Strange that Marvel would give the conclusion of a linewide event of a scale not seen since Secret Wars II to John Byrne, who, in She-Hulk, has recently been openly contemptuous of Marvel Editorial’s micromanagement of continuity at the expense of creativity.
Anyway, Loki reveals himself to his cabal as the master planner behind all of this, and, when The Avengers arrive to confront him, explains that the real reason he did all this was because he created The Avengers (unwittingly) way back in Avengers #1 and is now looking to undo that error.
Strange motivation—particularly coming now, decades later.
The villains scatter. Loki gets some trolls to defend him and fight The Avengers. Thor confronts and (pretty easily) takes down Loki.
And that’s how it ends. Simply, quickly, and without much fanfare—and without tying in all the heroes and villains who were affected by it.
Very lame ending for a major event that, in my opinion, wasn’t half bad.
And it doesn’t even take up the whole issue—the last few pages are focused on Immortus, who is still destroying alternate realities (he’s been at it for almost ten issues). We also see Scarlet Witch attack the West Coast Avengers’ base after being held by Magneto in deep space. So, basically, she’s nuts again and they’re gonna have to fight her in the next issue.
Look how cool the cliffhanger is…
