The Mighty Avengers: Assemble

The Mighty Avengers (2007) #1-2

by Brian Michael Bendis, Frank Cho (Illustrator), Mark Bagley (Illustrator)

The super-hero Civil War is over, but Iron Man's work is just beginning. As the new head of SHIELD and creator of the nationwide initiative program, he's rebuilding the Avengers with a handpicked roster of Earth's mightiest heroes: Wasp, Black Widow, Wonder Man, Sentry, Ares, and new team leader Ms Marvel.

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

304 pages, Hardcover

First published March 10, 2009

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

[Nicolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

The events of Civil War split the ranks of the Avengers and formed opposing sides with warring political beliefs. With Captain America’s death, the now leaderless anti-registration heroes coalesced into a guerilla superhero squad in New Avengers. Iron Man, the face of the pro-registration camp, handpicked his own team in Mighty Avengers with Ms. Marvel as the nominal team leader. These two titles couldn’t be more different and this hardcover collected the first 11 issues of Mighty Avengers and its first two story arcs.

The first 11 issues of Mighty Avengers featured the writing of Brian Bendis and the pencils of Frank Cho and Mark Bagley in their respective arcs. Bendis wrote a different Avengers flavor here, compared to the flagship Marvel title New Avengers. New Avengers was more street and their first adventure as a new team made it more evident where they traveled to Japan to be embroiled in a gang war. Mighty Avengers gave Bendis a chance a team that can handle world class threats and made it so by pitting them against Ultron and Dr. Doom in these issues. But I felt that Bendis’ word balloon and thought bubbles were overwhelming here. He went overboard on the thought bubbles and caption boxes as each character’s musings crowded the panels. Maybe this was Bendis’ point, a team of powerhouses like Ares, Sentry, Wonder Man and Ms. Marvel does not guarantee and cohesive team. All of them have their own agenda and this made team more disjointed that they look and perhaps this was the edge the New Avengers had, eluding arrest from their government sponsored counterparts.

Frank Cho handled the art chores in the first story arc and as always was gorgeously rendered. Bendis played his script to Cho’s strength by making almost half this Avengers team female and even made this incarnation of Ultron a naked woman. This was where the thought bubbles worked since Cho used it a lot in his Liberty Meadows work.

The second arc has an American city besieged by a biological agent derived from the Venom symbiote. Long time Spider-Man artist Mark Bagley was the artist most suited for this tale. This story fulfilled fans’ fantasy mash-ups, mixing Venom with other superheroes. The thought balloons weren’t as prevalent as in the other arc but still enough to be a distraction. Bendis instead compensated with more captions. As the story progressed there were less of those distracting shapes and it allowed Bagley to tell the story better.

I am always a sucker for Frank Cho art but Bendis’ writing style here drops it a notch. It stands at 3.5 stars and highly recommended for the pretty pictures.

[Lucas Savio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Achava estranho mesmo as notas dessa série ser inferior aos novos vingadores, mas na real acho que o Bendis sempre foi mais team cap. Aqui ele deixa quase todos os homens bem baixos no sentido de serem a cara dos anos 2000 fazendo piadas machistas principalmente Ares (personagem que desde o começo não me chamou a atenção) além do homem de ferro e também o fato de sempre ter flash back nesse primeiro arco a cada 4 páginas (sério!?). A Personagem que mais chama atenção aqui é a Miss Marvel Carol. Sendo mais específico o primeiro arco é o mais fraco. Utron do nada mulher que aurge do Tony, nossa sério e ainda levou 6 issues para acabar e demorava horrores. Fica mais interessante no 2º arco quando envolve os novos vingadores e o Doom ai a coisa começa a andar antes sinto que é quase filler digno de 1,5⭐️. Os Bendiaslomgos aqui ficam mais forçados e menos naturais creio que nos novos vingadores ficam legais por ser o homem aranha que conta. Na real se a ideia era humanizar o stark e não rivalizar, não conseguiu. Bendis já entendi de que lado está😅😅

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember buying the single issues of this series when it first launched and was marketed as a return to a more “classic” style of Avengers storytelling. Simply put this book is an entertaining if at times fleeting read. Bendis assembled a pretty interesting “registration” team from the fall out of Civil War with a lot of classic Avengers back in the fold.

I’ve always been a fan of Wonder Man and it was great to see him return to the spotlight. Unfortunately Bendis would randomly end up making him a pacifist in a future story arc but he is a welcome addition early on.

Despite his often sexist depictions of women I really enjoyed Frank Cho’s overall art style. The second arc with art by Mark Bagley is just as engaging with some excellent full-page spreads showing the team in action against Doctor Doom. Whenever a new team of Avengers is created there is so much storytelling and character potential.

Bendis creates a great foundation for future stories but the overall team dynamic is largely under-explored. This series quickly got bogged down with annoying Secret Invasion tie-ins that took the focus away from the team, but this volume remains a fun distraction for those looking for some super-team heroics.

[Omnibuster · Rating 4 out of 5]

We get a first look at the official and registered Avengers team under Director Stark of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The first arc involves Ultron re-emerging in a female form through Stark’s Extremis armor. Danvers takes the lead, Pym returns, Ares is unhinged, Sentry still isn’t stable, and Spider Woman appears with the Skrull/Elektra body.

The second arc finds a Doom satellite releasing a symbiotic bomb accidentally in the city. These symbiotes attach themselves to people and the New Avengers except this symbiote seems to be more of an airborne disease. Stark goes to Reed’s lab to synthesize a cure for the symbiote diseases while also being fixated on who else is a Skrull.

Third arc has the Avengers going to Latveria to bring Doom to justice. Tony, Sentry and Doom fall into a time portal and wind up in the 60s. I found this to be the least enjoyable arc because it doesn’t seem to really lead into Secret Invasion.

[strawberry! · Rating 1 out of 5]

i hate ares, wonder man, AND sentry. this team felt like a bunch of stick-in-the-mud cops with absolutely no chemistry nor intriguing team-dynamics. i came for carol and tony and left disappointed and vaguely annoyed.

[Isaac Batista · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roteiro: Brian Michael Bendis
Arte: Frank Cho e Mark Bagley

• Poderosos Vingadores 1-11

Nota: 9/10

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, looks like this is the first real hiccup in Bendis's Avengers run, if we're still considering this to be a part of the same run. Until this point, all of his plot- and character-building had been contained to New Avengers alone, but after Civil War caused a split in the teams, we're now left with two separate groups. Part of me feels like this split was forced on Bendis by the editorial staff, rather than allowing him to reach that point organically, because it just doesn't feel like he had stories ready to juggle between two super teams.

I say this partly because of how sudden and random this series starts. Where New Avengers started with a big prison break forcing a bunch of otherwise solitary heroes to team up, this one just shoves a big group of heroes together and makes them fight Ultron out of nowhere. It reads fine, and the teamwork aspects are interesting enough, but there's just some x-factor missing from the whole thing. I never found myself really caring about any of the team, and couldn't even bring myself to admit that they were even the Avengers. To me, the New Avengers team had been so thoroughly planned, with the plot threads gradually building on one another to form a larger mystery, that seeing this stuff just kind of dumped on the page felt wrong.

Also, I really hope Bendis doesn't stick to this stupid thing he's started doing in this volume where he adds little thought bubbles into every conversation to show what characters are thinking as compared to what they're actually saying. It makes the conversations maddening to read. This could be an interesting trick to build character if he used it right, but as is he relies too much on people either a) thinking the exact opposite of what they're saying (which is already obvious) or b) people thinking the exact thing they're saying. For b), I'm like, great, this was a good joke to use once. But constantly? Ugh. It just layers redundancy on top of dialogue we're already reading.

The story starts to pick up a little bit in the latter half of this book, when it starts to overlap with the events in New Avengers a little more in the buildup to Secret Invasion. Bendis starts to build a Battlestar Galactica type of distrust among the ranks (who's really a Skrull?!), which is interesting, but ultimate doesn't go anywhere in this particular volume. Also, most of the theorizing regarding who may or may not be a Skrull is revealed through Tony Stark's internal monologue, rather than actually presenting facts for the reader to decipher. It's a classic show-don't-tell mistake that I would not expect from a seasoned writer like Bendis, and it brings the mystery down. I'm hoping it picks up in later volumes.

In any case, this is far from terrible, but definitely does not live up to the previous standard set by Bendis. I really hope this is just stumble and not a trip down the completely wrong path.

[Martin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Part One: The Ultron Initiative - 3 stars

Following the events of Civil War, Brian Michael Bendis assembles yet another Iron Man assembles his own, pro-registration team of Avengers. Because as we all know there's enough former Avengers members out there to make at least 5 more teams, and people really can't wait to read about their adventures. NOT!

Anyway, back to the review of this new series' first story arc: The Mole Man must've taken a wrong turn in one of his dark tunnels because he ends up fighting the Avengers instead of his traditional foes, the Fantastic Four (That's just Bendis "shaking things up"). The Avengers hand him his ass and soon face the newest threat (and a super cool one, if you're Bendis): Ultron comes back - again (yes, yes, I know, but wait 'til you hear the "cool" part) - but he comes back looking like Janet Van Dyne (The Wasp - founding member of the Avengers way back in the swinging sixties and designated victim of "character death syndrome" in the upcoming Secret Invasion).

While also having for ultimate goal getting control over the planet's ballistic missile arsenals, Ultron takes over Tony Stark's seemingly innumerable extra Iron Man suits and uses them to fight the Avengers. Okay, now THIS last bit was cool. I like how the heroes take out Ultron. Ares was a blast.


Part Two: Venom Bomb - 1 star

Brian Michael Bendis must really have some pull at Marvel to get books like this one green-lighted. People putting out books of this sort should be spanked.

It's got an incredibly contrived "Doctor Doom's secret Venom Bomb plan", which is only as pointless as the Sentry-centric story that follows it.

[Venom Bomb], after it's dealt with, it's "back to life as usual" for New York City like nothing ever happened (NYC's the unluckiest city in the Marvel Universe, it would seem! Most of Marvel's Events take place there), and [The Sentry story], because of time travel and other convenient plot devices, never actually happened.

Mark Bagley on pencil duties. Really not my thing. But this point is totally subjective, I realise that, so disregard it if you must.

All in all, filler material/spinning the wheels until the next Event (in this case: Secret Invasion). Skip, skip, skip this book.

[Valery Tzvetanov · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the Civil War the Avengers are splitting up and we have two teams now. The “original” New Avengers are now outlaws and Iron Man is assembling a new team called the Mighty Avengers. This time he wants to select the best (from the registered superheroes). His team is total powerhouse. He has the Sentry, Wonder Man, Ares, Ms. Marvel (the new field leader), the Wasp and Black Widow. I only didn't understand what Natasha is doing in this company of mega-humans. The only logical reason is that Bendis needs a liaison with SHIELD. I really like the Sentry and Ares is my favorite character in this series. I really liked his bad-ass wolverinelike attitude.
In this hardcover collection we have 2 stories. In the first one Ultron returns to Earth to destroy all organic life. The robot assumes Iron Man’s body and changes him into naked metal copy of the Wasp (it is funny, thank you Bendis). The Mighty Avengers needs to seek assistance from Ultron’s creator Hank Pym. Here we have one incredibly funny scene showing us how Tigra is hitting on Ant Man.
There are hilarious moments spread all over this book. Some of them are made with the thoughts bubbles. But seriously, thoughts bubbles? What was Bendis thinking when he decided to use them? The Silver Age is long gone and this way of writing is quite annoying, especially when the thoughts are placed between the dialogue bubbles. Most of times there is a little too much of what is being thought and it is not adding nothing to the narrative. Quite the opposite, the thoughts are distracting from the dialogue in my opinion. I really hope that Bendis will not use them again. Leave the past in the past for good.
The art of Frank Cho is decent, but I've seen him look better. However, some of the characters are looking awesome.
The second story begins with Spider-Woman defecting over to Tony "Iron Man" Stark's pro-registration Avengers team, bringing the body of the Skrull-Elektra. Before Tony can decide what to do about this a symbiotic virus attack is launched on New York City and it turns everyone into Venom and Carnage-like monsters. Iron Man leads his Avengers team to Doctor Doom in search of justice. We have Morganna Le Fay and time travelling involved. There is one issue written in the 70’s way and it was really funny. However I enjoyed the story form the first arc more.
I’m still on board for the next volumes.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up Mighty Avengers thinking that I needed a nice team book to read in between my summer class novels. I generally enjoy Bendis so I thought this would automatically be a fun mindless read.

However, it didn't exactly meet those standards as, while it wasn't the worst team book by any means, I found it lacking. The opening arc goes through recruiting the team and their first mission together where the reader finds out that basically the entire team sucks at having lives outside of being superheroes. Why I find this problematic is that, if memory serves, the leg up Marvel had on DC back in the day was that their heroes were more fleshed-out, relateable character whereas Superman was more of this hero whose alter ego was easily shed.

A more glaring issue in the opposite arena of attempting to humanize the heroes involves Bendis' attempts to create "realistic" dialogue, a much-discussed style of his, where the characters speak more casually while also being open about being unsure of themselves and awkward. However, he overdoes this in a big way, making it hard to believe these are even adults considering the incredible judgement each team member has for the other, and it just feels like these heroes are incredibly incompetent and how they ever save the world is a miracle. What's worse is the addition of thought bubbles which offer shallow insight to every insecure or negative thought each character has, magnifying the melodrama, and really contributing nothing but clutter as none of the thoughts bubbles are essential to any understanding of the plot.

The plot of the first arc itself seems rushed, chaotic, and just poorly put together with a conclusion that feels a bit like deus ex machina a la Reed Richards back in the day. The second arc is fine, though the dialogue issues carry over, but issues like the retro one where the art throws back to 70's form were very fun.

Essentially, this book, while not the worst, comes as a disappointment especially in light of the period it was created as a post-Civil War book during the time when interest in the Avengers had shot up in a massive way.

[J'aime · Rating 4 out of 5]

After finishing Civil War, I was eager to get back into more traditional story-telling, where the heroes weren't fighting each other. I decided to start with the new Mighty Avengers, as distinct from the Avengers who are still rogues from the Registration Act, because it leads into the next Marvel crossover, Secret Invasion. Tony Stark gives Ms. Marvel clearance to put together a new team – a hand-picked team as opposed to the previous Avengers who had come together before. I like the team, but not their first mission.

The entire first half of this book is a battle with Ultron. I hate Ultron. During the story, Hank Pym says something that sums the character up for me: “Ultron – it just never goes away and it keeps….” The character is like a broken record with no personality and no changing motivations. The first half of this book, while filled with many cool action sequences, was a disappointment to me. Ultron somehow infects and transforms Tony Stark into itself. They finally defeat Ultron with a virus. *yawn* Now, Doctor Doom is always an interesting villain and he redeemed the second half for me.

After the battle with Ultron, Jessica Drew/Spiderwoman shows up in Tony Stark’s hospital room with dire news, and the body of Skrull Elektra. An invasion is underway. Before he can take any action, a venom symbiote virus is unleashed on New York transforming everyone. The Avengers track the virus back to Latveria where a battle with Doom commences. This part was exciting because Doom is such a challenge not just due to strength but also strategy and cunning. The second half was exciting, with lots of twists, and a trip into the past complete with comic panels that look like they were drawn by Jack Kirby. Good stuff.

Overall, I’d give the first half only 2 stars, but the second half would get five. This was a good lead into Secret Invasion and I look forward to Volume 2.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

the thought bubbles drove me mad.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this when it was three separate trades but liked the reread!

[Jordan Lahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not crazy about this lineup of Avengers, or Cho's art style. The alternation between such bubbles and thought bubbles threw me off, but I'm getting used to it.

[Derek Moreland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. It's fine. There's a paper to be written in the failure of The Sentry as a character, though.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

2's a bit harsh, call it 2.5.

Some great moments marred by verbosity, a lack of team chemistry, and the bizarre return of thought bubbles.