Avengers Armageddon #5
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Delio Diaz & Frank Alpizar and Ario Anindito
Colorist: Jesus Aburtov
Cover Artist: Dike Ruan and Moreno Dinisio
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Following the tragic events in Russia, the nations of the world must decide how they feel about superpowered individuals...
After the Bomb
Thousands of people died in Russia when the Red Hulk (General Thaddeus Ross) exploded. Among that number were James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes.
Peter Parker checks in on Anya, a waitress at his favorite diner, who had family in Russia. Reed Richards studies Carol Danvers to learn how her powers were diminished by the explosion. David Colton wants Wolverine to put him out of his misery. Tony Stark wants to retreat into his lab and find out what the future needs.
Trust in "super heroes" is at an all-time low.
Everyone is dealing with things in their own way.
Less Friendly Neighborhood
This was a much lower-key issue than I expected. Almost like an epilogue more than a final issue. There's a lot that I like here, but there are things I don't as well. Let's break it down.
Things I liked:
Peter Parker gets a lot of page time this issue, and I think that's a great thing. He brings that grounded "everyman" perspective that's needed to really add to the "man on the street" viewpoint. Both the scene with Anya and the scene with Tony Stark show just how strong his sense of responsibility is, and how torn he is between being a "friendly neighborhood" hero and getting more involved in the larger-scale stuff. I think it would be cool if he is the one responsible for gathering the new Avengers team; that would show him putting his money where his mouth is.
David Colton, of course, gets his share of time as well. Since his first appearance in Captain America #1 last year, he's been a man who wanted to do the right thing but often found himself doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. More often than not, his choices lead to people dying. Now that's been taken to a new extreme, and he can't live with it. When he seeks out Logan and asks the mutant to kill him, you can feel his desperation. He knows what happened is his fault. He's not even sure that he can die, but he wants to find out. He's at rock bottom and wants to take the easy way out, which Logan won't let him. It's going to be a long road to make up for what he did, but Colton seems to want to put in the work, so maybe he's got a chance.
Tony Stark realizes he needs to get back to being a futurist again; he's been too focused on the "now." I'm not sure using Doom's probability machine is the safest way to do that, Tony—that didn't turn out so well for Red Hulk. Then again, the vision that he sees is a heck of a tease for us long-suffering Peter Parker fans...
Now for what I didn't like:
Overall, this new status quo feels a lot like Civil War all over again. Public trust in superheroes is in the toilet, and governments are outlawing them. The United States wants to rein them in somehow. SHIELD is going to be policing superhumans all over the globe. It feels like it's just one Registration Act away from being just like the status quo around the original Civil War event.
Nick Fury Jr. is just boring. He's a blatant synergy character, and his characterization has completely changed to a carbon copy of his father. Other than being a black man with a beard, there is nothing at this point that differentiates him from the original Nick Fury. He's just the same old "spymaster who doesn't trust powered individuals and wants to keep an eye on all of them at once," just without the personal history that his dad had with many of the individual heroes.
If you're going to have a fakeout death, you could at least let the person stay "dead" for a couple of issues—not bring them back before the end of the same issue where we first saw their body. I know nobody in comics stays dead, but still—they could have at least pretended for an issue or two before the big return. Hopefully the new status quo of this person working from the shadows gets some strong material to make it all worth it.
All in all, this was an interesting issue that had some great character work and definitely set the stage for the next phase of the Marvel Universe. I just wish that some of it didn't feel like the same song that's been played years ago.
Team Effort
Chip Zdarsky juggles the large cast well. He writes a fantastic Peter Parker, so I'm always glad to see more attention given to Spidey. David Colton is starting to feel sympathetic again, after being pretty darn unlikeable for a while there, so kudos to Zdarsky for convincingly turning him around. This issue had a lot going on and was well-paced, but I think the event as a whole was very stop/start. Oh, and that little tease with Stark's vision of the future is either brilliant or utterly cruel; I'm not sure which.
We've got a multi-man art team this time around, which I'm sure was necessary to keep the book on time but is a weird look for a big event book. Delio Diaz, Frank Alpizar, and Ario Anindito are all billed as artists this issue, and it's impressive how consistent the final product looks with so many artists involved. The overall work is clean and easy to follow, with some effective panel work. The scene where Colton takes Logan's hand and places it under his chin, begging him to pop his claws, is particularly strong. You can feel Colton's remorse and despair there. And the three-quarter page splash of Stark's vision is a very striking image, whatever you believe that tease is leading towards.
Jesus Aburtov colors this issue, and it's your standard major Marvel title fare. Everything is bright and colorful, with costumes like Spider-Man's particularly standing out. There aren't a lot of power effects here, but the ones that we do get are well-rendered and eye-catching. The Human Torch in particular looks good when escorting an aircraft. There's nothing that particularly stands out, but everything is consistent and works well.
Onward and Upward
Avengers Armageddon #5 is both an epilogue to the event and a prologue to the next phase of Marvel, and it's effective at both. David Colton's quest for remorse and redemption shifts him into a more sympathetic characterization, and the current Avengers team effectively disbanding in light of the events in Russia sets the stage for the new, more street-level team to be formed. Some of the story beats here feel a bit too much like Civil War, with public distrust for heroes at a high and the government getting involved, but it does seem like events are driving in a different direction this time. It will be interesting to see where things go next, as titles like Avengers and Immortal Warriors pick up where Armageddon left off.