

| Published by DC Comics

Tony Stark: Iron Man #9 continues the “Stark Realities” arc, nicely advances Controller’s assault on Stark Industries, the eScape users causing havoc, the mole within Stark, and the corruption causing Tony’s current simulation, from Dan Slott, Jim Zub, Valerio Schiti, Paolo Rivera, Edgar Delgado, and Joe Caramagna. Some really interesting possible revelations about Tony during this issue.

| Published by Marvel

Transformers #1 begins a new continuity, a new universe, a new era for the Transformers, from Brian Ruckley, Angel Hernandez, Cachét Whitman, Joana Lafuente, and Tom B. Long, as we start off some time in the past of Cybertron, before Autobots or Deceptions, as Bumblebee watches over a newly-forged Cybertronian as he makes his first decisions. We also get bits of an uprising of “Ascenticons”, though their ideals and motivations aren’t really explained, just showing a disagreement between longtime friends Megatron and Orion Pax (not Optimus Prime yet). It’s not bad, with some nice bits of humour, and there is an interesting mystery for a cliffhanger, but it is slow. The art is nice, but like the story there’s nothing flashy about this right now. I’ll certainly give it a few more issues, but there’s really nothing “bold” about this new era. Don’t expect something radical out of the first issue, this one plays it pretty safe.

| Published by IDW

Winter Soldier #4 delves into RJ’s father, Richie, attempting to get back into his life. It’s heartfelt and bittersweet, with Kyle Higgins, Rod Reis, and Clayton Cowles delivering a gripping tale with one hell of a set up for the final issue. Reis’ art remains absolutely incredible.

| Published by Marvel

Wonder Twins #2 is more fun from Mark Russell, Stephen Byrne, and Dave Sharpe. There’s some nice commentary on the state of corporate run prisons in the United States in amongst a humorous send-up of z-list villains in the Legion of Doom’s farm team, the League of Annoyance. Great art from Byrne.

| Published by DC Comics / Wonder Comics

Other Highlights: Accell #19, Auntie Agatha’s Wayward Home for Rabbits #5, Blackbird #6, Dark Ark #15, GI Joe: A Real American Hero - Silent Option #4, Go Go Power Rangers #18, The Goon #1, Head Lopper #11, House of Whispers #7, LaGuardia #4, The Life and Death of Toyo Harada #1, The Long Con #7, Marvel Action: Spider-Man #2, Marvels Annotated #2, The Maxx 100 Page Giant, Prodigy #4, The Punisher #9, Radio Delley, Rick & Morty Presents Jerry #1, Riverdale: Season 3 #1, Runaways #19, Spider-Man/Deadpool #47, Star Trek: Discovery - Captain Saru, Star Wars: Han Solo - Imperial Cadet #5, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #42, Wonder Woman #66

Recommended Collections: Astonisher - Volume 3: Black Hat, Batman vs. Deathstroke, By Night - Volume 1, Defenders: The Best Defense, Infinite Dark - Volume 1, Mata Hari,  Moonstruck - Volume 2, Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons, Shadowman - Volume 3: Rag & Bone, She Could Fly, Sleepless - Volume 2, Star Wars Adventures - Volume 5: Mechanical Mayhem, Strangers in Paradise XXV - Volume 2: Hide and Seek, Trout - Volume 1: Bits & Bobs, Vampironica - Volume 1, The War of the Realms Prelude

d. emerson eddy knows a muffin man.

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #1-3

May, 1984

THE WAR BEGINS

Oof, here we go.

Just gotta replicate the pace that let me do the Hawkeye miniseries in one go, three times in a row.

This is probably too much effort considering its Secret Wars (or more accurately Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars) and maybe there’s not going to be a lot of big changes from this in the Avengers book to really justify it.

But we’re getting Jim Shooter writing the Avengers and his non-consecutive runs were a lot better than I had remembered. And it continues the theme he had from the Avengers book.

It just makes sense in a nonsense way to cover this story.

Last relevant time in Avengers! Acting Completely Normal Vision warned the Avengers about some weird, possibly hostile energy surges right in time for an energy surge to surge energetically in Central Park.

When the Avengers went to investigate, they found a weird structure that looked like a techy coliseum maybe. When some of the Avengers wandered into it (apparently the most bankable Avengers? Sucks to be Vision and Wanda, shrug) they vanished.

In the next issue, after several days, these heroes returned, speaking of a secret war they fought. Weird stuff like She-Hulk taking the Thing’s place on the Fantastic Four happened. In other books, Spidey got a cool new suit.

Would you know more?

After being raptured in their various books, the missing superheroes all end up on one of those distinctive structures like the one that appeared in Central Park, except IN SPACE.

Its cool that the Avengers will have some company.

We’ve got a terrific 3/4ths of the Fantastic Four, the X-Men (including Lockheed but not including Kitty Pryde for some reason), the Avengers, Iron Man, Spider-Man, the totally Articulate Hulk, and hilariously Magneto is also here.

Maybe Secret Wars is just setting up the most awkward moment in the universe, as a prank show.

I think I’d enjoy a big event that turned out to be a prank show at the last minute. The fan discontent. Imagine.

Everyone introduces themselves to each other but mostly the audience and Ben Grimm claims his new codename as the Easter Bunny.

Checking, marvel wiki doesn’t have Easter Bunny listed as one of Ben’s known aliases. Cowards.

Looking up into space, Captain America spots another one of the totally cool constructs and Professor X scans that it contains EEEEEEEVIL.

Specifically Amora the Enchantress, Ultron, the Wrecking Crew, the Absorbing Man, the Lizard, VICTOR VON DOOOOOM, Kang the Conqueror, Doctor Octopus, and Molecule Man. Also, hilariously, Galactus is there.

I’m more convinced than ever that this is a prank show.

You know what would be more hilarious? If Punisher ended up on this construct.

The distribution of villains is kind of odd though. Galactus and Doctor Doom map to the FF. Doctor Octopus and the Lizard to Spider-Man. Ultron, Molecule Man, and Kang are Avengers foes. The Absorbing Man and the Wrecking Crew can go a couple ways but started off as Thor villains. And Amora is usually a Thor villain but supposedly has chilled out around this time or at least is less of a pain than her horny sister.

No X-Men villains. Because Magneto is chilling with them in the generally heroic pod.

Also, all the heroes were raptured from Earth while the villains were grabbed from Earth, from space, from Asgard, resurrected just to be here, or from the FUTURE.

I know marketing is wagging the dog but be consistent, secret organizer who we don’t know yet.

The Thing points out that Magnet is off-sides, re: being in the hero construct, and Magneto is like ‘hey, chill out dudes’ and denies specifically doing murders.

Magneto: “I know not what power transported me here from my secret lair, nor why I was placed among you -- but I find it more appropriate to ask why such as you were judged fit to be placed in my presence!”

Oof.

Burn.

Then the conversation is put on halt on account of the wildest shit any of them have ever seen.

An entire galaxy vanishes but probably not due to a wave of anti-matter.

Thor: “It’s gone! Gone -- ! Swept away like dust before some unseen, giant hand!”

And then around that last star left unswept, various chunks merge together to form some sort of world, perhaps for battle.

A nice touch for later is that you can definitely see that one of the chunks is a stray chunk of city.

Some of the villains start squabbling because close quarters, ego, etc.

But Ultron goes hey we’re allowed to fight? I’m the best at that.

Ultron: “I am Ultron! I do not understand the events transpiring! I do not understand how I came to be resurrected... nor how I came to be here! Nothing computes... Insignificant! I am Ultron! My purpose is to slay that which lives. You are all living things, ergo -- Ultron must destroy you!”

With the benefit of having read all the Avengers up to now, I feel that Ultron got up on the wrong side of the resurrection a little.

He’s not not like this but he’s not usually this turned on?

(Then again, maybe he just came back cranky)

DOOM grabs and shakes Molecule Man to do something about this because given enough time even the mighty DOOM might fall before Ultron.

Ultron is famously annoying to defeat, what with that adamantium.

But Molecule Man is in therapy after the Avengers kicked his shit and Tigra yelled at him for being a punk. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone.

So Doom with all his brilliant genius tells MM a cool way to help out that won’t hurt anyone. Directly.

Using his Molecule Man power over molecules to lightly toss Ultron into Galactus.

So that Galactus goes ‘who the fuck scuffed my boots’ and rips out all the energy in Ultron’s Ultron.

He can do that.

Why wouldn’t he? If he can do that to a planet, he can do it to a pissbaby robot. Even one apparently containing more power than an atom bomb.

Then, because this is one of those plots where things are always thenning, a rift opens in the nothingness of space and a heavenly esque light shines out. A warbly voice commands the action figures beat each other up.

I mean. Its more like

The Beyonder: “I am from beyond! Slay your enemies and all you desire shall be yours! Nothing you dream of is impossible for me to accomplish!”

But you have to admire that this toy commercial of a comic book is being honest and upfront about being a story where action figures bonk off of each other.

Galactus just hears ‘i can finally shake off these persistent forever munchies’ and flies off to demand prepayment for action figure bonking, with DOOM following behind him.

The Beyonder speaks up warning Galactus that hey, personal space. And that a guy that can effortlessly wipe out a galaxy is gonna have a sweet barrier but Galactus wants the hunger pangs gone and does not listen.

DOOM recognizes a bad idea when he sees one once in a while and hangs back but still gets blown out of space by the force of Galactus bonking off the Beyonder’s barriers.

Captain America: “They were swatted back like flies!”

Professor X: “To the Beyonder, even Galactus is less than a fly, Captain!”

Interruption dealt with, the Beyonder gets the show on the road and sends the two constructs to different parts of the patchwork planet.

The Marvel Super Heroes And Magneto land on some hill and quickly make sure that there are no villains excepting Magneto around.

With Magneto around, the non-X-Men raise an objection to Magneto being around.

He sank a Russian submarine with all hands back in X-Men #150 but he insists that it was self-defense and also they started it.

The X-Men’s position is ‘hey he’s a jerk but he’s our jerk plus we could use his help? The bad guys get GALACTUS, how is that fair?’

Well, they don’t say it but they’re probably thinking it.

And Hawkeye decides to be a little racist today.

Hawkeye: “You mutants stick together, huh? Well, sticking to a blood-soaked maniac like him doesn’t speak well of you, pal!”

Dude, Clint. Your dear old friend is Wanda.

Wait, why ISN’T Wanda here? Did the toy people really not want her? Fools. Her husband is toyetic as all get out.

Also, point of order, Wolverine? If anyone qualifies as ‘hey he’s a jerk but he’s our jerk!’ here its you.

Johnny “good life choices” Storm decides he’ll just kick Magneto’s ass and end the debate but yeah. Yeah, no. Magneto makes a fool of him.

And then Magneto decides eff this noise and flies off.

With Magneto alienated (good job, guys), Professor X decides this group needs some dang leadership and throws a nomination to Reed Richards. Reed defers since he’s thinking of Sue, left at home and not able to participate in the event.

Wasp, the cool leader of the Avengers, nominates instead Captain America.

Wasp: “We’re off in a strange land, up to our ears in a little secret war that may decide the fate of the universe! Some people don’t know me well! They might have doubts... and there’s no room for that!”

I’m baffled that there’s people here who don’t know Wasp who has been heroing since the 60s but sure. Cap(tain America) probably gets more crossovers and whatever.

I mean, heck, we’re talking a group of heroes consisting of the Avengers (who she already leads), the Fantastic Three (who she’s well acquainted with), and the X-Men (who I’m sure she’s met, although awkwardly its going to later be revealed that Wasp is in the Hellfire Club, but only the sex parts).

And I guess Wolverine’s extensive backstory with Cap doesn’t exist yet because Wolverine isn’t keen on him being the leader, describing him as the least of the assembled heroes. When Hawkeye is right there!

I kid because I love.

Meanwhile, DOOM wakes up adjacent to Galactus ankle and heads to a nearby fortress which he correctly assumes is where the villains have ended up.

Wait, the heroes get beamed down to a random hill while the villains get sent to an advanced fortress with weaponry and we later learn vehicles sold separately?

Kinda stacking the deck, the Beyonder.

You gave the villains GALACTUS and A FORTRESS PLAYSET right out of the gate.

The other villains tell Doom that they’ve (mostly) decided that he should be their leader. But Doom has bigger fish to fry than the prizes that the Beyonder is offering.

In typical Doomesque fashion, he wants the whole kettle. But the other villains what with their petty concerns think he’s too afraid to fight.

So he ditches.

He goes to steal-borrow a spaceship and even though he hates the thought, takes off to go talk to Richards. And then Kang shoots him out of the sky with a GIANT GUN THAT THE VILLAIN FORTRESS ALSO HAS? to stop him from allying with the heroes.

Said (marvel super) heroes see the distant explosion and fly as a group in the most hilarious way possible to check it out.

God, I have always loved this image. Its squished down into the bottom third of the page but its a delight.

They find Doom sprawled in the crash site, rambling that he’ll only speak to RICHARRRRRDS and about the Beyonder’s power. But Cap offends Doom mightily but offering him a hand up and because Doom sees pity in Cap and RICHARRRRRRDS eyes.

So he blasts the heroes and fucks off.

How very Bakugou of him.

And right as the heroes recover from that, a bunch of villains arrive to get this secret war started.

I have a fondness for this particular issue. For a long while, issue 1 was the only issue of Secret Wars I could find. So I just had the start of this story with all these non-Spider-Man non-X-Men heroes I barely knew cliffhangering into an attack by villains I really didn’t recognize except for Doc Ock and the Lizard.

It was a window into another side of the Marvel Universe. And for child me, this first issue worked perfectly to intrigue me. All these characters, the very straightforward conflict, all the complications that immediately pop up like Magneto, Galactus, and Doom. Alas, small child resources.

June, 1984

PRISONERS of War!

The heroes react slowly to the sudden villain attack but thankfully, the villains aren’t working together well. Unthankfully, half of the heroes were already knocked out by the first attack.

Meanwhile, over at Doctor Doom’s side of the plot, he flies back over to where Galactus just in time to see him finally rouse from being slapped down by the Beyonder.

Galactus floats to his feet and wanders off.

Doom: “He ignored me! As though I were a gnat buzzing at his feet! And so I am... Just as all of us, even Galactus himself, are but insects to the all-powerful Beyonder! Thus, the others have chosen to play the Beyonder’s simple game -- thereby, in effect, paying homage to him. Should I, too, pay homage? Should I worship at the feet of this god-like being -- or chose another path... one only Doom would dare!”

I think anyone that knows Doom knows which option he’s gonna choose.

He heads back to the villain fortress and finds Ultron’s deactivated body and decides Doom can use this.

Meanwhile, back at the first secret battle of the secret war, the heroes rally and start fighting back under Cap(tain America)’s leadership.

She-Hulk even gets a designated girl fight with the only female villain on the villain team.

I’d complain, I would. But at least She-Hulk isn’t the only heroine on the hero side.

She-Hulk: “Hiya! I’m the She-Hulk! You must be the Enchantress! Gee, I’ve heard so much about you -- ! You’re a not-nice lady!”

Enchantress: “A green woman? Is there no end to the varieties of mortals?”

The Enchantress magic slaps She-Hulk away and comments that she could crush She-Hulk physically but its beneath her.

Yeah, all Asgardians have some level of super strength, that’s right. Even the squishy wizards.

But all She-Hulk heard was, ‘someone I can really punch!’

She-Hulk: “I don’t often duke it out with someone solid enough to really unload on -- and slow enough to let me! Oh, wow! That was, like tubular, you know -- to the max!”

Uh. Jen, are you okay? Did you have a stroke? You don’t usually talk so much in Mario World secret world levels.

I think maybe Jim Shooter didn’t have a good grasp on her. I don’t think he’s ever written for her. And the other heroes mostly don’t vary too much from generic hero speaking patterns. Add some smart for smart characters, add some rude to Wolverine, and so on.

The battle wraps up with Kang, the Enchantress, and the Wrecking Crew captured and the rest of the villains fleeing when the battle didn’t go their way.

Cap sends Storm off to scout for a cool playset that they can use as shelter and she does so, noting that the winds on Battleworld are super easy to control. Like Battleworld was created to create ideal fighting conditions for everyone. Pretty neat, the Beyonder.

Storm finds a particularly rad fortress (”Bigger than fifty-four and a half Pentagons, I’d estimate!” Wow!) and the heroes move in.

I unironically enjoy how toyetic this story is with the fortresses and the vehicles and the weapons. Because I’m almost positive that Mattel barely capitalized on it.

There were only two playsets. Pitiful.

Over in their new headquarters, Reed stashes the captured villains in some form of psychostasis which “works by controlling aggression through brainwave modulation!”

He also sticks Enchantress in a healing pod to address that nasty case of being She-Hulked right in the face. Nothing will salve her ego though.

Captain America: “It’s no wonder that the name Mister Fantastic is renowned for compassion as well as courage! You give added meaning to the word hero, Richards!”

Whenever someone loudly announces that Reed is super compassionate, it makes me feel like they’re overcompensating.

Nobody ever makes note of, say, Captain America’s compassion.

With the prisoners (of war? Is that the whole reason for the title?) accommodated, Cap calls everyone for a meeting in a cool meeting dome he found which has a small waterfall for aesthetic and so everyone has to yell to be heard.

Wolverine yells that they should mop up the rest of the villains and get this over with.

Not mentioning that in order to “win it” they’d have to kill the villains, which none of the heroes have shown any interest in doing so far.

Cap(tain America) replies that A) planet big and they have no idea where the villains got to. And B) the remaining villains slash antagonists are Galactus, Doctor Doom, Molecule Man, Doctor Octopus, the Wrecker, the Absorbing Man, and Magneto. Not really people you mop up.

In a fun logistics bit, Cap sends out a patrol to make sure the area is secure but he also sends out two additional groups to find  if there are any places in this fortress they can sleep and whether there's any... food.

Makes me imagine a Secret Survival War where the sides have to wrestle over limited resources.

Hours later, the villains that escaped the fracas arrive back at their fortress.

I’m sort of confused here.

Maybe it took so long because they had to make sure they weren’t followed. Or maybe because they didn’t have the sweet tripod vehicle anymore. But think about the flow of events of: everyone beamed down to Battleworld > Doom ditches the villains and gets shot down > heroes investigate and Doom ditches > villains show up for cliffhanger fight.

The villain fortress should be pretty close to where that fight took place. And then the heroes find a nearby fortress of their own so their fortress should be pretty close to the villain fortress. Maybe not in the same neighborhood but surely the same zip code.

Anyway, they find that while they were gone, Doom swanned in and renamed the place the Doombase.

If they have problems with it, they can talk to his Ultron.

Which I’m surprised he didn’t rename Doomtron.

Doom also tells them that he’s in charge now.

Absorbing Man: “Aw! Who gives a hoot! I need a meal an’ sleep! You wanna be in charge, Doom? Okay by me!”

If you think about it, this is just some steps added what the villains wanted all along.

They wanted Doom to be their leader but he told them he had bigger fish to fry and fucked off. Now he’s fucked back on and told them all that he’s their leader. They initially object before reconsidering due to Doomtron but, yeah, its all gone full circle.

Doom is a lot more cordial to Molecule Man though.

Doom: “Molecule Man... uh, Mr. Reece, I believe it is? I trust you were not inconvenienced.”

Molecule Man: “Well, being absolute master of molecules I can just assimilate molecules when I want, so I never have to be hungry, and I can just shoo away dirt molecules, so I’m always nice and clean -- but I am tired!”

Doom: “I have prepared a special chamber for you! I hope you like it!”

Molecule Man: “If not, I can always reconstruct the molecules -- !”

Heh.

Nice to see Jim Shooter able to follow up on the trajectory he sent Molecule Man on.

The rest of the villains head off but Doctor Octopus, the only other brain cell in this group, hangs back to talk to DOOM.

He wants to know what he plans to do about Galactus and then shows Doom on the biggest screen TV that Galactus is standing on a mountain glowing with an awesome power.

Doom just retorts that his plans are for his forces to triumph.

Doctor Octopus: Something tells me he’s got ambitions that dwarf merely triumphing in the Beyonder’s little contest! The question is whether he will destroy us in trying to achieve them -- or immediately after fulfilling them?!

Like I said, the only other brain cell in this group.

Meanwhile, while Magneto secretly sneaks into the hero fortress for Reasons, the heroes have a quiet moment that lets this Secret Wars biz really sink in.

Wasp: “I’d be having tea in my studio now, Jenny... And lunch on my patio tomorrow... This... um... situation we’re in... is kind of... much, you know? I feel there’s just a little thin wall inside me holding back a flood of despair!”

Its a nice touch, if intentional, that Wasp only admits this kind of thing now that she’s passed off the leadership responsibilities to Captain America. Its been a recurring character beat that she’s been keeping these sorts of worries to herself as chairwoman.

Over in another part of the fortress, Cyclops complains that he was right in the middle of his dang honeymoon when he was yanked into this event.

Cyclops: “I don’t know about you, Richards, but more than angry or afraid, I feel cheated! I -- I was on the verge of real happiness...”

Oof. This really sets the tone for his marriage with Madelyne Pryor.

Spider-Man and the Human Torch even have a little conversation.

Spider-Man: “You mean it doesn’t shake you, Torch, being here? What if we don’t get home?”

Human Torch: “The Fantastic Four have been off on space missions a couple of times, Spider-Man! We’ll get back! Believe me!”

I like when they’re friends.

So, I’m not sure what Magneto’s plan actually was. He was going to sabotage the fortress’ fusion generator as a distraction but Spider-Man’s Spider-Sense Spider-Alerts him to shenanigans afoot and he runs off to the power plant while Johnny Storm goes to get the other heroes.

Magneto decides to abandon whatever his plan was and captures Wasp as a consolation prize.

Gasp, another prisoner of war!

The Thing tries to give chase but inexplicably turns back to normal, smooth skinned Ben Grimm.

Also, Magneto escapes with the Wasp.

It’s like the aardvark says, you can get what you want and still not be happy.

Captain Marvel is holding the randomly anti-mutant ball for Hawkeye here and comments that none of the X-Men showed up to help stop Magneto.

Cap(tain America) tells her to belay that.

Captain America: “Let’s keep our minds on solving problems, not creating more!”

And they can’t even go after Magneto or rescue the Wasp right now because they have bigger problems: Galactus glowing with an awesome power and a massive storm that’s forming on Battleworld.

July, 1984

TEMPEST WITHOUT, CRISIS WITHIN!

The Beyonder has thrown in a nice stage hazard to keep things fresh in the form of a massive storm raging on Battleworld, with lighting that shatters mountains and winds that could tear someone’s limbs clean off.

Or perhaps its the unintentional result of just slapping a planet together out of random stuff you have lying around. The climate must be shot to shit.

I like it either way. Secret Wars has a lot of very toyetic collisions between groups of characters so its nice when Battleworld itself manages to be an obstacle.

Over in his giant U-shaped fortress, Magneto finally unwraps Wasp from the ball of random metal crap he has her in.

He lets her wander around until she finds him so that he can be all casual and eating a space scone.

Magneto: “Do not bother trying to attack me, my dear! My person is magnetically shielded!”

Wasp: “Well, la-de-da!”

Wasp: -blows up his space scone- “You think I have to strike at you directly to hurt you, monster?”

Hilarious spite, thy name is Janet van Dyne.

She also makes the point that magnetic shielding or no, she could bring this whole room down. Her being able to knock over a small house with her pew pew hasn’t stopped being true.

Magneto hastens to ask her not to do that because neither of them want to be out in the storm outside.

Besides, he just wants to talk! And flirt!

Magneto: “You are obviously a woman of intelligence and understanding as well as great beauty -- and I am not the monster you believe I am -- which is precisely what I wish to discuss!”

Wasp: “Oh? My intelligence, understanding and beauty or your non-monsterhood?”

Magneto: “Why... both!”

Back at the hero base (which is apparently ROUGHLY THE SIZE OF CHICAGO?? I want that playset), the storm has almost completely flooded the area, leaving just the top dome and such poking above the water.

The storm keeps dropping chunks of mountain at the base but Thor is standing on top, protecting it while grinning like a loon.

Captain Marvel even speculates that Thor could calm the storm but is whipping it up into a greater frenzy instead. Those storm gods, amirite?

Hawkeye is also standing by, with his explosive arrow, thinking to himself that if Thor fails, Hawkeye will totally save the day.

I don’t know whether that’s sad or endearing.

Mostly though he’s trying to distract himself from thinking about the new wife he left behind.

Cap, Reed, and Hulk are watching the villain base because apparently they do know where it is. The storm is keeping the villains in too but Cap figures they’ll pull one desperate attack as soon as the storm breaks.

They’ve already lost four of their dudes. Plus, Galactus isn’t a team player.

Spider-Man is just swinging around, enjoying how good for swinging the random technological pipes and tubes and whatsits are when he stumbles upon the X-Men having a secret meeting.

Professor X has decided, possibly on the basis of two (2) rude comments from Hawkeye and Captain Marvel, that the X-Men just don’t belong here and that they’d be better off going and teaming up with Magneto.

This... sure is a take.

Rogue comments that the Avengers don’t trust her because of that time she kicked their asses collectively. Which, hey, very possibly. They haven’t really had a thing to say about you though. They’ve mostly been grouchy about Magneto.

Which is kinda born out by the way he tried to blow up their base and definitely kidnapped the Wasp?? And is even now aggressively eating scones at her?

That’s the Magneto you guys want to go join because he’s more your people than the Fantastic Avengers and friends are?

You know, there’s a pattern I sometimes see with the X-Men where they loudly insist that the other superheroes don’t help them and don’t care about mutant stuff while at the same time doing shit like this.

“Should we get Reed Richards, smartest dick in the world to help with the legacy virus or the techno-organic virus Stryfe shot into Xavier? NAHHHH Beast can handle it.”

“Should we stick with the other superheroes or go hang with Magneto instead in a cool mutants only U-shaped fortress? Well, U is the coolest letter that isn’t X...”

If you squint, you can definitely see Krakoa all the way in the future.

Anyway, Spider-Man overheard all of this and goes ‘I’M TELLING!’

Wolverine tries to tell him that snitches get stitches but the thing is?

Spider-Man is ridiculous. He’s a ridiculously good combination of skills and powers which lets him make chumps out of entire groups at a time.

He’s embarrassed the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, and now he’s about to embarrass the X-Men.

After making them all feel foolish, Spider-Man gets away and goes to tell Reed what that doody-head Xavier said when Xavier uses his psychic powers to just wipe the entire encounter out of Spider-Man’s memory.

Yeah, it’s to cover their imminent blowing off but also? I don’t think he wants anyone else to find out how badly his X-Men just got stomped.

Psychics are too OP, I tell you what.

In fairness IN FAIRNESS, the X-Men kind of have the right to fuck right off if they wish. I don’t even know what it had to be in secret. In fact, doing it in secret is a massive dick move of its own for reasons.

What would the Fantastic Avengers have done if the X-Men had just said ‘hey we’re heading out’? Would they have put them in stasis tube jail? I doubt it.

Professor X made the decision to handle this the stupidest way for whatever reason. That scamp.

Speaking of Magneto, he’s over at the U-Lair turning down a partnership offer from DOOM. So, hey, he has standards.

Wasp has become less ‘i’ll blow up this room and your breakfast’ about him over the course of whatever the hell they discussed in their offscreen chat.

Magneto even starts to make out with her and Wasp is like ehhhhhhhhhh what the fuck why not.

Why is this happening?

I guess he has a...................... magnetic personality?

Eh? Eh??

No, but seriously, I do have a theory that I heard someplace but it’ll have to wait.

What’s weird is that there’s a Marvel What If about some spinoff babies that come about if the heroes and villains got stuck on Battleworld and never managed to leave.

Wasp has a son with Human Torch. Which is pretty weird and comes from nowhere. I guess a lot can happen during a massive time skip. My point being though, its weird that they didn’t have a Wasp/Magneto baby instead given the weird chemistry they have here.

Meanwhile, over at DOOMBASE, DOOM has some women in giant tubes.

That’s So Doom.

Doctor Doom: “All is ready -- ! This alien technology, so rich, so subtle... so easily harnessed to serve my purpose... Energy, tapped from the raging tempest... And two mortal subjects who dare to gamble for power -- knowing that to lose is death, for truly, here I shall test the limits of power a human body can contain! With the throwing of a switch... so -- the die is cast! Hear me -- ! Power must be seized -- ! Crave it! Welcome it! Drink it in, despite the pain... or it will destroy you.”

And thus are Volcana and Titania created!

Talk about lasting effects of Secret Wars! Titania is going to be around forever! Mostly annoying She-Hulk!

Where did Doom find two random women to give superpowers?

Denver, Colorado.

No, seriously.

That city chunk we saw as Battleworld formed? That’s Denver, Colorado, USA, EARTH.

Why isn’t there a miniseries or one-shot about a normal ass civilian from Denver having to deal with OH MY GOD WHERE DID EARTH GO?

I actually read an interesting thing re: this scene. It exists because Mattel asked Marvel to introduce some new female characters so Shooter wrote in these two and a third who I’ll get to when I do.

Mattel then promptly used none of these characters for the associated toyline.

The toyline, in fact, used none female characters at all. It made toys of characters who weren’t in the story but did not have a single female character.

So its very weird that they asked Marvel to introduce some but I’m not going to knock the results.

Doom introduces these two new characters to the other villains.

Hilariously, Absorbing Man guesses that Doctor Doom just made women from scratch. Because doesn’t it sound like something he could do?

Volcana and Molecule Man immediately hit it off, her being attracted to his sensitivity and him being attracted to... positive attention at all, I guess?

He muses that he could easily stop the storm outside, because molecules, but his therapist told him to let nature take its course. “Unless Doom asks me to!”

And Titania and Absorbing Man. They don’t hit it off. She either wants to hit him or hit that and its not clear and it might be both.

(Spoilers: Its both)

Titania: “You! Absorbing Man! You look like the toughest man here! Get up!”

Absorbing Man: “Whatcha got in mind?”

Titania: “I’m going to do anything I want to you! Everything I always wanted to do to everybody who used to be bigger and stronger than me! Maybe I’ll just play with you... or maybe I’ll make you eat dirt... or maybe...”

Absorbing Man: “Woman, if you got somethin’ to prove, prove it tomorrow against the guys we’re fightin’!”

Titania: “You’re backing down?”

Absorbing Man: “Nope! I just ain’t getting up! I got nothin’ to prove... to a dame!”

Would you believe that they become one of the healthiest and most stable romantic relationships in Marvel?

Speaking of weird relationships, back over at hero base, Thor goes and pops the lid on Enchanteress’ healing tube because he’s bored and wants to talk to a peer. A god peer.

Enchantress is at first more characteristically worried about what her face looks like after being She-Hulked.

But she then creates a portal so she and Thor can go have a chat.

Later, it’s morning and Hulk has been too busy stressing over losing his Banner smarts to actually keep watch or wake up Cap for watch like he was supposed to.

So when the villains ram an airship into the hero base, the heroes are not at all prepared.

Titania hurls a giant slab of wall through the room the Terrific Three are sharing, breaking Johnny Torch’s arm and ribs and knocking out the other two. He manages to get himself and co out of danger by melting through the floor.

Meanwhile, She-Hulk is carrying a big heavy as she’s been doing since the previous night and is caught unaware by Volcana who blasts her off her feet and then collapses the room on top of her.

Doctor Octopus knocks out Captain Marvel who is in the hot springs dome but gets chased away by Hawkeye, claiming that long-range firepower is his weakness.

I’m stunned at the implication that Doc Ock is one of Spider-Man’s most dangerous foes but could be scared off by Hawkeye while Spider-Man could pretty easily drop Clint’s ass. There’s some rock-paper-scissors nonsense at play here.

Spider-Man and Iron Man are also taken unawares by Ultron but manage to hide under some rubble.

Hulk leaps into the fray at Molecule Man and Doom but Cap convinces him to fall back to a defensible position.

The villains reconvene with all the captured villains freed except Enchantress (since she fucked off to have a chat with Thor) and the heroes scattered and buried under various rubbles. How the fortunes of Secret War turn.

Sure would have been nice if the X-Men had been around to help or if they mentioned they wouldn’t be. Sure would have been.

Doom: “We have accomplished much here today! And to finish it, we shall level this place so that no stone remains on stone!”

No wonder Mattel didn’t make a playset of this base! Dammit Doom, you’re ruining the merchandising!

Follow @essential-avengers​ for more of Secret Wars! At this same pace! Its sustainable! This is fine! Like and reblog too!

[multiverseforger]

The Enchantress' parentage is unknown, though it is known she was born in Asgard and has a sister by the name of Lorelei. Amora began learning magic as an apprentice of Karnilla, Queen of the Norns, but was eventually banished.[3] She continued learning magic on her own, notably by seducing others well versed in magic and learning their secrets. In time, Amora became one of the more powerful magic-wielders in Asgard, with her magical arsenal focused on (but not limited to) charming and mind-controlling people. Her by-then well-renowned beauty did not hinder in this.

In her first appearance, she is sent by Odin to eliminate Thor's human love interest, whom Odin sees as a distraction. She also hopes to have the thunder god for herself. She is assisted by a powerful minion — Skurge, the Executioner. The Executioner loved the Enchantress, and she strings him along with her feminine wiles, using him as her muscle.[4] She aids Loki by attempting to seduce Thor in his Don Blake identity and by sending the Executioner to kill Jane Foster, but though the Executioner traps Foster in another dimension Thor is able to bring her back by giving Skurge his hammer. When the Enchantress, angry at Skurge returning Jane, begins to turn Skurge into a tree, Skurge releases Thor from the pact in exchange for his help. Amora then tries to change Thor's hammer into a hissing serpent, but it is immune to her magic. Thor then transports the two back to Asgard.[5]

The Enchantress and the Executioner are exiled to Earth by Odin. They become members of Baron Heinrich Zemo's original Masters of Evil, the opposite number to the Avengers, a superhero team that Thor had joined. The Enchantress hypnotizes Thor into attacking the other Avengers with her own spells and a special brew, making him believe they are enemies of humanity, but Iron Man wakes Thor from his trance by reflecting sunlight into his eyes. Thor sends the Masters to another dimension through a space warp, but two issues later, the Enchantress uses a spell to send them back to Earth. She recruits Wonder Man into the Masters of Evil after paying his bail. She also meets Immortus, who helps Zemo attack the Avengers. When this attempt fails, she turns back time to prevent it from happening, though the Masters retain their memories of this event. When Immortus begins to contact the Masters, the Enchantress prevents this from happening.[6] She then joins in the Masters of Evil's final assault against the Avengers and breaks the Black Knight and Melter out of jail. She manages to escape in the end with the Executioner when the other two are transported to another dimension where their weapons rebound due to different scientific laws.[7] As a member of the Masters of Evil, the Enchantress (and Executioner) repeatedly face the Avengers. She is especially affronted by the attempts of the Scarlet Witch, a mortal, to subvert her divine spells, though she is occasionally genuinely challenged by the Scarlet Witch's mutant gifts.



Art by Alan Davis.

With the Executioner, she menaces Jane Foster again at Loki's behest.[8]

The Enchantress is also notable in that she has given other superhumans their powers. For example, she used the deceased Zemo's equipment to make a henchman of his, Erik Josten, into the original Power Man, who aids her in battling the Avengers. Her illusions and traps turn the city against the Avengers, forcing them to disband and making Power Man seem like a hero. Captain America, in disguise, corrects this by obtaining a taped confession from the Enchantress and Power Man. Power Man is able to defeat him, but the Enchantress is knocked out by gas from Hawkeye's arrow. Realizing the tape is on its way to the police, the Enchantress used her spells to teleport away.[9] The Enchantress is then recruited by the Mandarin, along with the Executioner, Swordsman, Power Man, and Living Laser for his plan for world domination. With the Executioner, she attacked the Asian sub-continent with an army of trolls, but they were defeated by Hercules and the Scarlet Witch.[10]

Amora poses as the Valkyrie and forms the Lady Liberators, which battle the male Avengers. She dupes Arkon into fighting the Avengers.[11] Amora also uses her magics to make Samantha Parrington and later Barbara Norris into the Valkyrie.[12] With the Executioner, she battles the Defenders and the Thing.[13]

With the Executioner, Amora attempts to conquer Asgard with a troll army. She also served as Loki's lieutenant in his brief rule of Asgard.[14]

During the "Secret Wars," she is placed on the villains's side, but she spurns the idea of fighting a gladiatorial game for the amusement of a higher being. She instead proposes to Thor that the two of them simply join forces, leave both heroes and villains behind, and go back home to Asgard.[volume & issue needed]

On the appearance of Amora's sister Lorelei, it is established that the two sisters have something of a strained relationship, rooted in rivalry. More than a little friction is seen between the pair, not the least due to competition over which one of them would manage to seduce Thor.[15]

The Enchantress joined the Asgardian gods and heroes in final battle against the world-ender Surtur. She establishes that she is motivated by enlightened self-interest: Surtur seeks to end the world, in which case Amora would perish.[16]



Another regular foe of Amora's is the Scarlet Witch, as seen here in The Vision and the Scarlet Witch (Vol. 2) #9. Cover art by Richard Howell and P. Craig Russell.

Soon after the Surtur War, Thor leads a number of Asgardian heroes to Hel, the realm of the death goddess Hela. The Executioner asks Thor to let him join the expedition for reasons he does not immediately reveal. In truth, he had seen the Enchantress dallying with Heimdall, and, heartbroken, Skurge wishes to lose himself in a noble cause — such as rescuing lost souls from Hela. Thor's forces accomplish their mission but need one man to guard their retreat from Hel by holding the bridge Gjallerbru. The Executioner, knowing there was no more Amora for him, chooses to be that man, giving his life so the others might flee. When Amora hears the news, to everyone's surprise, she is truly grief-stricken.[17]

After Skurge's death, Amora continues her regular hi-jinks, occasionally helping Asgard, occasionally opposing it. She aids Asgard against the evil Egyptian God Seth's legions.[18]

Lorelei later perishes as Amora refused to give her life for her sister's. The deceased Skurge (in Valhalla) rejects the Enchantress, and Amora goes on to empower the Earthman Brute Benhurst into a short-lived new Executioner to serve as her minion in Skurge's stead.[19] Amora becomes vexed with the Avenger Wonder Man and assists Thor and the Warriors Three in their quest to return Odin to the throne of Asgard. During this time, an attraction between Amora and Asgard's guardian Heimdall is explored. Amora even battles the powerful entity Nightmare on behalf of both of them as Heimdall was unable to protect himself at the time. She ultimately rejects Heimdall when she realizes that he wishes to be married and she does not.[volume & issue needed]

In Acts of Vengeance, Amora and Skurge join forces and attack Doctor Strange, only to be bested by Clea when she flies to his aid.[volume & issue needed]

Later, Thor has been spurned by his father Odin, exiled to Earth and disempowered. In this vulnerable state, Thor ends up forming a willing liaison with Amora, with the two of them living out of a loft in New York City as lovers. This status quo would remain until Thor goes missing during Heroes Reborn and is presumed dead.[20]

During Ragnarök, Amora is present with the other Asgardian deities and dwarves when Eitri and his brothers are sealed into a tomb they had carved due to the Mjolnir mold destroying them, albeit accidentally. When Surtur's forging of new Mjolnirs creates chaos, Thor attempts to fly to the skies to discern the source, but is at once struck down by a blast from a Mjolnir duplicate of Loki's; Amora is slain by the same blast, one of the first victims of Loki during this event. Neither her magic nor her inherent durability is capable of shielding her. Heimdall falls soon afterward; Amora is not seen again except, seemingly, in one of the realms of death, unable to use her magic to assist her once-lover.[volume & issue needed]

After Ragnarök, when Thor, Asgard and the other Asgardians return, Thor is manipulated by Loki into inadvertently awakening some of Thor's enemies, among them Amora, though when she was last seen, she is the victim, falling by Loki's hands and mourned by Thor and the other Asgardians. She does not return to Asgard but instead goes to attack the world tree, Yggdrasil in order to resurrect Skurge and release him from Valhalla. Amora is ultimately thwarted after Thor, Loki, and Balder convince her that she is dishonoring his memory with her actions.[21]

She has returned after Thor's resurrection, with Donald Blake - bitter about his separation from Thor and his non-existent past - offering the Enchantress his soul if she can make him a god again.[22] The resulting god is a twisted abomination, with Thor defeating the Enchantress and her new god before banishing them from Asgard, leaving Blake - reduced to a living head after his body was consumed to create the god - connected to a series of dream-weaving creatures to make him dream that he is living a full life.[23]

After this Amora was defeated by Thor and banished to the forest in Norway. She was trapped in an Odinforce barrier and stripped of her powers. Lady Deathstrike and Typhoid Mary were on a quest to find Arkea, an intelligent gestalt microorganism capable of controlling machines and people. They found Amora and offered to help her regain her powers.[24] In exchange they founded a new sisterhood to battle the X-Men, who were hunting Arkea and Lady Deathstrike. Arkea hacked the Odinforce spell and restored Amora's full powers. In exchange for this, Amora restored the physical form of the immortal mutant witch, Selene,[25] and helped Arkea resurrect Madelyne Pryor. Before the Sisterhood could add more members, the X-Men attacked and killed Arkea. Amora was ambushed by the X-Man M, who defeated her in a surprise attack. However, Madelyne Pryor swore to continue the Sisterhood, which presently has Madelyne, Selene, Lady Deathstrike, Amora, and Typhoid Mary as members.[26]

During the "AXIS" storyline, Enchantress appears as a member of Magneto's unnamed supervillain group during the fight against Red Skull's Red Onslaught form.[27] After the heroes and villains present at the battle experience a moral inversion due to the Scarlet Witch and Doctor Doom's attempt to bring out the Xavier in Onslaught backfiring,[volume & issue needed] Magneto recruits Enchantress as one of his new 'Avengers' to stop the now-villainous Avengers and X-Men.[volume & issue needed]

Following the "Secret Wars" storyline, she has become a member of Malekith the Accursed's Dark Council.[28] Through a spell, she takes control of the queen of the Light Elves, allowing her marriage to Malekith to happen and the conquest of their realm.[29]

During the "War of the Realms" storyline, Enchantress accompanies Malekith the Accursed in his invasion on Midgard.[30] She and Kurse fight Ghost Rider and She-Hulk until Jane Foster slams Skidbladnir into Enchantress.[31] In Uruguay, the Enchantress raises the dead, but Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange, and Balder ward her off.[32]

[mrdaps]

Who Will Stand…

When The Last Guardian Falls

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #1

Written by DONNY CATES

Art by GEOFF SHAW

Cover by DAVID MARQUEZ

On Sale 1/23/19

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Fantastic Four Villains Take Center Stage in December! Featuring art by Marcos Martin, Adi Granov, Marko Djurdjevic and more!

  New York, NY—October 9, 2018—This winter, Ben and Alicia will say “I do”… but it’s not a Marvel wedding without villains and mayhem, especially when it comes to the Fantastic Four! Just in time for the wedding of the half century, Marvel is celebrating over five decades of the first family with special variant covers featuring the team’s most memorable antiheroes!

  Look for Marvel’s FANTASTIC FOUR VILLIAN variant covers on these select titles:

  AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #11 by GABRIELE DELL’OTTO

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #12 by ADI GRANOV

AVENGERS #1 by ALAN DAVIS

BLACK PANTHER #7 by MARKO DJURDJEVIC

DEADPOOL #7 by DAVID MARQUEZ

DOCTOR STRANGR #9 by MARKO DJURDJEVIC

FANTASTIC FOUR WEDDING SPECIAL #1 by MARCOS MARTIN

IMMORTAL HULK #10 by MARKO DJURDJEVIC

INFINITY WARS #6 by JEN BARTEL

INFINITY WARS: FALLEN ANGEL by MARKO DJURDJEVIC

MERRY X-MEN HOLIDAY SPECIAL #1 by MARKO DJURDJEVIC

MILES MORALES: SPIDER-MAN #1 by MARKO DJURDJEVIC

OLD MAN HAWKEYE #12 by MARKO DJURDJEVIC

SEASONS BEATINGS #1 by MARKO DJURDJEVIC

SPIDER-GWEN AKA GHOST SPIDER #3 by CARLOS PACHECO

SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #1 by MARKO DJURDJEVIC

THE PUNISHER #5 by MARKO DJURDJEVIC

THOR #8 by MARKO DJURDJEVIC

UNCANNY X-MEN #4 by GERARDO ZAFFINO

VENOM #9 by BILL SIENKIEWICZ

X-FORCE #1 by MARKO DJURDJEVIC

X-MEN: THE EXTERMINATED by MICO SUAYAN

Don’t miss your chance to collect all 22 variant covers, coming to comic shops this December!

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Marvel Reveals New UNCANNY X-MEN #1 Cover from Marko Djurdjevic and David Finch!

    New York, NY—October 9, 2018— This November, UNCANNY X-MEN returns with a new ongoing series, bringing together nearly every mutant left on earth in a story that threatens to destroy them. It’s an epic tale of mystery and tragic disappearance, with an adventure so earth-shattering, it could very well be the X-Men’s FINAL mission!

  In celebration of the much-anticipated launch of UNCANNY X-MEN #1, Marvel is excited to reveal a new variant cover from superstar artist Marko Djurdjevic!

  Don’t miss UNCANNY X-MEN #1, coming this November to local comic shops – X-MEN DISASSEMBLED will have fans talking for years to come!

    UNCANNY X-MEN #1 (SEP180791)

Written by KELLY THOMPSON, ED BRISSON and MATTHEW ROSENBERG

Art by MAHMUD ASRAR, MARK BAGLEY and MIRKO COLAK

Cover by LEINIL FRANCIS YU

  UNCANNY X-MEN DJURDJEVIC VAR

  On Sale 11/14/18

MARVEL UNLIMITED EXPANDS THIS OCTOBER

Digital Subscription library continues to grow with latest updates

  New York, NY—October 8th, 2018—Marvel Unlimited, Marvel’s digital comics subscription service, offers members unlimited access to over 20,000 issues of Marvel’s classic and newer titles, delivered digitally through your desktop web browser and the Marvel Unlimited mobile app. With classic and newer issues added every week, here are some of the amazing Marvel titles coming to Marvel Unlimited this month:

  Week of 10/1

AVENGERS #686

BEN REILLY: SCARLET SPIDER #16

BLACK PANTHER #171

CHAMPIONS #18

DAMNATION: JOHNNY BLAZE – GHOST RIDER #1

DAMNATION TIE-IN! Johnny Blaze takes the fight to a different devil than he usually faces — Mephisto! But Mephisto will show Johnny his own brand of suffering — and give Johnny PLENTY of reasons for vengeance.

  DAREDEVIL #600

DESPICABLE DEADPOOL #297

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #598

JESSICA JONES #18           SERIES COMPLETE!

LEGION #3

LOCKJAW #2

MOON GIRL AND DEVIL DINOSAUR #29

MOON KNIGHT #193

OLD MAN HAWKEYE #3

OLD MAN LOGAN #37

PETER PARKER: THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #302

SPIDER-MAN/DEADPOOL #30

STAR WARS: DOCTOR APHRA #18

X-MEN: BLUE #24

  Week of 10/8

ALL-NEW WOLVERINE #33

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #798

ASTONISHING X-MEN #10

AVENGERS #687

AVENGERS: BACK TO BASICS #3

AVENGERS: SHARDS OF INFINITY #1

EARTH’S – AND THE MOON’S – MIGHTIEST HEROES!? A new threat has emerged: An evil organization calling itself LUNAR has been secretly building a powerful weapon on the surface of the Earth’s moon. BLACK WIDOW infiltrates the group to uncover an even more startling revelation: Their weapon is powered by shards of the COSMIC CUBE! Legendary creators Ralph Macchio and Andrea Di Vito bring CAPTAIN AMERICA, BLACK PANTHER, THE FALCON and BLACK WIDOW together for a cosmic thrill ride you won’t want to miss – and new villains you won’t want to mess with!

  BLACK BOLT #12    SERIES COMPLETE!

IRON FIST #79

MARVEL 2-IN-ONE #5

MARVEL’S ANT-MAN AND THE WASP PRELUDE #2    SERIES COMPLETE!

NEW MUTANTS: DEAD SOULS #2

RISE OF THE BLACK PANTHER #4

ROGUE & GAMBIT #4

RUNAWAYS #8

SPIDER-MAN #239

STAR WARS #46

THANOS: THE INFINITY SIBLINGS OGN

Jim Starlin and Alan Davis return in the first volume of a new trilogy! The Mad Titan has everything he ever wanted — but satisfaction is not in Thanos’ vocabulary. When a temporal distortion on Titan draws his attention, he finds the purpose he’s been searching for: saving himself! An old enemy lurks in the far future, and it will take the combined wits of Thanos, his brother Eros and time-travel master Kang the Conqueror to stop it — and save the Multiverse. But there are other players in this cosmic chess game — and Thanos may find himself outmatched! What lies ahead for the so-called Avatar of Death?

  THE PUNISHER #223

VENOM #164

VENOMIZED #1

The story that began in VENOMVERSE reaches its epic conclusion with VENOMIZED! The POISONS, a species that hungers for super-powered symbiotes and their hosts, have picked their next target…THE MARVEL UNIVERSE ITSELF! Their first objective? Put every superhuman in a Klyntar symbiote – and CONSUME THEM! But with VENOM and the X-MEN still missing after the events of “Poison-X,” the planet and its heroes are defenseless!

  X-MEN: GOLD #25

  Week of 10/15

AVENGERS #688

BEN REILLY: SCARLET SPIDER #17

CAPTAIN AMERICA #700

CHAMPIONS #19

DARTH VADER #14

DESPICABLE DEADPOOL #298

DOCTOR STRANGE #388

DOMINO #1

Impossible curves. Impossible shots. Impossible targets. Marvel’s #1 soldier of fortune is back in an explosive new ongoing series! The product of a failed super-soldier program, Neena Thurman always made her own luck as the sharpshooting mercenary known as Domino… but what happens when her own powers betray her? The hunter becomes the hunted as every mercenary in the game smells blood in the water! Plus: A pair of beloved Marvel characters return!

  EXILES #1

DON’T BLINK – THE EXILES ARE BACK! Fan-favorite X-Man Blink once joined a team destined to save not just the world, but the entire Multiverse. And now, her teleporting talents are needed once again! When a mysterious threat begins eating away at the fabric of the Multiverse, the Unseen – the man once known as Nick Fury who now can only observe Earth from a lofty post on the moon – must recruit a champion to save it. But she can’t do it alone. Who will join Blink’s new team – and can they ever go home again?

  FALCON #7

OLD MAN LOGAN #38

SPIDER-MAN/DEADPOOL #31

STAR WARS: THRAWN #3

THANOS #18      SERIES COMPLETE!

THE UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL #31

VENOMIZED #2

X-MEN: BLUE #25

X-MEN: RED #3

  Week of 10/22

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #799

AMAZING SPIDER-MAN: RENEW YOUR VOWS #18

AVENGERS #689

AVENGERS: BACK TO BASICS #4

BLACK PANTHER #172     SERIES COMPLETE!

CABLE #156

DAREDEVIL #601

INCREDIBLE HULK #715

INFINITY COUNTDOWN #2

IRON FIST #80    SERIES COMPLETE!

MARVEL SUPER HERO ADVENTURES: SPIDER-MAN AND THE STOLEN VIBRANIUM #1

SPIDER-MAN SWINGS INTO WAKANDA IN AN ADVENTURE FOR ALL AGES! Wakanda?! You mean the home of the Black Panther, one of the world’s fiercest warriors and a member of the Avengers? That’s right! When Spider-Man’s archenemy Doctor Octopus goes on the hunt for the incredible metal Vibranium, it’ll take the combined might of not one, but TWO beloved heroes to take him down! Can Spider-Man and Black Panther work together to keep Vibranium out of Doc Ock’s eight hands — or will the villain turn the tide?

  MARVEL #29

STAR WARS: POE DAMERON #26

TALES OF SUSPENSE #104     SERIES COMPLETE!

VENOMIZED #3

WEAPON H #2

WEAPON X #16

X-MEN: GOLD #26

Week of 10/29

ALL-NEW WOLVERINE #34

AVENGERS #690  NO SURRENDER ENDS HERE!

DARTH VADER #15

DESPICABLE DEADPOOL #299

DOCTOR STRANGE #389

DOCTOR STRANGE: DAMNATION #4    SERIES COMPLETE!

EXILES #2

HUNT FOR WOLVERINE #1

The RETURN OF WOLVERINE begins here, providing the first piece of a mystery that will leave no corner of the Marvel Universe untouched. Just as the X-Men have finally come to terms with Logan’s death, they learn a terrible secret. Old wounds will be re-opened, truths questioned, and an epic quest begun. The earliest clues to the mystery of Wolverine’s return are laid down here… who will solve it first?

  INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #599

LEGION #4

LOCKJAW #3

MIGHTY THOR #706    SERIES COMPLETE!

MOON GIRL AND DEVIL DINOSAUR #30

MOON KNIGHT #194

OLD MAN HAWKEYE #4

PETER PARKER: THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #303

SPIDER-GWEN #31

STAR WARS: DOCTOR APHRA #19

THANOS ANNUAL #1

Thanos is likely the most evil being in the universe…and if anyone would know, it’s the all-new Cosmic Ghost Rider. Let the spirit of vengeance be your guide on a tour through the worst of the worst, as he reveals the most heinous deeds ever perpetrated by the Mad Titan…or by anyone else!

  VENOM #165  SERIES COMPLETE!

VENOMIZED #4

X-MEN: BLUE #26

  Not a Marvel Unlimited member? Join today!

  Marvel Unlimited members have access to some of the greatest Marvel Comics featuring The Avengers, Spider-Man, Thor, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Captain Marvel and more! With October’s update, Marvel Unlimited will also be expanding its back catalog with the following issues:  WOLVERINE (1988) #31-#46, WEST COAST AVENGERS (1985) #17-#41, X-FORCE (1991) #37-#43, #110-#113, WARLOCK AND THE INFINITY WATCH (1992) #26-#35, SECRET DEFENDERS (1993) #1-#14, and so MUCH more! This amazing service is accessible through Marvel Unlimited on the web and through the Marvel Unlimited app on iPhone®, iPad® and on select Android™ devices.

  New to comics, and don’t know where to start? Don’t worry! Marvel Unlimited features a curated READING LIST section to help you uncover pathways into the Marvel Universe through events, themed lists, and recommended series featuring your favorite characters and creators!

  An added bonus? New Unlimited subscribers get a reward of 3,000 Marvel Insider points when they join this service, and more points when they renew their subscription! Not a Marvel Insider? Sign up today and earn exclusive prizes just by being a Marvel fan! See what rewards are available here! *

  With classic and newer issues added to Marvel Unlimited on a weekly basis as early as six months after they’re in stores, you’ll definitely want to join this curated experience that lets you find new favorites to read anytime, anywhere, from the full range of Marvel’s history.

  Follow Marvel on Facebook at www.facebook.com/marvel, join in the conversation on Twitter with #Marvel and #MarvelUnlimited, and for all things Marvel, please visit marvel.com.

  Marvel Insider Loyalty Rewards Program open to U.S. residents only.  See http://marvel.com/insider for program terms and details.

  To find a comic shop near you, visit www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook.

Marvel Comics News Digest Featuring New Guardians of the Galaxy Who Will Stand… When The Last Guardian Falls GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #1 Written by DONNY CATES…

[aion-rsa]

WandaVision: What Wanda’s Kids Mean for the Future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

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This article contains WANDAVISION Episode 3 spoilers, and potential spoilers for future episodes, the wider MCU, and Marvel Comics.

I don’t think I’m overstepping when I say that WandaVision is a weird show. It’s intentionally cryptic and there’s a lot going on. It focuses on two characters who have been in several Marvel movies but never truly got the spotlight. Even their romantic relationship in those movies has come off as forced to viewers at times. For comic fans, it’s an easier pill to swallow because it’s something familiar from the comics.

In the comics, the story of Vision and Scarlet Witch was that of two heroes with complicated backstories who found each other, fell in love, and lived happily ever after…until realizing that the point of serialized comics is to keep going and going. Soon their happily ever after became a horror story that destroyed their spirits and that damage lingers to this day.

Scarlet Witch’s history of triumph turning to torment is alive and well in WandaVision episode 3 as she goes through a full-on pregnancy in merely a day. The concept of Wanda having kids with Vision comes from the comics, and it’s one of the big red flags (scarlet flags?) in their immediate future. While things might end up all right down the line with little Billy and Tommy, we’re about see some dark stuff go down with their parents.

Even getting past the fact that Vision should absolutely be dead and the pregnancy only took about 24 hours, Wanda’s pregnancy should be raising questions due to Vision’s general biology. Vision may be capable of all kinds of feats, but he’s not really a human being and shouldn’t be able to put a bun in the oven. He’s just a pile of synthetic flesh grafted onto vibranium with an Infinity Stone on his forehead and the copied personality of a dead butler.

In the comics, Vision’s origins were just as convoluted. Also a “synthezoid,” the comics version of Vision was a special kind of high tech that was so advanced that he was nearly human in design. Mentally and emotionally, he was human enough, although his brain was copied from the personality of Wonder Man (a character whose only MCU appearance is movie posters in a Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 deleted scene). He truly loved Wanda and was capable of performing under the covers, but impregnating her? That was an awful lot to ask us to buy.

Scarlet Witch’s mutant powers allow her to alter probability, so maybe she could take a longshot like Vision knocking her up and make it work. While they were working on that, they had a little adventure where they were kidnapped by the magical villain group the Salem Seven. During the climax of the battle, Scarlet Witch absorbed a bunch of magic and the ghost of Agatha Harkness (Wanda’s mentor in magic) told her to harness it and use it however she saw fit. Wouldn’t you know it, in the next issue, she was pregnant!

Sorry if that last paragraph was a lot.

Billy and Tommy

Wanda would give birth to twins, Thomas and William. She and Vision would join the West Coast Avengers and things would go to shit. In one storyline, Vision would not only have his entire personality erased, but he’d be dismantled and autopsied to show that he was more mechanical than originally thought. It was writer Jim Starlin’s way of saying, “This is dumb. He absolutely cannot father children. Stop it.”

There was weird stuff going on with the twins too. When Wanda wasn’t around, her kids would just cease to exist. It wasn’t them fiddling with magic. It was the idea that they weren’t truly real and they were part of Wanda’s consciousness. Soon she discovered the truth about Billy and Tommy.

That truth is…um…really, really complicated. There’s stuff involving Mephisto and Franklin Richards and Master Pandemonium, who has the power of baby hands. And not the kind of baby hands that Donald Trump and Teen Titans Go Robin have. I mean that literal babies Billy and Tommy became his hands. It’s wacky.

Wanda did not take this news well and briefly turned villain because of it. It was a whole mess that involved her sexually assaulting Wonder Man. They ended up mindwiping Wanda of the whole incident, including her having kids to begin with. Ah, mindwiping. The superhero trope that never, ever ends well over time. Just ask Dr. Light and Batman.

Vision and Wanda returned to their usual soap opera filler stuff until Brian Michael Bendis decided that he wanted to freshen up the Avengers as a concept. In the big storyline Avengers: Disassembled, Scarlet Witch regained her memories, went a little nutty, and decided to have a whole bunch of stuff go wrong at once by abusing her powers against her so-called teammates. I’m talking alien invasions, She-Hulk losing control of her rage, Ultron attacks, exploding zombies, Tony Stark having a drunken rant at the UN, etc. She was stopped in a very anticlimactic fashion and the Avengers just decided that they were done being a thing.

Wiccan and Speed

A new Avengers team (now with mainstream appeal!) would show up months later and in the meantime, a group of teenagers tried to pick up the slack themselves. A younger version of the time-traveling villain Kang the Conqueror came to the present under the name Iron Lad and put together a team of heroes called the Young Avengers. One of these heroes was Wiccan, a boy named Billy with magical powers and reality warping, which were awakened after a mysterious meeting with Scarlet Witch.

At one point, he came across a troubled teen with speedster powers named Tommy who, despite having different parents, looked exactly like Billy but with white hair (white hair and super speed being part of Wanda’s brother Pietro’s whole deal). Iron Lad explained that not only were the two twins, but they were Wanda’s twins.

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Yes, it seems that although the babies existed under questionable circumstances, they did actually have souls and those souls found other ways to live on. We don’t actually know the full story of how the connection works. Did the souls overtake existing children? Did the souls go back in time a few years to be reborn?

While unexplained, Billy and Tommy live on as the heroes Wiccan and Speed. After House of M, Marvel started to back away from Scarlet Witch being a villain and eased her back into heroism, including having her connect with her sort-of-children.

Now, we already know that the parenthood in WandaVision is going to end very, very badly for the mother and father. Ignoring Wanda’s desperate control over reality, there’s seemingly some kind of mysterious, cult-like reason for the twins to be born. Yes, there will indeed be tragedy.

On the other hand, Billy and Tommy may see the light at the end of the tunnel. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is not only lining up some torch passing, but we’re seeing various setups for the Young Avengers to take form.

We already have a teen version of Cassie Lang. The Hawkeye series is going to be about Kate Bishop taking up the mantle. The third Ant-Man and the Wasp movie will introduce Kang the Conqueror, which could in turn lead to his younger self appearing. Eventual team member Miss America is supposed to be in Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. There are even rumors and theories that Patriot will be appearing in some form in Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

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Billy and Tommy were born fast and so they might be crime-fighting teenagers sooner than we realize.

The post WandaVision: What Wanda’s Kids Mean for the Future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[gokinjeespot]

off the rack #1222

Monday, July 23, 2018

 The rains finally came. I hope it's enough to save farmers' crops. Now we don't have to worry as much about wild fires like what's happening in northwest Ontario and parts of BC. We have friends living close to both fires and I'm worried they may be in danger.

 Kick-Ass #6 - Mark Millar (writer) John Romita Jr. (pencils) Peter Steigerwald (digital inks & colours) John Workman (letters). An unbelievable getaway concludes this story. I was very happy with the way this ended. Mrs. Lee's story continues on September 19.

 Runaways #11 - Rainbow Rowell (writer) Kris Anka (art) Matthew Wilson (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). This is a good issue to start with if you want a very good comic book about family. There's no big super villain threat or world shattering event, just the kids trying to live their odd lives and loving each other. I want to be Molly's granddad.

 The Life of Captain Marvel #1 - Margaret Stohl (writer) Marguerite Sauvage (art flashbacks) Carlos Pacheco (pencils present day) Rafael Fonteriz (inks present day) Marcio Menyz (colours) VC's Clayton Cowles (letters). It's time to give Carol Danvers another crack at the racks with this new book. Marvel's Captain Marvel has come a long way since the Kree in the green costume first hit the racks in 1967. The original was named Mar-Vell and was a Kree soldier so the super hero name was a no brainer. It was a big deal for me when Mar-Vell died of cancer. That story by Jim Starlin was a milestone. Carol Danvers has had many transformations since she first appeared soon after Mar-Vell did. She went from being Ms. Marvel (1977) to Binary (1982) to Warbird (1998) and finally to Captain Marvel (2012). Lots of costume changes too. I vaguely remember Carol receiving her super powers and taking on the mantle of Captain Marvel and now she is even starring in her own Marvel movie hitting theatres next spring. There's a rich history if you want to go back and read those old stories but the creative team did a splendid job of starting this new series off with all you need to know to see what Captain Marvel and especially Carol Danvers is all about. I like the new costume. Still not a fan of the sash.

 Batman #51 - Tom King (writer) Lee Weeks (art) Elizabeth Breitweiser (colours) Clayton Cowles (letters). Cold Days part 1. I laughed when I got to the final panel. Saw that coming when the jury started their deliberations. So forget the wedding that wasn't. This new story is the murder trial of Mr. Freeze. He is accused of killing three women and it was the Batman that had him arrested. Guess who got called in for jury duty? Two things tickled my fancy. Lee drew the prosecutor looking like a certain blind attorney and with Bruce Wayne sequestered someone has to keep Gotham City's criminal element fearful. Substitute Batman gave me a chuckle. Tom King solidifies his position as one of my favourite comic book writers right now.

 The Magic Order #2 - Mark Millar (writer) Olivier Coipel (art) Dave Stewart (colours) Peter Doherty (letters). This issue starts off with the origin story of Cordelia Moonstone and it's a hoot. She's one of the good guys but only because of family. When we jump back to the present, the evil magicians continue to kill the good magicians. This war with magic is a treat to read. I hope there's a variant cover for #3 because the one printed in this issue is super sexy and would shock some people.

 Old Man Hawkeye #7 - Ethan Sacks (writer) Ibraim Roberson (art pages 1 - 19) Marco Checchetto (art page 20) Andres Mossa (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). Flashback 45 years to find out why Clint has a vendetta against the Thunderbolts. This issue is a great example of the difference between a comic book with a "Parental Advisory" warning and one with a "Teen+" warning. Showing what the bad guys do to the good guys during this super hero versus super villains fight would upset delicate sensibilities. I can't wait to see Clint get bushwhacked.

 Tony Stark Iron Man #2/602 - Dan Slott (writer) Valerio Schiti (art) Edgar Delgado (colours) VC's Joe Caramagna (letters). I don't know why Alexander Lozano (cover artist) swiped Steve Ditko's Amazing Spider-Man #33 cover for this issue since Iron Man doesn't even come close to being caught in this situation. There are a couple of mysteries that make me want to keep reading. One is something cryptic about Tony's resurrection and the other is an old character who shows up unexpectedly.

 Thor #3/709 - Jason Aaron (writer) Mike del Mundo (art) Marco D'Alfonso (colour assists) VC's Joe Sabino (letters). If you're sad that the wedding of Batman and Catwoman was called off, come on over to this comic book to witness Hela and Balder's nuptials. The War of the Realms in Hel has turned out to be a lot of fun. When they get to the part of the wedding ceremony where they ask if anyone has any objections to the union, you won't believe who does. There's a lot going on in this story and I can't wait to find out what happens when Thor goes knock, knock, knocking on heaven's door.

 The Immortal Hulk #3/720 - Al Ewing (writer) Joe Bennett (pencils framing sequence) Ruy Jose (inks framing sequence) Paul Mounts (colours except where indicated) VC's Cory Petit (letters except where indicated). I like this new creepy and eerie take on the big green galoot. This issue is called "Point of View" and is about four witnesses' accounts of what happened in a church during a hostage situation involving the Hulk. There's the cop's story with Leonardo Romero (art); the bartender's story with Paul Hornschemeier (art, colours & letters); the old lady's story with Marguerite Sauvage (art & colours) and the priest's story with Garry Brown (art). It's funny how attitude changes what people see. The issue ends in Vancouver, Canada (Hello, The Comicshop) with a call from Walter Langkowski AKA Alpha Flight's very own Sasquatch. Oh, and what a great cover eh?

 Avengers #5/695 - Jason Aaron (writer) Paco Medina & Ed McGuinness (pencils) Juan Vlasco with Mark Morales and Karl Story (inks) David Curiel (colours) VC's Cory Petit (letters). Turns out this is "The Secret Origin of the Marvel Universe" so pay attention all you Marvel fans. This is so ridiculously over the top it's funny. Jason keeps ramping up the threats and the heroics with no end in sight. This reminds me of when Galactus first appeared. I want Jason Aaron to write a Ghost Rider book and a solo Loki book. If  David Curiel doesn't win an award for Best Colorist of the year he will be robbed. As far as super hero comic books go, this issue gets a 10 out of 10.