ok so did some checking on other sites (confirmed ones from the Video teaser earlier in bold) for what to expect with each Battleworld location:
1. Greenland - Planet Hulk
2. Dystopia - Future Imperfect
3. Domain of Apocalypse - Age of Apocalypse
4. Egyptia - probably more Apocalypse
5. Techonopolis - Armor Wars
6.
7. Spider-Land - Spider Island maybe?
8. Regency - Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows - I think this might be a mistake in the video and is supposed to be #7.
9. King James' England - obviously 1602
10. Wierdworld - old Fantasy series from Marvel
11. Kun Lun - Iron Fist/7 Cities stuff
12. Utopolis - Utopia from X-Men is the only thing that comes to mind.
13. New Mars - Killraven maybe?
14.
15. Higher Avalon - Captain Britain Corps stuff?
16. Arachnia - Spider stuff again. maybe the Other?
17. Marville - Avengers vs. X-Men (Babies/Kids)
18. Eye of Agamotto - Mystic world of some sort?
19.
20. Manhattan
-616 Manhattan
-1610 Ultimate Manhattan - The End
-Attilan - Attilan Rising
-616 Monster Metropolis - from Frankencastle storyline I believe
21. The City - Noir maybe?
22. The Warzone - Civil War
23. New Quack City - Howard the Duck
24. The Far East - Mangaverse?
25. Valley of Flame - Moon Boy and Devil Dinosaur
26. The Hydra Empire - Hail Hydra
27. 2099 - taking a wild guess here and its 2099 universe?
28. Hala Field - Kree focused stuff
29. The Monarchy of M - House of M
30. Sentinel Territories - Years of Future Past
31. The Wastelands - Old Man Logan
32. Mutopia - Mutant Town/Genosha pre-Sentinel massacre?
33. Westchester - X-Men '92
34. Killville -
35. Arcadia - Murderworld?
36. Bar Sinister -
37. Limbo - Magik's Limbo
38. The Deadlands - Marvel Zombies
39. Perfection - Age of Ultron
40. New Xandar - Infinity Gauntlet
41. The Wall - Anything to seperate the Zombie/Ultron war from everything else. and Xandar caught in the middle?
Nothing obviously connected to New Universe, Squadron Supreme, MC2, or Earth X that I see
4 - Could be the land of Rama-Tut - he's the only one of Kang's incarnations that wasn't present to mess with Captain America during that Avengers time travel storyline. The other incarnations might have been neutralized, but he has yet to make an appearance.
16 - I wonder if any of the Spider-Verse stuff is going to spill over - the current storyline has some pretty potent villains that have laid claim to dominion over the Multiverse. Maybe they'll get a piece of land to themselves.
21 - Ultimate Reed Richard's super science paradise was called simply the City - as far as I know, it's still around.
I'd be very interested to know what those classified zones are, natch.
4 - Could be the land of Rama-Tut - he's the only one of Kang's incarnations that wasn't present to mess with Captain America during that Avengers time travel storyline. The other incarnations might have been neutralized, but he has yet to make an appearance.
16 - I wonder if any of the Spider-Verse stuff is going to spill over - the current storyline has some pretty potent villains that have laid claim to dominion over the Multiverse. Maybe they'll get a piece of land to themselves.
21 - Ultimate Reed Richard's super science paradise was called simply the City - as far as I know, it's still around.
I'd be very interested to know what those classified zones are, natch.
Ultimate Reed stuff
Hickman hinted in his run that the Children planned to leave Earth for part unknown. One of the future writers mentions that they all disappeared leaving the City empty. Then Galactus happened and I believed it ended up destroyed.
Still no word yet on the Exiles. I really, really want the Exiles to return (preferably with Mimic, Blink, and Morph). Though I'm guessing Exiles will be a mini-series during this event.
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
From that video teaser of Battleworld I thought
Utopolis was the happy no-OMD world?
You either have Utopia as the X-men place, or it actually is the happy ending world that always has to die to make an example of like what happened in Countdown or that other earth in the DCnU
You either have Utopia as the X-men place, or it actually is the happy ending world that always has to die to make an example of like what happened in Countdown or that other earth in the DCnU
The video points it to spot 8 for The Regency. I am wondering if it was supposed to go to 7 for Spider-Land.
So Strange joined up with the Black Priests, who aren't "evil" so much as acting as the multiverses largest set of field medics. Destroying Earths is triage to save universes, with the eventual hope that if they stabilize enough universes, it will end the incursions.
Strange feels they should go on the offensive though, and there's actually two forces at War here. The Ivory Kings and their Mapmakers, and Rabum Alal. Both side want the destruction of everything, though I cannot fathom why that would put them at odds, unless one of them has another agenda (coughBattleworldcough).
Meanwhile, apparently Molecule Man resonates at the same frequency as the Earth fragment left behind in Latveria, indicating he may have some connection to the mapmakers/Ivory Kings. IIRC, the Molecule Man has a connnection with the Beyonder. Maybe there's more than one Beyonder, and they're the Ivory Kings and not Rabam Alal?
+3
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
And yet Thor stole the show.
NA #27
This is a big punt, but Molecule Man is actually a part of the Beyonder, and all the others who are the Ivory Kings, just different fragments of The Beyonder (think Legion). In fact, the one we know as the Beyonder is probably a different part too and Alal is actually the main one, whatever is beyond Life and Death and Eternity.
So Strange joined up with the Black Priests, who aren't "evil" so much as acting as the multiverses largest set of field medics. Destroying Earths is triage to save universes, with the eventual hope that if they stabilize enough universes, it will end the incursions.
Strange feels they should go on the offensive though, and there's actually two forces at War here. The Ivory Kings and their Mapmakers, and Rabum Alal. Both side want the destruction of everything, though I cannot fathom why that would put them at odds, unless one of them has another agenda (coughBattleworldcough).
Meanwhile, apparently Molecule Man resonates at the same frequency as the Earth fragment left behind in Latveria, indicating he may have some connection to the mapmakers/Ivory Kings. IIRC, the Molecule Man has a connnection with the Beyonder. Maybe there's more than one Beyonder, and they're the Ivory Kings and not Rabam Alal?
Where were the Ivory Kings and Mapmakers linked? The Mapmakers are an unrelated faction, Explorer class Adaptoids fulfilling their mission of exploring the multiverse, even if it means leaving destroyed husks of Earths behind.
As for Strange, did he join the Black Priests, or did he create them? That Strange created the Priests was a theory floated around as soon as the origins of the Mapmakers were revealed. I don't think anyone pointed out their Eye symbology. Honestly I can't believe I didn't notice it before, but their helmet symbol is the Eye of Agamotto. They don't seem completely subservient to Strange since he has to 'convince' them to go on the offensive, but at the very least he is the most capable of them, and they respect him when he comes. Maybe the priesthood is all alternate versions of Strange that didn't corrupt themselves with all possible power gaining rituals. Of course there is the problem of time shenanigans, since there were Black Priests long before Strange became one...
So Strange joined up with the Black Priests, who aren't "evil" so much as acting as the multiverses largest set of field medics. Destroying Earths is triage to save universes, with the eventual hope that if they stabilize enough universes, it will end the incursions.
Strange feels they should go on the offensive though, and there's actually two forces at War here. The Ivory Kings and their Mapmakers, and Rabum Alal. Both side want the destruction of everything, though I cannot fathom why that would put them at odds, unless one of them has another agenda (coughBattleworldcough).
Meanwhile, apparently Molecule Man resonates at the same frequency as the Earth fragment left behind in Latveria, indicating he may have some connection to the mapmakers/Ivory Kings. IIRC, the Molecule Man has a connnection with the Beyonder. Maybe there's more than one Beyonder, and they're the Ivory Kings and not Rabam Alal?
Where were the Ivory Kings and Mapmakers linked? The Mapmakers are an unrelated faction, Explorer class Adaptoids fulfilling their mission of exploring the multiverse, even if it means leaving destroyed husks of Earths behind.
As for Strange, did he join the Black Priests, or did he create them? That Strange created the Priests was a theory floated around as soon as the origins of the Mapmakers were revealed. I don't think anyone pointed out their Eye symbology. Honestly I can't believe I didn't notice it before, but their helmet symbol is the Eye of Agamotto. They don't seem completely subservient to Strange since he has to 'convince' them to go on the offensive, but at the very least he is the most capable of them, and they respect him when he comes. Maybe the priesthood is all alternate versions of Strange that didn't corrupt themselves with all possible power gaining rituals. Of course there is the problem of time shenanigans, since there were Black Priests long before Strange became one...
whoops, my bad. Mistook the Black Priests mention of "Find the mapmakers and you'll find the Ivory kings" as collusion when it wasn't.
616 Strange sounds like he's still fresh in joining the priests (he has to correct himself and say "we" instead of "they"), and there's no evidence so far that any of the others are Stephen Stranges.
0
FakefauxCóiste BodharDriving John McCain to meet some Iraqis who'd very much like to make his acquaintanceRegistered Userregular
Man. I'm kinda not a fan of how this latest New Avengers issue
seems to have turned Strange into a mass murderer of billions.
Man. I'm kinda not a fan of how this latest New Avengers issue
seems to have turned Strange into a mass murderer of billions.
in exchange for saving billions of people on earths, as well as trillions or quadrillions of people on universes. the narrative finally caught up to what I've been saying all along, it's triage. You save who you can; to do otherwise means all those people are going to die anyway, along with trillions more.
Dr. Strange was already a dude who murdered an innocent man who was possessed by a demon, to ensure that demon would never again harm a living soul. He's just operating on a planetary scale to save universes now.
+1
FakefauxCóiste BodharDriving John McCain to meet some Iraqis who'd very much like to make his acquaintanceRegistered Userregular
Man. I'm kinda not a fan of how this latest New Avengers issue
seems to have turned Strange into a mass murderer of billions.
in exchange for saving billions of people on earths, as well as trillions or quadrillions of people on universes. the narrative finally caught up to what I've been saying all along, it's triage. You save who you can; to do otherwise means all those people are going to die anyway, along with trillions more.
Dr. Strange was already a dude who murdered an innocent man who was possessed by a demon, to ensure that demon would never again harm a living soul. He's just operating on a planetary scale to save universes now.
I'm aware it's in character, if taken to a far extreme, but still. Unless this arc gets retconned in the near future, Strange being responsible for the deaths of billions is going to hang heavy on any potential new series, which has been rumored for a while now. It's almost a certainty what with his movie coming up. After 20-30 years of almost every major Strange story being about how he's sold his soul or lost his powers or gotten addicted to dark magic, this isn't exactly the direction I was hoping to see him go.
So Strange joined up with the Black Priests, who aren't "evil" so much as acting as the multiverses largest set of field medics. Destroying Earths is triage to save universes, with the eventual hope that if they stabilize enough universes, it will end the incursions.
Strange feels they should go on the offensive though, and there's actually two forces at War here. The Ivory Kings and their Mapmakers, and Rabum Alal. Both side want the destruction of everything, though I cannot fathom why that would put them at odds, unless one of them has another agenda (coughBattleworldcough).
Meanwhile, apparently Molecule Man resonates at the same frequency as the Earth fragment left behind in Latveria, indicating he may have some connection to the mapmakers/Ivory Kings. IIRC, the Molecule Man has a connnection with the Beyonder. Maybe there's more than one Beyonder, and they're the Ivory Kings and not Rabam Alal?
Where were the Ivory Kings and Mapmakers linked? The Mapmakers are an unrelated faction, Explorer class Adaptoids fulfilling their mission of exploring the multiverse, even if it means leaving destroyed husks of Earths behind.
As for Strange, did he join the Black Priests, or did he create them? That Strange created the Priests was a theory floated around as soon as the origins of the Mapmakers were revealed. I don't think anyone pointed out their Eye symbology. Honestly I can't believe I didn't notice it before, but their helmet symbol is the Eye of Agamotto. They don't seem completely subservient to Strange since he has to 'convince' them to go on the offensive, but at the very least he is the most capable of them, and they respect him when he comes. Maybe the priesthood is all alternate versions of Strange that didn't corrupt themselves with all possible power gaining rituals. Of course there is the problem of time shenanigans, since there were Black Priests long before Strange became one...
A connection between Strange and the Black Priests first occured to me when the Norn of the Great Society employed their Words in battle - since he couldn't use the Words alone like Strange can, Norn had to summon alternate versions of himself from other timelines, and together they donned Black Priest-like helms and spoke the Words. I thought then that the Black Priests might all be alternate versions of a single spell-caster, possibly Strange, who had gone to the dark and joined together.
Doesn't seem to be quite that way, although who knows - we don't know what exactly the Black Priests themselves are, but we do know that they have a collective mind, telepathically linked together, from the time they attacked an alternate Earth and were confronted by an Xavier. The idea that they're good guys working cosmic triage is a little tough to buy, given that they seemed pretty gleeful about wreaking havoc on the worlds they destroyed earlier. Maybe Strange isn't telling us everything, or maybe he just doesn't know everything yet.
Seems like we're going to see the end of these Multiverse factions pretty soon - between whichever group goes after them and Doom, the Map Makers are pretty much done for. If it's the Priests, they have to deal with the Ivory Kings afterwards and are probably going to get stomped. And if the Priests go after Rabum Alal, they're done for there too.
The idea that the Ivory Kings are Beyonders is interesting... that would leave Rabum Alal's identity completely up in the air. If Rabum Alal is the Beyonder though, that leaves the question of who the Kings are and why they're after Multiversal destruction.
No mention in this issue of
the Ebony Kings - the Black Priests were the only ones to ever mention them, and in a context that seemed to fit everything we've heard about the Ivory Kings... I wonder if it was just a typo in the end?
So I checked out Infinity at Barnes & Noble, and its definitely one of the better event books I've seen.
0
Golden YakBurnished BovineThe sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered Userregular
Avengers 39 is out: "You Can't Win - Part 1"
Reed Richards received a message from his daughter Valeria
"Dad, you can't win. It's time to start figuring out how not to lose."
While Richards records his thoughts in a message to his daughter, the Illuminati prepare for a showdown with SHIELD, ultimately revealing that they were waiting for the cavalry to come in the form of AIM and Sunspot's New Avengers.
AIMvengers to the rescue! I get the feeling that the inter-Avengers conflict is going to be resolved pretty soon - if the covers of the 2015 issues are anything to go by, things are about to pick up in a major way.
5 more months left until the end of the Multiverse!
Golden YakBurnished BovineThe sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered Userregular
NA #28 was out this week: "You Can't Win - Part 2"
Sunspot's 'Avengers World' is forced to engage SHIELD forces when Steve Rogers won't back down. Steve reveals that he has a remote controlled Hulk from a parallel Earth under his control, and has recruited Luke Cage's Mighty Avengers to his side. The Illuminati then show their own trump cards - the Invisible Woman was working with them the whole time she was with SHIELD. The Illuminati also reveal that Blackbolt and Namor have rejoined their ranks.
Also some potentially relevant events in the Avengers/X-Men AXIS event:
Of all the heroes and villains who were affected by the moral inversion during the event, only three were not returned to their original 'alignments' - Havok, Sabretooth, and Iron Man. Meaning that the Tony Stark who attacked the Cabal in Wakanda and is being kept prisoner there is the Superior Iron Man, which explains the self-aggrandizing attitude he displays to Black Widow and Spider-Woman.
Superior Iron Man isn't exactly hand-rubbing, world-conquering evil, but he does seem to be purely concerned with popularity and financial success. Much like he was before becoming Iron Man, in fact - therefore, a dick, but not incapable of personal growth that leads him to becoming a hero for the right reasons. Essentially his character arc has been completely reset, and he has to progress down it again.
He retains all of his memories of the Incursions, and some of his designs (like the Dyson sphere system and a weapon called Sol's Hammer) have been considered by the Illuminati as potential Incursion solutions. So going forwards the Illuminati may have to deal with Superior Tony.
I'm confused about Havok and his different personalities. Is he "good" Havok now or "evil" Havok?
He is "evil" havok technically, seems he is more super selfish now more than anything
UltimateInferno on
"Ride or Die?" asked Goku
"Ride or Die" confirmed Dominic Toretto, as they took off to find the Dragon Balls in hopes of reviving their friend Sonic
0
Golden YakBurnished BovineThe sunny beaches of CanadaRegistered Userregular
The inversion in AXIS wasn't some hard swap between good and evil (well, not in all cases).
Tony for example ends up a douche who just wants to get richer, but he doesn't outright steal - you could argue that him technically not doing anything illegal isn't out of a desire to not break the law, but merely because he gets a bigger kick out of legally exploiting people out of everything they've got. But he doesn't want to take over the planet or subjugate the populace with force or anything.
Havok went sort've 'Magneto at his worst' - he wanted a mutant utopia, but was willing to accomplish that goal at the price of exterminating humanity, while also secretly wanting to keep the Wasp alive so he could re-create their lost future and daughter.
At the end of AXIS, Havok returns to Cyclops and his team of X-Men. Previously in Avengers/New Avengers, Cyclops mentions that he has a Pheonix Egg as a means to potentially deal with the Incursions, so the X-Men may have a role to play soon, and Havok's new morality could become a factor.
NA #28 was out this week: "You Can't Win - Part 2"
Sunspot's 'Avengers World' is forced to engage SHIELD forces when Steve Rogers won't back down. Steve reveals that he has a remote controlled Hulk from a parallel Earth under his control, and has recruited Luke Cage's Mighty Avengers to his side. The Illuminati then show their own trump cards - the Invisible Woman was working with them the whole time she was with SHIELD. The Illuminati also reveal that Blackbolt and Namor have rejoined their ranks.
I'm really weirded out by
the appearance of the Blue Marvel et al team. The current state of the 8-months-later SHIELD isn't explained very well, but I'm having hard time suspending disbelief in the idea that Spider-Man and the others would be fine in joining in on Rogers' vendetta against the Illuminati in such a morally complex situation.
Also, this team was mentioned as a super-secret team that no one would know was kept in reserve. What the hell, they have their own comic line as their own public team. Why wouldn't everyone know?
Zyrxil on
0
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
I love how Rogers shows his true colors in NA #28, from dissing Sunspot to being oblivious about his own use of controlling a villain, dismissing the words of friends because they dare challenge his authority.
Only thing I didn't care for was
Shang-Chis getting beat up by an 80 year old guy. I get Rogers is one of the best fighters in the MCU, but better than Shang-Chi? Nah, don't try that.
And two Shang clones against an 80 year old? Come on, that's a lot of smoke up that tucchus.
I keep thinking there's something Hickman is going to pull out of his FF run that hasn't yet been used, that everyone's missed so far.
The use of a remote-controlled, weaponized Hulk felt a little like a nod to the Ultimate universe. Given that it's basically the dimension where everyone are even bigger dicks than normal, it was pretty apt coming from Cap for this arc.
From a greater perspective, I'm glad that we're seeing a little more authoritarian ego out of Cap these days. He's been the unimpeachable voice of the moral high ground for a while now, and it's nice to see that status quo get appropriately remixed.
Like, the reason he has become like this is due to his rage at perceived injustices and atrocities blinding him to his own actions
Of course when team fascist comes calling Carol Danvers never fails to salute and sign on the dotted line, and Maria Hill is locked in a perpetual hardass authority figure state when really she should get mutant powers, have a crisis of faith, then join Cyclops in team cool's bunker drinking cocktails.
At least Natasha has seen the error of her ways this time around, though shame on you for not unlocking your old boyfriend from the clink
0
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
That's all I want from Rogers, to show he's not as pious as everyone makes him, with real flaws beyond not knowing what MySpace is. I'd sort of like this to also be shown in Carol a bit more, whose allegiance to any authoritarian who isn't a literal villain should be explored more instead of trying to make her Superwoman.
This is where Sue works well because she's the metaphorical heart of the heroes, the First Mom of comics. Putting everyone in an augmented time out to try and figure something out should have come a lot sooner.
At least Natasha has seen the error of her ways this time around, though shame on you for not unlocking your old boyfriend from the clink
Has Hickman commented on if Stark still supposed to be inverted? Is that what the silver armor is supposed to show?
Tony/AXIS spoilers
Stark was one of three people who remained inverted as of the end of AXIS - and since it took Wanda and Doom to undo the Inversion (minus Stark and the others), and Doom is back to being evil, it's unlikely they've gotten together specifically to switch Tony back.
Tony's inversion wasn't super bad - it's not impossible that he could just go through personal growth and become a good person the old fashioned way, sans magic.
So I just started reading through the Hickman Avengers stuff in trade and have an early on question.
The first story already has Hyperion and Captain Universe on the team when Cap calls for them, and the prologue references Hyperion's arrival to their universe. Do they go back and cover that or are their intros in the end of the previous Avengers run?
So I just started reading through the Hickman Avengers stuff in trade and have an early on question.
The first story already has Hyperion and Captain Universe on the team when Cap calls for them, and the prologue references Hyperion's arrival to their universe. Do they go back and cover that or are their intros in the end of the previous Avengers run?
I read the lead-in New Avengers and Avengers trades and then got the big Infinity hardcover
now I am debating whether I am prepared to return and catch up
this is a commitment : o
desc on
0
TexiKenDammit!That fish really got me!Registered Userregular
Avengers post Infinity is sort of light, and there's one arc that feels like it was decompressed because Hickman had to slow down a bit for the rest of the Marvel Universe to catch up.
New Avengers though gets heavy, and then sad, and then jaw dropping and then sad and then OMG and then that sound you make when you're pulling the collar of your shirt to let it breathe. And now for the past few months they're basically one series being told twice a month.
Posts
2. Dystopia - Future Imperfect
3. Domain of Apocalypse - Age of Apocalypse
4. Egyptia - probably more Apocalypse
5. Techonopolis - Armor Wars
6.
7. Spider-Land - Spider Island maybe?
8. Regency - Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows - I think this might be a mistake in the video and is supposed to be #7.
9. King James' England - obviously 1602
10. Wierdworld - old Fantasy series from Marvel
11. Kun Lun - Iron Fist/7 Cities stuff
12. Utopolis - Utopia from X-Men is the only thing that comes to mind.
13. New Mars - Killraven maybe?
14.
15. Higher Avalon - Captain Britain Corps stuff?
16. Arachnia - Spider stuff again. maybe the Other?
17. Marville - Avengers vs. X-Men (Babies/Kids)
18. Eye of Agamotto - Mystic world of some sort?
19.
20. Manhattan
-616 Manhattan
-1610 Ultimate Manhattan - The End
-Attilan - Attilan Rising
-616 Monster Metropolis - from Frankencastle storyline I believe
21. The City - Noir maybe?
22. The Warzone - Civil War
23. New Quack City - Howard the Duck
24. The Far East - Mangaverse?
25. Valley of Flame - Moon Boy and Devil Dinosaur
26. The Hydra Empire - Hail Hydra
27. 2099 - taking a wild guess here and its 2099 universe?
28. Hala Field - Kree focused stuff
29. The Monarchy of M - House of M
30. Sentinel Territories - Years of Future Past
31. The Wastelands - Old Man Logan
32. Mutopia - Mutant Town/Genosha pre-Sentinel massacre?
33. Westchester - X-Men '92
34. Killville -
35. Arcadia - Murderworld?
36. Bar Sinister -
37. Limbo - Magik's Limbo
38. The Deadlands - Marvel Zombies
39. Perfection - Age of Ultron
40. New Xandar - Infinity Gauntlet
41. The Wall - Anything to seperate the Zombie/Ultron war from everything else. and Xandar caught in the middle?
Nothing obviously connected to New Universe, Squadron Supreme, MC2, or Earth X that I see
There were just...
There were just so many characters. So many.
@ ManetherenWolf
16 - I wonder if any of the Spider-Verse stuff is going to spill over - the current storyline has some pretty potent villains that have laid claim to dominion over the Multiverse. Maybe they'll get a piece of land to themselves.
21 - Ultimate Reed Richard's super science paradise was called simply the City - as far as I know, it's still around.
I'd be very interested to know what those classified zones are, natch.
Ultimate Reed stuff
Diablo 3 - ArtfulDodger#1572
Minecraft - ArtfulDodger42
You either have Utopia as the X-men place, or it actually is the happy ending world that always has to die to make an example of like what happened in Countdown or that other earth in the DCnU
Strange feels they should go on the offensive though, and there's actually two forces at War here. The Ivory Kings and their Mapmakers, and Rabum Alal. Both side want the destruction of everything, though I cannot fathom why that would put them at odds, unless one of them has another agenda (coughBattleworldcough).
Meanwhile, apparently Molecule Man resonates at the same frequency as the Earth fragment left behind in Latveria, indicating he may have some connection to the mapmakers/Ivory Kings. IIRC, the Molecule Man has a connnection with the Beyonder. Maybe there's more than one Beyonder, and they're the Ivory Kings and not Rabam Alal?
NA #27
As for Strange, did he join the Black Priests, or did he create them? That Strange created the Priests was a theory floated around as soon as the origins of the Mapmakers were revealed. I don't think anyone pointed out their Eye symbology. Honestly I can't believe I didn't notice it before, but their helmet symbol is the Eye of Agamotto. They don't seem completely subservient to Strange since he has to 'convince' them to go on the offensive, but at the very least he is the most capable of them, and they respect him when he comes. Maybe the priesthood is all alternate versions of Strange that didn't corrupt themselves with all possible power gaining rituals. Of course there is the problem of time shenanigans, since there were Black Priests long before Strange became one...
616 Strange sounds like he's still fresh in joining the priests (he has to correct himself and say "we" instead of "they"), and there's no evidence so far that any of the others are Stephen Stranges.
Dr. Strange was already a dude who murdered an innocent man who was possessed by a demon, to ensure that demon would never again harm a living soul. He's just operating on a planetary scale to save universes now.
Doesn't seem to be quite that way, although who knows - we don't know what exactly the Black Priests themselves are, but we do know that they have a collective mind, telepathically linked together, from the time they attacked an alternate Earth and were confronted by an Xavier. The idea that they're good guys working cosmic triage is a little tough to buy, given that they seemed pretty gleeful about wreaking havoc on the worlds they destroyed earlier. Maybe Strange isn't telling us everything, or maybe he just doesn't know everything yet.
Seems like we're going to see the end of these Multiverse factions pretty soon - between whichever group goes after them and Doom, the Map Makers are pretty much done for. If it's the Priests, they have to deal with the Ivory Kings afterwards and are probably going to get stomped. And if the Priests go after Rabum Alal, they're done for there too.
The idea that the Ivory Kings are Beyonders is interesting... that would leave Rabum Alal's identity completely up in the air. If Rabum Alal is the Beyonder though, that leaves the question of who the Kings are and why they're after Multiversal destruction.
No mention in this issue of
"Dad, you can't win. It's time to start figuring out how not to lose."
While Richards records his thoughts in a message to his daughter, the Illuminati prepare for a showdown with SHIELD, ultimately revealing that they were waiting for the cavalry to come in the form of AIM and Sunspot's New Avengers.
AIMvengers to the rescue! I get the feeling that the inter-Avengers conflict is going to be resolved pretty soon - if the covers of the 2015 issues are anything to go by, things are about to pick up in a major way.
5 more months left until the end of the Multiverse!
// Switch: SW-5306-0651-6424 //
Also some potentially relevant events in the Avengers/X-Men AXIS event:
Superior Iron Man isn't exactly hand-rubbing, world-conquering evil, but he does seem to be purely concerned with popularity and financial success. Much like he was before becoming Iron Man, in fact - therefore, a dick, but not incapable of personal growth that leads him to becoming a hero for the right reasons. Essentially his character arc has been completely reset, and he has to progress down it again.
He retains all of his memories of the Incursions, and some of his designs (like the Dyson sphere system and a weapon called Sol's Hammer) have been considered by the Illuminati as potential Incursion solutions. So going forwards the Illuminati may have to deal with Superior Tony.
Diablo 3 - ArtfulDodger#1572
Minecraft - ArtfulDodger42
"Ride or Die" confirmed Dominic Toretto, as they took off to find the Dragon Balls in hopes of reviving their friend Sonic
Tony for example ends up a douche who just wants to get richer, but he doesn't outright steal - you could argue that him technically not doing anything illegal isn't out of a desire to not break the law, but merely because he gets a bigger kick out of legally exploiting people out of everything they've got. But he doesn't want to take over the planet or subjugate the populace with force or anything.
Havok went sort've 'Magneto at his worst' - he wanted a mutant utopia, but was willing to accomplish that goal at the price of exterminating humanity, while also secretly wanting to keep the Wasp alive so he could re-create their lost future and daughter.
I'm really weirded out by
Also, this team was mentioned as a super-secret team that no one would know was kept in reserve. What the hell, they have their own comic line as their own public team. Why wouldn't everyone know?
Only thing I didn't care for was
And two Shang clones against an 80 year old? Come on, that's a lot of smoke up that tucchus.
I keep thinking there's something Hickman is going to pull out of his FF run that hasn't yet been used, that everyone's missed so far.
From a greater perspective, I'm glad that we're seeing a little more authoritarian ego out of Cap these days. He's been the unimpeachable voice of the moral high ground for a while now, and it's nice to see that status quo get appropriately remixed.
Like, the reason he has become like this is due to his rage at perceived injustices and atrocities blinding him to his own actions
Of course when team fascist comes calling Carol Danvers never fails to salute and sign on the dotted line, and Maria Hill is locked in a perpetual hardass authority figure state when really she should get mutant powers, have a crisis of faith, then join Cyclops in team cool's bunker drinking cocktails.
At least Natasha has seen the error of her ways this time around, though shame on you for not unlocking your old boyfriend from the clink
This is where Sue works well because she's the metaphorical heart of the heroes, the First Mom of comics. Putting everyone in an augmented time out to try and figure something out should have come a lot sooner.
Tony/AXIS spoilers
Tony's inversion wasn't super bad - it's not impossible that he could just go through personal growth and become a good person the old fashioned way, sans magic.
Diablo 3 - ArtfulDodger#1572
Minecraft - ArtfulDodger42
The first story already has Hyperion and Captain Universe on the team when Cap calls for them, and the prologue references Hyperion's arrival to their universe. Do they go back and cover that or are their intros in the end of the previous Avengers run?
They go back and cover them.
now I am debating whether I am prepared to return and catch up
this is a commitment : o
New Avengers though gets heavy, and then sad, and then jaw dropping and then sad and then OMG and then that sound you make when you're pulling the collar of your shirt to let it breathe. And now for the past few months they're basically one series being told twice a month.
I am ready
Diablo 3 - ArtfulDodger#1572
Minecraft - ArtfulDodger42