After disassembing, reimaging, and then disassembling a second time, Brian Michael Bendis brings a new team on line.
This version of the team is the first time Bendis included all three of the “big three” (Thor, Captain America, Iron Man), alongside his previously controversial pic (Spider-Man), a guy to help sell it (Wolverine), and the odd character who Bendis has reinvented, complete with a retconned origin (Spider-Woman). The Bendis creation Maria Hill is also along for the ride, as is Hawkeye, and the Captain America is the Bucky version–since Steve Rogers is just going by “Steve” these days, and running a reconstituted SHIELD.
Like most Bendis stories, it begins in the third act and then time-jumps around to fill the reader in on what’s going on. It’s also about time-travel and alternate realities so prepare to be confused and to enjoy a MASSIVE cast of characters.
That’s the opening: Immortus killed by what looks like teen versions of The Avengers, and a caption telling us they are the “Next Avengers.”
We then go back to the “Avengers Assemble” section of the story, with Steve Rogers saying that instead of a paramilitary organization, SHIELD should be bringing together a new version of The Avengers with a global mission.
See, by now Bendis has done this kind of page and thing so many times that it feels a bit stale. It’s fun to read, but would be more fun if I hadn’t seen him do it before. Several times.
Kang arrives as they are forming their team, and he tells them that in his future timeline, Ultron has taken over the world and killed all the heroes except for the children who we the readers saw on page 1.
But at the end of the first issue, Kang returns to his future and we see the real threat: Old Man Hulk.
So that’s the storyline: The heroes trying to prevent a future full of Ultrons but really being pawns of Kang and a future Hulk. I get the reference, by the way, that Hulk is the instigator for the formation of The Avengers.
The team has to build a time machine (for some reason they don’t ask Reed Richards or Doctor Doom). They ask Noh-Varr instead.
As they are trying to figure out what’s going on with the time stream (is it a trap? did Kang break the time-stream? etc.), they also fight their own (Wonder Man attacks) and face down a time-displaced Apocalypse, Killraven, Devil Dinosaur, Galactus, etc., in a “Battle for all time!”
Eventually, they have to team-up with their own children (the Next Avengers) and outfox Kang. I won’t give away how it gets done, but I will note it’s not particularly inventive.
Noh-Varr joins the group at the end, and Tony stark has a small device that his future self gave him. I’m sure it will come up again in the near future.
All-text backups across these issues tell the “oral” history of The Avengers.
If you read all the way to this point, you already know that I’m not a huge fan of this reboot. It’s not bad, especially from a technical point of view. Bendis, Romita Jr., and Janson are top-notch creators. But as I noted throughout, nothing here is fresh or exciting. When Bendis first brought us the New Avengers, we’d never seen Spider-Man on the team. Spider-Woman brought an air of mystery. The story was cool, too, and unusual–they had to hunt down escaped criminals. This time, it comes after several events back-to-back-to-back, and the “end of the universe” just doesn’t feel like a real threat anymore.