G.O.D.S. by Jonathan Hickman *Spoilers*

[king of hybrids]

Here's hoping Ewing tackles G.O.D.S. in another defenders miniseries. Hickman's work always felt sterile and Ewing is better at bringing out the emotion.

I mean, based on the solicits Ewing will be dealing with In-Betweener first.

Since Hickman intends to revisit GODS; presumably they aren’t marked for death or limbo like other IPs; there are probably limits to what Ewing can do with them.

At the very least it will be some less than subtle railing about making the very foundations of the marvel universe even more corrupt that Oblivion has a say in things, and Loki will probably take down Wyn with a lecture or two, while Taia and Blue Marvel deal with what’s left of the Centum. Odds are LT’s reduction will be explained as a consequence of his death in Ultimates?

Edit: the above is not a knock on Ewing btw. As noted he’ll inject much needed emotion, but there’s only so much he can do, and Hickman’s themes are squarely in stuff he rails against

[jackolover]

I hadn't heard of them before this mini-series, either, but I looked them up online. They are basically boxes that were developed by a psychologist named Skinner to study and condition behavior in animals. They use rewards and punishments to teach, and condition, animals to perform certain tasks. The method is called operant conditioning. So for example, an animal might learn to pull a lever as a response to a green light flashing to earn a treat. But if a red light flashes and they pull the lever, they get punished with an electric shock. So the animal eventually learns when to pull the level to get rewarded and not punished. Since they're inside a box, they're in a very controlled environment without outside stimuli.

So Cubisk Core, having been raised in a Skinner Box, was basically being conditioned to do what the In-Betweener wanted him to do. So my theory was that with all those other boxes Strange and Wyn discovered, and the promise of this series having major implications for the Marvel Universe, maybe it had something to do with everyone being in Skinner Boxes of some sort. Basically learning right and wrong as designed by the bigger forces in the universe, but being oblivious to the truths outside the boxes.

Lovely research BuraddoRun. Thanks for the explanation. It does suggest that the Multiverse is run by the G.O.D.S. to exist a certain way. If that is the case, then there is no freedom. Spectacular revelation BuraddoRun!

Just to expand on this concept.

Superheroes can only behave a certain way. Super villains can only behave a certain way. They are in balance and cannot retreat from that behaviour, because they were made in Skinner boxes. Each animal can only behave a certain way in the orgasm called a planet. It is to give balance to the orgasm. It is the impetus given to each animal by the Skinner boxes.

This is the uniform structure of existence that everything runs to.

I always wondered where the Infinity Stones sat with respect to the Cosmic Entities? Like for instance, how are Infinity Stones controlling the universe, and then something like the Living Tribunal controlling the universe? One seems to be inanimate and the other seems to be intelligence.

[ARkadelphia]

Lovely research BuraddoRun. Thanks for the explanation. It does suggest that the Multiverse is run by the G.O.D.S. to exist a certain way. If that is the case, then there is no freedom. Spectacular revelation BuraddoRun!

Just to expand on this concept.

Superheroes can only behave a certain way. Super villains can only behave a certain way. They are in balance and cannot retreat from that behaviour, because they were made in Skinner boxes. Each animal can only behave a certain way in the orgasm called a planet. It is to give balance to the orgasm. It is the impetus given to each animal by the Skinner boxes.

This is the uniform structure of existence that everything runs to.

I always wondered where the Infinity Stones sat with respect to the Cosmic Entities? Like for instance, how are Infinity Stones controlling the universe, and then something like the Living Tribunal controlling the universe? One seems to be inanimate and the other seems to be intelligence.

Organism. The word you’re seeking is organism.

[king of hybrids]

A thought: Is Living Tribunal’s seeming ‘demotion’ to being the other half of Finality with Oblivion in the Eighth Cosmos as good an excuse as any for why Thanos sealing Death away isn’t quite the disaster such a thing usually would be?

[DigiCom]

A thought: Is Living Tribunal’s seeming ‘demotion’ to being the other half of Finality with Oblivion in the Eighth Cosmos as good an excuse as any for why Thanos sealing Death away isn’t quite the disaster such a thing usually would be?

Only if anyone outside of GODS actually acknowledges it. Otherwise, it's like all those Starlin Thanos projects...

[king of hybrids]

Only if anyone outside of GODS actually acknowledges it. Otherwise, it's like all those Starlin Thanos projects...

Ewing might?

I don’t think Hickman’s cast will come off well when called out by Loki, Blue Marvel etc but they’ll be acknowledged at least.

There are worse fates.

[DigiCom]

Ewing might?

Yeah, Al Ewing might. But he'd also try to find a way to fit it in with the existing cosmology as he did in Ultimates & Defenders.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Yeah, Al Ewing might. But he'd also try to find a way to fit it in with the existing cosmology as he did in Ultimates & Defenders.

Im not against that as in Ewing I trust.

EDIT- today's issue gives us some insight into Dmitri. Better late than never.

[Water Spire]

What makes you think Al Ewing would have the likes of Loki and Blue Marvel do that? He's done it to the Avengers to the point I think he has a few bones to pick with them for some eye rolling reason. But the G.O.D.S. cast are all newbies. I don't see Ewing using Loki or Blue Marvel or Photon or Storm to dump on them.

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

What makes you think Al Ewing would have the likes of Loki and Blue Marvel do that? He's done it to the Avengers to the point I think he has a few bones to pick with them for some eye rolling reason. But the G.O.D.S. cast are all newbies. I don't see Ewing using Loki or Blue Marvel or Photon or Storm to dump on them.

Im not saying i want Ewing to dump on them. I just wanted Ewing to write them. Hickman doesnt appeal to me as a writer. His work can feel hollow or sterile.

[Water Spire]

Back during Al Ewing's Ultimates, the cosmology of the new multiverse was in flux and that might still be the case considering this isn't more than a couple years later in universe.

It seems that The Living Tribunal is the cosmic justice while Oblivion is nihilistic lawlessness.

As for Death? I believe it's Death whose been demoted since death is more or less a joke in comics now. So if Death's been demoted then Thanos sealing her off isn't going to trigger some cosmic horror apocalypse.

[Water Spire]

I get that. His character voices are generally better than Hickman's. Hickman's characters can feel, as you say, sterile. It works very well for some and far less so for many others.

[king of hybrids]

What makes you think Al Ewing would have the likes of Loki and Blue Marvel do that? He's done it to the Avengers to the point I think he has a few bones to pick with them for some eye rolling reason. But the G.O.D.S. cast are all newbies. I don't see Ewing using Loki or Blue Marvel or Photon or Storm to dump on them.

Because the Abstracts, their servants and Avatars are authority and a cosmic status quo; things Blue Marvel and Loki are very much opposed to. They represent another pretty malicious system of control that the characters have to obey.

With the exception of his very apparent disaster for Tony Stark, Most of Ewing’s anti-Avengers stance is in-character for the characters he writes.