Avengers: Twilight

Avengers Twilight #1-6

by Chip Zdarsky, Daniel Acuña (Artist), Cory Petit (Letterer)

A thrillingly dark new vision of the Avengers! In a gleaming new world of prosperity, Captain America is no more. But Steve Rogers still exists, floating through an America where freedom is an illusion, the Avengers are strangers and his friends are long dead. But is the Dream itself dead? And how do you assemble Avengers in a world that doesn't want them? With the clock ticking down to New Year's Day, Steve must build an army to save America! Will his surviving friends sign up, or will he have to lead the ragtag group called the Defenders against the expert military marksman known as Bullseye? And can Steve infiltrate the Raft, a government facility full of secrets and danger off the shores of New York City, before the new Iron Man sentences him to the same gruesome fate as Tony Stark?

Collecting AVENGERS: TWILIGHT #1-6.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Superheroes, Comic Book, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics

208 pages, Paperback

Published August 27, 2024

About the author

Chip Zdarsky is a Canadian comic book artist and journalist. He was born Steve Murray but is known by his fan base as Chip Zdarsky, and occasionally Todd Diamond. He writes and illustrates an advice column called Extremely Bad Advice for the Canadian national newspaper National Post's The Ampersand, their pop culture section's online edition. He is also the creator of Prison Funnies and Monster Cops.

Source: Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another ‘possible future’ type story but, I have to admit, it’s a pretty good one. The artwork is bloody gorgeous, too, which helps.

[Sean Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well. That was bleak. Sort of like having to stand next to me in a long line at the coffee shop for 20 minutes.

[Oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! My favorite Avengers comic so far.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This ended up being pretty dope. It’s set in a future where the government is ruling the country with an iron fist. Early curfews, no cameras or recording, people abused and locked up for next to nothing. It’s not fun. Luke Cage secretly runs the rebel force, the Defenders. They show Cap something that makes him join forces with them to end the tyranny in America. A lot of the heroes are dead and gone but there are a few left that lend a hand. Then you find out who’s really behind everything. Ah dammit man. This was a fun ride following the Defenders gathering up forces to fight and seeing the evil one’s plan slowly get revealed. Plus Daniel Acuña’s art was stellar all through here. Had a nice dark eerie vibe to the story. Highly recommended.

[Tyler Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a fantastic read. I love when Marvel does a good alternate future story. And one as dark and scarily realistic as this. Americans surrendering almost all of their freedom for some niceties and comfortable living is all too real. Nazi’s hiding in plain sight trying to take over the government is all too real. I absolutely loved the art style and the writing is so good. I just loved every bit of this story.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ever since X-Men: Days of Future Past I've been a sucker for a well-done "Dark Future" story and this one fits the bill. In spite of the fact that I feel I've seen many versions of this (Old Man Logan-verse being the most preeminent, but also Busiek's Marvels and so on) it was still a very entertaining ride alongside an aged, broken-down Steve Rogers as he tries to re-assemble a team of Avengers to confront a tyrannical U.S. government that seems to have harnessed the power of deepfakes and censorship to lull the populace into a sense of false security and to overlook atrocities at home and abroad.



I don't know if they will revisit this setting in the future but these 6 issues are a self-contained and satisfying story with great, consistent art and characters. Highly recommended.

[Khurram · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great epic story. I wanted to give this book 4.5 stars. If bits of it were not so rushed (I think this story was epic and big enough for a full 12 issues), I would have rounded it up to 5 stars.

The artwork is great and fits the story well. The story is a bit like Kingdom Come by DC, but a more modernised twist of the media (social and otherwise) controlling the narrative of what people down and think.

The heroes are dead, the villains are dead, the world is at peace, and Captain America (Steve Rogers) is just a grumpy old man living in the past. This is what everyone believes and is told.

Steve still, for his own part, is getting on with his life, though he still makes time to meet his old friends. However, there are some lies even now as an old man without the enhancement of the super soldier serum. Steve can not walk away when people are in trouble in front of him. The other problem is that Steve no longer has the popular or credibility he once had a generation ago. Who will stand with him? What price will they pay? Is it already too late?

It's an excellent story arc. It's a bit scary considering the way the world is going right now. On the artwork, a nice touch making old Steve looks very much like a famous Marvel creator. The book finishes with a varient covers gallery and a character sketch book.

[Jesse A · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad but it ended a bit muddled.

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this possible future story of the Avengers. Very interesting ideas what they did with the characters. Very recommended

[Rory Wilding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chip Zdarsky may have dabbled in the main continuity of characters like Daredevil and Batman, some of his best work is when he presents alternate versions of these iconic superheroes from Marvel and DC, such as Spider-Man: Life Story and Batman: The Knight. In the tradition of every superhero getting their own dark future storyline, Zdarsky’s latest Marvel venture presents a dark new vision of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes with Avengers: Twilight.

Set in a dystopian America where the Avengers are now government-sponsored heroes, an aging Steve Rogers is no longer Captain America, especially with the lack of Super Soldier Serum running through his veins. However, when the tyranny over the American people is getting worse, Rogers can’t take it anymore and when approached by Luke Cage and his Defenders, he takes the serum again and plans to form his own team of Avengers.

Taking cue from dark future storylines like Kingdom Come, this comic is about the return of aging heroes trying to fight a world where their legacy is not relevant with the son of Iron Man, James Stark using his genius of machine engineering to contribute to the American dictatorship. While there are comics like Civil War have explored the conflict between freedom and security against a backdrop of real-life events and discussions, such as the U.S. government's increased surveillance of its citizens, Avengers: Twilight does a much better job in exploring those themes, which are more relevant now with the current American landscape.

Despite its title, Steve Rogers is very much the main character, who is a good man who feels he lost the good fight, especially in the wake of H-Day, which caused the death of countless lives, including a number of superheroes. To establish how bleak this future, there is one heartbreaking page that features Peter Parker’s demise, which is not only tragic, but reminds you that Zdarsky is one of the best Spider-Man writers.

With only six issues, it felt like we could have seen more of this world, despite the story focusing on these heroes who’ve aged within this new society that they eventually retaliate, such as Kamala Khan. While there are some classic baddies returning, newbies like James Stark are more compelling in how they are manipulated to serve the villains’ idea of the greater good.

Considering that Alex Ross was the artist on the aforementioned Kingdom Come, it would make sense that Daniel Acuña would draw this series as there is a touch of Ross in his artwork. Using a muted colour palette gets across the bleakness of this world that really visualises futuristic fascism. This may be a dark presentation of the Marvel universe, Acuña doesn’t negate the positive image that these heroes can present as seen when Captain America takes some baddies to save a helpless old man. The last two issues may result in the typical superhero slugfest, Acuña’s art is so striking in seeing characters like Thor and the Hulk in action, whilst losing any of the emotional resonance.

As previously stated, this feels more like a Captain America story, which gives an idea about what Zdarsky might do with his upcoming Captain America run. But seeing this version of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes together, Avengers: Twilight shows that no matter how bleak things get, there will people, super or otherwise, that will stand up to do what's right.

[Willow Heath]

Over and over, as i read this astonishing work of antifascist fiction from two of the best creators in comics today, I kept thinking about this iconic quote from Brennan Lee Mulligan: “Laws are threats made by the dominant socioeconomic-ethnic group in a given nation. It’s just the promise of violence that’s enacted and the police are basically an occupying army. You know what I mean?”

Avengers: Twilight is a non-canon future what-if scenario that damningly reflects the course we are currently on in this timeline. It is smart, powerful, and inspiring.

[Sem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Avengers: Twilight has all the subtlety of a hammer blow to the face and yet, somehow, that makes it even better. Zdarsky goes all out with a high-drama, social messaging tale that marries the bravado of typical Avengers stories with a narrative that pulls on the reader's heartstrings every issue, up until the oddly beautiful moment with Hulk in the final issue.

Perhaps what makes it work is all the small details - the appearance of a certain character in the last issue bringing the story of Avengers full circle, the meeting in the drinking hall, "there's always a bomb falling". It's one-page, one-frame moments that enhance a bombastic story and give it weight, even when you recognize that its emotional beats are somewhat cloying.

[kesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

took me wayy too long to finish this one - this week’s been such an anti-comicgraphicnovelreading downer 😞👎

chip zdarsky is fr my guy if tom taylor wasn’t my guilty pleasure - he knows how to write a dystopian and acuña really told american politics to stfu like bro wdym immigrants are taking ur jobs? art is nothing w/o acuña’s work 🙏🙏

lowk marvel’s kingdom come in a way (haven’t read thy one either lmao) but yeah i fw this heavy - couple of minor details i was confused ab like jarvis’ brother being james’ guardian being red skull, everyone getting a “happy” closure moment, where did the rest of the defenders go after everything went down? lowk loki???
ultron being a little bitch instead of the alpha that he is and jan having her christina aguilera genie in a bottle moment

if this story was 8 issues, they could’ve elaborated some points better but for the most part, they did an immaculate job establishing the what who where why and how 😛

4/5 can’t wait to break free from my capitalist chains ⛓️‍💥 SO I CAN READ MY COMICS 🤤🤤

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I had a nickel for every time I read a comic where Red Skull was an evil mastermind behind a mass death of many superheroes and ruled America, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t many, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice.

This was a cool read. Loads of good moments, and I always enjoy a good dystopian story. Some fun hype moments too. I suppose the only complaints I have are that there were a few plot points that didn’t make the most sense to me (such as the Wasp being in a random ring the whole time somehow, and Ultron just going along with Red Skull’s shit for some reason) and the art dropped down a little in a few places. Cover art’s were fire tho and the art was good for most of the time. An enjoyable read overall.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, on the one hand,this feels very reminiscent of dozens of other comics - from The Dark Knight Returns and Kingdom Come, to Earth X and certain issues of What If?

But on the other hand the art is amazing, the story gripped me from beginning to end, I loved little touches like making Captain America look like a present day Robert Redford and certain spoilery cameos were super cool. I found that every time I had to put down the book for real life concerns I was eager to continue reading.

Plus, let's say, an evil fascist president and his try-hard billionaire sidekick getting punched in the face repeatedly made me feel a lot better.

[Benji Glaab · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jake and Elroy are putting the band back together!

As a limited serial, read as a standalone graphic novel, this was surprisingly creative, entertaining, ... and, sadly, timely (and, yeah, a little too on the nose) ... and yes, at times, unexpectedly poignant, ... and gratifying, with just enough twists, turns, and Easter eggs to keep the pages turning at a good clip.

[Rick Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following in a long line of deconstructionist superhero fiction to the tune of works like Kingdom Come or The Dark Knight Returns is a tale about the Avengers way beyond their glory days. Avengers: Twilight is the recent Marvel project by veteran writer Chip Zdarsky and features the artwork of Daniel Acuña, and it is one of my favorite Marvel comics of recent years.

Primarily told from the perspective of an aged Steve Rogers who no longer possesses the super-soldier serum, the world of Avengers: Twilight is a dark reflection of the current trajectory of our own society. It's a post-truth, post-optimism world where negativity and outrage rules the mob. Spearing the effort to discredit the relevance of superheroes is the son of Tony Stark and Jan Van Dyne, James, who has become obsessed with eradicating the legacy of the Avengers altogether. But it turns out that James Stark is being influenced by a more nefarious foe, one that the former Captain America must deal with once and for all. Rogers teams up with some of his remaining Avengers pals living in retirement to suit up one last time.

It's a pretty by-the-numbers tale with some twists along the way, interesting iterations on classic characters and generally well paced plot. The ending is a bit haphazardly put together, but this is generally a very solid book. It's Acuña's artwork that pushes this comic into the category of really great, with a lot of the color work matching the striking painterly quality of the Alex Ross covers that grace each issue. Acuña's artwork is much more expressionistic than most painters would bring to the table, which further heightens how excellent the action looks throughout. It'd be great if Marvel ever released a more oversized edition of this book since Acuña's compositions demand it. The story is good, but the art is absolutely fantastic.

[kaitlphere · Rating 5 out of 5]

The political plotline is uncomfortably realistic. I enjoyed seeing the Avengers in old age, even though I did not read any comics that covered H-day (if there were comics for that). I like the use of tattoos as a design feature for a few of the new characters. I like Bullseye and the new computer kid. As usual, I got lost in the action scenes a few times.

I felt like the Hulk plot twist should have happened earlier. It was around the same time as the Wasp twist and it took Thor out of the main action. It would have been more impactful if the story could have spent some time focusing on it.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps not the best choice of read on November 7th this year. Yeesh. Avengers: Twilight is Chip Zdarsky doing his best "Old Man Avengers" work, except instead of our heroes battling it out in the Wasteland, it's our heroes struggling through day-to-day life in a fascist American future. Maybe not too far off, I'd say!

Anyhow, an aged Captain America puts together a team of subversives to bring down the big bad government. It's not particularly subtle and is often quite bleak, but it's never not exciting and page-turning. The art's great too. Would have been a much more fun read, though, if I'd picked it up off my stack a few weeks earlier.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting plot points in this Avengers based future story about the past their prime Avengers trying to deal in a world that has passed them by. Not sure they stuck the landing but there were interesting parts

[Matthew Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Zdarsky tells an incredible story about the last Avengers mission. The art fits perfectly with this one. I don’t need to say anything more than that. Just go read this one.

[Jack Phoenix · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read my full review of this book in BOOKLIST.

[Emmett Spain · Rating 4 out of 5]

A dark, badass future story with enough fun surprises to keep the pages turning at pace. Dynamic action and colours brought it all to life. Recommended.

[Daryn Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this even though it feels a bit rushed, but I LOVE Acuna's art, it has some satisfying reveals and the whole 'elderly Avengers' approach is an interesting angle overall.

[Finn Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Super bleak and felt very in line with current state of the US, obviously intentionally, at times depressingly close to the real world.

I don't buy that American citizens would actually rise up if they were shown their country was sliding into facism (because it currently is not happening) but for the first few issues that was the point of the story. They don't even believe Captain America and it ends with him doing some good but having to bail due to age, but also decades of failing them (again very real).

In terms of comic book stuff, I feel bad for terminally online nazi Iron boy, and liked Thor (injecting some much needed optimism and levity) was Loki being vaguely heroic just for shits and giggles?

Art is very striking and when given a full page great, however a little busy for me sometimes.

[Jamie Chester · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I’m a massive comic book and marvel nerd, I’ve never been the biggest fan of the Avengers. I like the characters enough individually but I find that in the world of comics, they don’t really have that much going on.

So this really blew me away. Mr Zdarsky you are my new god. Actually just the king of comic books right now.

In this limited series Zdarsky pushes boundaries and also goes back to basics simultaneously. He distills everything that the Avengers are and places it in a dystopian setting that feels frighteningly relevant to our modern age.

Steve Rogers is just a gem in this as well. When I’m an old man I want to be like old Steve Rogers, he’s just awesome. I FINALLY understand Captain America. Went from a C-tier to S-tier hero for me.

Also Kamala in this is a treasure, can we get middle-aged Kamala with kids instead of teen Kamala from now on? It’s just inspired.

I can highly recommend this book for people getting into Marvel comics because it’s familiar enough but so so so so so so so WELL WRITTEN!!! This is a modern classic and I hope it gets remembered for years and mentioned in the same breath as the works from Moore, Miller and everybody in between. Also this is a limited series, it has a beginning and end! A luxury that not many comics have.

One of the best modern Marvel books out there. Loved it.

“It’s like trying to erode a mountain and the truth is rain.”

[ThisGuyReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Avengers: Twilight drops an old man Captain America into a dystopian and authoritarian America of the future that brings Cap to taking up the good fight for freedom and reassembling the Avengers. Naturally, the story feels very reminiscent of DC's Kingdom Come.

The art is great without a doubt, arguably the strongest part of the comic. The writing also has its good moments -- some of which are shocking -- and starts off pretty strong all around. However, the ending was a bit of a letdown for me personally. Some bits of it are derivative, and a lot of it feels a bit rushed with how certain characters are handled in spite of Marvel lore and the context of the story. Some things just happen too quickly and without much buildup which leads to it being a bit unsatisfying.

Also, the depiction of a future dystopian America was a bit flat for me as it tended towards some superhero comic tropes and just came across as a bit shallow, especially in the context of modern America. Not a bad comic at all though despite how much I've dedicated to negativity!

[Matt Sautman · Rating 4 out of 5]

An alternate future story, a la Old Man Logan and Age of Ultron, Avengers Twilight melds together dystopian elements with a meditation of legacy and high caliber art. I think if I didn’t hear so much hype for this, I may have liked this better, as what I feel the issue does well is not altogether unfamiliar from stories I have read from Marvel before. The alternate future timeline also prevents this book, at least presently, from feeling like Avenger’s Twilight expands the overall continuity of the Marvel universe. Depending on whether time travel or multiversal shenanigans ensue in the near future, this book may eventually gain more importance for lovers of the greater Marvel mythos that unfolds across the entirety of the publisher’s comic history.

[James DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprise because I didn't think I would enjoy this as much as I did.

Basically it's years later, the heroes are thought of as not needed. After a horrible event including the Hulk ruining everything, years pass by without heroes. Starks son is involved with some very bad people, and Cap is so old he's about to visit the funeral home for good. However, he gets a boost after taking a certain special serum and is back in the game. His hope bringing together both new and old avengers.

Some really great moments, including giving shine to the younger, who are now older, heroes in hero including Ms. Marvel. I also really liked the moment with Thor and Hulk both bitter and sad, but great.

Overall great stuff. A 4 out of 5.