Friendships have been torn apart.
Worlds have been destroyed.
Everything dies.
Only two universes remain.
These are the final days of The Multiverse.
And this means war.
Howdy ho readerinos. You have come with me on this journey. Now we reach our final stop.
Welcome to the finale of my series on Jonathan Hickman's Avengers.
It's going to be a hell of a ride.
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| Library Copy of Iron Man |
Before we start I need to make a slight confession. This is not going to be based on a volume of Avengers as technically speaking that story ends with Time Runs Out. However, given that this whole story has been about colliding earths and Multiversal death it would be remiss of me to end at Time Runs Out. This volume is going to be based on the climatic crossover event that ends three years of storytelling.
We're about to go to Battleworld and experience Secret Wars.
How did we get to this point? Well through the pages of New Avengers we learn that Earth's are appearing in the sky, and should the two Earth's make contact then both universes will die. However should one Earth be destroyed then both Universes will survive. These events are called Incursions and are causing the accelerated death of the multiverse. The Illuminati are regrouped to delay the inevitable. Elsewhere in the pages of The Avengers Iron Man and Captain America build an Avengers Machine. A team large enough to be ready for every eventuality, and subtly designed by Iron Man to cover anything more 'public' to allow The Illuminati to deal with the job at hand.
We then see the heights the Avengers reach, essentially winning an intergalactic war, while liberating the Earth from the grip of The Mad Titan Thanos. But secrets come out in the open, tearing apart the Avengers, and seeing the existence of Incursions revealed to the world, the planet's governments put their faith in devils. Yet The Avengers, The Illuminati and those in power are not the only people seeking answers to the end of everything. Victor Von Doom is aware, and has plans of his own in motion. As the strands draw closer together most of the alternate universes disappear.
Only two remain, the mainstream Marvel 616 universe and The Ultimate Universe. Ragnarok is here. The war to end all things. The final incursion is upon us.
And this is where we pick up Secret Wars. As you can imagine we're talking chaos on a truly biblical level. People panic. Heroes fighting heroes from another world. An Earth hanging in a red sky. These are the end of days. An apocalypse beyond imagination. Everything dies and the final hour is nigh. As 616 and the Ultimate Universe wage war outside Reed Richards (AKA Mr Fantastic) and T'Challa, The Black Panther, are desperately working on a solution of sorts. Because when you can't win you have to figure out how not to lose. They have built a lifeboat, designed to survive in the void of oblivion, thus giving humanity a chance to rebuild elsewhere.
The clock is ticking, one of the teams extracting people to go in the lifeboat are blown to smithereens. Plan B is implemented. Sacrificing his life, Manifold teleports everyone he can into the lifeboat. Reed pilots the ship towards the heart of the incursion, based on the premise that the eye of the storm is the best place to survive, yet tragedy strikes. Then a section of the lifeboat breaks off, condemning Sue Richards and hers and Reed's children to dying in the nothingness. A blinding white light consumes all, and at the heart of it a mask appears. It is the face of Doom.
Our second issue opens up on a strange world.
In Doomstadt, the hallowed halls of God those who would be worthy of the All-Fathers favour will step forward to test themselves. Finally a young man steps forward. Clasping the hammer in front of him he feels the lightning surge through him. He stands transformed. No longer a mere mortal, but a Thor. A Champion of Justice. A Servant of Doom. Elsewhere in Doomstadt the God Emperor Doom himself sits in judgement of a dispute between two of his barons. Flanked by his Sherriff Stephen Strange, and his daughter and Science Minister Valeria, the Creator of all listens. He hears cases being made. He casts his verdict. This is not Earth. This is not any world previously in existence. The Highborn call it Latverion, but most have another name for it. Battleworld.
What we discover is that during Time Runs Out and the confrontation between The Beyonders (omnipotent godlike beings who created the multiverse, and now in a fit of boredom would see it's destruction) and Doom, Strange and Owen Reece (AKA The Molecule Man), Doom was not only able to take the powers of The Beyonders. Then he sets about saving what he could of the Multiverse. Crafting it. Forging it. Moulding Battleworld where he sits as a god. Alternate reality by alternate reality. Multiple versions of various characters. But make no mistake there is only one Doom.
Once court is over and the secret to battle world is revealed Strange is confronted with something discovered by the Science Ministry. Something made of materials not found on Battleworld. Something older than the world itself. A round, metallic looking thing, last seen in a bright flash of light. This is big. This is a serious problem. To all intents and purposes this is Schism. Strange orders a quarantine, sending the young Thor we were introduced to at the beginning and an experienced Thor to monitor the situation. Yet the denizens of Battleworld are a curious lot, and despite being told by the left hand of God and his hammer wielding champions of justice not to touch anything they just can't resist. After Strange departs for The Isle of Agamotto, his own hidden citadel in The World Sea, someone presses something they shouldn't on the object. It's a lifeboat. Just not the one that you're expecting. The Cabal step forth. Massacre ensures. Older Thor sends Young Thor to Strange with a warning of the danger they face. Older Thor and those present die, all bar one who Thanos interrogates as to where they are, and who rules here. After being answered Thanos leads The Cabal away from the scene of the crime.
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| Library Copy of The Avengers |
When the Young Thor catches up to Strange he informs him of what is happening. Strange dispatches the Thor Corps to hunt down these interlopers, before investigating the scene. At the seemingly deserted site he senses another presence still on board the Cabal's lifeboat. Challenging them to show themselves Miles Morales, The Ultimate Spider-Man, steps out. Unsure of what to do, Strange takes Young Thor and Miles to The Isle of Agamotto. Here it is revealed that the sheriff is in possession of a life raft of his own. Asking the Thor to show him how the other lifeboat was opened, the young hammer wielder steps forward and pushes a button. Slowly the door opens. Out step Black Panther, Mr Fantastic, Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers), Spider-Man (Peter Parker), A Phoenix Force empowered Cyclops, Thor (currently a Mjolnir empowered Jane Foster) and Starlord.
Meanwhile in a realm an ocean away, The Thor Corps discover The Cabal.
Once confirming that they are the heroes from Strange's timeline the Sheriff gets them up to speed on what they missed. He also explains he might have found them three years ago. But don't worry, before our happy reunion can really get going, Young Thor's hammer glows blue. Strange knows it can only mean bad things. Rallying the few troops he has at his disposal the Sheriff and survivors from a dead world set off to face the Cabal. However this is not the only power that the Thors have appealed to. Those Thors on the ground fighting the Cabal beseech the All-Father Doom himself to intervene. Just as Strange arrives with his cavalry, Doom follows not far behind. Seeing himself as a merciful God, Doom says he will allow the survivors to live on Battleworld if only they bend the knee to him. Knowing this won't happen Cyclops challenges Doom, and seems to be getting the better of him. Right up until God breaks his neck. Seeing how things will go if he doesn't do something Strange casts a spell dispersing the Cabal and the survivors from 616 across Battleworld, incurring the wrath of Doom as payment for this deed.
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| Library Copy Of The Avengers |
After a funeral for Strange it is revealed that Molecule Man not only survived the end of everything but is the conduit for Doom's godlike powers. However things are already starting to fall apart. Someone called The Prophet is leading an army to Doomstadt. The two remaining reed Richard's are scheming. Black Panther and Namor gain access to The Isle of Agamotto, as well as the items of immense power Strange has been squirreling away, including a fully functioning Infinity Gauntlet. The Thors are informed of what is truly happening. Things are all going a bit haywire. Finally, at the foot of The Shield, a giant orange wall that protects the rest of Battleworld from the hordes of The Annihilation Wave, The Deadlands and the Ultron A.I. stands Thanos. Because once you have been a God, you kinda resent anyone else having that power. The stage is set for the final battle. God must fall. Otherwise things may never be the same again. Because while Everything Dies, Everything Lives before the end.
Secret Wars as an event, as a reboot, is an exceptional piece of work. Over three years, multiple issues and story arcs this is the end of Hickman’s masterpiece. And I don't use that word loosely. In every sense of the word this is truly a masterpiece. From taking obscure and second string characters with cult followings and turning them into fully fledged Avengers Legends, to the machinations of The Illuminati this is a run that has it all. Add into that the sense of epic storytelling framed through time, space and the multiverse and it is easy to see why this run is lauded as highly as it is, and why Hickman is regarded as arguably the greatest Comic Writer of his generation. Yet with this seeming heavy layers of complexity you don't find yourself getting lost in the grandeur or depth of it all. That's because at its heart, for all that seems to be going on, secrets, lies, invasion, war and the end of everything this is a storytelling of striking simplicity.
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