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
Road to Civil War
May 7, 2006 | 8 Comments
Over the last few months Marvel has been building both marketing and storyline in preperation for this summer huge event, Civil War. Marvel has had a lot of major events in their universe over the three years, but this one is by far the largest, and all the recent events seem to point nicely at this one.
In 2004 Brian Michael Bendis wrote Secret War. This event saw a change in leadership at S.H.I.E.L.D., as Nick Fury was replaced by Maria Hill. As part of the fallout, there was some serious distrust established between the super hero community and the US government.
Later in 2004, Avengers Disassembled (also written by Bendis) truly began this whole arc. In a stunning series of events, Scarlet Witch goes crazy leading to the death of Hawkeye and destruction of the Vision.
In the aftermath of Disassembled, a New Avengers team and comic was formed. This new team is currently made up of Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Luke Cage, Wolverine, Sentry, and Ronin. In addition, a group of young super heroes formed a Young Avengers team.
While all of these new teams were forming, the summer of 2005 brought the next big event, House of M. Scarlet Witch, daughter of Magneto, was taken by him and Professor X of the X-Men in hopes of helping her get control after the events of Avengers Disassembled. At some point during this, she snaps, sending all of the Marvel Universe into an alternate reality of her creation. When she eventually puts things back, she changes something else.
Most of the mutants throughout Marvel are stripped of their abilities. This event was called Decimation. Notable on the list of depowered include: Magneto, Jubilee, Quicksilver, Stacy X, and Professor X. In the days after, there is a worldwide lash out against mutant kind. Additionally, the government recommends and helps round up many of the remaining mutants into a concentration camp-like area. Tensions are high here.
Last fall, Marvel’s banner character Spider-Man faced his own major event. In the course of Spider-Man: The Other, he is killed, resurrected, gets new powers, gets a new costume, and further establishes a deep relationship with Tony Stark (Iron Man). This newly forged bond will undoubtedly influence where he stands when full fledged civil war breaks out.
While all of these events show unrest and change in the Marvel universe, a difference of opinion on a major issue is needed to polarize the characters enough to spark a Civil War. This issue is the super-human registration act (SHRA). The plans for this act are revealed in New Avengers: Illuminati.
This secret group is made up of Namor, Tony Stark, Reed Richards, Black Bolt, Dr. Strange, and Professor Xavier. This group represents all the major groups in the super human population. It is also revealed in this one-shot how the group reacted to continuing destruction by the Hulk of cities and communities by exiling him into space. This ongoing Planet Hulk storyline will follow Hulk’s adventures in space. When Iron Man brings them an early copy of the act, its clear this will be a devisive topic. Iron Man tries to convince the group that by registering and supporting the act, they can diffuse an inevitable future conflict. They do not come to agreement on this.
Civil War #1 hit the shelves this week. The war has been set off and sides are forming.
Which side are you on?
Tags: and Professor X, avengers, captain america, civil war, comic books, comics, house of m, iron man, Jubilee, luke cage, Magneto, marvel, new avengers, Quicksilver, Ronin, sentry, spider-man, spider-woman, spiderman, Stacy X, Wolverine, x-men, XMen, Young Avengers
The Sentry - Not Worth It
April 23, 2006 | 3 Comments
Due to his member ship in the New Avengers, I started reading The Sentry. As of now, I’ll be reading The Sentry no more. I hate to say it, but it’s really quite terrible. This is the worst character I’ve ever encountered in the Marvel Universe. They really should be embarrassed.
As I try to read this, I find myself disengaged from the story line, bored out of my mind, and hoping I’ll get to the end of each story. I’ve never found myself despising a comic like this. I can’t find a single redeeming quality about The Sentry.
In my previous post on him I said:
In conclusion, Jenkins-Sentry is lame. Bendis resurrects with some success, but I still feel there is no place for the omnipotent hero in the Marvel Universe. [...] As I continue reading New Avengers, maybe the guy will grow on me.
Alas, he did not grow on me. Now I hope each time I read New Avengers that Sentry will not play a major (or even minor) role. Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll kill him off in the impending Civil War…
Tags: avengers, civil war, marvel, marvel universe, new avengers, sentry
The Sentry
December 14, 2005 | 5 Comments
After enjoying the first 6 issues of The New Avengers, I decided to read the next 6 part series collected in New Avengers Volume 2: Sentry. This story arc revolves around the mystery of The Sentry. In the first six parter he was involved in helping with the event that formed the New Avengers, but his back story was completely unknown to all the characters in the Marvel Universe. In the end, Bendis had me thoroughly intrigued about this character’s history.
I then discovered Sentry had originally been created in his own six part mini series by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee in 2000. Bendis had merely resurrected this hero as an addition to New Avengers (similar to Spider-Woman and Luke Cage). So I grabbed hold of that hoping for more of the story.
The major difficulty here though is that Jenkins is no Bendis. The story was told in a way that is fragmented at best. This extremely hard to follow “origin” set Sentry up as a classic hero, older than the Fantastic Four, but forgotten by some trick. One major problem I have is that the trick doesn’t really match with the new continuity established in New Avengers. Without much surprise here, I like Bendis’ rendition better. Having heroes make heroes forget is a bad plan. Make a villain do it and I’m in. I also have some doubts about his lame sidekick and the secret serum that gives him his powers…
Anyway, the Jenkins story line does establish some interesting stuff. Sentry is arguably the most powerful hero Marvel has ever created. His powers set him up to be pretty much omnipotent. In a lot of ways this character is like DC’s Superman, but with less weaknesses. However, the man that is Sentry is somewhat humanized with a drinking problem. Another interesting tidbit here is the calming effect Sentry has on the Hulk. Apparently Sentry is able to calm Hulk and help him “evolve”. A Hulk that doesn’t mindless destroy everything certainly seems like an improvement to me…
In conclusion, Jenkins-Sentry is lame. Bendis resurrects with some success, but I still feel there is no place for the omnipotent hero in the Marvel Universe. For those interested in more about The Sentry, read his fairly detailed info on Wikipedia. As I continue reading New Avengers, maybe the guy will grow on me.
As a side note, it is revealed in the New Avengers arc that Spider Woman has some ability to emit pheromones that she can use to control people. A very cool ability for a resurrected character that is yet to see her full potential. Apparently Bendis is writing a Spider-Woman mini series that is due out this month. I guess I’ll need to read that for more of what he plans to due with this heroine…
Tags: avengers, bendis, cage, comic, comic book, comic books, comics, hulk, luke cage, marvel, marvel universe, new avengers, sentry, spider-woman, superhero, the sentry