Hickmanvengers : All my reading notes.

Hickmanvengers

Reading notes by oluka.

 

This document consists of my notes for the issues I read as part of the Hickman Avengers run. I’m reading based on Sineala’s reading order: https://yougavemeahome.dreamwidth.org/2466.html.

I did my best to include plot relevant details as well as stony moments, but I might have missed some things, sorry. There are also some notes for auxiliary reading that is more or less connected to Hickmanvengers.

Feel free to use this for research/fic writing/finding panels etc etc. You can also download it and add your own notes, edit it, eat it, whatever.

 I'll edit this post with a downloadable link to the document itself sometimes later.

 

PRE-HICKMANVENGERS

 

New Avengers Illuminati (2006): https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/New-Avengers-Illuminati-2006/Full?id=85004

Illuminati: after the kree skrull war, tony invites reed, doctor x, strange, black bolt, namor, to Wakanda. Black panther is their host. He wants to prevent this from happening again: “we heroes should make a delegation and unite”. Namor, reed, and strange go: “no. too much bureaucracy, how do we choose who rules, look at the UN it doesn’t work” doctor x and black panther: “if we include mutants then the world will hate all heroes not just mutants”. Tony: “but we can make the world better!!” the others: “lol we are counter-establishment this is a bad idea” Namor goes “we all have old felons on our ranks and you want to put them as role models? Never gonna happen.” They come to conclusion: need to be in secret with just us. Xavier will control that we don’t tell anyone.T’Challa says they are dangerously arrogant and should not do this. He leaves.

A few months before civil war: hill tells tony: Hulk has no control over his powers. why do you heroes not stop him for good? Tony goes to the illuminati and proposes to send hulk into space. Namor objects, fights with tony, almost drowns him. He leaves the illuminati, they send hulk into space.

They agree not to meet after that.

But just before CW: tony calls them again, shows them SHRA. Tells them they should accept it now before it gets ugly. They’re all incredulous. He says he’s a futurist etc, and basically predicts civil war down to the details. Reed agrees. Namor laughs it off and strange and black bolt are disgusted. The end. AAAA CASSANDRA MOMENT

 

New Avengers Illuminati (2007): https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/New-Avengers-Illuminati-2007

#1

The illuminati, just after the kree-skrull war, break into the skrull emperor ship, state their names, and warn them not to attack earth again. Skrull emperor says they will destroy earth and everyone on it. illuminati answer by exploding the ship. All happy about it but for namor. BUT they get captured! Skrulls experiment on them and gain knowledge (they create the superskrulls later on thanks to that ☹). Leave tony naked without suit. Tony kicks their asses and then saves all the illuminati. They realise they just made sure that the skrulls will come for them.

#2

Reed talks about infinity gems. He has three and the gauntlet, shows the illuminati that they speak to each other. They all go find the missing stones. (tony gets vaporised by the reality stone but reeds brings him back). reed tries to will the gauntlet away, it doesn’t work. The watcher comes and tells them that they should not have this power and that reed was strong to withstand the temptation of the stones. The illuminati split up the stones and hide them, not telling the others where.

#3

After the Battleword incident (see Secret Wars 1984) with Beyonder, the illuminati sans Tony find him and convince him to leave their universe, because he’s disturbing the natural order of things (he can create things and people and anything). He’s a mutant inhuman (??)

#4

The illuminati have a good cop/bad cop talk with Noh-Varr (who’s a kree villain and declared war on Earth). They (I think) convince him to be more like Mar-Vell instead. At first Tony wanted xavier to change noh-varr’s mind but xavier refused and said that it’s more complicated than that. Minds will know that they’ve been changed (INTERESTING FOR STEVE IN HICKMANVENGERS HHEHEH)

#5

After civil war, tony calls them at funtime inc to show the body of skrull electra. Tony says: this is our fault, they have invaded us. There is no way to detect them, says Strange. Tony says “look at what has happened with cw and stuff like that. Doesn’t it feel like we’re being manipulated? Steve is dead!”. Black Bolt reveals itself to be a skrull and tries to kill them. They manage to kill him but other superskrulls come and the Illu only survive because tony uses the power of nuclear stations to put his core at maximum capacity and create a big explosion that kills the skrulls. The illu come to the conclusion that they were ambushed because the skrulls wanted to make them lose trust in each other. It worked.

 

Avengers (2010) (avengers vol 4):

Steve creates a new avengers team, invites tony too because he has “ a good sense of the future”. Tony is all “oh my god steve idk if this is a good idea we’re gonna kill each other”. Steve is “lol don’t worry I’m busy being top cop I’m not an Avenger. Hill will be your boss.”. Then adventures with kang who says that time is broken. Tony takes charge a lot here. He wants to help. At one point they fight 4 horsemen of the apocalypse, one looks like wanda and tony is all “we should help” and then she magics his armour away and he almost falls to his death but spider-man saves him. Tony is de-facto leader under Hill. Buckycap is very supportive. They go into apocalyptic future (wolverine, bucky, tony, noh-varr), meet kid avengers and old tony and old hulk. Then they go back and time travel to bargain with Ultron. It works.

“This is something that happens in an Avengers arc! Bendis' Avengers volume 4 (2010), the run directly preceding Hickman's, has an arc (#7-12) in which the Hood attempts to steal the Infinity Gems. In the course of this, everyone finds out that the Illuminati exist, Steve is very mad at Tony for keeping secrets from him, and Steve ends up on the Illuminati, with a Gem of his own. Also this is the arc where Tony wields the Infinity Gauntlet, which in my humble opinion is pretty fucking badass.” (quote from sineala’s reading order post)

Read that arc it’s one big stony moment.

àhas the scene where steve is very angry at tony and goes all “no more special treatment” and tony’s like “Don’t take it so personally”

à infinity gems thing: steve tracks tony when tony disappears after mention of infinity gems. Steve follows the illu to the Himalayas with the whole avengers team and then singles out tony rip. Says that tony has such a big ego. Later on tony says that all heroes are arrogant and have big egos. Nice speech. They fight for the infinity gems. Tony gets the gauntlet. Steve joins illuminati. Tony stays on team thanks to his prowess with the gauntlet

Next: fear itself (rebuild asgard ; stark/avengers tower gets destroyed) (I stopped at #19)

 

Age of Ultron.

“Impressively, this has absolutely nothing to do with the MCU movie of the same name except for the fact that it contains Ultron. It's not even set in 616, technically, I don't think. In case you're wondering why the incursions actually started, it's explained here -- it's because AoU Wolverine broke the multiverse. It's a very complicated story and you can read about it here. Anyway, yeah. It's all actually Logan's fault. Sorry, bub.” (quote from sineala’s reading order post)

If you want sad Steve content this is for you.

 

 

HICKMANVENGERS

 

Avengers (2015) #1-3 (Avengers #1-6: Avengers World (name of the arc)) https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Avengers-2013

#1

“it started with two men”. Steve has been mind-wiped already, nightmares. Avengers (MCU og6) go to mars bc ex nihilo is there (with sister Abyss and robot destroyer Aleph) and is terraforming mars and wants to terraform earth. Avengers get beaten really easily. Steve is sent back to earth as a taunt. He activates “Avengers World”, a project he worked on with Tony. ( “We have to get bigger”)

#2

Ex nihilo gives a bit of lore backstory: at the beginning of the universe there were the builders. They used to worship the universe but then stopped. They created “systems” to control space and time. The first systems were the Alephs. They were made to purge species that were unfit to be a part of the universe. The Aleph here one day found species that were worthy and created/birthed Ex Nihilo and Abyss. Together, they find worlds and either break them or attempt to reform them into something transcendent.

Ex nihilo be like “I just want to help Earth and its humans become the best they can be… and if ur lacking we will destroy Earth 😊”. Flashback to conversation between steve and tony (greater threat means greater needs). Montage of stony recruiting avengers and heroes (double date panels with jess and carol à steve’s speech hints at the fact that incursions are gonna happen)

#3

They go save the ones stuck on mars!! Big fight, Universe gets there and tells ex Nihilo and his gang “leave Earth alone” and they go “ok goddess” but aleph refuses and gets disintegrated by Universe. Oops. Sweet stony moments. We get the “one was life and the other was death” quote.

New Avengers: Everything Dies #1-3 https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/New-Avengers-2013

#1

T’challa encounters the Black Swan and sees her destroy another Earth. He locks her up in necropolis and he calls the Illuminati.

#2

T’challa tells namor: when this is over I will kill you. Reed talks to black swan. She tells him she needs to destroy earth (rabum alal), that the wheel commands it. She tells him about incursions. Reed explains the problem of incursions to the illuminati. Each incursion lasts exactly 8 hours. T’Challa says: this will not end well. Namor says: what we gotta ask ourselves is “who here is ready to kill to save their world?” Tony says “I hate to say this but we need time to think about how to stop it and in the meantime maybe we should keep everything on the table.” (as in: maybe we should be prepared to use bombs). Steve goes: “No way are you crazy” (calls Tony: Anthony) “We are NOT going to talk or do necessary evil. We have the infinity gauntlet.” They agree to do it. they need to retrieve the gems. But Xavier is dead, so they need to search for his gem. T’Challa and Reed talk: “Tony is right. Also either incursions cannot be stopped or someone is actively trying to end the multiverse. So maybe we’ll have to teach ourselves to destroy worlds “ :/

#3

It is revealed that Xavier left the info about illuminati (and the gem) to the beast (Henry McCoy) in his will. He reluctantly joins the illuminati. They all install devices in their palm: acts as “communicator” (can broadcast commands: run, fight, assemble), also multiversal homing beacon (can find location of the wearer anywhere in any plane), and also warning system for when an incursion is detected. Reed has other conversation with black swan. He tells her about infinity gauntlet. She says: good plan, but their ability is limited, they only work in your universe. Also, I pity you for thinking you will get out of this. 4 days later: incursion. Tony says: Steve you have to wield the gauntlet bc you have to believe it for it to work. Steve repeals the earth, but all the gems break (time gem disappears). Namor angry “you’ve killed us all”

 

Avengers (2015) #4-5

#4

Ex nihilo sent in some biobombs that change biology of where they fall (up to a certain radius). Avengers investigate one of six sites, the one of Savage Land. They meet AIM there. Hyperion (who had been their prisoner—we get his backstory, he comes from one of the universes that died with incursions) decides to take care of the new intelligent lifeforms that were created there (zebra kids). Unbeknownst to avengers: AIM has found 7^th site, in Norway.

#5

Also the avengers brought a “new human” that ex nihilo created back to earth. He is called blackveil.

We get backstory of smasher (lizzy). And then they fight for the Shi’Ar. Smasher gets to be a superguardian (first human in the imperial guard). Shi’Ar realised that their “invaders” were actually running from someone.

 

New Avengers: Everything Dies #4-6

#4

Illluminati now: Black Bolt, Dr.Strange, Beast, Namor, Reed, T’Challa, Tony. reed and t’challa reverse-engineered black swan’s bomb. Tony’s working on a Dyson Sphere. Strange has a spell (unthinkable) ready that will kill him if he uses it. but then oh no incursion! They go to the other Earth, it’s one where mutants reign. But Galaktus is there destroying the world. Terrax (herald of galaktus in that universe) tells them: “let it lie, let this world die so that this universe will not die before its time” but they fight him instead.

#5

They manage to overpower Terrax but not save the other Earth. Now Terrax is their prisoner too. They release black swan (but she has a bomb around her neck) and ask her for help. She tells them about her life, about other black swans who raised her. She says: incursions will never stop. She says: you will do much worse than just destroy Earth.

Next incursion: latveria.

#6

Black swan to tony: “tell my tony stark, does my subservience make you feel powerful?” Tony deflects and shows her the bombs they’ve been building. She says “I’m proud of you 😊” they go to latveria, the sky is blue instead of red, which means: mapmakers. Mapmakers destroy worlds and mark other worlds to destroy later. Illuminati have to kill other planet (already dead) if they don’t want their own planet to be marked by mapmakers for future destruction. T’challa is the one who detonates the bomb. Later: reed: “we need you black swan, the other illuminati will see it later”. She is back in her cage. She talks telepatically with terrax, says they will soon be useful again.

Avengers (2015) #6, #7-11 The Last White Event, #12-17 Prelude to Infinity

#6

Shang-Chi talks to the Universe. Her host is Tamara, a woman who lost her child and was in a coma for ten years. The Universe says: the universe is broken and everything will die here on Earth which is why I became sentient here. They go to Tony and she makes it so that Blackveil (whose name is actually Nightmask) can talk. He says: The system is broken. It’s coming, the white event.

#7-11

Builders: mysterious aliens that create universes?? And many of their universes are getting destroyed? Only about a hundred left???

White event: starbrand. Nightmask: “the machine is broken. This was not a normal white event” white event gives power to a normal human. Power to defend a planet. The new starbrand is Kevin Connor. Universe calms him but also disappears. Tamara does not remember anything. Starbrand and Nightmask/Adam talk. Adam says: the ?? flow is broken. We need to find answers. They go to mars. There Ex nihilo tells them that he’s trying to make earth sentient. They go to earth, and starbrand accidentally kills the sentience of the earth. His powers are out of control. They fight the avengers and lose, and get imprisoned in a box on the dyson sphere. Universe is back again.

Some avengers go to Canada to investigate one of the mutated bio sites. There: weird stuff happens, they learn that “system is active”. Other avengers go to casino to try to find out what AIM weapon s7 is and what they’re doing with it. Shang-Chi finds out that AIM is buying assassins and gearing up for a war.

#12-17

Tony is with the guardians of the galaxy.

Thor, Spider-man, Spider-woman, Hawkeye, iron man, hyperion are on savage land and teach the zebra kids about life. they wonder what superior evolved lifeforms can do and want. Some of the kids get kidnapped by The High Evolutionary. Watcher Garokk leads avengers to the hideout. High evolutionary uses the zebra kids as infinite batteries. Avengers fight and win. Hyperion: this is my new purpose. To be father. Every bio mutant site has a different purpose. But they can’t all work properly bc the earth is “terminal” and doomed to die. The one in Australia is sending out a message. Bruce Banner is thinking “hmmmm something big scale is going on. Also why are tony and reed working together (from issue 7 or 8)”. A robot from AIM site goes to Australia and defeats the avengers (its role: protect). AIM retrieves him, puts him into a void universe (where they took Hyperion from) and sample DNA from avengers (including steve). Universe pops in and out and tells Eden (teleportation guy): “The machine is not complete. to protect a world you must possess the power to destroy a world. they need to get bigger.”

Universe says: recruit Ex Nihilo, Abyss, Nightmask, and Starbrand to the Avengers.

New Avengers 7, 8;

ONE MONTH LATER. So right now the timeline is like this: 4 world-ending events in 16 days, and then 28 days of radio silence. Tony is in space still, he is in contact with reed who keeps him up to date. t’challa and namor speak, namor offers peace between Atlantis and Wakanda who have been escalating hostilities. T’challa accepts to argue for peace but when he sits at table with generals and queen of Wakanda (shuri), he gets rejected and shuri decides to go to war. Doom tries to get info out of strange and reed about why there was another earth above latveria, but they don’t answer and tell him to stay out of it.

A few days later: tony is on earth again, and avengers left to deal with (see infinity 1). Reed and tony go see someone to help them fix the problems with Earth. (they all say. Everything is breaking down, earth is broken, etc). namor proposes (in secret) an alliance with black swan. She’s interested. Wakanda destroys Atlantis. Medusa confronts black bolt: there’s something you’re not telling me. Thanos and his army arrive on Earth. Each one of black order goes to one diff illuminati.

Infinity 1;  https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Infinity

When the illuminati used the infinity gauntlet, thanos sensed it. he sends an outrider to find out where the time gem is.

Builders are coming for Earth, razing every world in their wake. That is why skrulls land on Earth, to flee. The avengers go to space to fight off the army before it arrives on Earth. Tony stays on Earth (is it because he’s illuminati?) touching stony moment “be safe, steve. Win.”

The outrider gets info from black bolts mind. And Thanos assembles the black order (proxima midnight, black dwarf, ebony maw, supergiant, corvus glaive). They go to earth while it has no avengers.

 

New Avengers 9;

Tony and reed fight off army, strange gets mind possessed, t’challa wins over black dwarf, namor kneels for proxima midnight and tells her the gem is in Wakanda. Corvus glaive and supergiant win over the mutants.

 

Avengers 18;

Avengers join intergalactic forces to defeat the builders. But the builders were smarter and destroy like half the fleet. One of two quinjets gets sucked in close to a black hole oh no

Infinity 2;

The space fleet manage to win in the end, after heavy losses. But one of the life-givers (same type as ex nihilo) destroys all life on a planet by turning it into decay and death. It’s horrible. Also, corvus glaive tells black bolt: “give us a tribute or we kill you all” tribute is heads of all children between 16 and 22. Black bolt summons the illuminati to tell them: actually what Thanos wants is to kill his son.  He gives the Illum the hidden archive of inhuman kings and queens.

 New Avengers 10;

Illuminati search for the son. Strange finds him, but he is still under the control of Ebony maw, who makes him forget what he did, but not before strange tells him about the incursions. But ebony maw does not believe him. new incursion, just as thanos attacks Wakanda.

 Avengers 19;

Carol’s group is prisoner, the builders reveal that their goal is to destroy earth to preserve the universe. One of the leaders of intergalactic alliance tries to betray earth. But instead only manages to get the builders to attack the base where they were hiding and recovering. 40 million refugees died

 Infinity 3;

Thanks to strategic thinking of steve, the intergalactic alliance manages to severely damage the builder’s troops. But still, hundreds of worlds kneel for the builders to escape annihilation. Also, the avengers that were prisoner are saved, including starbrand, abyss, and nightmask.

Inhumans all leave to scatter, except for black bolt who stays to fight thanos

 

 Avengers 20;

Intergalactic alliance be like: okay the kree surrendered what do we do. The builders don’t have any world-killing ships anymore but they’re still stronger. Steve goes: “we surrender”.

Ex nihilo and abyss go to see all the other ex nihilis, who all have lost their abyss because they were tasked to destroy worlds instead of creating them. They have had enough.

 

 Infinity 4;

Back to earth: in the fight, black bolt activates the terrigen mist, which turns humans with the potential DNA into inhumans, it happens over the whole world, and Thane (son of thanos) Is one of them. He turns into something deadly (death itself?). Thanos defeats (kills?) black bolt.

In space: thor is sent as parlay to negotiate surrender. Instead, he kills the builder that ruled Kree. Now Kree and all its accusers join the fight again.

 Avengers 21;

Fight against builders rages on. But still losing. So they unleash annihilation wave. Problem: alephs code the hive mind to attack itself. Ex nihili and abyss wake the universe up. She goes to stop the builders, kills them all but one. That one orders all alephs to destroy everything.

 New Avengers 11;

Wakanda is getting crushed. Thanos and his gang find out about the bombs in necropolis, and the prisoners black swan and terrax. Meanwhile, illuminati meet builders from another universe, who tell them that maybe if every earth on every universe is destroyed, then incursions will stop. Also they get maw’s parasite out of strange. They say: we talk to you bc your friends killed the builders from your universe (show the one that got away and ended up in their uni) They destroy their own earth, and urge illuminati to do the same.

 Infinity 5;

Lead by the mighty avengers, the worlds get free again and are Avengers worlds. (no, this is not American imperialism at all, what are you talking about). On earth, ebony maw captures Thane. Also, the illuminati get back to earth and realise that Wakanda is losing and also that Thanos has breached the lab with the bombs. Thanos uses Black Bolt (who isn’t dead) to find out how to use these bombs. They have reached one of the bombs and plan on detonating it on earth. Meanwhile, space is saved, and as thanks to the avengers, the intergalactic force goes to earth to help combat thanos.

 

 Avengers 22, 23;

Avengers fleet Getting ready to attack. Stony Tony and steve moment in 23. (sweet trusting steve) and also TONY WITH A LION??? Avengers start the fight, fight off outer defenses of Thanos. Now they head for earth!

 Infinity 6;

Fight, illuminati manage to avoid the bomb getting detonated. Black bolt, his brother, and dog lockjaw pretend to have died. Avengers (some of them) fight Thanos( steve thor and carol and hyperion and hulk), lose, almost die, but then ebony maw frees Thane and he traps proxima midnight and thanos in living death.

Stony Panel with “wake up steve” “what world” “ours” aaaaa

Worlds rebuild, illuminati steadily lose hope, good tony words at the end.

 New Avengers 12.

Shuri finds out that T’Challa has been seeing Namor in Necropolis. She tells him he is not welcome in the golden city anymore. He is exiled. Namor be like “bravo now you truly know that nothing matters in the face of the incursions”. Rest of illuminati: work on bombs, strange decides to open the blood bible. Black swan: lol the builders are nothing compared to mapmaker masters, or black priests, or [other scary name]. also, you are still only playing. You have never had to deal with an incursion they were always dealt with for you.

 

Avengers: Adapt or Die (Avengers #24-28) and New Avengers: Other Worlds (New Avengers #13-17).

New Avengers #13

Black swan: you need a mirror to see what happens in other worlds, the black priests have it too. Reed: oh ok she means like the Bridge I built to see other ways to handle CW. They build it and witness the black priests annihilating an Earth.

Avengers #24

Avengers have a December 2013 celebratory barbeque. Tony and steve working together (stony page…), steve is like “why are you so gloomy tony why do you keep wanting to make the avengers machine bigger” then suddenly iron man 3030 appears and goes “in one month a rogue planet will collide with earth!! Here is what we’re gonna do” and under her directions they build something to make it so that the rogue planet inhabits the same space as Earth. They can now use it as power source. Iron man 3030 also gives tony a weapon that’s better than what the illuminati have built. (using rogue earth) And she reveals she is the granddaughter of tony and says that soon “everyone you know is going to be trying to kill you”

New Avengers #14,15

Illuminati watch another world get destroyed by mapmakers footsoldiers (this one has doomreed). Stephen strange sells all of his soul to get powerful enough.

They see a world where black swan uses tony and reed to destroy their world (reed and tony betrayed and killed all their friends in hope of saving their earth) and then kills them. Illuminati see that there is a “library” on another plane where the black swans are. They also see in every single earth they look at, it’s either black priests or mapmakers or earth colliding in the end.

Throughout the issue, tony is prickly and irritable. Not well shaven, wears sweats tank top and gauntlets.

Avengers #25-27

AIM used the DNA they got from avengers to create adaptoids. They also reach into one of the dying earths and take out evil avengers. Evil avengers and adaptoids fight and adaptoids kill hank pym. They grow sentient and go outside of AIM’s initial mission parameters…. Oopsie. Evil Bruce Banner meets Bruce Banner. They talk, evil bruce banner is a sociopath. Avengers fight evil avengers and win. But then AIM comes and traps them in time-bubble and take away all evil avengers to their lair. Meanwhile the adaptoids have decided to explore the multiverse.

New Avengers #16

Namor and t’challa hate-talk. They watch another earth, where the heroes have managed to avoid incursions several times: they do so by using the mask of a black priest and killing the other earth.

Avengers #28

Bruce banner reveals to tony that he pretended to be evil hulk, and went back with evil avengers. AIM sent them to another earth. But bruce asked what scientist supreme meant by “worlds are dying “ and scientist supreme explains about incursions. Bruce hulks out. goes and confront tony and tony spills the beans about the illuminati. Bruce then joins the illuminati. Evil bruce, is lobotomized and sent to SHIELD prison (avengers think that evil bruce is real bruce)

Adaptoids meet mapmakers and become mapmakers

New Avengers #17

Namor and t’challa continue looking at that world. They are facing more and more incursions more and more frequently. Namor and t’challa wonder if that is what will happen to them too. They have a bonding moment where they laugh together (although they still hate each other). Then they realise: oh no in a few hours we will meet this other world.

 

Avengers #29-34: Vol. 6: Infinite Avengers, New Avengers #18-23: Vol. 4: Perfect World

Avengers #29-34

29: OMG we have reached the stony remembering!! Steve angsts in bed and then he goes to confront tony (calls him a “traitor” to natasha and clint) Thor tells him he is emotional and looks like he’s going to lose control of the situation. Steve goes to Tony: “I remember”. Tony goes: “do you want to talk about it” and steve says that tony used him, and tony says he’d do it again, and then asks tony if they’ve bombed worlds and whose moral code broke first and tony says “you” and then steve punches him. And then he explains to the other avengers present (thor, hyperion, starbrand, black widow, clint) about illuminati and incursions. And then they fight and time gem appears and oh wow appear 48 years into the future!

30: Steve and Tony keep calling each other friend. There is much tension. The avengers deal with the armours, tony stops fighting and says “if the world is still standing then that means we did it” and tells steve that the only way Steve will stop him now is by killing him. Tony says “And I don’t think you’re willing to do that. Are you, Steve?” then avengers from this time arrive with old man clint who tells steve that next jumps will be longer. He also whispers something in steve’s ear and then punches tony really hard in jaw and nose and says it’s for everyone who died because of tony and everyone who had to live through everything. Also he says that stark is too coward to stop this from happening (a new incursion).

Then tony disappears with help from the time implant in his palm. And time gem appears again: another jump to betrayal+422 years.

31: clint disappears. The rest gets trapped in a box. Steve and natasha are taken by this time’s avengers. Steve has a nightmare that illuminati are telling him he’s stupid and that tony and all the others laughed at him a lot. Oopsie this world is actually Ultron world. Steve gets eye-stabbed and there’s now a bomb in him. natasha gets some words (we don’t know what) that she needs to think about when she sees stark in his cell. Whoopla 5045 years into future now. Hyperion and thor get pulled back. they wake up in stark’s lab where clint is.

32:

They meet franklin Richards who shows that new age humanity is big and prosperous and built avengers world blabla. Steve says :”ok enough I want answers. I want to know about TONY and also the other illuminatis. If you’re here then they’re wrong, the end of all things isn’t inevitable :)” but franklin goes: “ure wrong time is not linear it evolves. And also you can’t dodge fate. The illuminati will fail in part because they are opposed by you.” How do you think it will feel…killing your own brothers?”

33:

Betrayal+51 028 years. Steve now alone. Meets “worldcore”, AI evolved from Ultron. They fight. She talks about time.travel. the bomb in steve’s eye kills her. Time gem again, he disintegrates but is saved by…Kang/Iron Lad (Steve actually mistakes him for tony at first). Iron lad tells him: this is the end of time. All the epochs you were in had avengers. He takes steve to meet Kang and Immortus and they trap the time gem, then iron lad goes : we’re going to keep you here to prevent you from going against the illuminati. Steve has a grand speech about doing the good thing etc etc. “I don’t measure people’s lives… I save them.”

And then we get to hear the words that old clint tells steve: "When you get to the end of the line, they're gonna tell you that you have two choices...Do nothing, or help that monster, Tony Stark. Well... They're leaving out one option: you could take the monster out."

They keep calling tony a monster!!! I am not okay!!

Steve comes back to present. “You wake up one day and the entire world has changed. I never thought I’d have to go through that again”. He’s comparing tony’s betrayal with waking up from the ice???? Stony alert! Steve summons every avenger to hunt the illuminati down (the old illuminati from when he was part of it, plus hank mccoy)

 

Throughout this run, clint has been the voice of reason/asking cap if he’s really thinking things through/if he isn’t overreacting. Interesting contrast to old man clint who hates tony.

 

New Avengers #18-23

18: takes place right after avengers 30. Black bolt has been healed by his brother. T’Challa talks with ancestor black panthers, he is troubled by the choice he’s about to make (destroy a world??). the black panthers tell him: you cannot be a king and be good. deep philosophical talk. They tell T’Challa: do anything you must do to keep Wakanda alive. also, you should really kill Namor.

Strange comes back from hell or whatever. Bruce talks with hank who tells him that they need lots of bombs. Tony is monologuing to black swan. He’s beaten up from the fight with steve. He says he wants answers. She says he’s in denial, and that there are no answers. She also says she’s concerned about him. he threatens her, says he’s going to try to convince the others to root into her mind. She says: you’re just ignorant and scared. He leaves angry. Reed asks swan: what was that about? She says: “A man coming to the end of himself”.

Illuminati leave to fight against the heroes from other incursion world ☹

19: they meet up with other heroes and ask if they have a solution. The other heroes said they had a wishing box (their version of infinity gauntlet) but that it broke. Tony says they should dialogue and not go to worst-case scenarios just yet. other heroes suspicious, t’challa tells them they have a bomb.

Flashback: reed asks tony what he was doing with swan, not their MO. Tony: we’re running out of time steve remembered, every avenger is going to come down on us. Reed: the worst thing is that they’d be right. We’ve done terrible things. Tony: yes, and we can’t stop. They are both miserable.

Back to present: discussion grows heated. Namor tired of waiting around and throws first hit. A fight breaks out. tony: “Oh God. This is it.”

20: they fight. And get owned by the other heroes. The hero (a kind of speedster) who fights again tony just runs around and rips his armour off. He is terrified. She tells him he thinks he’s so smart but his hardware is not good enough (he doesn’t think fast enough) and he should think of getting an upgrade. “become a better man. Be someone else.”(SIM foreshadowing anyone??) Then strange unleashes a beast of the abyss and things go to hell.

21: strange kills them all and the illuminati manage to stop strange. He is now sad bc he has given his soul and his everything for this dark power. The illuminati plant the bomb. T’challa says he will detonate it when no other wants to. (Tony goes: I helped build the bomb I’m not detonating it) the black panther ghosts egg him on. But in the end T’Challa can’t do it. He gets disowned by his ghost father and called Not a black panther anymore. Namor picks up the detonator. Says their lives are worth nothing in face of the universe. Detonates the bomb.

Meanwhile maximus (black bolt’s brother) is speaking to black swan and messing with cages and tells black swan that she uses heroes to do her work but that she miscalculated bc these are kings (black bolt, t’challa, namor) and they will do horrible stuff to keep their kingdom. Morality is not the same for them.

22: t’challa is enraged. They are all shocked that namor did it. Namor be like: you should thank me I did what you were too weak to do. We should embrace it. “This is who we are.” Tony says “I didn’t believe that. I believed we would find a way out. I didn’t think it would end like this.”

Namor and T’Challa fight some more. And then namor reveals that he was the one who told thanos to attack Wakanda. T’Challa sees red. The illuminati tell Namor to leave. T’Challa promises that he will kill Namor.

Oh no. new incursion in eight hours.

23: the illuminati (sans Namor) agree that they can’t be responsible for killing another world. Reed goes to see his family. Bruce goes to the site where his gamma bomb exploded. Tony has a great speech about trying his best and still fucking things up and lines up shots and prepares to repulsor himself in the face. T’Challa visits Storm. Black Bolt screams his grief on the Moon. Strange asks Wong if he’s a good man and Wong says no. Hank speaks to his younger self.

Oh whoops the world didn’t end! It’s because Namor created the cabal with Thanos and his lackeys and Black swan and Maximus and they’re now killing worlds!

 

Avengers #35-44 & New Avengers #24-33: Avengers: Time Runs Out

(Additional Reading: Read before Time Runs Out: Captain America v7 #21, Axis, Superior Iron Man #1-9 (starts before Time Runs Out, continues to end of Hickman's run). Read before Avengers 41: Ultimate Comics The Ultimates (2011) #1-12 (Hickman's Ultimates run).)

TIME SKIP

Tony is now SIM (and has disappeared)

 

 

 Cap v7 #21

Steve has been deserumed and is now oldman steve.

 

Avengers #35

It’s now 8 months later. In 8 months, time runs out. The ex nihili are trying to save stars but the stars choose to die. Again, talk about multiversal collapse and Earth being the centerpoint of it. We meet with Bobby Da Costa and Samuel and some other heroes who live on home planet of imperial guard. They talk about situation on Earth: Avengers are now under SHIELD command, the ones that didn’t like it went their own way, the others are all obsessed with “the tony problem”. Bobby Da Costa actually runs AIM now (hostile takeover, they do good now?). They are installing stuff in the Savage Land under supervision of Hyperion.

Avengers tower is now shield station Golgotha. Amadeus Cho, teen supergenius and member of the Illuminati, is downloading info from Stark servers (“we may have lost stark, but we’ll still have access to all his stuff.”)SHIELD sics the avengers on him (they wear black versions of their suits…). They corner him under the leadership of Sue Storm, ask him where the illuminati are, starting with tony (SIM). Cho says that no one knows where Tony is. Illuminati members rn: Cho, Hulk, Hank Pym, Brian Braddock, Strange, McCoy, T’Challa, Black Bolt, Reed.

 

New Avengers #24

Namor goes to Doom and his son Kristoff to ask for help: the cabal are getting out of control, relishing in destroying worlds (we see an example of a world where they make professor X beg to die). Doom refuses to help, says he is no man’s second choice. Meanwhile, Black Panther and Shuri and their team try to infiltrate Necropolis to steal the bombs. But they were betrayed, the base wasn’t empty, there was Maximus and Proxima Midnight. T’challa and shuri escape. T’challa leaves shuri to fight proxima midnight (and most likely die), because she says that all of Wakanda is dead (she has no mission anymore).She gives him a dagger (asks him to kill Namor I think) and TChalla teleports back to the Illuminati. Back to Doom: he has a team of scientists researching about the bit of dead Earth that he acquired during the incursion above Latveria. His lead scientist has managed to reverse engineer the signal that the mapmakers use to mark the worlds. Doom has a plan, and he also has Molecule Man. Dun dun duuuun.

 

Avengers #36

In 7 months, time runs out.

Bobby Da Costa (aka Sunspot) inspects savage world (where there is now a futuristic city. He is the boss.) the machine AIM was working on is a transporter that can send people through half the multiverse (there are around hundred thousand universes left.). In a flashback, starbrand and other hero tell Bobby that with the destruction of the multiverse, people and things (alephs) get compressed wrongly into other universes not their own. This will get worse as the multiverse gets smaller. In the present, Thor, Hyperion, and the Ex Nihili leave to try to fight and destroy the cause of the destruction of the multiverse, knowing they will most likely die trying. Bobby’s mission is to fix the Avengers.

 

New Avengers #25

We see what the illuminati have been up to during New Avengers 24. They are hunted, hiding. They manage to get a visual of Cho in SHIELD custody (it’s implied he’s been beaten up or tortured). Sue interrogates him, he says that the illuminati is trying to save them and that they know what they are doing. She says that what they are doing is wrong and that she will find them and that Reed should get used to sleeping in a cell. Meanwhile, illuminati have cracked Tony’s encryption. McCoy goes “we might have lost Tony but..” and Reed goes “We didn’t lose him we just haven’t found him yet. They find Tony’s contingency plans, he has 653 separate weapon designs that could be used…

T'Challa teleports in, says that Wakanda has fallen.

 

Avengers #37

The UN (and the world) have been notified about the incursions. Most of them agree to let the cabal continue to destroy worlds. Steve is very mad at that. He is an angry bitter man. He tells his subordinates that the illuminati don’t deserve to be called by their superhero names anymore. The illuminati leave a hologram behind for him to find (hulk and beast) and they tell him if he really wants to find them he needs to up his game. Steve crashes out and destroys the hologram. On top of that, Steve is frustrated because SHIELD is getting less leeway and because no one has any news about Tony. Sue and Steve commiserating about being betrayed by Reed and Tony. Stony panel of carol saying steve and sue got in bed with the wrong people!

Black Widow and Spider-Woman have disappeared. Carol and Steve wonder if they went to try and find Tony. Several mentions of how they (steve? Avengers?) should have tried harder to keep the rich guy (implied tony) with them.

Steve telling Carol: Don’t ever come into a meeting without news on Stark or Reeds. They are priority number ONE.

We discover that Sue is actually a double agent that works with Reed! They both miss each other and meet clandestinely. She passes him a note from Valeria that say: "Dad, You can't win. Time to start figuring out how not to lose."

 

New Avengers #26

Doom and Val talk. She tells him the same thing she told Reed. Doom is plotting something with molecule man…

Natasha and Jess infiltrate Necropolis (where we hear that something is going on with the incursions, they linger after a world has been destroyed). There, we learn that SIM Tony had a disagreement with illuminati months ago, had a secret meeting with Steve where they tried to fix things one last time, something happened that haunted them both, and they didn’t manage to come to an agreement. Then Tony attacked the cabal, but he lost and has been kept in a glass cube all that time. Black Swan has been talking to him and trying to convince him to join them. He doesn’t want to and also is mean and self-obsessed. Natasha and Jess talk to him. They don’t believe in what Steve’s doing anymore, he’s obsessed with planning. They want to let Tony go so that he can help solve the problem, but only if he admits that he was also wrong. Tony refuses, tells them they should be grateful to get his help, that he is the only one who can save them, blablabla. They leave without him.

 

Avengers 38;

In 6 months, time runs out.

We are in the AIM base where sunspot has gathered a new group of heroes. Natasha and Jess are there too. These new avengers: their goal is to stop both SHIELD and the illuminati and make them see reason. We learn that the illuminati have a plan to get rid of the cabal and deal with shield, and that steve has quietly recruited a tiny army of people to track down shield. We learn that Beast is communicating with Sunspot. And that the X-Men are thinking of using a Phoenix egg to solve the incursion problem.

How are the new avengers going to stop the madness? Well, turns out those biological bombs were not all destroyed and Sunspot now has control over or is allied to several of them. One of these is a replicator that Shang-Chi has control over.

 

New Avengers 27;

Doom shows molecule man the fragment of a destroyed Earth that Doom has been studying. It emits a signal that has the same frequency as the signal that Molecule Man emits. Why? Molecule man responds: wanna go on a trip? And teleports them both to a place unknown.

We look at what his happening with Thor and his band of multiversal avengers. They have found the home planet of the Black Priests and fight for a bit before the leader of the priests, the Eye, stops them and reveals he is Dr. Strange. He’s been here all this time, killing off worlds with his Black Priests (he calls them his team of “surgeons”) in order to save universes. He thinks if they kill enough worlds they can stop the multiversal collapse. Also, he thinks he knows who is the source of the problem: Rabum Alal and the Ivory Kings. So let’s team up and kill them.

 

Avengers 39;

In 5 months, time runs out.

The illumanti draw SHIELD to spain to fight. Steve has Rhodey use a drone army of War Machines. Illuminati and shield people fight. Steve is stalling for something. Then the New Avengers show up and order SHIELD to stand down. The new avengers are probably working together with the illuminati.

 

New Avengers 28;

Bobby DaCosta tries to tell Steve to set aside his differences to save the world. Predictably, steve isn’t receptive to the idea. Steve sends down the alternate universe evil Hulk. He remotely triggers him to hulk out and fight illuminati hulk. The new avengers send in Shang-Chi’s clone army to invade SHIELD helicarriers, Steve retaliates by calling in his secret team of Avengers. But Reed was one step further: Sue traps every SHIELD ally into force fields. She reveals herself and with her appear Medusa, Black Bolt, and Namor!

 

Avengers 40;

Steve is soooo bitter that the illuminati are so clever. He has such a complex about it. Anyways. Black Panther is not happy to see Namor but Reed manages to stop him from attacking Namor.  The illuminati explain their plan: Namor will go with the Cabal to the other Earth during the next incursion. This incursion will be a mapmaker world.  Namor will then trap them on that Earth and when the bomb explodes the cabal will die too.

Steve accepts that plan on the condition that the illuminati all surrender to answer for their crimes. They say okay (except for T’Challa). Plan goes off without a hitch except T’Challa and Black Bolt trap Namor on the other Earth to make sure he dies with the Cabal.

During the explanation of the plan, we understand that Beast was a double agent for the illuminati all along (so he took info from new avengers). And also note that Steve goes along with the plan as soon as the illuminati accept to submit and surrender to him.

 

New Avengers 29;

In 4 months, time runs out.

The illuminati find out that Tony has disappeared from his cage.

Later, illuminati and Avengers talk about what options are left. Reed explains that somehow, before the latest incursion, the number of universes left went down to only 22. Their earth will miss all incursions except the last one, so they have a little time. Steve gets mad, shouts at them all like “well why haven’t you actually done something???”.  Reed and tchalla explain that they have tried many different things (cosmic cube, using starbrand(?), talking to celestials) but nothing worked. Then suddenly Hank Pym returns from his multiversal trip. He found the Ivory Kings: the Beyonders!

 

Avengers 41;

On earth 1610, we learn that Fury has put Reed (the Maker) in charge of coming up with contingency plans now that he’s not evil anymore. (see hickman’s ultimates run). Spoiler alert; reed is still evil he just fooled Fury. He speaks with the City, and we learn that he has been aware of the incursions for some time and already killed 67 earths. She tells him the same thing we learned in NA 29: we are down to less than two dozen universes! So he goes to check out the latest incursion. Turns out, it’s the one where the Cabal was trapped. So earth 1610 is a third earth that came to the incursion, and the cabal manage to flee to that earth, landing in front of evil reed. They only managed to fly to the third Earth because T’Challa waited a while before detonating the bomb. T’Challa’s need to make sure that Namor would understand that he was doomed is what ultimately saved the lives of the Cabal. Namor is pretending he wasn’t in on the original plan to kill the Cabal, so they don’t suspect he betrayed them.

At the same time, the Shi’Ar realise that the incursions are happening and the origin point is the Earth. They call their allies, say that they won’t be able to repay their debt to the Avengers (remember Infinity? Steve and other avengers going to space war? Yeah.), because they need to destroy Earth.

 

New Avengers 30;

In 2 months, time runs out.

Hank describes what he saw during his multiversal trip. He managed to find a base of Ex Nihilii and Alephs who were trying to stop the end of the multiverse. He saw them fight against beyonders and lose badly. He realised that the beyonders were setting a trap by having the mapmakers send out a specific frequency that would lure Celestials in. He saw the beyonders fighting and killing the Celestials. He saw them fighting and killing the Living Tribunal, the personification of the Multiverse. He says: it’s over.

 

Avengers 42;

T’Challa and Reed are building a lifeboat to save at least some of humanity even if they can’t save the world. Meanwhile, the five allied galactic empires are getting ready to destroy the earth. The guardians of the galaxy intercept those communications and go to earth to warn the heroes, who say they are going down with earth.

 Also meanwhile, Black Swan calls Namor out on his bullshit: “we had a deal”, she says. She wants to live. He wants to live too.

 

New Avengers 31, 32;

31: Strange and his black priests find a door to the hidden library world where the black swans live. They break in but get decimated by the black swans. Only strange is kept alive, and he is brought to Rabum Alal. IT IS DOOM! What??? How????

Doom says he could do with one more diciple. He is ready for war. The plan: he becomes a god to kill the beyonders? “ For it takes a god to kill a god.”

32: Thor and his band (ex nihilo, abyss, starbrand, hyperion, nightmask) finally come face to face with the beyonders. All but Thor and Hyperion die fighting two of them. Then the rest rushes out. Moving moment of Thor and Hyperion facing their death bravely, racing to Valhalla. Thor is finally worthy again.

 

Avengers 43;

Flashback to two weeks ago: the illuminati actually got tony out of his cage (“let me die for something!” moment). Since then, he has been in hiding.

Now: the Earth has two hours before the intergalactic alliance destroys them. Steve starts planning.

STONY PANEL ALERT: Steve and Reed talking about Tony. “We are surrounded by total chaos--I mean, an all-encompassing disaster of biblical proportions... And all I can think of is him.” Reed waxing poetic about how smart and amazing Tony is. "future man trapped in the now." We love to see it.Just. Ugh. So good. Read the issue.

So Tony actually developed a way to control the Planetkiller that they won from the builder wars. So Steve deploys it, and has help from Bobby and his AIM weapon. But they get defeated by the alien armada. All hope is lost. Or is it?

The illuminati have another trick up their sleeve: they phase in the rogue Earth again (see Avengers #24), and contact Tony. Turns out that what SIM has been doing in those two weeks is go to the Sun and finish Sol’s Hammer.

 

New Avengers 33,

Back to Doom. We learn what happened when Molecule Man teleported them both into the void: we get to see Molecule Man’s “origin”. He explains to Doom that he was actually built by the beyonders to be constant across the multiverse, and that in 25 years he is programmed to explode and kill his universe with it. It’s the beyonder’s experiment: kill the entire multiverse simultaneously and see what happens. Molecule Man tells Doom: you need to kill all of me prematurely to save the multiverse. He shows Doom the Library of Worlds. And so Doom starts to travel the multiverse to kill Molecule Man. He builds up a cult with the Black Swans. Eventually, the killing of the Molecule Men starts the incursions.

So all this time, Doom was trying to prevent the multiverse from collapsing (but still killing worlds). He has even built something (what is it???) that will destroy the beyonders. Strange asks him: what is the point of this if the end result is the same? Doom says: but I will be able to save something.

So they go to confront the beyonders, but something goes wrong. This is why suddenly we went down to less than two dozen universes.

 

Avengers 44

This entire issue is a stony issue let’s be real.

We get to see the secret meeting that Tony and Steve had (that was referenced in NA #26). They meet up at a diner, where Tony reveals he found Tamara’s daughter. Except when he tells Steve he will fix the incursions problem, Tamara turns into the Universe and tells him to stop lying. She says that she is dying and everything is dying and Tony knew it all along and has built nothing.

Back to the present, Tony uses Sol’s Hammer to kill almost the entire intergalactic fleet. Earth is shielded since they switched phases with the rogue earth. Looking hot while committing genocide, king.

Back to ults earth: the cabal and the maker have told Fury about the incursions. The last one will be between earth 1610 and earth 616. Fury prepares for war.

On earth 616, the illuminati and steve + his most loyal heroes finalize the decision of who will be on board the life boat. Reed tries to argue that Tony should be put on it since he is their greatest builder. But Steve shuts it down fast.

Steve goes to put on a war machine armour and bash Tony’s face in. They fight. Steve wants Tony to admit he knew all along, knew that there was no way to win, and didn’t tell anyone. He makes reference to Tony building Avengers World. Tony says that they (the illuminati) needed the time to at least try. He says the others didn’t realise, but he knew that there was no way out. Tony tells Steve he wouldn’t have done anything differently.

They get smashed by a falling helicarrier from 1610’s Fury’s attack on 616.

Everything dies.

 

(can I just say I am going crazy about all the implications of this. And steve yet again being unwell about tony. And Steve NOT TELLING ANYONE EITHER)

 

Secret Wars 0-9

#0 : (free comic book day 2015) https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Free-Comic-Book-Day-2015/Secret-Wars?id=65766

Four days before the end of the world: Valeria Richards and her team of genius kids (??) at the future institute work hard to build the life raft, the thing that will save approximately 60 people from death. We get some exposition from Franklin Richards who explains why they are in this situation (neatly summing up hickmanvengers in like ten panels lol).

In the present: they are done with the liferaft, but the Earth is under attack!! (by ults SHIELD and heroes).

 

1-9: https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Secret-Wars

1:

ults heroes and 616 heroes fight. The Maker and the cabal have some kind of plan (doomsday weapon?) while ults Fury and his people fight. Cyclops becomes the phoenix. Meanwhile Reed and T’Challa are trying to get everyone into the Raft, but due to all the chaos the team of scientists get killed. So T’Challa has manifold teleport in several of the 616 heroes. They move out to the incursion point but get hit, and half the ship (with Sue and the kids) gets blown up. Only Carol, Reed, T’Challa, Jane Foster Thor, Starlord, spiderman and cyclops are left. The universe ends.

2:

We are on Battleworld, where Doom is God Emperor and rules over all. The world is cobbled together by fragments of old earths. There is a corps of Thors (enforcers) who guard him and the kingdom. Strange is Doom’s sheriff (upholding the law) and Valeria is doom’s daughter, the Foundation (science and religion). Sue is Doom’s consort. Franklin controls a Galactus. Johnny is the sun. The world is divided into kingdoms with barons and kings. At the edges of civilization, there is the Shield that protects them all from various hordes of monsters.

In one of the kingdoms, people have discovered something that goes against what they were told about the creation of the world… A raft…. Turns out it’s the Cabal, who stole the plans for the liferaft from Reeds.

3:

Doom is wondering whether he should have left the world to its own devices. He is flawed, and he fears that will impact the world. Sue reassures him.

We realise that Strange is, along with Doom, the only one who remembers anything before Battleworld. Strange is in charge of making sure no one discovers the lie that the world is built on. He and one of the Thors discover Miles Morales (from 1610) who hitched a ride on the Maker’s raft. Strange takes them both to a hidden island he has (isle of Agamotto), where there is another raft. They open that raft and out come our 616 heroes. They learn that Doom made this world. Eight years ago.

4:

Strange explains that Battleworld is unstable and fragile, and its ultimate goal is survival, and he believes in it. He explains that when he, Doom and molecule man attacked the beyonders, they destroyed them, and they were faced with the power of becoming a God. Strange shied away from it, but Doom embraced it.

The Thors and the Cabal fight. Strange gets there with the Avengers, then Doom shows up. He kills Phoenix cyclops and tells all the others to surrender. Strange disperses the avengers and Cabal away before Doom can kill them too. He tells Doom that even with all his power, he is still afraid of Reed. Reed, who is certainly already trying to fix things. Who doesn’t even know Doom took his life.

Doom kills Strange for that.

5:

Doom tells everyone that the avengers and cabal were responsible for the Strange’s death. Then he goes and talks to Molecule Man. We learn that the thing that the thing he built to destroy the beyonders was a whole lot of Molecule Men (see NA #33).  With the beyonders destroyed, they stole their power and stored it in Molecule Man. Doom used him as a conduit to rebuild the world.

Doom tasks Valeria to find the Cabal/Avengers (let’s call them interlopers). She goes to her Future Foundation and brainstorms with the other genius kids (?). They realise that Strange defied Doom and that not is all what it seems. So their plan is to find the interlopers and see what Doom is afraid of. They are going to keep their discoveries to themselves.

The interlopers have all landed in different places.

6:

Three weeks later. Valeria and her team have found Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight. Black Swan has defected to Doom’s side. Reed and the Maker are working together to figure out how to defeat Doom, with the Maker clearly meaning to kill him.

There is an insurrection against Doom going on, led by “the Prophet”. Doom is displeased and tells his barons to deal with it. One of the barons is Sinister, who is working with Carol? And they’re about to “get naughty”. Aka mess with Doom’s plans I guess.

The two spider-men find, at the same time as Valeria’s team, the source of Doom’s power: it’s Molecule Man. He’s talking about how the edges of the cobbled together fragments are pulling apart.

T’Challa and Namor have, adter a long search, finally found the isle of Agamotto. They’re not trying to kill each other anymore! Yay! Turns out that when the universe dies and your kingdoms are ashes, such trivialities don’t matter anymore. In there, they get access to the Siege Courageous (teleporter) and, more importantly, an INFINITY GAUNTLET!!!!

Finally, we see Thanos: he is talking to Ben Grimm, who is the Shield. Tells him his life is a lie. Tells Ben to get up and find out the truth.

7:

Turns out the Prophet is Maximus. He and his army engage in battle against the Barons. Sinister betrays the barons, gets beheaded by other Baron (Apocalypse) for that. Various parties join the battle for even more chaos. The Thors are in a civil war because Jane Foster Thor told them about Doom’s lies. The ones who agree with her turn on Doom’s armies. Meanwhile the illuminati are planning stuff: Reed and the Maker are getting ready to infiltrate Castle Doom with the help of Peter Quill, to steal the “most valuable thing left in the multiverse”. T’Challa and Namor go to the horde of zombies that are beyond the shield and convince them to join the battle (since T’Challa is king of the dead).

8:

More fighting! More people come into play! I don’t have the courage to sum everything up so I’ll just go for highlights: Kaiju fight between Ben Grimm and Galactus. Groot taking over the world tree that was growing in the centre of Castle Doom. Thanos having an entire speech about how Doom isn’t a real god blablabla and then Doom just ripping Thanos’ spine out. Valeria taking Sue and going to the place where Molecule Man is, where they come face to face with Reed and the Maker. Namor and T’Challa come face to face with Doom, T’Challa wearing the infinity gauntlet. Time for the final showdown!!

9:

T'Challa and Doom fight. Reed tells Sue the truth. Then he and the Maker go to meet Molecule Man. The maker betrays Reed (big surprise) except the molecule man isn’t having it and puts maker out of the equation. Then Doom appears. Molecule Man removes Doom’s powers to make them equals, then Doom and Reed fight, and Doom is all shouting is insecurities and inferiority complex, and they both come to the conclusion that they think Reed would have done better than Doom if he’d had his godly powers. So Molecule Man goes “aight” and gives all the god powers to Reed! End of Battleworld.

T’Challa threw himself back in time thanks to the time gem of his gauntlet, and starts a space exploration project? Alpha Flight.

Eight months later:

Reed, helped by Molecule Man, Franklin, Valeria and the Future Foundation build up the multiverse again one universe at a time.

Miles is now on Earth 616, and Molecule Man brought him his mom (or both parents) to earth 616 as well, as a thank you for giving him a hamburger during Battleworld.

Doom is in his castle, with a handsome face, and laughs, happy.

Everything Lives.

 

THE END!

 

For the Secret Wars tie-ins: If you want stony, read: Marvel 1872, Secret Wars Civil War (also called Civil War (2015).

 

 

 

Hickmanvengers - adjacent

 

Avengers World

Different Avengers deal with stuff that happens during incursions. Madripoor becomes a dragon, AIM is doing weird stuff, villain Gorgon. Here we also see that something is wrong with Earth and the Multiverse. China comes with S.P.E.A.R., their version of SHIELD, and they also have their own superhero team.

(in issue #5 we have stony moment: steve and tony interacting, tony going like “I thought I’d just stand there and let the chills come” and also calls steve dad…)

Original sin

The watcher has been killed, and people remember things that were suppressed…. Which is what made steve remember. Og sin 3.1-3.4 talks about bruce and tony, and we discover that tony meddled with the bomb. Bruce first thinks it’s tony’s fault that bruce gto turned into the hulk but we actually learn that tony saved him from death (and sent him an email talking about possible bio-modifying side effects but bruce was too angry and proud and never read the email…… ends with tony saying that he couldn’t let bruce realise he was prideful, like tony. ) also a line where tony says ‘but then again you don’t really like yourself either, eh?’ when he’s drunk and messing with the bomb in the past.

Ultimate Comics The Ultimates (2011) #1-12 (Hickman's Ultimates run)

Steve is being mopey in the desert in these issues.

Reed is evil (the Maker) and built some kind of “perfect” City (under a Dome) where time flows very very fast. New types of people are made, the City is sentient. One thousand years in, the City opens itself and its inhabitants (Children of Tomorrow) are engineered to be perfect humans.  (issue 2-4  and 8-9 are good thortony issues). After killing a bunch of people and showing how superior they are and growing to take up a good chunk of Europe, they stop there.

Reed has a biology quirk that makes his cell not decay (that’s why he stayed alive for 1000 years in the City). Also he made his brain bigger to be smarter.

After killing even more people and menacing the US, the Maker gets defeated by Tony and Anthony and Sue. Issue 12 ends with Reed in custody.