Avengers #10 (700th issue) Spoilers and Review

[Ravin' Ray]

This issue is titled "The Battle for the Right to be Called… Earth's Mightiest". And to see not just the three teams featured in the preview and past issue (Avengers, Defenders of the Deep, and Winter Guard), we now have a fourth team.
spoilers:

Squadron Supreme of America, with Hyperion, Power Princess, Nighthawk, Doctor Spectrum, and Whizzer. It doesn't say which incarnations of those heroes are present, as last time I know there are two Zardas, the depowered one from Earth-712 and the one who stole her powers.

end of spoilers
I did hope we'd see the two storm/thunder gods face off, Thor fans are sure to be displeased his girlfriend-to-be (She-)Hulk outmatched not just Perun but Chernobog as well.

[LordUltimus]

spoilers:

I'm guessing that's really the Squadron Sinister.

end of spoilers

[Snoop Dogg]

The Russians have always been a part of the MU that would just randomly hop between books and has never been at the forefront, so I respect the decision to give them a shot here and up their profile. I also like that Dmitri is the Crimson Dynamo now since that moniker's been diluted to nothing with its dozen incarnations.

The Squadron Supreme thing is something I'll have to wait and see on. Don't like that they brought Phil back when they just could've used Gyrich. While I don't really want them to be yet more new versions of those characters, I definitely don't want that Whizzer to be James, because I want him available for ASM. Probably the weakest scene of the issue, a US-based anti-Avengers team could've had some cool pulls like USAgent.

I wonder if Stingray living was a last minute dialogue change. I kinda just imagined that his survival would be its own reveal. Either way, I'm glad he's alive and like the use of the more deep-cut Atlantean characters.

The Wolverine twist is nice and simplifies things a lot, so there's a lot more Duggan/Aaron synergy going on than I thought. As for the now classic Jason Aaron two-page tease spread, we already got most of those in the first's arc's narration, but the Punisher one is cool. Interested to see what the real overarching conflict of the book will be with its world tour approach.

All in all, a very hefty issue at a bargain price with a bunch of sick artists and always excellent Aaron scripting. The Odin/Robbie story wasn't necessary but very nice, I appreciate any Agent of Atlas love, and I now know never to go double god.

But Hydra Cap is still in jail.

[kilderkin]

Even going back to Odin's earliest appearances, he was a jerk. I mean, in one issue he tells Loki how he's just his second favorite son the entire issue.

sure, then I consider how much of an evil petty jerk loki has been and that odin has several sons and that makes me realise how forgiving he was to put him that high up

and given that that kind of ranking in royal courts was quite common, not that harsh at all from that perspective

ill not bother to consider the multiple times odin has forgiven loki being a murderous evil mastermind whos caused pain and suffering to the realms and his own family and many innocents over the centuries out of jealousy or petty power plays

has odin ben a jerk sure, but its only with recent treatments that he has only been a jerk, and not the wise forgiving mastermind who planned centuries in advance to protect his family and people doing what was needed to keep them safe so others didn't have to or when no one else could

its much easier to write him as a 1 dimensional despot with security issues

imo

[Samson3191]

That entire issue had me pretty hyped. I’ve thought Aaron’s Avengers run has been mostly okay, but there was just a lot of cool stuff going on with this one. Way into it.

[Digifiend]

This issue is titled "The Battle for the Right to be Called… Earth's Mightiest". And to see not just the three teams featured in the preview and past issue (Avengers, Defenders of the Deep, and Winter Guard), we now have a fourth team.
spoilers:

Squadron Supreme of America, with Hyperion, Power Princess, Nighthawk, Doctor Spectrum, and Whizzer. It doesn't say which incarnations of those heroes are present, as last time I know there are two Zardas, the depowered one from Earth-712 and the one who stole her powers.

end of spoilers
I did hope we'd see the two storm/thunder gods face off, Thor fans are sure to be displeased his girlfriend-to-be (She-)Hulk outmatched not just Perun but Chernobog as well.

spoilers:

The previous team also had Blur from the New Universe instead of Whizzer, and Nighthawk, after his solo book and the team book were both cancelled, was unceremoniously killed off in Occupy Avengers in the Secret Empire tie-in. So this new Squadron Supreme definitely isn't the same version.

end of spoilers

[kilderkin]

spoilers:

The previous team also had Blur from the New Universe instead of Whizzer, and Nighthawk, after his solo book and the team book were both cancelled, was unceremoniously killed off in Occupy Avengers in the Secret Empire tie-in. So this new Squadron Supreme definitely isn't the same version.

end of spoilers

gotta be the the dodgy version

[Colt Cape]

Nighthawk looked like he was black.

Is he the Supreme Power/Raymond Kane Nighthawk? If so, what happened to his badass design?

[Dreaded Porcupine]

Wow! Aaron just kicked it up a major notch. He just overtook the Justice League in one giant-sized issue. I love super teams. This issue had plenty. I see some future heavyweight battles coming up. This looks like it is heading towards another Avengers world. Can't wait to see who is going to be recruited. Going to be hard to keep track of eveyone. Looking forward to it. Great issue!

[pageturner]

Has this Wolverine stuff been building elsewhere? I know there have been a bunch of hunt for and return of books of late. Did he get this update in those stories?

I like Coulson being back but I thought for a minute were going to get Agents of Atlas.

[Jabare]

Nighthawk looked like he was black.

Is he the Supreme Power/Raymond Kane Nighthawk? If so, what happened to his badass design?

looks like it. Good question. Creative choice?

Wow! Aaron just kicked it up a major notch. He just overtook the Justice League in one giant-sized issue. I love super teams. This issue had plenty. I see some future heavyweight battles coming up. This looks like it is heading towards another Avengers world. Can't wait to see who is going to be recruited. Going to be hard to keep track of eveyone. Looking forward to it. Great issue!

Lets be honest Avengers passed the current Justice League book a few issues back, which is pretty shocking. This Avengers had such a generic/by the numbers start despite all the star power, whereas Snyder was blasting on all cylinders with his first arc of Justice League despite the mediocre No Justice. But here we are and this monthly is kicking that bi-weekly's butt. I think Snyder is trying to do way too much in Justice League and its hurting the story. Aaron kept things simple but has the story really humming now. He's also highlighting the fan favorites and giving everyone their moments.

[sifighter]

Nighthawk looked like he was black.

Is he the Supreme Power/Raymond Kane Nighthawk? If so, what happened to his badass design?

No, last I checked that one died off panel during Secret Empire in Occupy Avengers. I think this might be the original 616 Nighthawk, Kyle Richmond from the Defenders.

Of course it’s comics so he might be back or this might be a new version, who knows.

[Magmaster12]

This must not be the same Hyperion either since he has a different costume.
Usually, when Hyperion has a mask it means he is evil.

[Lonewolf36]

If it's Squadron Sinister then it's probably not the real Coulson either then.

[Snoop Dogg]

Has this Wolverine stuff been building elsewhere? I know there have been a bunch of hunt for and return of books of late. Did he get this update in those stories?

I like Coulson being back but I thought for a minute were going to get Agents of Atlas.

The Wolverine in Hunt/Return is the normal Prime Wolverine who died years ago. That's just Soule's story picking up where he left off.

The Wolverine in this Avengers book first appeared in Aaron's Marvel Legacy one-shot, was in Duggan's cosmic Infinity Countdown stuff, is introduced again as the Phoenix Wolverine from the end of time in Aaron's new Thor relaunch, and only in this issue did we learn that this wandering Wolverine is that Phoenix Wolverine in the present somehow, who will go on an adventure with Loki in next year's Wolverine: Infinity Watch book.