A Review of "Age of Ultron"
Last Time in the Age of Ultron: Stuff went down! We found out that The Vision we've been seeing in the past few issues isn't actually in control of himself but is actually being controlled by Ultron … from THE FUTURE!!!!! We see Luke Cage being a B.A.M.F. but sadly he dies off panel at the end of the issue. This marking the second issue in a row to have a black guy die in it. The 3 pockets of heroes around the the U.S. (New York, Chicago & San Francisco) have all made their way down to The Savage Land in Antartica. The journey to the Savage Land is summed up in a text box that for some reason took 1 whole page to tell us about.
Let's see how the last issue before the major redirection the series takes goes…
On the cover we see our heroes all rushing towards something. Can't really tell where they are. The background isn't well defined. Sort of looks like they are in an urban area but they all left the urban areas last issue.
4 odd things about how people are dressed on this cover:
- Wolverine is not wearing the costume he's been wearing in the series, it's is similar to the one he wears in other books Marvel puts out currently.
- Iron Man has his suit on. He hasn't had on at all in the series but the coloring remind me of Mainframe from the book A-Next but I doubt that's who it is. :C
- Moon Knight has his full costume, something he hasn't had on in the series. This costume is different from the costume he was wearing on the cover of Issue 2.
- Black Widow's suit is the color purple & not the normal black. I can get beyond that it's a coloring error but this is the second cover with Black Widow on that does not have the scar tissue around her eye that she has in the series. The other cover has the suit color purple but it was a darker shade of purple.
Did Bryan Hitch, the artist for the series up to this point, just forget what people looked like in the series or did he just put them in their recognizable costumes for the cover to help "sell" the book?
Another thing the guy at the center of the cover: The Red Hulk. Why is he here? Not that he can't be in the series but why him & not… oh… I don't know…. The Hulk? He's not in the series anywhere. She-Hulk is but Red She-Hulk is not. It seems a bit odd to include one & not the other. I sort of prefer the Red She-Hulk over the normal green She-Hulk but I don't mind seeing either. But with the Red Hulk it seems like you'd "sell" more books with the green Hulk, he does have the bigger fan base & is the one in The Avengers movie.
Enough about the cover, on to the recap page:
Years ago, founding Avenger Henry Pym invented the artificial intelligence known as Ultron. Once Ultron became sentient, he dedicated his existence to destroying humanity. The Avengers foiled his every attempt, but some predicted that with his continuous evolution, Ultron would one day overcome his foes.
Many are dead. Latest to fall were Luke Cage and She-Hulk, whose mission to infiltrate Ultron's operation went horribly wrong. Before his death, Cage flew to the Savage Land, where the Earth's surviving heroes have gathered. As Emma Frost read his dying thoughts he revealed what he had learned: Ultron is overseeing this destruction from the future using The Vision as his conduit. Black Widow, Moon Knight and Red Hulk have also come to the Savage Land with a plan of their own, a hail mary play care of Nick Fury.
The first paragraph is similar to the one from issue 4 & my comments about that one still stands. I am still bummed about the change from "human condition" to "humanity". Also Ultron "dedicated his existence to destroying humanity" could have been avoided. How? Hank Pym could not have freaked the hell out when Ultron became sentient but then I probably would have done that also if I hadn't expected the robot I was working on to call me "daddy".
The phrase "Earth's surviving heroes" is contradicted by the tie in issues for this series. I will be getting to the tie in issues. I have them all & have some thoughts on them. I might review a few of them next time since it will be a good stopping point for the series. Also, they are a bit more vague on how many have died in this recap (last time they said millions had died).
We flip the page & start the issue a few "months ago" as the caption box tells us. Here in issue 5 we get the first appearance of Hank Pym (in his Wasp costume) & maybe the only appearance of Reed Richards (wearing the suit he did when Hitch was the artist during Mark Millar's run on Fantastic Four). This isn't a few months ago, it's a few years ago.
We find Pym, Richards & Tony Stark all in a lab somewhere with a sleeping/dead Vision on a table. This seen takes place sometime after the Avengers Dissembled storyline (a storyline written by Age of Ultron writer Brian Michael Bendis. The Vision had "died" in that storyline & was ripped in half by the Scarlet Witch). Hank is looking over the body of The Vision in amazement. He comments he's never been able to recreate anything like The Vision. Pym goes on to say that everyone thinks he "created" Ultron but he "only planted the seed" but much of what Ultron became was of Ultron's own creation.
The conversation goes back to The Vision & how to get him back up and running. They talk about how he should have repaired himself. That he should be back & running but he isn't. There is a comment made by Pym that foreshadows where we going with the rest of the series "Sometimes I fantasize about going back in time and telling myself to never create Ultron."
Richards comments about fantasizing about going back & being nicer to Victor Von Doom when they were in college together. Pym continues that if Ultron wasn't created then Vision wouldn't have been created. They wonder what the world would look like if Ultron had not been created (wait a few issues & see). As the three of them ponder about what ifs, The Vision sits up, then stands up. He then says the three of them are all looking well.
There is a nice panel change. One of a smiling happy Tony Stark in the past & a more sad Tony Stark in the "present". Also of note: the colors in the past are brighter then in the "present". So far that flashback sequence has been the best, most interesting part of the series. Too bad it's just 4 pages in Issue 5.
We see a single file line of our heroes in the Savage Land. All 16 of them. I keep bringing up the number since it changes from appearance to appearance sometimes there is a dozen, sometimes there is two dozen. This number is the same number as those who left New York (12) last issue with the four heroes they met up in the Savage Land. I do wonder what happened to those other heroes from New York. Did they just not want to come? Were they captured off panel so they couldn't come? What happened to them?
Tony Stark starts to laugh about The Vision & gives a somewhat mocking version of Vision's history with The Avengers. Captain America gets Stark to calm down a bit so he never finishes his story. Might we have found out how Ultron took over the world if he had continued? Where are they going?
some cave but a cave foretold on some of Nick Fury's papers which Black Widow has (but she said he never wrote anything down? Yes, I will continue to bring this up). Widow also seems to be leading the group. The group does a bit of recon & sets perimeter. Wolverine can't smell anything but jungle & Emma Frost can't sense anything so Cap send Sue Richards into check out the cave.
She thinks she has reached a dead end but scrapes away some of the wall to find a key pad. Then makes the wall turn invisible (she can do that?) to reveal a massive bank vault like door. Maybe the door will open if she types in 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 & 42?
In the next panel is one of the better jokes of the whole series.
Captain America: How's your Spider-Sense?
Spider-Man: Pretty good, How's yours?
Cap asks if he can sense any danger, Spidey says it doesn't work that way. So, Cap asks the Red Hulk (who he just calls Hulk) to help out. The Red Hulk punches the vault door. The sound of punching a vault door makes is FOOM, when the door falls off it's makes a BOOM sound. After the door falls, Cap ask the Red Hulk what he sees. What he is is some guy shooting him in the face so Ka-Zar, Lord of the Savage Land, throws a spear at the shooter. The Shooter catches the spear. We turn the page to find out the guy in Nick Fury's secret vault is…. Nick Fury!!!!!!
What Nick Fury says in the panel that reveals who he is: "Settle down there, Ka-Zar. You see what this did to your discolored Hulk? I imagine it'll blow your loin cloth to Wakanda." I got a chuckle out of that. So… that's 2 good jokes for the issue so far. Cap asks if it's really him, Wolverine confirms it's him by smelling him from across the room (eeeewwwww). Fury scans the group like how Stark did Hawkeye & Spider-Man in Issue 1 but I don't think this method will give the group cancer (no skeletons glowing through their skins). After the scan, Fury welcomes the group to the end of the world (another chuckle worthy joke).
For some reason we head off to Austin, Texas. We have a black couple, Phillip & his wife. They are in the process of leaving. Well… Wife (no name given) wants to leave. We see their is a National Alert on the TV telling everyone to leave. But Phillip doesn't, He says the Avengers will fix the problem. We cut to the outside of their house & explosions everywhere! We flip the page to see a two page spread of a whole bunch of Ultron Bots flying around blowing stuff up!
And that's it. We flip back to The Savage Land on the next page. WHAT? HUH? Who are those people? As far as I can remember we never see them again. Why are they just now being attacked by the Ultron Bots? Given what little we know about the time scale in the series: At least a week or more ago, maybe a few months ago New York, Chicago & San Francisco have all been taken over by Ultron which I had taken to mean he had taken over the rest of the country. The WHOLE country. But a few weeks into the takeover he's just now getting to Texas?
Did he just take over major population centers & was going down a list? Was Austin just lower on the list then Chicago? Does this mean that there are still other place in the country unaffected by Ultron? Is Iowa safe? What about Kansas? Has Ultron taken over Montana?
If there are still "free" unaffected places in the country: where the hell is the U.S. Army? Why aren't they doing anything? You'd think once Ultron had taken over New York they would have done something! If not then most likely after he took over San Francisco or Chicago, right? Or… is the Army like Philip & they thinks the Avengers will take care of it? If so then the Army is stupid. The book has stated that MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE DEAD! Why hasn't the Army done anything?
We known that SHEILD's hellicarrier has crashed so was that the Army's response. SHEILD is sort of an arm of the US armed forces. "SHEILD, go handle this thing!" As we saw SHEILD failed, what was Plan B? The Avengers? NO! Try again. I guess they didn't but then I guess I'm thinking about this too much in a comic book which has a giant red colored man, people who can fly, a jungle in Antartica & a robot who took over the country.
So….. back to the story at hand. Fury's Bunker. Cap asks how long Fury has been there, he replies he's been there "a week" which if we take what little we know about the timeline of the series that is when everyone left for the Savage Land. He ask what took them so long? Sue Richards replies that they didn't know this place existed & wouldn't have unless they had met up with Black Widow who had access to one of Fury's other bunkers which just happen to have the location of this bunker written down on a piece of paper. That seems a bit complicated.
They ask Fury what's his plan is. He "jokes" about staying in the bunker, them all having sex & then rebuilding the world with a race of super humans. Then waiting for them to grow up & then taking down Ultron. Uh… there are only 7 women to 10 men. That's not a great ratio. Fury's real plan is to use Doctor Doom's time platform to travel to the future to take out Ultron. It's not explained how he got it, he just has it. How did Fury know Ultron was in the future? Well… when Ultron crashed a Hellicarrier (different then the one that crashed in Central Park) into the Kremlin the "transmissions" were time stream based. What the hell does that mean? What transmissions? How are they "time stream based"? This was shortly after as Fury calls it "all went to hell". He says he only got a glimpse of what was going on in NYC & Washington before he headed on down to The Savage Land. If we take Fury's comments as a "time stamp": 2 weeks before this conversation: Ultron started his attack by crashing a Hellicarrier in Russia. This is the most concrete piece of info we are given to the start of this "age" in the whole series.
Yes. 2 weeks. The "Age of Ultron" is just 2 weeks old! I know I've brought this up before but WHAT THE HELL? Why did this one plan of attack so catch the Avengers & ever other hero off guard that he was able to takeover, seemingly killing the whole population of at least 4 major population centers in the U.S.: New York, Washington D.C., Chicago & San Francisco. Their have been comments in past issues that have made it seem like this "age" has been going on for months. I even joked that it seemed like the "age" had started earlier that week. I didn't think that my joke was actually the truth!
Also, I guess Ultron's takeover of the Capitol is why the Army wasn't doing anything: they are most likely dead. But… there is a chain of command to the Army with outposts all over the country & set protocols for if the head of the Army is taken out. This means that the Army, no matter who & how much were left would still be doing something. But then I am again thinking about this too much. This is also a book about Super Heroes & not the American armed forces.
Nick Fury says that the secret bunker that he didn't tell anyone about He was going to give whichever Super Heroes showed up 3 more days to get there or we was going to the future to take down Ultron by himself. wow. Look at the balls on Nick Fury. He is either really sure of himself & the other heroes around him or he's crazy. There needed to be a very specific chain of events to happen to have what he had planned to go down or he'd just go by himself?
Was that the only alternative?
What if the only heroes he got were Captain Ultra, Demolition Man, Squirrel Girl, Slapstick & Butterball: would Fury still have gone to the future to take down Ultron?
**WRITER'S NOTE: I would so read that book**
What if instead of heroes he got villains? Would he have still taken them with him?
sorry. I keep getting off on tangents, getting off on questions that will never be answered.
Need... to… stay… on… track.
Fury's plan is to travel to the future to take down Ultron. He's brought this up a few times but what will he do there when he gets there? (He doesn't say & we'll never find out.) A few volunteer to go on the mission. Stark says they shouldn't go since Ultron will know they are coming (that's a good point, he is in THE FUTURE). He brings up that Ultron might be tricking them into going to a specific time (I don't think they ever mention a specific place Ultron is other then IN THE FUTURE) just so he can trap them.
Wolverine brings up a counterpoint: don't go FORWARD in time to take down Ultron go BACK in time to cut off Hank Pym's hands or his head. Wolverine seems fine with both. People bring up just going back to ask him to not make the robot but Wolverine doesn't like that plan. He is all stabby stabby, cutty cutty! He does bring up a good point: If you just ask him to not make the robot, he'll just take it as a challenge & he'll just make the robot anyways!
I did not that Sue Richards could see the future but she does bring up that by going back in time could "completely obliterate the space-time continuum". Spider-Man brings up the Butterfly Effect of killing a founding Avenger.
Nick Fury doesn't have time for this debate, no pun intended, he's going to go ahead with his plan so he shows the heroes his armory which besides a bunch of guns includes:
- a set of Spider-Man's web-shooters
- Magneto's & Nova's Helmets
- a bow & arrows most likely belonging to Hawkeye
- one of Green Goblin's Gliders
The main thing we see is an old Iron Man suit which Stark calls a Mark II but I think it looks like more like a Mark V. I looked up the various suits Iron Man has worn over the years. His suits didn't not come in Red & Gold as this suit does until Mark III. The Mark II was just a gold version of the original grey armor he worn in his first appearance. Maybe it's a printing error & they meant Mark III & not Mark II. In looking about how this suit is drawn & how the Mark III suit was drawn: it looks a lot more like the Mark V then the Mark III does. But maybe I'm once again over thinking things but you'd think that if I can do a simple Google search for what the names of Iron Man's suits of armor are then the guy who actually works for the company should be able to get the names correct. Or maybe Bryan Hitch just got the wrong reference material & just drew the suit wrong for the rest of the issue?
Another funny Joke:
Iron Man: I'm so happy to see it I'm not even going to yell at you for stealing it in the first place.
Nick Fury: Didn't steal it, you gave it to me.
Iron Man: I did?
Nick Fury: Back in your more… cocktailish days.
Captain America is shown with one of the photonic shields that he used during the mid 90's. The Red Hulk is seen weilding Ares' axe.
Yet another funny joke:
Spider-Man: Uh, excuse me, My web-shooters?
Nick Fury: You're the only guy who can have web-shooters?
yeah. Spider-Man is not the only one to have web-shooters. There have been at least a half dozen people who are running around the main Marvel universe with web-shooters.
Most of the people just grab guns & Fury says they are leaving. Ka-Zar say he'll stay behind, he & his people will set up a camp around the bunker to stop anyone from coming in (it sure would be nice if they had a door or something to keep people from coming in).
On the next page we have a couple of "count the people" panels. So we started out the issue with 16 people plus Nick Fury which makes it 17. The top panel shows 15 people with 5 just silhouettes. Where are the 2 other people?
The time platform is turned on. The first group of 9 steps on it (which include Fury, Captain America, Iron Man & others). They travel through time. At the bottom we are left with 7 people. 7 + 9 = 16. Where is the 17th person? We will find out next issue where they went off too but it's nice to know that we didn't add like 3 people or have 3 people disappear like in some panels before.
Wolverine then asks Hawkeye if he knows how to run the platform. Spider-Man asks if it's to chase after them, Moon Knight brings up that it's so he can travel back in time to "take care" of Pym. We end the issue with Wolverine showing off one set of his claws talking about how he's seen everyone die at the hands of Ultron. He's seen Thor, The Thing, Luke Cage die (uh… unless you saw that off panel we didn't see you see Luke Cage die). It's interesting who he names are all guys & are all Avengers. He just names 3 people off the top of his head & none of them are X-Men, the team he is most associated with. None of them are women either. No mention of any of the women he's formed relationships over the years. Luke Cage went out thinking of his wife & daughter! Does Wolverine just name Avengers because he happened to just be with that group when it all went down?
Wolverine doesn't think Fury & his group is going to make it back. So he's going to take things into his own hands (into his own claws?) & travel back in time! That's how Issue 5 ends & it's the last issue with Bryan Hitch as the artist for the book. Why didn't he do the other 5 issues? I don't know. This is also where the series takes a major turn. What we have seen up to this point changes, not just in art but in the direction of the story.
Next time I'll be going over the first couple tie-in issues. Until then: Stay Jazzy!
- Brian
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