The Avengers, Vol. 3: Blood Hunt

The Avengers (2023)

by Jed MacKay, Francesco Mortarino (Artist), C.F. Villa (Artist )

Superstar writer Jed MacKay continues his action-packed run on the Avengers!

From the FALL OF X to BLOOD HUNT! The Avengers have hung in space over Earth, a sword of Damocles over Orchis, the enemy of mutantkind, for too long. But knowing they had only one chance to strike, they waited while Iron Man prepared. Now, on his signal, it is time -- and the Avengers only know one way to strike: hard! But as the true extent of Orchis' Stark Sentinel program is revealed, will Earth's Mightiest Heroes fall against the metal onslaught? Plus: With the Avengers under siege as vampires sink their teeth into the Marvel Universe, Steve Rogers must assemble a new roster to join the BLOOD HUNT! Quicksilver, Hawkeye, Hercules and Hazmat answer the call -- but when they encounter an organized army of vampires in uniform led by a surprise villain, it gets personal!

COLLECTING: Avengers (2023) 12-16

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Science Fiction, Fantasy

120 pages, Paperback

Published December 3, 2024

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Considering it was dragged into not one but two crossover ‘events’ (‘Fall of the House of X’ and ‘Blood Hunt’, for those who care) this volume was better than it had any right to be. It was actually a lot of fun.

I can’t believe this collection contains the last issue of Avengers to be edited by the great Tom Brevoort! He’s been editing the book since ‘Heroes Return’, almost thirty years ago! Quite the accomplishment!

[Oscar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nazi vampires getting burnt to a crisp!

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much straight off the template Avenging, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fall of the House of X. The first few issues give the Avengers a cross-over with the Fall of the House of X. They spend it attacking Orchis and then being attack by Orchis. As usual: bright fights from MacKay, but not really that deep. The exception is a nice look at the modern 3-D Man. MacKay is great at continuity [3/5].

Blood Hunt. MacKay switches things up with a group of substitute Avengers while the main Avengers are off-camera, and it's a super-successful switch with nice attention given to Kate and Hazmat and Pietro (and to a lesser extent Steve and Hercules). Also, a nice self-contained plot. [4/5].

[Anna Quilter · Rating 3 out of 5]

First...the Avengers finally are given the OK to wipe out Orchis.
Then the Avengers enter Blood Hunt...the most interesting part being Cap America confronting an old Nazi nemesis.
Hence the debate there are good Vampires but never good Nazis...

[Sarospice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stars for Cap's Kooky Quartet! Loved seeing this fun grouping of Avengers and they were even written in character. Way more interesting than the main team.

[Jesse A · Rating 2 out of 5]

This series has moved into a seriously underwhelming place.

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume reminded me a lot of the split between the MCU in terms of films (especially those that are staying in theaters), and the tv runs (and those films that aren't lasting in theaters). In the first two issues, you get the recognizable core of the Avengers, taking it to Orchis, fighting back against a counterattack from Orchis, having a few emotional beats with 3D Man (who I don't really remember much of, but hey, he's here and part of a plot twist to boot?), and more or less seeing through some of the dismantling of Orchis to wrap up the end of the Krakoan Age. The back three issues are set during Blood Hunt and feature, other than Cap, a B/C squad of characters (Hawkeye 2.0 whose name from the show I already forgot despite liking the character, Hercules who I always think is Ares but Ares is...dead still?..., Haz Mat (is she...not a mutant?), and Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff (who has popped up a bit in the Scarlet Witch runs of late, so there's that). They...fight some vampires. One of them seems to be a Nazi vampire who looks like he's trying really hard to steal Wolverine's aesthetic. The action in the art is rough, but when it focuses on the characters in more stationary positions, it clicks? Just a reminder that I probably don't really need to revisit the Avengers as a series even for these crossover events.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

4

A decent Blood Hunt tie-in series. The "off brand" Avengers team worked and made for an interesting dynamic and fun team-ups. Avengers needs to get away from the same old tired big guns. The wrap up was a bit flat. But this had some fun moments.

[William Hawthorne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hey man, I really liked it when they killed the Nazi Vampires

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty fun volume. I love how we are finally getting into character focused stories and like more cohesiveness with the main continuity as the last 2 stories felt weird and just usual cosmic threats but this one you see Avengers fighting the sentinels and destroying Orchis targets as they deal with fall of x stuff which is a nice tie-in and you see Avengers being awesome and just the focus on 3-D man was good too and you see them dealing with this problem of Stark sentinels head on. Also nice set up for Mackay's X-MEN!

And the next 3 issues have another team as they have to stop vampires in the BLOOD HUNT event and I love how these 3 issues are like self contained and deal with Steve and his team vs Baron Blood and his nazi vampires which is a classic match up but really well done, I love the characterization here for Steve and how he is written as the guy who will save people no matter what and always crush people like these and I like how the villain is portrayed here.

Also love the characterization of Pietro and some other young characters and the continuity from Avengers Academy is carried to here which is just awesome and I love it! Mackay is really getting the hang of the Avengers and I can't wait for future volumes!

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Welcome to an Avengers book that doesn't have an overarching storyline...

(or if it did, I've lost the plot since they picked up 'The Impossible City' as their base)

The Avengers have been doing their own thing in their own books for much of this run. The Fall of X has been happening. Tony married Emma Frost to rebuild his stolen tech and intellectual property. Carol picked up a Nega-band hitchhiker (her own sorta Rick Jones character). They've all been going at it solo.

Until now...
Tony gives them all the green light to take on Orchis and BOY do we see how overpowered this team can be. Maybe that's why we've been seeing individual stories. This team will utterly wreck anything put in front of them. Even with 'Bloodhunt' happening in this arc, we get a 'second tier' Avengers team of Academy alums and OG heroes taking on Nazi vampires (led by Baron Blood) ...and they still wreck shop.

I'm here for it.
(this isn't a fancy review, as you can see. I'm curious to see how Storm fits into this team. We've already had X-Men integrated into an Avengers team. Rogue was pretty badass. Will Storm be able to stop flexing (flirting) between Thor and Black Panther? We'll see.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a tough job for Mackay, covering two big crossovers in five issues. First off, the Avengers get involved with the Fall of X. On one hand, I loved how these issues showcased how powerful and capable the Avengers are when they work together at full capacity. It's genuinely fun to see them all just cut loose, especially because there's some clever strategy displayed as well. But I also felt like this was a disproportionately important part of the event to be in a couple of issues of a non-X-Men book. Moving on to Blood Hunt, this was a lot more fun. It's definitely a side story, and it mostly features characters who aren't part of the regular Avengers team right now: Kate Bishop, Hercules, Quicksilver, an Hazmat, as well as Steve Rogers. It's a good mix of characters and powers, and Quicksilver in particular is way more interesting than I think he's been in years. I also loved the choice of villain, dredging up a slightly campy vampire from Steve's past. It makes perfect sense that he'd show up in this event, and he can be dealt with without taking anything from the main Blood Hunt story.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oddly, this Blood Hunt volume opens with the Avengers addressing the Fall of X. They blandly battle Modok and 3-D Man (???) who send a fleet of Sentinels at the Avengers space base. Admittedly, I did not see the twist coming where it's revealed 3-D Man was Black Panther's sleeper agent.This is all fine and looks nice, but it comes out of nowhere.

Then, we get to the main event...which is actually off in the Blood Hunt book. The mainline Avengers are mostly imprisoned or doing more important things, so we follow Cap and...Quicksilver, Hawkeye, Hercules, and Hazmat...yeesh...as they fight a Nazi vampire. It's full-on punch-a-bunch action with very little time for character moments aside from like, Quicksilver being a dick.

A weak entry in MacKay's Avengers series because of tie-in requirements, though it's still pacy enough and good-looking enough that I can't completely write it off.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five issues of tie-ins this early in a series could be a problem, but not for Jed MacKay, who folds first the Fall Of X and then Blood Hunt into his ongoing narrative fairly seamlessly. The Fall of X issues bring the Avengers into some of the broader conflicts of the end of the Krakoan Age since they're mostly on the peripheries otherwise, while Blood Hunt allows MacKay to rope in a whole new team of Avengers for these three issues as Captain America, Hercules, Kate Bishop, Hazmat, and Quicksilver take on Baron Blood. It's not massive on momentum for MacKay's Missing Moment plot, but it doesn't stop from the first page to the last, and it's just plain fun.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an all tie-in volume for this volume of Avengers. First up is a Fall of the House of X 2 parter where the Avengers wipe out Orchis in a day. The X-Men should have gotten them involved much sooner because they just cleaned house. Then Captain America gathers a bunch of former Avengers to protect a SHIELD helicarrier full of people being gathered like cattle by Nazi vampires. Haven't seen Baron Blood around for quite a while now. The story is a bit lackluster and feels like one of those gazillion Blood Hunt crossovers.

[Alex Sarll]

Two issues of the regular team showing Orchis what for has its charms, notwithstanding art that makes Tony Stark look like JD Vance. But it's the second half of this that's finally as good as a Jed MacKay Avengers should have been from the start, a mismatched group of second-stringers rallying around Steve Rogers to fuck some Nazi vampires right up. And, as Steve makes clear, "Let's not get carried away. I've known good vampires, people who never asked for this curse, who don't inflict their pain and hunger on others. But I've never known a good Nazi "

[Dallas Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must for Steve Rogers fans!

There has been such an radically fresh and yet eternal take on Steve's Cap in recent years that is such an endless joy to read!

As a Kate Bishop fan, I got this book for her, which is also a joy and I endlessly love the ending panel sentiment!

This book gave everyone a lot of love and has two big stories focusing on different characters that is altogether worth it!
The Avengers try to save people and fight fascism in two no holds barred epic fights!
All while looking incredible!

[Ellie Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

This arc definitely suffers from having to connect to the ongoing overarching events like Bloodhunt and Fall of X, which is the main focus of all six issues. Additionally, the prime team are absent for the final 4 issues, leaving a back up squad on Earth to deal with Bloodhunt. However, points for the inclusion of Quicksilver and Steve Rogers [finger guns]

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The new Avengers team has been battling Orchis, an organization dedicated to wiping out mutants, and are now bringing the fight to them. But as soon as that battle is over, the Avengers discover that darkness has descended on Earth and Vampires have risen up. Captain America recruits Hercules, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, and Hazmat to take on Baron Blood.

[Ziyad Baksh · Rating 3 out of 5]

on the clock

Mackay ties the Avengers into other ongoing stories and expands the book's core cast. Obscure characters like 3-D man gets a solid showing, and it's more blockbuster action.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple of issues devoted to the Avengers bringing down Orchis to help end the Fall of X storyline, followed by three issues that tie in to the Blood Hunt arc. Not much beyond that, though the stories are competently handled.

[Atomread W. Megaforce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ich musste ja beim Bloodhunt Event durchaus viel leiden, weil ich mit Vampiren einfach NIX anfangen kann.
Aber jetzt sind es...Nazi-Vampire😭und der Chef heißt Baron Blood. HABE ICH DENN NICHT GENUG GELITTEN? (leider ist es aber ziemlich unterhaltsam geschrieben)

"Ich habe in meinem Leben viele Vampire getroffen und einige davon waren meine Freunde. Aber ich traf noch nie...einen guten Nazi"
- Captain America

[Derrick O'Rourke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable tie in volume

This is an enjoyable tie in volume to the x men saga and to the vampire event. They're reasonably standalone so can be read without needing to know too much context.

[Andres Pasten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tomo de relleno por 2 crossovers, pero bien escritos

[Mateusz Nowowiejski · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 - 2024

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The crossover in the first portion of the collection was pretty standard but the Blood Hunt event has been great, including the part in this book.

[Jason Tanner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always nice to see Nazi vampires getting their asses kicked instead of taking over your country.

[Drew · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume ties into two different events. I enjoyed the X-Men stories, especially the bits with Triathalon, but the blood hunt stuff mostly left me cold.

[Riley Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

steve rogers is fed up with nazis, helicarriers, and pietro. not necessarily in that order