Avengers, Vol. 3

Avengers (2010)

by Brian Michael Bendis, Daniel Acuña (Illustrator), Renato Guedes (Illustrator)

Collects Avengers #18-24 & #24.1: Tony Stark's fortune is gone. Captain America's leadership has been questioned. Thor is dead. And Norman Osborn is back and united with A.I.M., Superia and Madame Hydra. Now, the Avengers who deposed him are the target of Osborn's new secret an army with the powers of the Marvel Universe at its disposal.

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

154 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 23, 2012

About the author

A comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.

Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.

Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.

Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.

Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.

Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.

He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Norman Osborn is taking his meds again, so he’s out for revenge against the Avengers. Its game on, baby.

Osborn whines to anyone that’ll listen that he was thrown in jail without due process.* He conveniently ignores all the heinous things he did as the head of HAMMER during the Dark Reign storyline. To battle the Avengers, he’s enlisted the support of HYDRA, AIM, the Hand and a rogue, nerdy, ex-SHIELD scientist in his personal vendetta.

I like Osborn as a villain. He’s become the go-to megalomaniacal villain for the Marvel universe, sort of Marvel’s answer to Lex Luthor. The only quibble I have is with his place in Marvel continuity. He was presumed dead, but in reality spent years “vacationing” in Europe, only to suddenly appear in the god-awful, Spider-Man Clone saga, revealed as the mastermind behind 25 years of Spider-Man continuity.**

This is a good volume with Bendis at top-form. He brings his fair share of humor and smaller personal moments to a storyline (that takes place after Fear Itself and before X-men vs. Avengers) that is familiar and comfortable.

*This is of course, when he’s not whining about Spider-Man.

**This is an overstatement, but sadly not much of one.

[Kemper · Rating 3 out of 5]

A big part of this story is about trying to figure out a new line-up of Avengers following the events of Fear Itself, but didn’t we just get a new roster about ten minutes ago with the start of the Heroic Age? And I know this can’t last since they did the whole shake-up for Marvel NOW. And aren’t there like 27 groups of Avengers roaming around these days?

Stuff like this is what makes it so frustrating and confusing to be a fan of Marvel these days. Roster turnover has always been part of the comic since its earliest issues, but when there was just one team you had a pretty fair idea of who was a current member. After Disassembled and the seemingly hundreds of crossover events since with multiple books claiming to be some form of the Avengers, I just can’t keep track any more. Hell, you’d think that Marvel would have made more of a push to have a team set up like the movie version just for money’s sake, and I think they tried that for a bit with Avengers Assemble, but that didn’t last, did it? Or did it?

I don’t understand what’s happening!

Anyhooooo….. As usual something terrible has happened, a couple of heroes are dead (Allegedly.) and the Avengers are left homeless following the destruction of Stark Tower and have to be house guests of the New Avengers who took over the old Avengers Mansion. So there’s a ton of superheroes roaming around as Captain America tries to come up with a new team which I guess requires the same amount of strategy as the Kansas City Royals manager deciding on a batting order while filling out a line-up card. Maybe less.

The new group ends up consisting of Cap, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Spider-Woman, Red Hulk (Red?), Protector (Who?), Storm (Why?) and Vision (Wasn’t he dead?). And I thought it was mandatory that Wolverine and Spider-Man had to be on every Avengers team?? Oh, well. Just one more confusing thing to ponder.

Norman Osborn has escaped custody and teamed up with Hydra and AIM as he launches a media campaign to claim that Avengers are actually the bad guys, and that he is the voice of reason. Not surprisingly, the American public falls for it. A bunch of punching and fighting ensues.

There are some good small moments here. There’s a bit at the beginning where The Thing breaks down at the wreckage of Stark Tower as he notes that it’s been a fairly crappy year. (Which in this timeline includes the Civil War and everything that happened in the aftermath.) A weary Captain America trying to pick up the pieces once again gets encouragement from old friends like Tony Stark and Black Panther. The final story involves the resurrected Vision trying to come to terms with what happened to him, and it’s the best part of the whole thing.

It’s not a bad story in and of itself, but the whole Avengers thing has sprawled so far that any hero not part of an X team is a member. (And some like Storm and Wolverine have dual membership.) Using Norman Osborn again soon after having him be Marvel’s ultimate villain for a while seems like we’re just jumping back into territory that was recently covered. I’d care more if I thought this was a stable roster that would be around for a while, but I know that didn’t happen.

[Chelsea 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 4 out of 5]

review to come

[Subham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a blast to read through.

It takes place after Fear itself and we follow the Avengers as they regroup and have a new squad including Storm and the Vision which is exciting but then they are attacked by the reborn Hammer led by Osborn and well Avengers are split up and sent to missions but what they find is that the enemies have plans for all of them, they are captured and tortured until Quake comes in and saves them and its a big battle, Osborne with Adaptoid powers and all, what will be the fate of the Avengers, who will rise and fall?

Its an epic volume with great twists and turns and surprising new members and its great seeing this new dynamic and Bendis refreshes the things again giving us an epic squad of heroes plus I love how he writes Storm and like puts Cap to the test her testing his resolve with Norman and POTUS and the backup story with Vision vs Magneto was one of the best stories period and ahh I love it and he sets the ground for the next big event in such a brilliant manner, another great volume!

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm starting to think Bendis put all his ideas for Avengers in "Avengers" instead of "New Avengers" Because this run has been stronger.

This time the Avengers are trying to regroup and make a name for themselves again after everything keeps getting wrecked. Tony and Steve work together to bring the group back but when Norman comes along and tries to ruin them with PR they might be in over their heads. When each member breaks up in teams they think they might have the advantage but Norman isn't as stupid as he comes across sometimes.

This was another fun avengers book. The thing about this run it is isn't too serious. It's just avengers working together, lots of banter, some really funny lines, and they let Avengers like Spider-Woman and such shine which is really enjoyable. The end was a bit muddy but the very last issue with Vision was fantastic.

Overall solid but you can tell Bendis was getting little bored of writing Avengers.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main problem with this book is that it's too soon. Osborn has returned to once again cause trouble for The Avengers. But it doesn't seem like 5 minutes since he did that in Dark Reign. I liked most of Dark Reign, and still love the idea of being the main man in charger of the Marvel Universe. I also thought his downfall in Siege was glorious. Marvel should have left him off the table for a few more years, but with Bendis leaving the Avengers after AvX, he probably wanted to return to Osborn sooner.


The story itself is decent. Osborn has allied his HAMMER forces with A.I.M. and HYDRA to take down the Avengers. He's also managed to pick up some new powers along the way.

On rotating art duties are Daniel Acuna and Renato Guedes. At first it was announced that Acuna would the full arc, but he couldn't keep up with the monthly schedule, which is a shame. I like Acunas art and would have really liked him to do the full arc.

[Kyle Berk · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is better than the sister title New Avengers. In part because the chunk of the Osborn story is dealt with here, though the narrative zig zags all over the place. Vision is enjoyable here though he’s at the whim of Osborn’s plan which... I still don’t know if I could fully piece it together because it’s the plan that you see in comic books that’s so unnecessarily complicated it almost makes sense. But not really.

Norman Osborn, Norman Osborn, yes Norman Osborn is shining about how he was unlawfully imprisoned. Due process and that shit. Norman Osborn. Silly, but it works.

The art is good and it’s fun to read watching Norman Osborn’s shit getting wrecked.

3 stars.

[Sineala · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this arc! Steve and Tony put together a new team -- there are a lot of fun moments between them -- and then the new team goes up against the unholy alliance of Norman Osborn and Madame Hydra, with some very classic fun supervillainy and all my faves captured. Wheee.

[Murphy C · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 🌟s, but only because the pacing works. Otherwise, Bendis composes sentences like a 12th grader who hopes to someday learn to write comics, and the art is generally pretty awful. At this point, I'm just reading through all the Bendis books I bought before I knew that he is one of the worst writers in professional comics so I can get rid of it all.

[Derek Moreland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Call it two and a half. At least this one, unlike its NEW AVENGERS counterpart, makes a modicum of sense.

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been reading The Avengers on a monthly basis since a little before Bendis pulled the whole Disassembled thing. Looking back on it, that’s a lot of time to invest into a title. Couple that with the fact that I stuck with Bendis’ handling of the team through both the New and Mighty Avengers titles and then the “Heroic Age” relaunch and that’s a lot of time spent reading his take on the franchise. I’ll admit that for me, Bendis is the name I will probably always associate with Avengers. I’ve gone back and read most of the pivotal runs and I think only Kurt Busiek’s run matches it in density and enjoyability. Though there are some classic Silver Age moments that I quite enjoy.

I had to drop both of the Avengers titles shortly after the relaunch because of monetary issues. A lot of really good books got chopped, actually. But with the movie recently in theaters I thought it would be a good idea to re-examine some prominent Avengers stories once again and so here we are.

AVENGERS v. III

I officially dropped this book at the end of volume two. I just needed to trim the fat and what followed the end of the last volume was a smattering of crossover issues with Marvel’s Fear Itself event. I still have yet to read those issues, as both the Avengers and New Avengers storylines were condensed into a single hardcover and it didn’t look interesting enough at a glance to pick up for the purpose of this retrospective. Instead I moved on to the recently released third hardcover collecting the storyline immediately afterFear Itself and would attempt to go from there.

The story picks up with Thor and Bucky dead and Steve Rogers once again in the uniform of Captain America. In the aftermath of what has been dubbed “Blitzkrieg USA,” Steve had decided to restructure the Avengers and the age-old trope of the team selection and press conference gets trotted out. I have to admit that I have nothing against the team selection and presentation idea. It works remarkably well when done right. See Busiek’s run for a good example. Here however I have to say that it feels like nothing at all has truly happened since the team formed. I know that technically a major crossover event happened, but its times like these that the complaints of decompression really come back to bite Bendis on the butt. Having read the series from the start, it feels as if there is no real weight or passage of time to necessitate this restructuring. The weight of losing Bucky and Thor isn’t properly conveyed on page in a way that makes the severity of the situation apparent.

As soon as the team is cemented, we get the return of Norman Osborn and what amounts to the spiritual sequel to Siege, which launched this title in the first place. Perhaps that is why the restructuring bothered me so much. This arc seems like events have come full circle and yet in between there has been only what seems like two days worth of adventure. It doesn’t help that after the quest for the Infinity Gems, this story seems somewhat small and misguided by comparison. Osborn’s plan is well developed, but it seems hard to swallow that the Avengers would have such trouble dealing with him following their bouts with gems that can alter the face of reality and an invasion by literal Gods of fear.

Had this story taken place two arcs later, it may not have felt so misplaced but that’s not how Bendis wanted to play it and that is my issue with this particular title. Unlike something like the first volume of New Avengers or his work on Powers, Bendis seems unwilling to play the long game here. He’s rushing from place to place trying to do everything that he feels he needs to do when writing an Avengers title and as a result it feels hollow. Compared to his original New Avengers run or something like Busiek and Perez’ years on Avengers, it just doesn’t have much in the way of true substance and that’s disheartening to say the least.

[Brian Poole · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a saga that ran concurrently with a related story in sister title New Avengers, Norman Osborn returned to exact revenge. A renegade S.H.I.E.L.D. scientist brought a variety of superhuman genetic samples to a new H.A.M.M.E.R. coalition headed by Osborn that united factions including A.I.M., Hydra and The Hand. With the tower down, all Avengers squads temporarily decamped to Avengers Mansion and the main team solidified a new line-up: Captain America (once again Steve Rogers), Iron Man, Hawkeye, Spider-Woman, Protector, Red Hulk, a revived Vision and new recruit Storm. Osborn crashed the Avengers’ press conference and made a variety of outlandish claims to paint the team in a bad light.

The Avengers split into duos and ran afoul of powered agents created by H.A.M.M.E.R. As H.A.M.M.E.R. whipped up public sentiment against the Avengers, the U.S. Government began to entertain seriously some of Osborn’s claims. The U.S. military tried to capture Osborn and Viper in an attempt to deliver Cap “for arrest,” while Quake and Vision each tracked their way to H.A.M.M.E.R. HQ. The Avengers fought their way out of captivity, only to discover that Osborn had become an Adaptoid, capable of absorbing and copying the powers of anyone he touched. An epic showdown ensued. In an epilogue, Vision attempted to reconnect to the world after months out of commission. He was rather kind to a guilt-ridden She-Hulk, then had an ugly confrontation with Magneto in search of his ex-wife.

This was an interesting story that incorporated many elements from Bendis’s tenure shepherding the Avengers franchise. The concept of Osborn creating a coalition of evil forces to overwhelm the Avengers was a clever idea that created a substantive challenge for the team. Seeing the heroes bounce back from their initial defeats was a classic Avengers progression that worked quite nicely. Having Vision back was great and long-time X-Men member Storm proved to be a strong (albeit short-lived) addition to the team. The plot did a nice job spotlighting the interactions of the character, both their personal connections and how this particular squad worked as a team. The flaw to the story was the anti-establishment philosophical rhetoric that Osborn deployed against the Avengers and that some characters (including the government) regarded it seriously. It was an unnecessary adornment to what was otherwise a strong concept and original threat to the team. It seemed calculated to make the Avengers “outsiders” again, but didn’t feel logical or earned.

Daniel Acuña handled most of this arc, with Renato Guedes stepping in for a couple issues. The duo have very similar aesthetics, providing a strong sense of visual continuity for the entire saga. Each artist used a soft, somewhat dreamlike approach, giving everything a lush, shadowy feel that fit the darker tones of the story. Acuña especially took an almost painterly approach to the pages, coming up with some striking spreads. Both artists’ character work could feel a bit posed at times, not especially dynamic, but the overall spell of the artwork succeeded in conveying mood and texture quite effectively. Brandon Peterson stepped in for the Vision story, turning in crisp, sharp lines that choreographed the action quite well. Overall, this was a strong volume with a compelling story. It’s definitely worth seeking out.

A version of this review originally appeared on www.thunderalleybcp.com

[William Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Remember the good old days when you actually cared about the characters in these books? When they didn't all just read like mashups of Michael Bay movies? I think it's time for BMB to retire. Take a vacation. Let these teams take a vacation. Because even though there is a ton of action in these pages, it feels rehashed, worn down and tired.

The Avengers have had a polymorphic roster since it's inception. Even so, it always had a solid core of characters that the reader could rely on and come to love. That changes with the latest BMB Avengers, which seems to add and subtract members at the drop of a hat. There's no foothold here, nowhere to gain a sense of balance and no reason to love any of these characters. The book is subject to BMB's whims, and those change in a New York minute.

BMB has absolutely no clue what he wants the Avengers to be. I suspect the mess he's made of this book is the reason Matt Fraction will be writing both Avengers books come October. Bendis has just begun recycling all of his old material. Norman Osborn? Again? Haven't we seen enough to last us, well, forever? I don't want to see his face outside of a Spidey book ever again. And Hydra? And the Hand? It's overkill. Pure and simple. A way for Bendis to dazzle us with special effects and lead us away from the fact that there is absolutely nothing of substance here. it's pitiful.

And don't get me started on Acuna's lazy digital art. Looks like paint-by-numbers to me. In fact, I thought I could make out the numbers beneath the colors. Red=3, blue=22. A damn shame he brings even less life to this party than Bendis. Were try both writing and painting from a coma? Someone just using their hands for them, scribbling it all limply on the story boards? It feels that way. I don't care how stylistically avant-garde Acuna may think he is because he isn't using a 1.5 pen to do any cross-hatching, but it looks like finger paints scanned down and photoshopped. This damn thing was just an embarrassment.

Writing: F
Art: F

[Brandon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third volume of this Avengers series that I've read so far and each one tells a different story. This is not unusual for and Avengers title because this group is usually the dumping ground for whatever 'Event' Marvel is promoting. That often means a fractured storyline, multiple artists and writers with differing visions and subplots I could care less about. This book has some of that but it does tell a single story that is about the Avengers without only minimal influence from the wider universe. This one involves Norman Osborn leading a super cartel of supervillain groups to take the Avengers down. A lot of this story happened outside of the Avengers pages but it did not hinder the book. There were updates along the way to help explain how things got to where they are and the focus stayed firmly within the Avengers universe. What we are left with is an highly readable story that raises a few eye brows but answers all questions, a good cast of villains that who use their cunning and influence to drive the plot and some memorable scenes. the scenes involving the capture of the Avengers and their containment were all well written and drawn and a nice change from the chaotic action fest of volume 1. This series is a good one to invest if your not a hardcore fan of the Avengers or the ever expanding Marvel universe. It's mostly self contained, well written and the artwork is good. The question is can Marvel keep it that way?

[Kris Shaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's the Norman Osborn, Red Hulk, and S.H.I.E.L.D. show! Lots of bad Bendis talking head dialogue to be had here, only this time Bendis doesn't have heavyweights like Neal Adams or Mike Deodato to save his sorry ass with their artwork. Daniel Acuna is mediocre, while Renato Guedes turns in some interesting work.

I guess that Storm is now an Avenger, which is totally stupid. Why is Bendis so intent on cross-pollinating The Avengers with every other team out there? He has made being an Avenger meaningless. They'll probably have Deadpool become a member next. Why not? It couldn't suck any worse than it does now. At least Bendis brought the Vision back. Oh wait, he's the one that killed him 8 years ago. I suspect that this is all set-up for the Age of Ultron mini-series being released next year. You can't really do Ultron without the Vision and/or Henry Pym (a/k/a Ant-Man/ Giant-Man/ Goliath/ Yellowjacket).

There is a lame scene where the Vision threatens Magneto that supposedly sets the stage for the Avengers Vs. X-Men mini-series. I'm passing on that one, as the oversized hardcover has glued binding, which is a joke for a book that large. Plus, I am having a hard time stomaching all of this Bendis writing lately.

[Tomás Sendarrubias García · Rating 2 out of 5]

No estoy terminando de encajar bien la relectura de esta parte de los Vengadores de Bendis, la verdad. La sensación que me da es la de que fue muy rompedor en sus primeros trabajos con Nuevos Vengadores etc, pero fue perdiendo fuelle (sobre todo después de Secret Invasion) y al final sus historias se quedaron solo en que podía jugar con muchos juguetes. Después de Miedo Encarnado y sus consecuencias, llegaba el momento de hacer una nueva actualización del equipo que sirvió para traer al equipo a Tormenta, por ejemplo, pero sin peso alguno para el equipo (de hecho, creo que Tormenta sólo hizo de sparring en este arco).

En fin, acompañado de Daniel Acuña (sobre el trabajo de dibujo de Acuña no tengo más que buenas palabras, las cosas como son), en Héroes Rotos se nos cuenta ni más ni menos que el regreso de Norman Osborn, que una historia que cruza con Nuevos Vengadores (otra vez) y en la que Osborn reúne a su alrededor a los antiguos agentes de HAMMER, a Hidra y a la Mano para golpear a los Vengadores y el liderazgo de Steve Rogers.

Y la historia no es mucho más que esto, las ostias entre unos y otros, sin mucho más aliño. Lo dicho, me están dejando muy desinflado.

[Kahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, to recap - there's been a secret war, a civil war and then everyone was afraid. But don't worry if you missed a bit, the opening pages of The Avengers bring you right up to speed.
And then we're off.
We need new Avengers, Norman Osborn and Madam Hydra are back in town and a scientist has changed sides.
All pretty standard stuff.
But that shouldn't take anything away from just how much fun this book is.
It's bold, ambitious, contains everything but the kitchen sink (although Doom still gets a mention) and surprisingly short. It's frankly bonkers.
And that's why it is so enjoyable.
It's hard to take the Marvel universe in new directions and create drama and tension, but if anyone can then Bendis is your guy — and with beautiful, energetic artwork mirroring his twisted little tale, Vol 3 is a good place to start if you're new to the whole book end of things.

[ila · Rating 3 out of 5]

my main critic of this is bringing back Norman Osborn so soon after the entire dark reign's arc. listen, i get it, he's an amazing villain and if he's even half as interesting to write as he is to read i completely understand the appeal... but he just got an entire main event centered aroun him and it took a lot to take him down. just let him stay in a cell for a while, i beg of you!

the story itself was pretty okay, and it had some pretty dope fights, especially the last one with both the Avengers and the New Avengers working together

as for the team(s) dynamics, i think daisy (who is amazing btw) fits so well with them and i'm glad to see Vision - a.k.a. everybody's favourite android - is back once more!!

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This comic runs parallel to New Avengers, Vol. 3. While Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers team is working to discredit the New Avengers, his H.A.M.M.E.R. agents, enhanced with stolen super powers, are taking out the Avengers.

The combination of the two volumes is definitely much better than either one is alone. That being said, even though I've never read Dark Reign, it seems pretty obvious that this is just a pale imitation of it.

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great followup to Dark Reign/Siege, with Norman Osborn's last stand against the avengers. Some good character moments, I liked seeing the Hawkeye/Spider-Woman relationship bloom (referenced in the Fraction comics I'm currently reading Raven). But above all, the amazingly vivid art by Daniel Acuna is what makes this book the best, and worth having on its own. The story doesn't require anything else from this particular series to understand, just cursory knowledge of the crossovers I mentioned earlier. Great stuff.

[Sam Ramirez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Acuña’s art is just so fucking good. This is 100% what an Avengers book should look like. The two other guest artists in this TPB are also phenomenal, this is a great read for fans of 2010s Marvel comic art. Bendis’ writing is also very fun, far from perfect but I like it so much. The final issue of this book, 24.1, is so good. Vision’s return was handled excellently here I thought. It took me a long time after finishing Fear Itself to feel like continuing on the Bendis track but now I’m ready to resume reading his Avengers yarn, and this was a perfect jumping back in point.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Collects Avengers issues #18-24 and Issue #24.1

This volume goes hand-in-hand with "New Avengers Volume #3" (collecting New Avengers issues #16.1 and #17-23). Both of these collections deal with the return of Norman Osborn, and he brings along with him his New Dark Avengers. Osborn has always been a high-level "Spider-Man" villain, but Bendis successfully made Osborn a major Marvel Universe villain during his "Avengers" run.

[RoseBlight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Closer to a 4.5 than a 4.

Really enjoying Bendis' run on Avengers so far. It's certainly tonally different than his work on New Avengers (2004) but I'm a big fan of the direction. This series KNOWS it's a comic book and doesn't shy away from feeling classic. The gorgeous artwork by Daniel Acuña seals the deal. His painted style captures nostalgia in a way not too dissimilar to Alex Ross.

[Judith Groen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an okay read. I already read the New Avengers stuff and it was kind off a lot to read both. It was action packed what was enjoyable. But overall it does not add anything new. The art was okay but nothing to write home about.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good ole Cap always has a plan. When I need you to spring into action I'll call you on your cellphone. Except he forgot the "unless I'm tied to a chair in some dark dungeon without any reception". Glad to see this wasn't the end of the Avengers. ;)

[tdr7 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved Acuñas art, loved Spider-woman and loved Quake :)

[Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

What was the point? It's a half of a story - you need to have read the corresponding New Avengers title to get it, which I have. And this still felt more like a tie-in, explaining the gabs.

[Nicolas · Rating 2 out of 5]

You know, I really liked the first volume of this and now I wonder how much of that was just John Romita, Jr. Anymore it just feels like 40 people in a room talking.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good: Osborn creates a credible threat once again. I found myself feeling viscerally tense throughout most of the core story. Nothing gets under my skin like a slimy bastard who knows how to squeeze out a good talking point and twist the other guy's words around.

Not so good: yet another "drama" around a team book's roster change. Yawn. This was only slightly more interesting than an average issue of Thunderbolts on the "who's an Avenger?" front. Also, the main conflict felt a little tidy - like we had some idea of when the threat would be resolved (even if not where or how). Osborn post-Secret Invasion has been a consistent treat, but somehow this felt to me like a minor story rather than another "Dark" era (god how I enjoyed that, as much as I enjoyed the later run of The Authority when they were losing and hopeless - long, slow tension is a killer storyline, when done right).

I continue to admire Bendis' flair for dialogue and the conversations between Tony & Steve, Luke & Jessica. And I love that characters are still prone to self-doubt or questioning, rather than just accept that they're OF COURSE the only thing keeping the world from completely falling apart.

I think there's something to be said for reading 10 years of Bendis' work on the Avengers. I'm amazed he keeps coming up with stories to keep these kid on their toes, and while not every storyline is as solid as his best they're rarely awful. (Even other Marvel Architects let off a few stinkers every so often.). At the same time I'd like to see something different and I'm glad as hell that they're all shuffling titles in the next year.

The best part of this foreshortened story is that it doesn't entirely end, and the threat that remains is even more scary than what Osborn brought to bear in this mini-Event.

My plot spoiler notes:
Avengers and New Avengers cram into Avengers mansion (since the tower fell in Fear Itself), to hilarious conflicts.

A SHIELD forensic scientist brings genetic samples from hundreds of superheroes to the newly-formed alliance of HAMMER, Hydra and AIM.

Steve Rogers invites old Avengers to the team: Black Panther (declined), Storm (accepted), Vision (rebuilt by Stark - accepted). Team now includes them, Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Woman, Hawkeye, Red Hulk, the Protector (Marvel Boy) and Quake (Daisy Johnson).

Osborn launches media attack on Avengers, so Avengers go looking for where Osborn is holed up. Each party gets ambushed by super-power-enhanced agents, and most are captured. The White House is blackmailed by Osborn, Captain America is threatened by Madame Hydra, HAMMER tries to extract Iron Man's armor off him, Madame Hydra tries to lure Spider-Woman (her daughter) back to the fold.

Quake attacks the HAMMER base, the Feds try to seize Avengers Mansion, the Avengers mostly get free and try to escape, and Osborn tries to take Avengers into custody. We see Osborn's use of the Super Adaptoid genes, but he's quickly overwhelmed when Avengers + New Avengers give him all their powers at once. Osborn's brain gets fried and he's in a deep coma. However, Madame Hydra now runs HAMMER/AIM/Hydra, and still possesses all the genetic codes to all superheroes.

[aCupcakeBlonde · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the storyline twist of having the Avengers be like the bad guys in this one. And the reality of what Osborne was doing was interesting. A good read and some great graphics.