Avengers World #7 - Thoughts and Spoilers

[Bruce Wayne]

The SPEAR stuff has been referenced before in the long-delayed SHIELD comic,

Which was more an organization similar to the brotherood of the shield, but located in the east and which became part of HYDRA.

[JaggedFel]

I really liked the Acendants here but, I wouldn't have minded seeing old faves like Radioactive Man, Jade Dragon and Collective Man on the team.

At least SOMEBODY finally gave Monkey King something to do.

Yeah Finally.

[jackolover]

The Immortal Weapons? I don't even know what the status on them is anymore. Fat Cobra seems to be the only one still popping up from time to time. The rest of the team kind of vanished after the Defenders...

Regardless, they are more for dealing with mystical threats, and their first and foremost loyalty is to the heavenly cities that they hail from (the same rings true with Iron Fist).

Yeah, I think the Immortal Weapons were all killed at some point.

[Bruce Wayne]

That was in the Fraction Defenders run, which never happened.

[jackolover]

I've seen something similar in an undersea story, where the Avengers are dropped off by an Asian country Massive undersea carrier. I thought that was the Chinese version of SHIELD.

[somebody]

Loving this series. I really hope Spencer gets Avengers after Hickman. I'm also very happy with the SPEAR stuff. My only regret is that Hickman possibly won't be fleshing out a lot of what I was hoping for in the last two issues of SHIELD. That said, reading through all his work from SECRET WARRIORS, F4/FF, SHEILD then AVENGERS should form a pretty cohesive look at the MU.

[king of hybrids]

Which was more an organization similar to the brotherood of the shield, but located in the east and which became part of HYDRA.

so this either going to become a nod to the SHIELD/Hydra civil war in the MCU; or the brotherhood managed to shcism between proto-hydra and the brotherhood?

[jackolover]

That was in the Fraction Defenders run, which never happened.

Ha. Good point.

[Tien Long]

Yeah Finally.

Yeah, as I mentioned previously, I'm glad to see Sun Wukong in this role. I'll admit, initially, I didn't like the modern day, Marvelized version of Sun Wukong. However, seeing him on the Ascendants team seems to be a good fit. Personally, I see his inclusion as opening the doorway to some interesting stories. Sun Wukong is a mythological being and thus he could interact with other mythological beings. I'd totally love to see Sun Wukong interact with guys like Thor or Hercules. Moreover, Wukong allows Chinese mythological elements to have a bigger presence in the Marvel Universe. I could totally see stories that have emissaries from Asgard paying a visit to the heavenly imperial court of the Jade Emperor.

Sorry, I didn't mean an officially sanctioned conglomeration, but something more under the radar - a task-force dedicated to defending the Eastern hemisphere from dire threats like extraterrestrial invasions, with no political ties. After all, there really aren't that many super heroes active in that region of the world (as comic logic dictates), so it would make more sense for them to pool their resources together. It's also inevitable that SPEAR will need to help neighboring nations regardless, and without any jurisdiction from said nations, they would be infringing on their sovereignty.

Could the heroes of China, Japan, and the rest of East Asia unofficially pool their resources together? I think so. I think that the heroes of these areas themselves would see the bigger picture, that there are threats that are not just limited to their own nations. Indeed, the current situation in Avengers World is little bit like that, as you have a Japanese national, the Gorgon, threatening both the nations of Madripoor and China. Still, storywise, I could see the nations of East Asia in the Marvel Universe eventually reaching SOME type of agreement moreso then their real world counterparts. Indeed, in the real world, these nations don't have to worry about all of these superhuman and extraordinary threats.

I am looking at as more of a point of the readership. There are few well know Supers from China and Radioactive man is one of them. That is why I could see them using him.

The social or political ramifications of the real world don't factor into it at all. This is a fictional China and they will act however a writer picks. I am all for new characters though you never know when one might click.

Even storywise, I think that S.P.E.A.R. wouldn't want the Radioactive Man to be part of the team. It appears that S.P.E.A.R. wants to give off the image that they are a non-threat. Unfortunately, Radioactive Man is more infamous then famous. As he is a past member of the Masters of Evil and Norman Osborn's Thunderbolts, I don't think the Chinese government would want that notoriety attached to their team.

Of course, maybe behind the scenes of S.P.E.A.R., good old Dr. Chen Lu is cooking up some secret schemes with some Chinese bureaucrats.