Who is Ronin Now?
April 18, 2007 | 1 Comment
Ronin joined the New Avengers last year when she helped them out in Japan. It was later revealed that Ronin was in fact Maya Lopez formerly known as Echo. She was good friends with Matt Murdock, in fact they had a off an on relationship for awhile. Lopez was raised by Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin after he killed her father.
She was born deaf, but with the gift of being able to reproduce anything she saw anyone do. This includes playing the piano, fighting styles, flying planes, etc. It makes her a formidable opponent, especially if she has witnessed someone fight in the past.
After revealing herself to Captain America, Iron Man, and the rest of the New Avengers, she returned to Japan to infiltrate the organized crime group “The Hand”. When Civil War broke out shortly after, her contact with the Avengers was broken.
Following Civil War, she contacted Matt Murdock as she feared being captured or defeated by Elektra (leader of The Hand). He in turn told Iron Fist, who told the New Avengers she needed help.
By the time the new New Avengers arrived in Japan, Maya had been killed and resurrected by Elektra. Clearly Elektra intended to convert her to The Hand’s cause.
The interesting thing about all of this, Ronin arrived with the New Avengers. So the question is, who is Ronin now? Considering the fact that she contacted Murdock to help her, that’d be my initial guess. However… The picture to the right shows Maya and Ronin’s first interaction which seems to indicate this is not Matt…
The only other hints come from author Brian Michael Bendis in a Newsarama interview: “It’s someone with a long history in the Marvel Universe. There are quite a few people it could be, and it’s not necessarily the person you immediately go to, but it’s someone I have an affection for who also has a history of donning a guise that best suits his or her mental tone. And this is his or her mental tone right now. And it just so happens there is a costume that needs filling and a person who can fill it, and so it’s taken.”
If I was to take bets, these are the odds I’d give on who Ronin will turn out to be:
Clint Barton (Hawkeye) - 3:2
James “Bucky” Buchanan Barnes (Winter Soldier) - 3:1
Nick Fury - 5:1
Sharon Carter - 20:1
Jessica Jones - 40:1
Frank Castle (Punisher) - 50:1
Marc Spector (Moon Knight) - 100:1
Matt Murdock (Daredevil) - 250:1
Wade Wilson (Deadpool) - 500:1
Tony Stark (Iron Man) - 10,000:1
Steve Rogers (Captain America) - 1,000,000:1
Tags: avengers, bendis, brian michael bendis, bucky, captain america, civil war, clint barton, daredevil, deadpool, echo, elektra, frank castle, hawkeye, iron man, james buchanan, jessica jones, kingpin, luke cage, marc spector, marvel, matt murdock, maya lopez, moon knight, new avengers, nick fury, punisher, Ronin, sharon carter, suit, the hand, tony stark, wade wilson, wilson fisk, Winter Soldier
Avengers, New and Mighty
February 22, 2007 | 9 Comments
In the wake of Civil War, the Avengers are left split into two teams. These will be the New Avengers and the Mighty Avengers. Little is known about either, especially considering Civil War has not yet completed. However, the cover for Mighty Avengers has been revealed, and the first issue with the new New Avengers is out!
We do know that Brian Michael Bendis will be writing both books. Leinil Yu will be drawing New Avengers and Frank Cho will be drawing Mighty Avengers.
Here’s what the teams are looking like so far:
Mighty Avengers
based entirely off the cover art
- Ms. Marvel - leading the team
- Iron Man - is this Tony Stark? I have my doubts…
- The Sentry
- Ares
- Wonder Man
- Wasp
- Black Widow
New Avengers
- Luke Cage (returning)
- Spider-Man (returning, now in black suit)
- Wolverine (returning)
- Spider-Woman (returning)
- Maya Lopez/Echo (returning, no longer as Ronin)
- Iron Fist - no longer wearing the Daredevil costume and clearly the new money for this group.
- Doctor Strange
- Ronin - not Maya, so who’s Ronin? They imply it is “not quite” Matt Murdock. Could this be Nick Fury? Captain America? Sue Storm? Some other lesser known disenfranchised character?
I find the Mighty Avengers to be the more surprising of the teams. Lots of old characters being brought back to the main stream.
Early indications say that Mighty Avengers will be the more government acknowledged team addressing the massive universe effecting events.
New Avengers are a darker more street level team with a concentration on fighting crime. The art styles do a great job of immediately indicating that distinction as well.
Tags: ares, art, avengers, bendis, black, black widow, brian michael bendis, captain america, civil war, comics, daredevil, doctor strange, echo, iron fist, iron man, luke cage, marvel, matt murdock, maya lopez, mighty avengers, ms marvel, new avengers, nick fury, Ronin, sentry, spider-man, spider-woman, spiderman, spiderwoman, sue storm, tony stark, wasp, Wolverine, wonder man
House of M
December 21, 2005 | 3 Comments
I just finished reading House of M.This was billed as the event in the Marvel Universe this year. Plus, it was written by Bendis, so obviously I needed to read it. The core of the title revolves around the X-Men, New Avengers, old Avengers up against Magneto and his children (The House of M). Another potential benefit was the Spider-Man: Houes of M mini series. I figured I couldn’t lose.
My expectations were a bit out of whack.
I actually think most people would benefit enough from just reading the core series or maybe just the Wikipedia article…
OK, so my first complaint is that there are a pile of titles related to this overall story. Iron Man, Mutopia, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four and more. However, there is no clear reading order published anywhere. In fact, I wonder if the side titles were even coordinated with the central title.
I started with House of M, read through the first 2, then it appeared the continuity jumped to Spider-Man: House of M, but that is where things really stopped making sense. For one, the Spider-Man title was written in way that was horribly out of character for Peter Parker, I know, it was an alternate reality, but I refuse to believe Peter could even have grown up to be as big a jerk as he’s portrayed as here…
OK, so once you jump into the Spider-Man series, there is absolutely no way to get back in the main title without breaking continuity. I’m here to say that is absolute crap. The title is authored by Mark Waid and Tom Peyer need to hang their heads in shame and hope they aren’t stripped of their duties at Marvel. OK enough on that, I’m clearly bitter…
Anyway, after the main title finishes lumbering along, it’s final 2 issues are in fact well done and justify reading this part. In fact the big revelations at the end are certain to have some lasting impact on a lot of the Marvel Universe. I do find it a bit weak that they basically protected all the A-list characters, but I guess that is to be expected.
I was re-engaged enough at this point that I took a stab at reading a couple of the other spin offs (Fantastic Four and Iron Man). Yeah, they’re wretched…
Tags: avengers, bendis, brian michael bendis, comic book, comic books, comics, fantastic four, house of m, iron man, Magneto, Mark Waid, marvel, marvel universe, mutants, spider-man, spiderman, Tom Peyer, x-men, XMen
Ultimate Fantastic Four
December 11, 2005 | 6 Comments
I’ve never been a fan of the Fantastic Four. At all. They sort of go against everything I love about Marvel. They have life easy, their beloved by the community, and have unlimited funds. This is very different than Spider-Man who is trying to hold his life together while being hated for his altruism.
Anyway, I decided to get my hands on Ultimate Fantastic Four purely to find out if Brian Michael Bendis had put the same touch on this series as he had on The Avengers. Though I was skeptical, he did it here as well. I just finished reading Ultimate Fantastic Four 1-6 and these characters are interesting to me for the first time.
Sadly Bendis left writing Ultimate Fantastic Four after issue 6. Apparently that’s when he concentrated on reinventing the Avengers, which was certainly a success as far as I’m concerned. Anyway, my hopes are a bit lowered for the rest of the series. I intend on reading it regardless, check back on my impressions.
I may even need to see the movie now…
Tags: bendis, brian michael bendis, comic, comics, fantastic four, marvel, trade, ultimate, ultimate fantastic four, ultimates
New Avengers, New Comics Legend
November 23, 2005 | 5 Comments
Over the last few months of reading Amazing Spider-Man, a continually running core plot point has been his membership in a newly reformed Avengers. Never having been a huge Avengers fan, I wasn’t initially very interested, but this interest has slowly increased.
I just completed reading New Avengers Volume 1: Breakout, which collects New Avengers #1-6. After completing this, I was hooked. The writing was just all out fantastic. I hadn’t been this excited about a comic since the Ultimate Spider-Man Collection. It was then it hit me.
Bendis wrote Ultimate Spider-Man, and he also wrote New Avengers. In fact it was him who dissolved the original Avengers. That series has been compiled in the aptly named Avengers Disassembled.
Bendis has also been involved in writing Daredevil, Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four. In the meantime he created and wrote Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Secret War, Alias, Powers, and House of M. He’s also responsible for bringing Spider-Woman and Luke Cage back to life.
I’m looking forward to getting my hands on as many Bendis written stories as I can. As far as I’m concerned he’s a living legend like Stan Lee, Frank Miller, Jack Kirby, or Steve Ditko. In 5-10 years all the comics based movies will be driven by the characters and worlds Bendis is creating and expanding right now.
Tags: alias, amazing spider-man, avengers, bendis, book, breakout, brian michael bendis, comic, comic book, comic books, comics, daredevil, fan, fantastic four, frank miller, house of m, jack kirby, marvel, marvel team-up, new avengers, powers, secret war, spider-man, spider-woman, spiderman, stan lee, steve ditko, ultimate, ultimate fantastic four, ultimate spider-man, ultimate x-men, ultimates, x-men