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Avengers (2012) (Collected Editions) #1-2
Avengers by Jonathan Hickman, Vol. 1
Collects Avengers (2012) #1-13.
The greatest heroes in comics, together as one unbeatable team! The Avengers “go large,” expanding their roster and sphere of influence to a global and even interplanetary levels. Who will respond to Captain America’s call? The Avengers’ first missions take them to Mars, and then far across the galaxy as Captain Universe races to decipher the secret origin of the universe itself! Then, the Avengers must deal with the White Event as strangely familiar new heroes are born! The team faces the World Breaker and discovers the imminent threat to the Avengers World, Omega Flight encounters a Garden Origin site, Shang-Chi battles an ancient enemy, and the High Evolutionary stakes his claim in the Savage Land! Jonathan Hickman takes Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to the next level with big threats, big ideas and big idealism!
The greatest heroes in comics, together as one unbeatable team! The Avengers “go large,” expanding their roster and sphere of influence to a global and even interplanetary levels. Who will respond to Captain America’s call? The Avengers’ first missions take them to Mars, and then far across the galaxy as Captain Universe races to decipher the secret origin of the universe itself! Then, the Avengers must deal with the White Event as strangely familiar new heroes are born! The team faces the World Breaker and discovers the imminent threat to the Avengers World, Omega Flight encounters a Garden Origin site, Shang-Chi battles an ancient enemy, and the High Evolutionary stakes his claim in the Savage Land! Jonathan Hickman takes Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to the next level with big threats, big ideas and big idealism!
319 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 28, 2015
147 people are currently reading
164 people want to read
About the author
Jonathan Hickman
1,226 books2,048 followersJonathan Hickman is an American comic book writer and artist. He is known for creating the Image Comics series The Nightly News, The Manhattan Projects and East of West, as well as working on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, FF, and S.H.I.E.L.D. titles. In 2012, Hickman ended his run on the Fantastic Four titles to write The Avengers and The New Avengers, as part the "Marvel NOW!" relaunch. In 2013, Hickman wrote a six-part miniseries, Infinity, plus Avengers tie-ins for Marvel Comics. In 2015, he wrote the crossover event Secret Wars. - Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
March 4, 2021
Hickman's Avengers Volume 1 was not bad. The premise being yet another refounding of the Avengers.
Tony Stark and Captain America have a discussion about creating a new Avengers team, using a mix of old and new members. Including the "old school" guys like Cap, Thor, Hulk, Iron Man-they also bring in a variety of others from Spiderman and Wolverine, to Shang-Chi, Cannonball and Sunspot, as well as some utterly random heroes like Hyperion and Captain Marvel and Spiderwoman.
The first volume has the team firstly fighting against Ex Nihilo and his machinations. The story then moves onto the effects of Ex Nihilo's work and we also get a nice Hyperion background story. The rest of the stories generally revolve around AIM, the Savage Land, and the High Evolutionary. Many of the newer members of the team have their back stories introduced during this time as well.
The art? Pretty good throughout. While this was not an amazing volume, it was good. I wasn't blown away by the story, but it did have its moments. Couple that with the good artwork and this is a 3 star volume. While hardly raveworthy, I shall gladly add it to my comic collection. Nice HC volume with some nice Cover Art at the end.
Tony Stark and Captain America have a discussion about creating a new Avengers team, using a mix of old and new members. Including the "old school" guys like Cap, Thor, Hulk, Iron Man-they also bring in a variety of others from Spiderman and Wolverine, to Shang-Chi, Cannonball and Sunspot, as well as some utterly random heroes like Hyperion and Captain Marvel and Spiderwoman.
The first volume has the team firstly fighting against Ex Nihilo and his machinations. The story then moves onto the effects of Ex Nihilo's work and we also get a nice Hyperion background story. The rest of the stories generally revolve around AIM, the Savage Land, and the High Evolutionary. Many of the newer members of the team have their back stories introduced during this time as well.
The art? Pretty good throughout. While this was not an amazing volume, it was good. I wasn't blown away by the story, but it did have its moments. Couple that with the good artwork and this is a 3 star volume. While hardly raveworthy, I shall gladly add it to my comic collection. Nice HC volume with some nice Cover Art at the end.
March 3, 2022
Epic in scale like New Avengers, but I feel a lot more accessible. Mainly read for Superior Spider-Man's appearances but I’m going to read Infinity and eventually read the whole run when the omnibuses get reprinted.
September 29, 2019
Якщо хтось і пише складніше від Гранта Моррісона, то це Джонатан Хікман. Ну справді, усі ці схеми, шифри, коди, десятки сюжетних ліній і відчуття того, що ти взагалі не знає куди й чому рухається історія — це все про Хікмана. Я більше читав альтернативного Хікмана, який, в принципі, мені подобався. Щодо його рану на «Месниках», то зустрічав різні відгуки, переважно із ремарками про складність і занудність.
Що ж, початок вийшов непоганим, місцями навіть дуже цікавим, але ще таким, який залишив безліч питань. Із основного — мені сподобався концепт. Ідея того, що хтось може створювати живих істот за принципом еволюції і водночас теорії хаосу виглядає незвично. А ще тут замішані алюзії зі Старого Заповіту, міфології, якогось придуманих технологій і власне світу Месників. Цікаво, що останні сприймаються зовсім інакше на фоні цієї комбінації, втрачають десь свою картонність, чим часто страждає мейнстрім. Ні, тут нема глибокого розкриття персонажів (окрім трішки Гіперіона, але тут доречніше говорити про основний фокус), а радше їхнього загального сприйняття. Вони продовжують на кожний виклик реагувати швидкою колективною атакою, але цей супергероївський антураж і уся його наївність (без неї теж ніяк) не є основним у цих арках. Читати цікаво, але поки нема ані світлу, ані тунелю. Можливо, нічого нема (ні, така радикальність вже більше притаманна Моррісону), а лише гра та випадковість. Хоча, знаючи скрупульозну візію Хікмана, уся картина має скластись згодом, десь через випусків п’ятдесят. Сподіваюсь, що мене вистачить.
Що ж, початок вийшов непоганим, місцями навіть дуже цікавим, але ще таким, який залишив безліч питань. Із основного — мені сподобався концепт. Ідея того, що хтось може створювати живих істот за принципом еволюції і водночас теорії хаосу виглядає незвично. А ще тут замішані алюзії зі Старого Заповіту, міфології, якогось придуманих технологій і власне світу Месників. Цікаво, що останні сприймаються зовсім інакше на фоні цієї комбінації, втрачають десь свою картонність, чим часто страждає мейнстрім. Ні, тут нема глибокого розкриття персонажів (окрім трішки Гіперіона, але тут доречніше говорити про основний фокус), а радше їхнього загального сприйняття. Вони продовжують на кожний виклик реагувати швидкою колективною атакою, але цей супергероївський антураж і уся його наївність (без неї теж ніяк) не є основним у цих арках. Читати цікаво, але поки нема ані світлу, ані тунелю. Можливо, нічого нема (ні, така радикальність вже більше притаманна Моррісону), а лише гра та випадковість. Хоча, знаючи скрупульозну візію Хікмана, уся картина має скластись згодом, десь через випусків п’ятдесят. Сподіваюсь, що мене вистачить.
August 11, 2018
A Quickie Review
After a bit of a rough start, things got going pretty well on this recent incarnation of Marvel's band of superheroes. Old-school purists may bristle, but, for newer/younger fans such as myself, this is actually very fun.
Score: 4/5
EDIT: This wasn't as good the second time around; the artwork was fun, and the content was cleaner than usual for comic omnibuses like this, but the stories didn't do much for me.
After a bit of a rough start, things got going pretty well on this recent incarnation of Marvel's band of superheroes. Old-school purists may bristle, but, for newer/younger fans such as myself, this is actually very fun.
Score: 4/5
EDIT: This wasn't as good the second time around; the artwork was fun, and the content was cleaner than usual for comic omnibuses like this, but the stories didn't do much for me.
July 11, 2021
3.75 stars. This book was pretty decent. The first three quarters of the book were the best in my opinion. There was a lot of cool interesting things set up. New characters introduced, some background given on how certain characters came to be and the white event that introduces a Starbrand and all what comes along with that. A lot of stuff that I’m now curious to see what they turn into. The last parts of the book got a little off that forward march that was happening and we get into the zebra kids living in the Savage Land and how the High Evolutionary tried to take them. Hopefully there is a reason for this part of the story and that it leads to some thing cool. Anyway, Infinity’s up next.
August 20, 2016
An amazing kickoff to Hickman's huge, universe-spanning Avengers run. I really love how he wastes no time with overt exposition or the typical "OK, Avengers, here's the situation" kind of crap. He just jumps right in with some of the craziest Avengers stuff I've ever read. This really feels like a sharp left turn from Bendis's much more grounded, "realistic" run, jumping headfirst into big science ideas and philosophical musings about humanity and its place in the universe. This is the kind of epic comics story I can already tell will be way better read quickly and completely so as not to miss anything, and I'm glad I have it all at the ready.
The Builders, an ancient race of world-shapers and creators of life, have arrived on Mars, essentially to judge Earth from a distance and reshape its life to be "perfect" with some bonkers kind of living technology. They've deemed humanity and all other life on earth to be imperfect and in dire need of an upgrade. They aren't necessarily there to kill everything, they're there to fix everything. The problem is, their version of fixing everything is to completely remove free will and make all lifeforms efficient, ascended beings, which happens to make them basically unrecognizable monsters. The way Hickman presents these new beings shows that they really are advanced, long-lived, perfectly adapted creatures. They just aren't human anymore, and that's the problem. So the Avengers step in to stop this, even though the Builders don't really come across as all that evil.
It's a pretty cool approach to an "evil team." Granted, there have been lots of morally ambiguous "evil teams" in the past, but this one I thought worked particularly well. Hickman is a master of plot construction and tension building, and it really pays off over the course of this book. I couldn't wait to see what new, insane thing the Builders would do and how the Avengers would approach it, since the answers aren't always clear. What happens when they're forced to deal with a group of highly evolved, well-meaning children, for instance? It's not just a fist-and-hammers fight, and that's part of what makes this standout.
In any case, I'm excited for the remainder of this run. I've loved Hickman's previous Secret Warriors and Fantastic Four runs, and I think this one's shaping up to be on par, or even better, than those.
The Builders, an ancient race of world-shapers and creators of life, have arrived on Mars, essentially to judge Earth from a distance and reshape its life to be "perfect" with some bonkers kind of living technology. They've deemed humanity and all other life on earth to be imperfect and in dire need of an upgrade. They aren't necessarily there to kill everything, they're there to fix everything. The problem is, their version of fixing everything is to completely remove free will and make all lifeforms efficient, ascended beings, which happens to make them basically unrecognizable monsters. The way Hickman presents these new beings shows that they really are advanced, long-lived, perfectly adapted creatures. They just aren't human anymore, and that's the problem. So the Avengers step in to stop this, even though the Builders don't really come across as all that evil.
It's a pretty cool approach to an "evil team." Granted, there have been lots of morally ambiguous "evil teams" in the past, but this one I thought worked particularly well. Hickman is a master of plot construction and tension building, and it really pays off over the course of this book. I couldn't wait to see what new, insane thing the Builders would do and how the Avengers would approach it, since the answers aren't always clear. What happens when they're forced to deal with a group of highly evolved, well-meaning children, for instance? It's not just a fist-and-hammers fight, and that's part of what makes this standout.
In any case, I'm excited for the remainder of this run. I've loved Hickman's previous Secret Warriors and Fantastic Four runs, and I think this one's shaping up to be on par, or even better, than those.
June 15, 2024
Avengers Vol 1 by Hickman is really good. I love the care taken in the artwork. This is the origin of the group becoming larger than the original heroes. Inside of that, it’s the story of each additional group member: what motivates them, how they came to be and how that has made them who they are now. All of that is wrapped in the story of Ex Nihilo attempting to recreate Earth and the resulting chaos the Avengers must deal with in the wake of his destruction/creation. This is an origin story, a destruction and creation myth and a superhero story all rolled into one. Lots to do but very entertaining.
May 26, 2022
En realidad no es el volumen 1 lo que me he leído, sino toda la etapa de Hickman en vengadores (44 números) y nuevos Vengadores (33 números) y la miniserie Infinity (6 números) que salió entre medias.
Es bastante bueno, en su momento toda esta etapa se alargó 2 años, por lo que se pudieron desarrollar las ideas a un ritmo decente.
Por un lado están los vengadores haciendo cosas de Vengadores como salvar al mundo varias veces de invasiones extraterrestres y esas cosas. Por otro lado están los nuevos Vengadores (que en verdad son los illuminatis, de hecho en los 33 números nunca sale la expresión "nuevos Vengadores", pero como se había estrenado la peli de los vengadores un año antes de que esto saliese, había que aprovechar el tirón), haciendo cosas de illuminatis, es decir, salvar al mundo mientras hacen cosas moralmente cuestionables.
Si entro en más detalle ya empezaría a hacer spoiler, pero desde el principio se plantean hilos argumentales que se van desarrollando en toda la etapa, se justifica generalmente bien la aparición o no aparición de los personajes, no interfieren las series individuales de cada y casi no afectan los eventos del universo Marvel (excepto original sin, que de repente de un número a otro ha cambiado muchas cosas pero se esmera en explicarlo todo), y en general todo bien. Por sacarle una pega, los personajes son bastante intercambiables en el sentido de que ninguno tiene una motivación para hacer sus cosas más allá de que como vive en el planeta tierra no quiere que lo invadan, con la excepción de Hyperion.
Y el dibujo no lo puedo comentar porque entre las 3 series y los dos años que estoy reseñando, pasan muchos dibujantes. En general el nivel nunca deja de ser alto, y es bastante sobrio en cuanto a que es fácil de entender lo que está pasando aunque haya 35 personajes en la hoja.
Es bastante bueno, en su momento toda esta etapa se alargó 2 años, por lo que se pudieron desarrollar las ideas a un ritmo decente.
Por un lado están los vengadores haciendo cosas de Vengadores como salvar al mundo varias veces de invasiones extraterrestres y esas cosas. Por otro lado están los nuevos Vengadores (que en verdad son los illuminatis, de hecho en los 33 números nunca sale la expresión "nuevos Vengadores", pero como se había estrenado la peli de los vengadores un año antes de que esto saliese, había que aprovechar el tirón), haciendo cosas de illuminatis, es decir, salvar al mundo mientras hacen cosas moralmente cuestionables.
Si entro en más detalle ya empezaría a hacer spoiler, pero desde el principio se plantean hilos argumentales que se van desarrollando en toda la etapa, se justifica generalmente bien la aparición o no aparición de los personajes, no interfieren las series individuales de cada y casi no afectan los eventos del universo Marvel (excepto original sin, que de repente de un número a otro ha cambiado muchas cosas pero se esmera en explicarlo todo), y en general todo bien. Por sacarle una pega, los personajes son bastante intercambiables en el sentido de que ninguno tiene una motivación para hacer sus cosas más allá de que como vive en el planeta tierra no quiere que lo invadan, con la excepción de Hyperion.
Y el dibujo no lo puedo comentar porque entre las 3 series y los dos años que estoy reseñando, pasan muchos dibujantes. En general el nivel nunca deja de ser alto, y es bastante sobrio en cuanto a que es fácil de entender lo que está pasando aunque haya 35 personajes en la hoja.
April 4, 2018
Although it is Mostly a Build Up Issues But i Enjoyed it a Great Deal and Have the Sense Of Something Big
September 9, 2024
Het eerste Avengers verhaal was best wel goed, maar de tweede was erg moeilijk om te volgen. Wel waren alle New Avengers gedeelten erg spannend, interessant en vooral goed getekend! Jonathan Hickman gebruikt wel vaak, veel expositie, waardoor het soms moeilijker is om erdoorheen te komen.
Maar hij probeert de wereld neer te zetten voor latere events, dus ik snap het wel.
Erg benieuwd waartoe het leidt!
7,5/10⭐
Maar hij probeert de wereld neer te zetten voor latere events, dus ik snap het wel.
Erg benieuwd waartoe het leidt!
7,5/10⭐
September 1, 2021
Hickman, como siempre, lo hace de manera formidable. Todo muere, Reed Richards lo acepta, es natural, pero no está dispuesto a aceptar que algo allá afuera acelere la muerte de todo.
October 28, 2018
I've rarely been as disappointed in a comics as I am in this one. I was hoping for something great after Bendis, but Hickman is completely plot driven, caring little for most of the characters he writes. He's also committing the sin of Bendis, in devoting many issues to one specific character, and even worse, it's often characters that don't fit the team that he has shoehorned in. I don't even get the opinion that he really understands many of these characters.
April 16, 2016
Didn't love it as much as "New Avengers" which I know people shit on (dunno why) but I did have fun with more than half the volumes. Some are boring, some make no sense for me, while others are engaging and stunning to look out. You have a more cosmic feel to this run, a bigger score for sure, and if that's your thing, come on and pick this first volume up.
April 7, 2019
Starts off a little confusing, a lot of stuff thrown at you but once it gets going its so good. Cant wait to move on to the infinity story.
June 19, 2015
Collects Avengers (2012) issues #1-13
I started reading this book after being impressed by Jonathan Hickman's other title, "New Avengers." The stories in each of these series go hand-in-hand, so I knew I had to pick this up. In this book, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers decide that the Avengers lineup needs to get bigger in order to stop all of the bad things happening to Earth. This is one of the starting points in the story that sets up the 2015 event, "Secret Wars."
I originally read these stories in a smaller collection, so here are my spoiler-free reflections on these issues.
Issues #1-6:
Hickman does a great job of setting up the team in this volume. He starts things off with the Avengers from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, making this a good jumping on point for new readers, and then slowly incorporates other members to the team. I especially appreciated how he took the time to devote certain issues to specific characters’ backstories so that we could start to feel like we know them more. Hickman on the Avengers is a must read. I enjoyed Volume 1 of New Avengers more, but this was still very strong, and Hickman himself has said that those two titles are meant to be read together as one big story.
Avengers issues #7-11:
This was another great Hickman book, almost as good as the first volume, if not for the final two issues which were just OK. Hopefully they are setting up future stories. The first three issues in this collection were really strong, but I’m not sure that the White Event story was resolved within this book.
Issues #12-13:
This is still an enjoyable read, but every volume has been less enjoyable since Marvel NOW! started.
SPOILER-FILLED REVIEWS START HERE:
Issue One: I love the way that, at the open of the book, Hickman shows us some images of what’s to come, teasing us with exciting prospects of the stories ahead. It all starts with two men…Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. These two recruited new members to the Avengers so that the team could get bigger. But apparently, we are warned that, expansion is the spark that eventually starts the fire. The end of this issue shows Cap assembling an expanded roster, including some new faces that I don’t recognize.
Issue Two: This issue opens with Cap, and the new team that he assembled, attempting to save other Avengers that are being imprisoned on Mars by the awesome new villains, Ex Nihilo, Abyss, and Aleph. This issue essentially sets up the full roster, which includes:
Captain America
Iron Man
Thor
Hulk
Black Widow
Hawkeye
Captain Universe
Hyperion
Smasher
Wolverine
Spider-Man
The Falcon
Shang-Chi
Cannonball
Sunspot
Manifold
Spider-Woman
Captain Marvel
Issue Three: Abyss explains to Thor the different roles the villains play. “Ex Nihilo is unbridled creation, Aleph is unchecked purification, and I am not so simple. Who can truly live marooned between such shallow choices?” I have no idea what’s going on with Captain Universe in this issue, or who she is, but it turns out that she, or the entity that possesses her, is the deity that the villains worship. Whoever, or whatever, she is, we find out that Mother Universe calls Earth her home, and Ex Nihilo wonders what makes Earth so special. Captain America thinks that it is special because it is an Avengers World. In the end, Captain Universe destroys Aleph, and allows Ex Nihilo and Abyss to live on Mars, recreating life there. They are warned to stay out of trouble…or else. Iron Man seems freaked out by Captain Universe. With everything apparently resolved, the reader is reminded by the omniscient narrator that this great expansion of the Avengers started with two men. Steve Rogers is life, and Tony Stark, we are warned, is death.
Issue Four: I’ve been waiting for this. We finally get Hyperion’s origin story in Marvel NOW! I had known that Marvel created him years ago as an analogue to Superman in their Squadron Supreme stories. Although I’ve never read them, I heard that Squadron Supreme had analogues for each of the members of the Justice League, which allowed Marvel to tell stories with (kind of) DC characters. I was excited when I learned that Hyperion was going to be on the Avengers, but I wasn’t sure how he would make it there from Earth-712. In the flashback, it looks like Hyperion has either survived a Crisis-like event, or the multiverse intrusions seen in New Avengers Volume 1. Either way, he arrived on Earth-616 with help from A.I.M.
Issue Five: I wasn’t looking forward to this as much as Hyperion’s origin, but I was still glad to learn more about Smasher. She is originally from Iowa, but came across some Shi’ar technology which transformed her into a superguardian.
Issue Six: As expected, another (much needed) origin story. In this issue, we find out how Captain Universe joined the team. This is kind of weird…Captain Universe is two people. First, she is Mother Universe, and second, she is Tamara DeVoux, a woman being used as a host body for the Universe’s personification. The “being a woman in a coma taken over by a higher power” story was a little boring, but things got better when Captain Universe revealed, “This place…Earth is significant, and the axis around which the multiverse spins. Here, the life and death of everything will be decided, so it is here I needed to become sentient.” In a subplot, Tony brought a human created by Ex Nihilo back to Earth to study. At first he thought his name was Blackveil, due to a translation computer program that he developed, but Captain Universe (who understands the new human) corrects the error and reveals that his name is Nightmask. When she allows Nightmask to speak plain English, he says, “The system is broken. It’s coming! It’s here. The White Event.” We then pull out for the full picture, and see a gigantic wave of white energy surging towards the (small in comparison) planet Earth.
Issue Seven: This issue opens with confusing dialogue about a Caretaker, and some Builders, and an artificial intelligence, and a Superflow of multiple universes. It is definitely Multiverse talk, because we see that Universe 616 is singled out as one of the universes being affected by the failure of the Caretaker and the collapse of the Superflow. The crazy thing about the White Event, that happens after this collapse, is that it looks just like the white wall of antimatter seen in "Crisis on Infinite Earths." “A white event occurs when a world is on the verge of ascending on a universal scale. A white event creates/alters heralds to shepherd this ascension, and a Nightmask always acts as forerunner of the change.” – Nightmask
Starbrand, a character original from the New Universe, makes his Marvel 616 debut in this issue.
Issue Eight: The Starbrand is a person, and a weapon. It is a defense system of planetary scale designed to protect a people as they progress through a change period, becoming a more advanced society. Nightmask is a lot of help, as Kevin is transitioning into his Starbrand role, and we even learn that Nightmask’s first name is Adam. Both Nightmask and Starbrand are avatars put on Earth as preparation for what is to come. Starbrand is super powerful, and put up an awesome fight against the likes of Thor, Hulk, and Hyperion. At the end of the issue Nightmask and Starbrand travel to Mars to catch up with Ex Nihilo and Abyss.
Issue Nine: When the two return to Earth, after a conversation with the Garden Members, they face off against the Avengers again. It is a big battle, and even though Kevin didn’t mean to use his powers for destruction, the Avengers feel that locking him and Adam up is the best thing to do. So, they are put in a cell that is floating in space.
Also, Kevin accidentally used his powers to destroy the consciousness of Earth, which basically looked like a big brain.
Issue Ten: To be honest, I don’t think I know what happened in this issue. The Avengers go on a mission to a place that is evolving because of Ex Nihilo’s evolution bombs, and then something weird happens to them where they either start changing into monsters, or their costumes change. None of them really understand what happened, and either do I.
Issue Eleven: The last issue felt more like a Secret Avengers story than an Avengers story. Only interesting tidbit is that A.I.M. is gearing up for a war.
Issue Twelve: Some kids were born in the Savage Lands due to Ex Nihilo’s origin bomb, and they are highly advanced humanoids. They don’t need to eat or breath to stay alive. Some of the Avengers try to teach them, but while that is happening, the High Evolutionary kidnaps them.
Issue Thirteen: They save the kids in this one. Hyperion is featured.
I started reading this book after being impressed by Jonathan Hickman's other title, "New Avengers." The stories in each of these series go hand-in-hand, so I knew I had to pick this up. In this book, Tony Stark and Steve Rogers decide that the Avengers lineup needs to get bigger in order to stop all of the bad things happening to Earth. This is one of the starting points in the story that sets up the 2015 event, "Secret Wars."
I originally read these stories in a smaller collection, so here are my spoiler-free reflections on these issues.
Issues #1-6:
Hickman does a great job of setting up the team in this volume. He starts things off with the Avengers from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, making this a good jumping on point for new readers, and then slowly incorporates other members to the team. I especially appreciated how he took the time to devote certain issues to specific characters’ backstories so that we could start to feel like we know them more. Hickman on the Avengers is a must read. I enjoyed Volume 1 of New Avengers more, but this was still very strong, and Hickman himself has said that those two titles are meant to be read together as one big story.
Avengers issues #7-11:
This was another great Hickman book, almost as good as the first volume, if not for the final two issues which were just OK. Hopefully they are setting up future stories. The first three issues in this collection were really strong, but I’m not sure that the White Event story was resolved within this book.
Issues #12-13:
This is still an enjoyable read, but every volume has been less enjoyable since Marvel NOW! started.
SPOILER-FILLED REVIEWS START HERE:
Issue One: I love the way that, at the open of the book, Hickman shows us some images of what’s to come, teasing us with exciting prospects of the stories ahead. It all starts with two men…Tony Stark and Steve Rogers. These two recruited new members to the Avengers so that the team could get bigger. But apparently, we are warned that, expansion is the spark that eventually starts the fire. The end of this issue shows Cap assembling an expanded roster, including some new faces that I don’t recognize.
Issue Two: This issue opens with Cap, and the new team that he assembled, attempting to save other Avengers that are being imprisoned on Mars by the awesome new villains, Ex Nihilo, Abyss, and Aleph. This issue essentially sets up the full roster, which includes:
Captain America
Iron Man
Thor
Hulk
Black Widow
Hawkeye
Captain Universe
Hyperion
Smasher
Wolverine
Spider-Man
The Falcon
Shang-Chi
Cannonball
Sunspot
Manifold
Spider-Woman
Captain Marvel
Issue Three: Abyss explains to Thor the different roles the villains play. “Ex Nihilo is unbridled creation, Aleph is unchecked purification, and I am not so simple. Who can truly live marooned between such shallow choices?” I have no idea what’s going on with Captain Universe in this issue, or who she is, but it turns out that she, or the entity that possesses her, is the deity that the villains worship. Whoever, or whatever, she is, we find out that Mother Universe calls Earth her home, and Ex Nihilo wonders what makes Earth so special. Captain America thinks that it is special because it is an Avengers World. In the end, Captain Universe destroys Aleph, and allows Ex Nihilo and Abyss to live on Mars, recreating life there. They are warned to stay out of trouble…or else. Iron Man seems freaked out by Captain Universe. With everything apparently resolved, the reader is reminded by the omniscient narrator that this great expansion of the Avengers started with two men. Steve Rogers is life, and Tony Stark, we are warned, is death.
Issue Four: I’ve been waiting for this. We finally get Hyperion’s origin story in Marvel NOW! I had known that Marvel created him years ago as an analogue to Superman in their Squadron Supreme stories. Although I’ve never read them, I heard that Squadron Supreme had analogues for each of the members of the Justice League, which allowed Marvel to tell stories with (kind of) DC characters. I was excited when I learned that Hyperion was going to be on the Avengers, but I wasn’t sure how he would make it there from Earth-712. In the flashback, it looks like Hyperion has either survived a Crisis-like event, or the multiverse intrusions seen in New Avengers Volume 1. Either way, he arrived on Earth-616 with help from A.I.M.
Issue Five: I wasn’t looking forward to this as much as Hyperion’s origin, but I was still glad to learn more about Smasher. She is originally from Iowa, but came across some Shi’ar technology which transformed her into a superguardian.
Issue Six: As expected, another (much needed) origin story. In this issue, we find out how Captain Universe joined the team. This is kind of weird…Captain Universe is two people. First, she is Mother Universe, and second, she is Tamara DeVoux, a woman being used as a host body for the Universe’s personification. The “being a woman in a coma taken over by a higher power” story was a little boring, but things got better when Captain Universe revealed, “This place…Earth is significant, and the axis around which the multiverse spins. Here, the life and death of everything will be decided, so it is here I needed to become sentient.” In a subplot, Tony brought a human created by Ex Nihilo back to Earth to study. At first he thought his name was Blackveil, due to a translation computer program that he developed, but Captain Universe (who understands the new human) corrects the error and reveals that his name is Nightmask. When she allows Nightmask to speak plain English, he says, “The system is broken. It’s coming! It’s here. The White Event.” We then pull out for the full picture, and see a gigantic wave of white energy surging towards the (small in comparison) planet Earth.
Issue Seven: This issue opens with confusing dialogue about a Caretaker, and some Builders, and an artificial intelligence, and a Superflow of multiple universes. It is definitely Multiverse talk, because we see that Universe 616 is singled out as one of the universes being affected by the failure of the Caretaker and the collapse of the Superflow. The crazy thing about the White Event, that happens after this collapse, is that it looks just like the white wall of antimatter seen in "Crisis on Infinite Earths." “A white event occurs when a world is on the verge of ascending on a universal scale. A white event creates/alters heralds to shepherd this ascension, and a Nightmask always acts as forerunner of the change.” – Nightmask
Starbrand, a character original from the New Universe, makes his Marvel 616 debut in this issue.
Issue Eight: The Starbrand is a person, and a weapon. It is a defense system of planetary scale designed to protect a people as they progress through a change period, becoming a more advanced society. Nightmask is a lot of help, as Kevin is transitioning into his Starbrand role, and we even learn that Nightmask’s first name is Adam. Both Nightmask and Starbrand are avatars put on Earth as preparation for what is to come. Starbrand is super powerful, and put up an awesome fight against the likes of Thor, Hulk, and Hyperion. At the end of the issue Nightmask and Starbrand travel to Mars to catch up with Ex Nihilo and Abyss.
Issue Nine: When the two return to Earth, after a conversation with the Garden Members, they face off against the Avengers again. It is a big battle, and even though Kevin didn’t mean to use his powers for destruction, the Avengers feel that locking him and Adam up is the best thing to do. So, they are put in a cell that is floating in space.
Also, Kevin accidentally used his powers to destroy the consciousness of Earth, which basically looked like a big brain.
Issue Ten: To be honest, I don’t think I know what happened in this issue. The Avengers go on a mission to a place that is evolving because of Ex Nihilo’s evolution bombs, and then something weird happens to them where they either start changing into monsters, or their costumes change. None of them really understand what happened, and either do I.
Issue Eleven: The last issue felt more like a Secret Avengers story than an Avengers story. Only interesting tidbit is that A.I.M. is gearing up for a war.
Issue Twelve: Some kids were born in the Savage Lands due to Ex Nihilo’s origin bomb, and they are highly advanced humanoids. They don’t need to eat or breath to stay alive. Some of the Avengers try to teach them, but while that is happening, the High Evolutionary kidnaps them.
Issue Thirteen: They save the kids in this one. Hyperion is featured.
March 17, 2021
Started right off the bat with earth being attacked by an alien entity, avengers assembling and fighting the entity, and next thing you know, all of them are captured without a sweat and good old captain america is sent back just to warn the others about what's about to happen, only this time he came back with reinforcement laid out with Tony Stark years ago and kicked their asses, it was the second arc where it became really dark, the best minds of earth including Reed Richards, Doctor Strange and Black Panther are forced to make a choice nobody liked but not acting would mean complete destruction of planet earth, now that's storytelling. Will read the other volumes too, Jonathan Hickman is now my favourite comic writer just because of the new avengers arc
July 30, 2025
I’ve bought the entire collection of Hickman’s Avengers in “preparation” for the relatively new Secret Wars and I have to say I am already happy with my purchase. The art is great, but mostly Hickman’s story has purpose.
Captain America and Iron Man feel the Avengers need to prepare for an impending cataclysmic event by broadening and deepening the roster of superheroes on the team. As they are doing this, the Builders send Gardeners to various planets to speed up evolution, including a group of three figures to Mars and, subsequently, Earth.
This sets the entire plot into motion. What impresses me is how Hickman doesn’t seem to go from story to story, but incorporates what happened before into a new tale. Looking forward to reading the rest!
Captain America and Iron Man feel the Avengers need to prepare for an impending cataclysmic event by broadening and deepening the roster of superheroes on the team. As they are doing this, the Builders send Gardeners to various planets to speed up evolution, including a group of three figures to Mars and, subsequently, Earth.
This sets the entire plot into motion. What impresses me is how Hickman doesn’t seem to go from story to story, but incorporates what happened before into a new tale. Looking forward to reading the rest!
April 21, 2024
Big ideas that didn’t land for me. Hilarious interplay in the casino issue though.
This book had some big concepts, similar to what Warren Ellis or Grant Morrison would write. Unlike Ellis or Morrison’s writing it didn’t quite land for me. This is not my first Hickman book and it might just be that his writing style is not for me personally. There’s action, but not enough. I love over the top action with large splash pages and that’s just not how Hickman writes in my experience.
I did love the casino issue though. That one was my favorite. Great banter and the AIM agents were hilarious. That issue bumped up the score for me.
This book had some big concepts, similar to what Warren Ellis or Grant Morrison would write. Unlike Ellis or Morrison’s writing it didn’t quite land for me. This is not my first Hickman book and it might just be that his writing style is not for me personally. There’s action, but not enough. I love over the top action with large splash pages and that’s just not how Hickman writes in my experience.
I did love the casino issue though. That one was my favorite. Great banter and the AIM agents were hilarious. That issue bumped up the score for me.
October 5, 2020
I'm not typically an Avengers fan, but am reading this as a lead-up to Infinity. Overall this is one, long, drawn-out tale. I got to meet some characters I didn't know, or didn't know well (in addition to the new ones introduced), but didn't like the way that some of the Avengers were portrayed (Spider-Man, Wolverine, etc). It was a weird book, and an okay read, but neither the artwork nor the storytelling were superb. Not bad, just not great. We'll see how much of this was required reading for Infinity...
October 16, 2017
My re-read of Hickman's Avengers run started here. I originally read these stories years ago. The first three issues by Jerome Opena has such staggering artwork, I loved it for that alone. Hickman is great at shaking up the Avengers stories and introducing different science fiction aspects. There is also this concept of "Avengers World" where teams can be brought together from all over the place. Some people we never thought could be Avengers: Captain Universe, Hyperion, Shang-Chi.
January 27, 2018
I was so impressed with Jonathan Hickman's Fantastic Four that I had to check his Avengers run. I guess he's become one of my favorite writers so far.
Avengers is a difficult title to take over. They've done everything already with this team! And yet Hickman managed to do something fresh while resonating rightfully within the Marvel Universe.
My head keeps exploding with his stories and I love it.
Avengers is a difficult title to take over. They've done everything already with this team! And yet Hickman managed to do something fresh while resonating rightfully within the Marvel Universe.
My head keeps exploding with his stories and I love it.
July 31, 2023
I felt a little out of my depth as this was an intense story for a brand new comic reader. Lots of Greta characters and you can see why Hickman is lauded as one of the very best to do it. I particularly enjoyed Thor, Hyperion, and Cap in this take. Iron Man, SpiderMan we’re odd and the material as I said at the top was a little over my head. But it delivered on a super deep and interesting tale that does cause pause and make you think as well.
August 19, 2023
Strange Roadside Picnic/Annihilation/Ponyo type areas where the Earth is wrong and evolving differently have appeared after a series of evolution bombs were sent to Earth from Mars. The Avengers go to investigate Mars, where they find godlike Aliens who have terraformed the planet.iy gets weird from there. It's fun, especially if you like your comics cosmic. It has a bit too much portentous dialogue, and a lot of the comic takes a long time to unfold, but I had fun.
February 19, 2022
I have been reading through some comics on Comixology Unlimited lately. I downloaded this because I like Hickman's approach to making comics. I think he's an interesting thinker and a good writer.
This was a lot of fun to read. I don't know if I would have enjoyed it as much on a month-by-month basis, but reading this huge chunk of comics at once was enjoyable.
This was a lot of fun to read. I don't know if I would have enjoyed it as much on a month-by-month basis, but reading this huge chunk of comics at once was enjoyable.
August 21, 2020
Hickman at his finest
Great introduction to avengers. If new to comics and only watched the movies this comic would still be ok to read, amazing work from hickman as per usual. Great story with great art
Great introduction to avengers. If new to comics and only watched the movies this comic would still be ok to read, amazing work from hickman as per usual. Great story with great art
January 9, 2023
This was a pretty fun read. Though it was somewhat uneven in that I found the New Avengers material significantly more interesting than the Avengers, both in writing, and characters, and art.
Not a bad start to this run, and definitely still interested to continue.
Not a bad start to this run, and definitely still interested to continue.
December 5, 2023
A mixed bag. Loved the intro of Ex Nihilo but then he disappeared. Now that I'm writing this already into what's next, I can see that these beginning comics were more of the setup for the epic shit that is now going down.
August 4, 2024
It's not a bad story, but it's definitely not the Avengers I know. I am not a big fan of a lot of the newer stuff. This story does not have the usual heroes and villains. In some cases, the heroes are the villains. No real surprises and not the action I expected.
August 19, 2020
A brave new Multiverse.
Good color artwork. Marvel comics freebie. A reset of the marvel universe , centers on the avengers, who must expand to face cosmic challenges.
Good color artwork. Marvel comics freebie. A reset of the marvel universe , centers on the avengers, who must expand to face cosmic challenges.
April 30, 2021
Not as strong as the New Avengers book. A lot of padding.
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