AVENGERS versus THANOS

(Marvel)
Where: Free Comic Book Day Civil War II #1 When: May 2016 Why: Brian Michael Bendis How: Jim Cheung

The Story So Far...
An Inhuman known as Ulysses Cain may hold the secrets to the impending future! In an effort to verify his ominous visions, Inhuman Queen Medusa accompanies him to The Triskelion for further testing under the watchful eye of Black Panther and The Ultimates.

Upon his arrival, Ulysses is suddenly confronted with a glimpse into an oncoming threat: Thanos is coming!

The Mad Titan aims to claim a Cosmic Cube from Project PEGASUS, but as he teleports towards their secluded Mount Athena base in New York -- a powerful assembly of Avengers prepares to greet him with extreme prejudice!

Tale of the Tape...
Strength: Thanos 6 (Invincible)
Intelligence: Black Panther 5 (Professor)
Speed: Photon 5 (Super-Human)
Stamina: Thanos 7 (Unstoppable)
Agility: Black Panther 4 (Gymnast)
Fighting: Thanos 6 (Warrior)
Energy: Human Torch 7 (Cosmic Power)
Total: Thanos 34 (Super)

The Avengers are: Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Ms. America, Spectrum, Blue Marvel, She-Hulk, Dazzler, Medusa, Crystal, Human Torch, and War Machine.

It might be a tad glib to call them "The Avengers". More accurately, we have various solo heroes joining representatives of then-current lineups for The Ultimates, A-Force, and Inhumans. Avengers, by any other name...

They're up against one of the deadliest villains in the cosmic canon! Forget what you might've heard about altruistic balance and preservation of life. Thanos will always be The Mad Titan whose lust for Death nearly destroyed the universe!

When he famously formed The Infinity Gauntlet, he became nigh omnipotent, wiping out half of all life in existence to impress Lady Death. When the surviving heroes came to confront him, his true sadism emerged! Various heroes met a twisted end, including She-Hulk, who was consumed by some type of growth.

She-Hulk's the only one of today's heroes we've seen go against Thanos before. Despite her demise that day, she showed potential for getting some serious shots in! Iron Man was one of the heroes also there, but his example of an unceremonious decapitation isn't the most promising one for War Machine.

Thanos doesn't have any Infinity Stones in today's battle, which at least means War Machine should be able to leave a mark! Human Torch might fare better than Firelord, as well. Johnny went mostly unnoticed by Gladiator in Fantastic Four #249, but turned up the heat enough to burn Ego The Living Planet in Fantastic Four #235. The potential to go nova could scorch even Thanos!

Captain Marvel is the real ace up this team's sleeve. We've seen her Kree-infused powers mix it up with the uber-powerful Collective in New Avengers #17, a Dormammu-powered Hood in New Avengers #54, and a giant Agamotto-possessed Luke Cage in New Avengers (Vol.2) #2!

At this point in time, Carol Danvers is once again juiced to the max and powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with cosmic powers! That could give her the best shot at recreating Drax's killing blow against Thanos, seen in Annihilation #4! I don't imagine Thanos will be nearly as accommodating this time, though.

It took the remains of a Cosmic Cube to stop Thanos when he was resurrected anew in Guardians of the Galaxy #25! His naked rampage took down the entire Guardians lineup, including Drax, Groot, and Moondragon! He also didn't even break a sweat when turning on Terrax during an inter-dimensional scheme seen in Green Lantern/Silver Surfer!

Even without that Infinity Gauntlet, we know Thanos is as serious a threat as they come! He can be defeated, but will the pre-cognition of Ulysses give this assembly of heroes the advantage they need to do the deed? Let's find out!

The Tape: Avengers Ranking: Thanos (#9)

What Went Down...
True to the prophetic vision of the Inhuman Ulysses -- a purple beam of light signals the arrival of Thanos! Though unprepared for an Avengers ambush, he is heavily armed with sophisticated weaponry and immediately resists arrest!

The descending group of heroes are quickly dispersed by the gun's powerful blast. Captain Marvel absorbs its deadly energies. The Human Torch stays airborne and maneuvers to be the first to immediately strike back!

Swooping behind his target, The Human Torch bathes Thanos in an intense flame! There's no need to hold back against a foe as powerful and resilient as The Mad Titan -- but his fire can only blaze so hot with friends nearby.

The Torch's former Fantastic Four teammate She-Hulk ignores the burn and rushes in to dive tackle Thanos from behind! The bold move succeeds in scoring a takedown, but The Mad Titan swears this day will mark her death.

She-Hulk grapples with the burning Thanos before Captain Marvel calls her shot and unleashes a massive blast of photonic energy!

The explosive energy pushes She-Hulk clear. Dazzler joins in, enthusiastically pouring on the power with more energy blasts. With Thanos pinned down, Captain Marvel calls in War Machine for a second wave of artillery fire!

Reeling from the awesome display of power, Thanos wonders how the Avengers could be ready with such a coordinated attack. He doesn't have long to contemplate before Medusa ensnares him in blinding, suffocating curls of hair!

War Machine is still firing munitions when Thanos manages to gain purchases of Medusa's living locks and hurls her toward the armored Avenger!

The collision throws War Machine's targeting off, sending a wayward missile into the chest of She-Hulk! The Colonel moves in to check on his friendly fire victim, letting his guard down for just a moment -- a fatal decision!

Thanos seizes his opportunity -- rushing through flames to drive his massive fist into the armored but prone mid-section of War Machine! A killing blow!

As Captain Marvel and Black Panther watch on in horror, Thanos turns to his opponents with a sinister grin and demands his Cosmic Cube. They respond.

Captain Marvel, Spectrum, and Blue Marvel launch an all-out assault! Their awesome powers create a wall of energy that hammers the Titan from all sides!

For a moment he faces into Captain Marvel's raw power, stumbles into Dazzler's pink bursts, feels Black Panther's claws slice at the back of his neck, is caught from behind by Blue Marvel's force bolts, takes Spectrum's best to his face!

The devastating gauntlet leaves Thanos a stumbling, smoldering mess. He has no defense as Captain Marvel moves in to deliver a devastating uppercut!

The finishing blow launches Thanos across the battlefield, leaving him lying unconscious amidst the flames. Captain Marvel rushes to cradle a bloodied War Machine. Black Panther & Blue Marvel tend to a barely breathing She-Hulk.

The Hammer...
The Avengers defeated Thanos, but at what price comes victory? War Machine is dead, and She-Hulk in critical condition! Such dire stakes can only signal the beginning of yet another major Marvel Comics event...

I come into this one with some pretty strong biases. Ten years removed from the gratuitous murder of Goliath in Civil War #4 -- the novelty has long since lost its flavor. By this point, I'm largely beyond caring about the majority of crossover events, let alone their obligatory superhero deaths.

Truth be told, the bloom was off the rose for Marvel's blockbusters by the time Siege rolled out in 2010. That story functioned as a reunion of Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor, mopping up lingering consequences of the original Civil War, specifically its villain-centric aftermath: the period known as "Dark Reign".

Dark Reign had been a refreshing exploration of ideas organically grandfathered in through the post-Civil War and Secret Invasion landscapes. It was anchored around monthly Avengers titles, rather than a single dedicated event-series. Sadly, Siege was to bring that pleasing break in action to a much-hyped end.

Siege ultimately cobbled together mayhem and carnage in four unfortunately lackluster key issues, and various focused tie-ins. It played like a perfunctory ticking of two to three major editorial boxes, most notably: The removal of Norman Osborn as Marvel's ultimate arch-villain, and the emphatic killing of The Sentry, which reads like a meta-textual in-joke. Even with a reduced four issue core, these simple beats couldn't sustain a series, resulting in a messy, joyless counterpart to DC's better built, superhero war-time smorgasbord of Final Crisis.

The palpable tedium of Siege should've seen Marvel close the door on events for a fair while, but instead, the publisher went into event overdrive in the years that followed. It hasn't even been a decade since Siege -- yet Cap, Iron Man, and Thor have all been split-up, pitted against heroes, maimed, and killed more than once! Only to reenact another mock reunion before doing it all over again.

They've shared the 'death bench' with many high-profile heroes in that time, all of whom died and returned within a couple of years. The endless cycle of kill, rinse, repeat leaving the Marvel Universe stinking of its own meaningless decay.

Civil War itself was an obvious template for many of these deaths and event series, which made it even more difficult to feel like a 10th anniversary sequel was worth the while. In 2016 it was a major motion sequel to Captain America: The Winter Soldier. How can I miss Civil War if it never goes away?

No surprises then that I'm still not very interested in Civil War II's hero-on-hero conflict, or the Inhumans-fuelled take on Minority Report. Here comes the twist, however. because I've got to say the Free Comic Book Day launch issue is actually a very satisfying read!

It would, of course, be foolish to assume macro grievances belie any quality publishing. There's usually something to like on the bill. In this case, time away from Marvel's jumbled brands, and bloodthirsty event schedule, probably helped enhance the simple pleasures that make FCBD Civil War II #1 so enjoyable.

The pros are easily distilled: It starts with some nice character interaction, lays the groundwork for the moral quandary ahead, and features a big battle with an A-list villain that goes to conclusion. It's a pretty satisfying done-in-one read!

There are obvious questions left to be answered, but the FCBD issue avoids reading like a trailer for coming attractions. Impressive, since that's really the primary function these promotional free issues serve.

For a lapsed reader, some of the fun is simply in seeing old favourites together again. I got a real kick out of seeing FF alum She-Hulk, Human Torch, Medusa, and Black Panther together again, and kicking ass. Most get their moment.

As alluded to in The Tape; this was a period of Marvel history where corporate malevolence, and editorial malaise, had led a lot of established brands to erode meaning. This isn't technically an Avengers assembly, so much as a gathering of representatives of The Ultimates, A-Force, and Inhumans. The fact that these divisions are essentially meaningless is actually helpful in an isolated case.

Jim Cheung does a great job delivering the action that comprises the majority of the piece. Each character gets their moment in clear sequence, with big action beats given room to shine. There's a tremendous sense of space and reality, but with that comes both good and bad. It's easy to track what's going on, but it sometimes feels a little small scale. The intense, inescapable red/blue palette also contributes to an impression of a murky lot of one thing in one place.

Movie stardom means Thanos is as strong as ever, even though he's here to be the fall guy. It was a little weird that he comes in looking like Cable with guns strapped all over his body. I don't think that's a visual joke about Josh Brolin's dual live-action roles, but you never know. It doesn't matter much, as Thanos is quickly forced to fend for himself, sans cannons. He puts up a helluva fight, but after several years of promotional exploitation, he was ripe for being beaten in the prologue.

Of the lineup present to arrest Thanos, it makes good sense that Captain Marvel gets the knock-out blow. You could make a case for other characters, but she's the best equipped, and most primed to take the story forward. I don't know how well her conflict with Iron Man stands up to Cap's in 2006, but the fact it isn't simply a straight repeat of the earlier disagreement is appreciated.

I didn't know Carol Danvers had a romantic relationship with War Machine prior to reading this. Given their affiliations with Tony Stark, and history as military personnel, it seems like a pretty natural coupling. It's dangled unsubtly in the first few pages, milked to provide extra emotional context for what's coming.

I'd be lying if I said there was any real joy in witnessing the death of War Machine. Cheung is asked to convey a precise misstep in motion, and the net result makes War Machine look a little silly. The fact that the killing blow comes from a villain as credible as Thanos helps mitigate the goofiness. Without that, it flirts with the unintentional comedy of Hawkeye's needless self-sacrifice in the earlier Avengers Disassembled. Ultimately, tangled hair and bumping into a teammate is a pretty undignified end for a seasoned hero like War Machine.

Ten years on from Civil War, they seem to be trading on a character of greater notoriety than Goliath, but to what end? Frankly, it seems like a transparent decision to remove one African-American Iron Man alternate, to make way for a new one, the future Ironheart.

The race of the two Civil Wars fatalities may be coincidence, but as the latter participates in clumsy efforts to address the imbalance of representation, the self-defeating fallacy of the decision becomes all the more clear. Indelicate decisions like these only hobbled efforts to introduce a new generation of diverse young heroes, mortgaging the past for an unearned future.

War Machine had long, frustrating lulls of inaction throughout his published history, but remained grounded by those early stories that built a relationship with Tony Stark, and the Avengers. It always seemed there was plenty more to do with the character.

Given Tony Stark was destined to be the major scalp for Civil War II, the potential for Rhodey to continue to play a natural role in the development of Ironheart just seems obvious. They would both be scarred by his demise. The emergence of a new armored hero would naturally draw Rhodey back to action. His potential as a mentor figure would then seem natural more than cliché, building Riri Williams a strong foundation in the Marvel Universe. Oh well!

Want to put the pieces into greater context for yourself? You can pick up a trade paperback of Civil War II, which includes the Free Comic Book Day special and complete mini-series! Shop using the Amazon link embedded and they'll support the site at no cost to you! Who could possibly go to war over that?

Think I need to take a closer look at the rest of Civil War II? Let me know in the comments, or while you're following Secret Wars on Infinite Earths on Twitter and Facebook. There, you'll also find daily links to fights inspired by the topics of the day! You can also deep dive into the Secret Archive to discover more!

We always finish with the verdict and rankings update. Captain Marvel clearly delivered the knock-out blow, but under examination, a team effort kept Thanos off balance, and led to his defeat. So the win is shared.

Winners: Captain Marvel, Spectrum, Blue Marvel, Black Panther, Dazzler, She-Hulk & Human Torch (w/ War Machine, Ms. America, Medusa & Crystal)
#45 (+28) Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers)
#12 (+2) Human Torch
#37 (+14) Black Panther
#134 (+260) She-Hulk
#151 (+281) Spectrum (Monica Rambeau)
#174 (+305) Dazzler
#327 (new) Blue Marvel
#124 (+1) War Machine [+1 assist]
#344 (+5) Medusa [+1 assist]
#434 (-1) Crystal [+1 assist]
#558 (new) Ms. America (America Chavez) [+1 assist]
#10 (-1) Thanos [+1 kill]

QUICK FIX DOUBLE FEATURE: Secrets Illuminated!
TONY STARK versus SKRULLS
(Marvel)
Where: New Avengers: Illuminati #1 When: February 2007 Why: Brian Michael Bendis & Brian Reed How: Jim Cheung

Quick Fix...
With the total lack of recent purchases, you'd be forgiven for missing the supposed underlying theme of reflection in the Infinite Wars. Apparently, or so Haseloff keeps trying to tell us, the Infinite Wars are attempting to reflect the year as a sort of obscure, sport league style time capsule.

Icelandic pop sensation, Björk, theorises that there's an inevitable tangibility between all decisions made within the space of a year. That regardless of conceit or design, hindsight will reveal a commonality between all events and junctions within the span of a certain time period. Obviously one has to allow the opportunity for transition, but it's a nice way of supposing that even without a weekly bombardment of spent pennys, the Infinite Wars remain relevant by accident.

Long winded introductions aside, today we are looking at a couple of issues that very much represent a force from within 2007. Though divided they were on both sides of the Civil War, and it was their actions that led to World War Hulk.
In case you've been living under a rock, or been victim to their conspiracy, I explicitly refer to them as The Illuminati!

I would begrudgingly acknowledge the subtle brilliance of retro-fitting a secret super-society of intellectuals and power players into the Marvel Universe. It's with some chagrin, because lord knows we haven't yet learnt to stop worrying, and love the Bendis -- particularly where the milieu of the Marvel history is concerned.

Fortunately this mini-series that explores the team introduced in the pages of the first incarnation of New Avengers, carries with it the placebo of co-writer, Brian Reed. Yes, that's co-writer. Brian. Reed. Something I feel the need to put particularly emphasis on, because even the most credible sources seem to be completely dismissing Reed's involvement, to talk, good and bad, about Bendis.
I, of course, will only be talking bad about him.

If you place any weight on the reviews hidden beneath our fight club antics, then it's a damn good thing I've waited nearly a full year to review these issues, because the immediate reaction was not good. Not good, at all.

Essentially the only linking qualities of this series is the conspiratorial nature of the team, and the way these pages lift the curtain on their operations. Stories feature events from present and past, illuminating subtle reprieves experienced, and yet to come. And it's that future aspect that makes leaving this review until now such an important quality.

We now know in intimiate detail that a Skrull invasion is coming to the Marvel Universe, and it's in the pages of this first issue that we learn much of the history involved. Sure, the Skrulls have always had a naughty desire to invade our planet, but the Illuminati's behind-the-scenes intervention during the 1980's crossover event, The Skrull-Kree War, highlights a personalized layer to this latest incursion. Not only that, it reveals how the Skrulls may have found ways to evade the most efficient of detection means, including; Dr. Strange's mystic prowess, Mr. Fantastic's technology, and Wolverine's nasal dexterity!

We're still running late so to spin things along; essentially the gang teleport into a Skrull mothership, tell the Skrulls to bugger off and never come back, and then set Black Bolt on them for some Inhuman killer-karaoke. Chaos ensues, the team struggle to escape, and after Namor enjoys a slightly premature and psychotic celebration of the carnage, find themselves captured.

As though they'd been swapping architectural recipes with Dr. Doom, the Skrulls just happen to have a set of customized traps ready to incapacitate the Illuminati. A giant barbecue for Namor; a massive bondage machine for Reed Richards; the usual odds and sods once keeps on an evil alien spacecraft.

We enter the scene with a naked Tony Stark; the most easily debilitated of the team, given the removable nature of his power source.
In between fighting off the shrinking chill of deep space, and dealing with a heart condition maintained by constant use of his armor, Stark finds himself confronted by a rescue brigade of Avengers. Cool! Nah?

See, the problem with running a secret club behind the backs of your mates is, when you get captured by shape-changing space aliens, noone knows where you are to save you. This was the eighties, too, so you can forget text messaging.

Being a pretty seasoned chap, Stark is full aware of the Skrull's cerebral warefare, and sees through the ruse, incurring the wrath of Skrull-Thor.

In an illness defying scene of Rocky 4 proportions; Stark proves he's more than tin cans and string, opening an addictive can of whoop ass on those Skrully bastards. A roundhouse and a few naked spin-kicks later (try not to visualize), and Stark stands triumphant.

I've got whole other issue to talk about yet, so I might just abruptly wrap this up here with the picture of naked Stark. Sure, that's maybe not what you came here for. Maybe that's not what the major sites are doing. Maybe that's just a little too cutting edge for you, but you know what? That's what I do.

The Fix: 3.5 The Issue: 4
Winner: Tony Stark

This first issue of the Illuminati mini-series details events occuring behind the scenes of the Skrull-Kree War. Though it's by no means required reading to appreciate the short amount of story contained within the issue, it wouldn't hurt to splurge this Christmas and get some history before the Invasion! Know the enemy!

---

NAMOR/STRANGE/XAVIER versus THE MIND GEM
(Marvel)
Where: New Avengers: Illuminati #2 When: March 2007 Why: Brian Michael Bendis & Brian Reed How: Jim Cheung

Quick Fix...
I mentioned in the previous fix initial concerns that were central to my first reading of the first couple of issues, and to a certain degree they remain.

Essentially these first issues, while very nice in concept, deliver little that we haven't seen before. Before knowing the specifics of the coming Skrull invasion, one could be forgiven for panning the series as a dull tour through retroactive history, devoid of any real purpose or scope.

Unfortunately, there remains a hint of truth to this assessment, even with a greater goal in mind. Certainly as an element that was introduced through a special, there was a lot of unexplored territory in the Illuminati's clandestine operations, but invariably one can't help but feel there needs to be more at work, even in the asthetics, than a tour through neo history.

Staring down this issue's cover, it would be unfair to say the book was without repercussions. Inherently the title immediately fails if it alters established history, but by playing with the present, the Illuminati are conceptually enabled as they gather the veritable pandora's box of power that is the Infinity Gauntlet -- another call back to the eighties and nineties of Marvel event comics.

Those who don't know Brian Reed may adopt an air of cyncial suspicion when they learn his entry into comics essentially came from penning the Ultimate Spider-man game with his Illuminati co-writer, Brian "How much for the rabbits?*" Bendis.

Reed has since entrenched himself in the Marvel writing staff with a sturdy run on the well sponsored, but inherently B-list, Ms. Marvel solo-title.
Continuing the theme, Reed has now expanded into even less admirable territory, taking up the writing chores of the resurrected, and conceptually maligned, Captain Marvel. More surprising than that, some say he's actually doing a pretty damned good job of it, too.

Now, I'm going to attempt to bend logic in ways even the infinity gauntlet would struggle to do, but stay with me here. We devolve into an abridged version of the Brian Reed history, because there's an important note to be made of Illuminati.

Given the collection of characters involved and the conceptual potential of their adventures, New Avengers: Illuminati does read dramatically under par, but even so, it holds on to a steady mediocre because of reasonably solid characterization. A skill monsieuer Reed appears to have adopted from his contemporary writing partner, who also, despite repeatedly bashing his chromed head against a wall built of his weaknesses, is undeniably competent when characterization is concerned.

Though not especially shown off by this particular scene, these slightly underhanded compliments lead us to our battle in-question, featuring the [spontaneously fan-favourite] Sub-Mariner, Professor X, and Dr. Strange.

Attempting to traverse sub-spacial concept, the trio split from their fellows in the hopes of obtaining the Mind Gem. Having apparently lodged itself outside of reality, into the collective consciousness of the universe, the Mind Gem is not without it's defenses against those who would use it's power for evil.

In an apparent sea of awareness, Dr. Strange warns Namor to pluck the crippled Professor into airborne safety as a giant acquatic behemoth bursts from the blue [pictured above].

Picking up on Dr. Strange's philosophical descriptions of the plane in which they stand, Namor recognises that the potent reality created within the Mind Gem may in fact be of his own doing. Thus, Namor does what he does best, barrelling head-first into the maw of peril!

Namor disappears into the beast's gullet, earning a dramatic "NOOOO!" from Dr. Strange. As if he needs an excuse to be theatrical. Oh yes. Went there!

Not surprisingly, Namor re-emerges from the sea-creature, and gets down to a good socking, while Dr. Strange lends the vital assist with some magickery.
Professor Xavier should be noted as present, but hopefully to the delight of the feminists, purely in the role conventionally occupied by the damsel in distress.

The Fix: 3.5 The Issue: 4
Winner: Sub-Mariner (w/ Dr. Strange)

It's 2:30am, so I shant delay in wrapping this up. If you're done with the Kree-Skrull War, and you want to read-up for some more perspective, move your Christmas purchases on to the Infinity Gauntlet, which inspired the beautiful Jim Cheung cover here. Lots of love to Reed and the gang, and stay tuned for more Infinite Wars, Friday!

*Not an actual nickname for Brian Bendis.