It's that time again! It's time to join Earth's Mightiest Heroes in the midst of one of their most epic adventures! Last time, the longtime Avengers character Immortus tried to kill long-time Marvel superhero sidekick Rick Jones. Jones ended up using a mysterious power he hasn't accessed since the events of the Kree-Skrull War to summon seven Avengers to protect him from various points in time. So, who are these makeshift Avengers? What points in time are they from? And why are Immortus and Kang fighting? Let's find out in Avengers Forever #2!
The cover is a Carlos Pacheco piece. It's good, but a bit basic. It's just our little mismatched Avengers team, nothing special.
Writers: Kurt Busiek, Roger Stern
Penciler: Carlos Pacheco
Inker: Jesus Merino
Colorist: Steve Oliff
Letterer: Richard Starkings, Albert Deschesne
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras
The story begins with the seven Avengers that appeared at the end of the last issue (Captain America, Yellowjacket, Wasp, Hawkeye, Giant-Man, Songbird, and the Genis-Vell Captain Marvel) being confused as to what is going on. Kang is basically like "Get your spandex-covered butts over here and give me a hand to save Rick Jones!"
The other six notice that Captain America seems very reluctant to lead them into battle. As such, Wasp takes command and they leap into action against Immortus's horde of soldiers from throughout history.
Page 4, Panel 3
Songbird realizes that this is it. This is the start of the Destiny War. Giant-Man is confused because Songbird is a Thunderbolt, and he doesn't recognize Genis. But that's tabled for now. Soldiers to fight, and all that. During the battle, another discovery is made.
Captain America has superhuman strength. Traditionally, Captain America wasn't the most physically powerful of superheroes. He's strong, but only at the level of an athlete or bodybuilder, not someone like the Hulk or Colossus in his metal mode. Immortus demands the Avengers surrender, but Kang's like "Screw you, old man! We are warriors! And warriors never surrender!" Rick Jones also helps out by stopping the time-bubble that everyone is in thanks to his growing mastery of the Destiny Force in him. It's here that Immortus decides to retreat. He was hoping to simply kill Rick before he became more aware of his power, but it's time for Plan B.
With him and his army of the ages gone, the makeshift Avengers team are left confused by everything. Kang tells the Avengers to guard Rick with their lives and get him out of the timestream where Immortus can't touch him. And with that, he decides to take his leave as well. Giant-Man is wondering why Kang and Immortus are opposing each other. After all, Immortus is Kang's future self. Kang is going to become Immortus one day.
Hawkeye thinks that they're in the Kree galaxy with the Kree/Skrull War still going. Rick recognizes that Hawkeye is not wearing his current costume, and Wasp puts it together: These Avengers are all from different points in time.
So, when exactly are these Avengers from? Well, that revelation is held off by the presence of a new player.
It's an old enemy of the Avengers: Gustav Brandt, aka Libra. He was once a member of a criminal group called naturally, the Zodiac. Cap refuses. Iron Man had recently filled him in on Libra. From his perspective, he just learned that Libra may be the father of another Avenger called Mantis. You may know of Mantis from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. The Kree Supreme Intelligence reminds the group that the time-bubble is fading, and when it does, it will lead to a lot of awkward questions.
The group head out to a strange place that only Libra can access. It's here we get a recap of who Libra is. As I mentioned earlier, he was once a member of a criminal group called the Zodiac. This incarnation of the Zodiac debuted in Avengers #72 (January 1970). In Avengers #120-122 (February-April 1974), Taurus of this Zodiac attempted to murder everyone born under the sign of Gemini as a sign of power. It would be in issue #122 that Libra revealed that he was the father of Mantis, a heroine who had been hanging out with the group at the time. Libra would willingly go to prison in Avengers #125 (July 1974), as he had been losing interest in crime and wanted to study "the balance", his true passion.
He did return to crime here and there over the years, but it was half-hearted. When the Zodiac Cartel got slaughtered in West Coast Avengers #26 (November 1987), he took the opportunity to fake his death. Wasp recalls that he had joined Force Works (remember them from my review of Force Works #1?) in Force Works #16 (August 1995), under the identity of Moonraker. In Force Works #19 (January 1996), Moonraker had claimed he was Libra in a new body. However, Libra claims that he was never involved with Force Works...and the only Moonraker he's familiar with is the 1955 Ian Fleming novel. He refuses to acknowledge the 1979 film.
I like the movie. It's got James Bond in space. That's awesome. In actuality, Libra's been wandering around, finding areas of imbalance in reality. This one threatens to be the most dangerous one of all...and Immortus is behind it. Immortus's reasons are unknown, but Kang's are not hard to figure out. You see, Kang is meant to become Immortus one day...and he doesn't want that to happen.
Immortus has been screwing up the timestream, causing the imbalance Libra has discovered. And one of those imbalances is the potential death of Rick Jones. To help prevent that, Libra guided Rick to summon seven Avengers from different points in time. The former criminal has no idea why these seven were chosen. Yellowjacket tries to threaten the former Zodiac member, but Wasp breaks it up. It's here we learn exactly from what points in time these Avengers are from:
- Yellowjacket comes from the events of Avengers #60 (January 1969), about to marry the Wasp.
- Wasp and Giant-Man come from the then-present day
- Songbird comes from the near-future, where she's become an Avenger. She just returned from a battle against Oort the Living Comet and his Solar Squadron.
- Hawkeye comes from the events of Avengers #99 (May 1972), when he returned to Earth after the events of the Kree-Skrull War and joined up with a traveling carnival where he met Hercules.
- Captain Marvel comes from another possible future. He was towing the corpse of the cosmic entity Eon out of the Solar System after Ego the Living Planet had reanimated it and tried to use it to ravage Earth.
- Captain America comes from the events of Captain America #175 (July 1974), just after discovering that the head of the original Secret Empire was a highly-placed government official (the comic itself implies it was President Nixon).
Quite a misfit team of Avengers, huh? Two versions of Hank Pym, a bitter Captain Marvel, a villainess-turned-heroine, a Hawkeye without his trick arrows or size-changing powers, the Wasp, and a demoralized Sentinel of Liberty. But despite that, they're still Avengers. Against Libra's advice, the Avengers are not going to stand by and let Kang and Immortus fight it out. Immortus tried to get one of their own killed (Rick is an honorary Avenger), and they want answers.
A reluctant Libra leads the Avengers to Chronopolis. Chronopolis is Kang's stronghold, a giant city that touches every point in time.
And it's clearly seen better days. Much better days. The Avengers make their way to the central citadel of Chronopolis, when they find it under attack. Immortus taunts our makeshift Avengers, saying they're too late to back Kang up. Rick Jones is left facepalming and feeling like an idiot.
This comic was rather fun to read. What I liked was the mix of personalities we got from this makeshift Avengers team, and how past stories were used to help establish them. Captain America's feeling at his lowest point, Yellowjacket's cockiness, the modern Wasp's knack for leadership, Songbird's being the "new girl", Hawkeye's "shoot-from-the-hip" attitude, modern Hank Pym's ill-at-ease-ness with his past self (Which is understandable. Hank was Yellowjacket during his lowest point in the early 80s), and Captain Marvel's supposed bitterness (although I think not much was done with that in the issue).
I have heard people argue that continuity should not be treated like it's truly important, that it can prevent authors from writing great stories. But the thing is, you couldn't create a story like this without using past continuity. It's why I love this story so much. It gives the feeling these characters have history, that these past stories mattered and had a point. Not to mention this comic does give you any backstory you need to know.
I have to admit, I am a bit more mixed about Carlos Pacheco's art. This is more of a personal taste thing for me. I don't dislike his art on this. I do think it does look a bit too 'cartoony' for this, but that's something that never really bothered me. I would have loved to have seen George Perez or Phil Jiminez draw this. A story like this would have been a great fit for their styles.
If you want to rad this for yourself, I suggest tracking down the 2011 trade paperback Avengers Forever. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, and wear a mask! Join me next time when, in honor of Black History Month, we look at the debut of one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's newest superstars...
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