This storyline did nothing to justify its "event" status. It really should have been a storyline in the main Avengers book and the set ups at the conclusion lead me to believe it was at first. It was also padded out beyond belief. This literally could have been 4 issues.
Coulson has been character assassinated to the point I doubt you can rehab him at this point. As other posters have said, a government stooge like Gyrich would have been better here than Coulson. Purely because that guy has hated superhumans since day 1 (especially being distrustful of The Avengers). So him having a group like SSoA under his control fits his M.O.
Characters do stuff here they shouldn't do, they utter some of the worst dialogue I have ever seen put to print, Coulson morphed into the worst type of villain whereby the average moustache twirling, tying damsel to train tracks guys look like Shakespeare by comparison.
The art was exceptional. That was the only redeeming thing about this for me.
Come on, Marvel. You can do better than this.
I just hope The Avengers don't end up where they were in the 90's relegated to 4th tier importance in the Marvel Universe.
The fact that there hasn't been an arc where The FRIGGIN' Avengers haven't looked at the Krakoan conundrum is insanity.
Aaron is leaving so much story telling potential on the table - like why wasn't an issue of Avengers part of the Hellfire Gala!?
I’d prefer letting the x office do their thing and have the Avengers pop up in those books vs forcing a tie in.
Overall, I liked this event myself. I like alternate reality stories and the tie ins for this one were excellent. Story resolved kinda quickly but I was glad to see my fav of the Squadron, Nighthawk, sticking around. Give me more with him Marvel! And while I have no issue with corrupted Coulson (it’ll get reversed by end of Aaron’s run) I miss Coulson classic. He’s going to hate how he’s been used here.
You know what I want to see? Hyperion and Nighthawk vs Hyperion and Nighthawk. The version of Mark from Hickman's Avengers and Robinson's Squadron Supreme is still out there. While the ANAD Nighthawk died in the Occupy Avengers tie-in to Secret Empire, Deadly Nightshade took over his mantle... what would HR Kyle think of that? HR Blur, Power Princess and Doctor Spectrum all ended up imprisoned. I did like them saying Stanley Stewart doesn't exist - the previous Blur (who should also still be out there somewhere) had a different secret identity.
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The way I look at it, as Huntsman says, this is a Phil Coulson who was killed by someone he trusted, (I think in Secret Empire by Hydra Cap?), so Coulson being cynical towards Superhero fits here. The dialogue being simplistic could also be because it was controlled by Coulson the ring master with his cosmic cube, so I’m okay with that.
The really unexplained parts are about this other Mephisto in a Panther motif being the one who does this attack on the MU, not our traditional Mephisto in the cape and long spiky hair. You see our Mephisto in the end pic to the left, I think, so I’m surprised this other Mephisto attacks the MU and not his own alternate Earth.
And then we have to realise this was planned out, executed, since Avengers #10, as you can see by the playing cards, gifted to us with this weeks comics. So, for the best part of 39 issues, this whole Heroes Reborn thing was bubbling away in the background waiting for what? The end of King in Black. What was the delay? The June prime time? Maybe it’s Marvels “Event” slot? All this Event did is pick a moment in time that Mephisto and Coulson thought nothing was really going on post-KIB, so let’s just imagine our Squadron Supreme world, and see how it goes. It was a similar cosmic cube fantasy typical of the Red Skulls alterations whenever he gets a hold of a cube. Nothing really changes and when you break the cube, everything just falls back the way it was. It was a cosmic cube story, not a Mephisto story.
On one levels, yes this was just an Avengers story that could have been told there in 8 issues. But looking at all the subjects addressed by the series, and tie-ins produced from the concept of a story left to a cynical human who wants to punish the Avengers? There was quite a bit of material surrounding the simple cosmic cube premise. Religion being criticised, the Fantastic Four still being present, (except we don’t find out what Johnny’s sister Sue was doing, but seeing Johnny has powers I think Sue had powers), Knight Gwen, Spider-Blur, the profanity that super heroes and villains and Cosmics were dismissed with impudence, these had subjects you can’t similarly inject into other series so easily, without a cross-over.
Last edited by jackolover; 06-24-2021 at 03:58 AM.
The problem is that this Coulson takes his revenge on the entire world, never once focused on the people who hurt him.
Deadpool only appears in the tie ins, Cap remains frozen in ice and oh yeah, Coulson uses a variant of the same plot devise that made Cap evil in the first place.
It's hard to buy this as 'Coulson wanting revenge' when he doesn't hurt the people responsible, but absolutely devastates the world and the entire damn galaxy instead.
Also, don't wanna get too 'Vs thread', but I have a hard time seeing a cosmic cube being that damn powerful as to literally change everything. They're not new, yet Aaron never bothers to try to 'sell' his new plot devise.
The shield is vibranium and we found out the reason captain America made Hyperion woozy back in the 2nd issue is because vibranium is effectively his kryptonite. So it was the combination of Wakanda being built on vibranium weakening him, the fight with Thor, then finally the shield to the face.
I believe the best word to describe this Squadron Supreme is "delusive", especially Nighthawk. He really thinks his team made the world safer than the Avengers ever could, when he's incapable of realizing they were just following orders from the Devil to remove any threats to his power, like I said in a previous post. And Hyperion really thought Peter Parker was his friend when he actually hated him because Aunt May died by his recklessness. I would have liked to see Peter storming on his face and face the truth, that he was nothing but a brute ox with no brain.
Coulson was really delusive too. He said the Avengers brought nothing but chaos ever since they emerged. Well, maybe he should check the history of his own world. The Civil Wars, Norman Osborn's Dark Reign, the King in Black... All those "chaotic events" that Coulson blames on the Avengers also happened in "Heroes Reborn". So how does that make the Squadron better than the Avengers when they couldn't stop those events from happening? There's something else about Coulson, if he's not trapped in Hell paying for his failure, how is it possible he will meet Fury during the events of "Infinity Destinies"?
So, the Squadron Supreme don't have fingertips or navels. And how is it possible they never notice this and found it suspictious?
Now let's see. Blur, Doctor Spectrum and Power Princess have been incarcerated. Spectrum is now a cry baby because his prism was broken, Blurr is so depressed he lost his speed, and Power Princess... Well, she doesn't seem to have been affected, but it appear she was weakened enough to keep her under custody. Hyperion seems to be depressed too, even although he never faced the truth about Peter Parker; but what will he do now? As for Nighthawk, it seems he's going to be a serious threat in the future. Will he try to restore the Heroes Reborn's world? He said it was a world that made sense, and I said "only if you are insane". He really has to be stopped, and it would be very appropiated if they lock him on Ravencroft's Assylum.
Blur was effectively depowered short term because Black Panther tore the tendons in his legs, thus meaning he can't walk, let alone run, until they heal. He became depressed because he lost his speed, not the other way around.
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But the injures that Black Panther caused him shouldn't be a reason to lose his speed, just temporaly lose his ability to walk. In DC, Flash heals at superspeed too, which means Blur should have been able to walk again very quickly. That was no reason to lose his speed.