Young Avengers appreciation 2019

[Journey]

This is gonna be Glorious!!!

[Drops Of Venus]

The first story was basically what we expected, but that last one.... DAMN! I wonder where this is going.

My thoughts on the murder mystery:

spoilers:

I knew they weren't going to kill Billy. Although considering the two victims were precisely a Kree and a Skrull, that definitely ties in to Teddy's story somehow. Also, the way that Skrull died was super freaky. What the hell was that?! I'm intrigued.

end of spoilers

On the Howard/Cheung/Fajardo Jr. story:

spoilers:

It was really sweet. It was nice seeing Billy and Teddy getting to say goodbye to each other before Teddy took off. It's pretty much what I thought it would be, except I thought the roles would be reversed here: Teddy would be the needy one, while Billy encourages him to go on his own. It was definitely interesting to see that Billy was the one who wanted to go with him instead. Also, it's upsetting to hear how he's unhappy with Strikeforce. It doesn't help that I'm not particularly excited about the team, so to read that Billy isn't even enjoying being a part of it just makes it worse. Considering that this was written by Tini herself, I wonder if she's trying to tell us that his days on the team are numbered... I honestly would be ok with that, as long as Marvel can put him on something where it feels like he belongs.

end of spoilers

On the Ewing/Ramos/Delgado story:

spoilers:

THERE'S SO MUCH TO PROCESS HERE! How all of this even... happened? I mean, obviously, there's going to be an explanation, but I'M SO CONFUSED. The Kree/Skrulls are already one singular empire it seems, and Teddy is already reigning over them. I wonder for how long this has been going on. DOES BILLY EVEN KNOW ABOUT IT? 'Cause it wasn't clear if he knew exactly what Teddy was up to in the previous story. I'm SUPER GLAD Ewing brought up the fact that Kl'rt killed his mom and Teddy's uncomfortable around him because of that. AS HE SHOULD! It bothers me that people have seemed to forget about this brutal crime. I hope Teddy doesn't go easy on him. Also, can we talk about how eloquent and confident he was during his speech? He definitely had some time to train his diplomatic skills. AND HE DECLARED WAR ON EARTH???? LIKE WHAT???? I KNOW there is more to this story, because I KNOW Theodore Rufus Altman would NOT just deliberately attack Earth, which is his home and the home of all his loved ones. He definitely has some kind of plan. My guess is that this is related to the ''beware the trees'' threat that killed the Kree and the Skrull. Maybe he has to attack Earth not to hurt the earthlings, but to get rid of whoever or whatever is the murderer? Minor nitpick: I really dislike that he formally refers to himself as Dorrek VIII. I would prefer if his official cosmic name was Dorrek-Vell, first of his name. It unites the best of both worlds, and it actually hints at the start of a new empire instead of continuing the old one. Not to mention he's taking the legacy name from Dorrek VII, his dictator grandfather who'd kill him as a baby. So, you know... not exactly a nice name to carry on. I also hope we get to see him in his regular form more often instead of just the Hulk look. His royal look is not bad, but I expected something more pompous, I guess. I really like the cape, though. We love two fiances with matching red capes!

end of spoilers

Also, we had a teaser for a new book in April which may involve Teddy: A4 - Empyre. I'm guessing this is Avengers related, since the cover had the current Avengers roster facing a silhouette that looks like Teddy's.

[Digifiend]

A4: Empyre is by Dan Slott. He's the one who wrote that last section. A4 means Avengers/Fantastic Four, Slott of course being the FF's regular writer.

[Beetle]

Check the credits page again. Ewing wrote the last section, pages 81-84

Empyre is his baby. You can tell because the art was Ramos, not Pacheco

[Drops Of Venus]

A4: Empyre is by Dan Slott. He's the one who wrote that last section. A4 means Avengers/Fantastic Four, Slott of course being the FF's regular writer.

I wonder why Empyre, an Avengers/F4 crossover, seems to be building up to be an Ewing/Slott event, with the apparent absence of Jason Aaron, who is the current Avengers writer. Maybe Ewing is taking over Avengers? I would be ok with that. Or maybe Aaron wanted to take a break from events, since he did WOTR this year.

Check the credits page again. Ewing wrote the last section, pages 81-84

Empyre is his baby. You can tell because the art was Ramos, not Pacheco

You're right. I went straight to the last creative team that was credited, without realizing the page numbers. I'll edit my post.

[Digifiend]

I made the same mistake.

[Beetle]

spoilers:

So after re-reading I'm pretty sure that Bel-Dann and Raksor's shared mission on Earth was to unite the Kree and the Skrull under Teddy's rule. Raksor left two messages to Bel-Dann before knowing he was dead. One voicemail: "Go home General. And if we've done our job right... it will be our home." And the other was written in that code: "ALL HAIL THE KING" Bel-Dann and Raksor were both killed by plants (Bel-Dann in a locked room with a potted plant and Raksor when the apple he'd been eating suddenly sprouted into a full tree while inside of him), so the general assumption around the internet is that the message Bel-Dann left to Raksor: "Beware the trees" is in reference to the Cotati race. The Cotati are originally from Hala, same as the Kree, but they evolved from plants. They were the first victims of the Kree-Skrull War, the Kree nearly wiped out the entire race as a show of superiority. But their offspring survived as seedlings and pretended to be regular plants for millenia, developing telepathic abilities. With the help of the Kree pacifists (the Priest of Pama) the Cotati left Hala and started planting themselves on planets across the galaxy, including Earth. Interestingly enough there's a Cotati prophecy similar to Teddy's. From the Marvel wikia: "A prophecy read that one day the perfect human female, who would be the Celestial Madonna, would have a union with the perfect male plant of the Cotati race, and from their union would spring the perfect child, who would be the Celestial Messiah; a being that destined to change the universe." The Celestial Madonna and Messiah being Mantis (from the Guardians of the Galaxy) and her son Quoi (short of Sequoia) I'm pretty sure all of this is going to be relevant because the March solicits show that they are reprinting issues about Mantis, her wedding to the Cotati, and Quoi under the True Believers line to give background for the Empyre event. My guess is Ewing is using the existence of these two prophecies, for two different galactic saviours, to create a new conflict between the Kree-Skrull Alliance and the Cotati.

end of spoilers

[Digifiend]

spoilers:

Mantis was an Avenger before she was a Guardian, and it was in Avengers that the Celestial Madonna storyline happened.

end of spoilers

[Drops Of Venus]

DON'T CLICK IT IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS, Y'ALL!

https://www.bleedingcool.com/2019/12...aled-spoilers/

So this is an interesting recap of the backstory of the two characters who died on Incoming!, and it made me appreciate the choice to make them the victims a bit more. In a way, it's very symbolic to the overall story Ewing is trying to tell here. It's also a cool coincidence that one of them has a history with Teddy's brother. Gotta love how Al's capable of making me care about two characters I didn't even know existed until today. Not sure if I agree with BleedingCool's assessment that they were portrayed as a coded couple in the book, though. I didn't get that impression, but it would certainly make their deaths more tragic.

Anyway, it's pretty exciting that Incoming! turned out to be just one big teaser for Empyre, with Teddy right at the center of it all. It's crazy to think that it wasn't that long ago that I was so pissed at Marvel for wasting his potential. I really hope he gets his own book or at least a team book led by him out of this.

spoilers:

So after re-reading I'm pretty sure that Bel-Dann and Raksor's shared mission on Earth was to unite the Kree and the Skrull under Teddy's rule. Raksor left two messages to Bel-Dann before knowing he was dead. One voicemail: "Go home General. And if we've done our job right... it will be our home." And the other was written in that code: "ALL HAIL THE KING" Bel-Dann and Raksor were both killed by plants (Bel-Dann in a locked room with a potted plant and Raksor when the apple he'd been eating suddenly sprouted into a full tree while inside of him), so the general assumption around the internet is that the message Bel-Dann left to Raksor: "Beware the trees" is in reference to the Cotati race. The Cotati are originally from Hala, same as the Kree, but they evolved from plants. They were the first victims of the Kree-Skrull War, the Kree nearly wiped out the entire race as a show of superiority. But their offspring survived as seedlings and pretended to be regular plants for millenia, developing telepathic abilities. With the help of the Kree pacifists (the Priest of Pama) the Cotati left Hala and started planting themselves on planets across the galaxy, including Earth. Interestingly enough there's a Cotati prophecy similar to Teddy's. From the Marvel wikia: "A prophecy read that one day the perfect human female, who would be the Celestial Madonna, would have a union with the perfect male plant of the Cotati race, and from their union would spring the perfect child, who would be the Celestial Messiah; a being that destined to change the universe." The Celestial Madonna and Messiah being Mantis (from the Guardians of the Galaxy) and her son Quoi (short of Sequoia) I'm pretty sure all of this is going to be relevant because the March solicits show that they are reprinting issues about Mantis, her wedding to the Cotati, and Quoi under the True Believers line to give background for the Empyre event. My guess is Ewing is using the existence of these two prophecies, for two different galactic saviours, to create a new conflict between the Kree-Skrull Alliance and the Cotati.

end of spoilers

I was wondering what the other reprints from the True Believers line were about. They seemed random at first, but putting all of this into perspective.... it all makes perfect sense. I really think you cracked the case.

[legion_quest]

Mantis fitting a possible Morgan Le Fey role, to her son playing a Mordred role.....

I still say Ewing is setting up for a Space King Arthur with all the set pieces....

[Desmark]

The next secret invasion is by plants? Beware, your harmless looking potted plant can be one of them secretly!
#whocanyoutrust

[Dthirds3]

The next secret invasion is by plants? Beware, your harmless looking potted plant can be one of them secretly!
#whocanyoutrust

That m.night shamalong movie where the plants kill peoples is coming true ?

[Magmaster12]

I wonder if this a reference to Gillian's run on Iron Man when Tony and Arno visited an alternate reality were according to the wiki.

Thirty years in the future, Dorrek VIII was the emperor of the union of the Kree and Skrull empire. Nine years later, he extinguished the life on Earth with bombardment of cortex neutralizer following the decimation of humanity

Also, why does Teddy look more like a Skrull when his caucasian form is his normal one?

[Digifiend]

He doesn't. No ridged chin. He looks like a Hulk, not a Skrull - hence his Hulkling codename.

[Magmaster12]

He doesn't. No ridged chin. He looks like a Hulk, not a Skrull - hence his Hulkling codename.

He has the skrull ears though.