Getting in under the wire before reaching the end of Avengers Vol. 1 was the release of the book's 400th issue, a last hurrah of Earth's Mightiest Heroes before the team becomes engulfed in the coming of Onslaught. (Perhaps the less said about Onslaught, the better.) Written by Mark Waid with art by Mike Wieringo and Tom Palmer, this mid-1996 tale's wraparound cover by Mike Deodato might give you the impression that you're in for another villains! villains! villains! anniversary issue--yet the story provides a clever twist which, as the Avengers series reaches its end, would fittingly bring the book and the team full circle.
On the streets of New York, the Avengers are facing the first foray of this new danger in the form of the original Masters of Evil; but to begin to understand the nature of it, we must return to Avengers Mansion where the residence/headquarters' butler, Jarvis, encounters a traveler who brings dire warnings from the future of not only the coming deaths of the Avengers, but also the end of the world.
Whether intentional on Wieringo's part or not, Tyfon appears to be a dead ringer for Rick Jones--which would certainly fit in with the general theme of this issue, but is never alluded to in the story nor does Jarvis recognize him as such.
Returning to the Avengers' battle, their numbers and varied abilities (as well as the absence of Baron Zemo, the Executioner, and the Enchantress) allow them to collar the Masters in short order--but what they've truly faced here becomes a precursor to the fate which is beginning to befall the entire city.
As Wanda would learn, Captain America, Iron Man, and Hawkeye have faced their own prior enemy, the Living Laser, who turns into the same shadowy matter once defeated. But from that point, their foes begin to proliferate, as other Avengers take a hand in responding to the growing threat--even as Jarvis and Tyfon struggle to identify the source of the danger.
A novel approach to Immortus, meshing him with his other identities, though you can't help but notice that Dr. Doom is not among them. (I also thought the chronal punch was a nice touch--and who better to deliver it to?) Also, if you're wondering where in heaven the new Wasp came from, well, I'm afraid it's one more thing we can thank late-'90s Marvel for--while the chain that had accessorized Thor's hammer with his costume change has thankfully been discarded.
With so many foes appearing and diverting more of each Avenger's attention, whatever strategy is at work here is having the desired effect, giving credence to Tyfon's claim that the end of the Avengers is nigh. Meanwhile, however, the truth begins to dawn on Jarvis that the team's "greatest foe" is closer at hand than on the battlefield.
Yet the resourceful Jarvis uses his own Identicard he carries on his person to issue a full priority summons which serves to draw all of the Avengers back to the mansion, despite any objections they may have to abandoning the sundry threats to the city. Once assembled, they find themselves face to face once more with the Asgardian god who was inadvertently responsible for their formation, and who intends not only to rectify that blunder but to complete his plan for becoming the abject ruler of Earth.
Even given the times when Loki has challenged the Avengers and failed, the scope of his power allows him to remain a viable threat, despite his brother, Thor, whom Loki has often stymied, being among his opponents. There's arguably no end to the havoc and grief Loki could rain upon these mortal heroes, were he to fully put his mind to their destruction--but just as was the case when Thor blinded him, he remains vulnerable to the unexpected.
With the threat banished, the story's penultimate page is a fitting testament to the perseverance, endurance, and fellowship of the team, as well as a fine nod to how far the book has come in the nearly thirty years of its run. And speaking of time in the context of the Avengers...
2 comments:
Thanks for posting this- I remember reading this at the time of publication and thinking it made a lovely change from the series if crossovers that the title had become tangled up in over the previous year, and that it felt like a potential new beginning for the book. Pity it only had 2 more issues to go though...
There was also an interesting sense of symmetry at the closing of the story, Dave, whether intentional or otherwise--in that, despite the issue being full of Avengers, and with the exception of the Scarlet Witch and the Vision, it's the original lineup of the team who gather here at the end of the crisis, and who precede the end of the series.
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