Annihilation Conquest

[Kitsune]

I'm so glad I started picking this series up, especially since I'm seriously thinking of dropping Amazing Spider-Man.

 

[Docker2.0]

Agreed! Spiderman is missing JMS and Slott big time. It's just................corny right now.

 

[Dread]

BND? Being corny and outdated after altering the status quo to resemble the 70's? The DEVIL you say! And pun intended.

Anyway, here is a repost of my B/T post about AC #5, with heavy spoilers!

ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST #5: I know a lot of people are grumbling about this not being as good as Giffen's original ANNIHILATION and I won't argue that. It is a sequel that so far doesn't surpass the original, and in fact struggles to match it. But that said, it still is incredibly entertaining and is providing a far better space threat than I EVER will expect out of SECRET INVASION. I mean, this issue literally brings it home for Ultron, reminds us of his motives, origins, and even makes sure to include his MIGHTY AVENGERS appearance to make things all connect together, and blue blazes, I like that sort of thing.

Spoiler

Ultron (now "Great Ultron") is making an army of genetic super-soldiers and has already amassed countless Phalanx and Select, and he wants to invade Earth. I'd be a million times more jazzed if the Marvel Universe had to unite against this guy. But, no, instead we have to have another "heroes can't trust no-one and are overly paranoid and beat themselves" junk-pile from Bendis. This issue fleshes out Ultron even more and establishes this thing as less of a gimmick and more of an evolution of the villain, refusing to back down after every defeat and managing to return bigger and badder every time. In a way, the Mighty Avengers caused it by hurling Ultron into space so the Phalanx could find him. In the meanwhile, Groot manages to sacrifice himself (while still spouting his dumb line) to enable Mantis, Rocket, and Bug to save Peter Quill, but we knew that because of the cover of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, we know who lives. Aw, well. It was interesting noting Korath as Ultron's first select (a great way to eliminate the "zero willpower" of past robot take-over attempts) because Korath was naturally killed by Ultron for failing at the end of the first issue. We now see why Adam Warlock's costume was different in the covers; that is the costume Ultron designs when High Evolutionary manages to DL Ultron into "the perfect organic specimen", and Ultron has plans for the rest of HE's soldiers, too.

Really, THIS is a threat worthy of Earth's Mightiest heroes, but because they're too busy pissing their booties over little green men, the space cowboys will have to do the job for them. AGAIN. Raney's art is good for the most part and the colors rock. I just never thought Ultron could become more of a bad-ass, and he has. The lesson of Nova; leave earth for space and you automatically get cooler. DnA have taken a story that Bendis basically botched and made gold with it. No, it isn't Giffen's epic, but it is still damn good. ROCKY II wasn't as good as ROCKY but it was still a damn good ride, and that is what AC is to me. And that cover is bad-ass. I know Warlock survives in GOTG but I wonder in what form. Will he be like Cyclops, Post-Apocalypse merge, effected forever by the union? In a way that would make him like Phyla, who has Annihilus' essence in her Quantum Bands (sure, Wendall removed it, but for how long?). I can't wait for the finale, which is just as it should be. Some many bemoan the fact this is a Grade B+ compared to the original mini's A, but I don't. Good is good, especially compared with the "terran" Marvel event.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Haha, I love that Ultron's ultimate plan still revolves around destroying those damned Avengers. He's got the resources of an entire race of techno-organic beings and the Kree Empire at his disposal, and his aims still haven't really expanded.

 

[spectre]

well from what i can tell ultron's #1 goal has been to destroy all organic life. the whole thing is that with sentience comes some form of emotions, even if he doesn't acknowledge them. even if he has the whole robo/android logical thinking, he still straight up hates the avengers.

 

[SouLeSS]

So I picked up 2-5 on a whim today, and I gotta tell you, this series is alright. It's no where near as good as it's predicessor, but it's still an alright story.

Oh, and Ultron is a true and total badass. Not only does he just go "lol phalanx you aint **** im gonna run you now *****es" but he then get's himself a new body via Adam Warlock, and starts amassing a superarmy of clones and what not.

I don't know much about this character, but I really think that he should win this part, head to Earth, and finally the Avengers teams will get back together, and a lot of the things in the Marvel Universe sort of get back to where it was pre-civil war.

Or maybe do that with the third Annihilation. Have the badguy ultimate win in the comic area but have some huge vendetta against some of earths heroes and then start some epic war where it 'changes the face of the Marvel Universe forever' again. Except change it back to when it wasn't so convoluted with tie-in and followup's, so on and so forth like it is now.

Anyone else feel this?

 

[SouLeSS]

So I picked up 2-5 on a whim today, and I gotta tell you, this series is alright. It's no where near as good as it's predicessor, but it's still an alright story.

Oh, and Ultron is a true and total badass. Not only does he just go "lol phalanx you aint **** im gonna run you now *****es" but he then get's himself a new body via Adam Warlock, and starts amassing a superarmy of clones and what not.

I don't know much about this character, but I really think that he should win this part, head to Earth, and finally the Avengers teams will get back together, and a lot of the things in the Marvel Universe sort of get back to where it was pre-civil war.

Or maybe do that with the third Annihilation. Have the badguy ultimate win in the comic area but have some huge vendetta against some of earths heroes and then start some epic war where it 'changes the face of the Marvel Universe forever' again. Except change it back to when it wasn't so convoluted with tie-in and followup's, so on and so forth like it is now.

Anyone else feel this?

 

[Vanguard07]

I'd rather see the opposite. Like some big bad villain succeed on earth (it'd have to be Doom) and beat all the heroes and then branch out and take the fight out into the cosmic arena.

Then you could have some genuine changes to the MU (right down to the geography) and could do some really cool stories in the aftermath of a serious worldwide defeat. (After the threat was eventually beaten at the end of the Arc I mean)

 

[Colossal Spoons]

I'm still waiting for High Evolutionary to turn on Ultron

 

[sandwraith]

WARLOCK VS WARLOCK!!! Genius!

 

[FatalEnergy]

Looks like Nova and Drax and Gamora are transmode virus free.

 

[Dread]

Haha, I love that Ultron's ultimate plan still revolves around destroying those damned Avengers. He's got the resources of an entire race of techno-organic beings and the Kree Empire at his disposal, and his aims still haven't really expanded.

In a way they have, just Ultron hasn't lost sight of the main prize. With a universe worth of Phalanx and an army of genetic soldiers, he just has a better shot of actually succeeding. Especially since, uh, hyjacking Iron Man and turning into a naked chick didn't work.

well from what i can tell ultron's #1 goal has been to destroy all organic life. the whole thing is that with sentience comes some form of emotions, even if he doesn't acknowledge them. even if he has the whole robo/android logical thinking, he still straight up hates the avengers.

Naturally.

I'm still waiting for High Evolutionary to turn on Ultron

Me too. Considering HE's fondness for Adam Warlock, I wouldn't have trusted him with the transfer if I was Ultron, but maybe he wasn't aware of it.

 

[sandwraith]

High Evolutionary's always been shown to be first and foremost, a Scientist with little to no scrupples. Maybe Ultron appealed to that part of the Evolutionary, that and his basic instinct to save his own skin.

 

[Silicon Surfer]

High Evolutionary should not be in any danger from the Phalanx. He could just devolve them into calculators.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

High Evolutionary's always been shown to be first and foremost, a Scientist with little to no scrupples. Maybe Ultron appealed to that part of the Evolutionary, that and his basic instinct to save his own skin.

That's what I figured. I always thought the High Evolutionary was morally ambiguous at best and downright villainous at worst because his goals are fundamentally different from those of the average superhero. He's not interested in helping people; he's interested in learning everything, whatever the cost. There's another guy in the Marvel universe with that penchant for knowledge and lack of morals: Mr. Sinister. The pursuit of science can and frequently does lead to less than noble acts. I wouldn't put any faith in the High Evolutionary turning on anyone just because it'd be what we consider the right thing to do.

 

[Vanguard07]

Wasnt Sinister like HE's old lab partner back while they were both regular humans?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Holy ****, Sinister was his mentor back when he was plain old Nathaniel Essex. I had no idea about their connection.

 

[Vanguard07]

Yeah. They're very similar in their goals, they've got a shared history. Really the biggest difference between them is that HE is both WAY better and a lot less of a *****ebag.

HE's still morally ambiguous most of the time but he's rarely a downright evil *^(hole most of the time like Sinister.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Ah. Yeah, Sinister does take it to extremes far more than the High Evolutionary. Still, if some crucial knowledge could be gained from putting Ultron in Adam Warlock's body, I think it's believable for him to totally betray everyone to do it. They did kind of hint that maybe the HE has something up his sleeve at one point, but that could just be a red herring.

 

[Vanguard07]

Ah. Yeah, Sinister does take it to extremes far more than the High Evolutionary. Still, if some crucial knowledge could be gained from putting Ultron in Adam Warlock's body, I think it's believable for him to totally betray everyone to do it. They did kind of hint that maybe the HE has something up his sleeve at one point, but that could just be a red herring.

I dunno.... I've always sorta seen HE as the bad guy who's still sorta decent. He's just got different goals. Like Magneto. Yes he's done some messed up evil stuff but a lot of the time he's damn near justified in his actions.

I think HE's gonna turn around and do something to redeem himself from the whole Ultron helping thing.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Meh. There aren't enough genuine betrayals in comics anymore.

 

[Dread]

HE and Mr. Sinister are very alike but I always saw Mr. Sinister as nastier. Like he enjoyed dishing out pain and misery sometimes. HE is more emotionless and objective about it.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

True, I didn't mean to imply he was as evil as Sinister--just that he'd think nothing of turning on "friends," since his only real loyalty is to knowledge. He's like Reed Richards to the nth level.

 

[sandwraith]

I thought it was this guy who mentored High Evolutionary:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaeder

 

[TheCorpulent1]

You can have more than one mentor.