Siege Ends The Avengers

[Franklin Richards]

An ideal unified Avengers team for me would be Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Pym, Hawkeye, the Vision, She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, Ares, and maybe Luke Cage. That pulls together representatives from just about every corner of Avengersdom, both pre- and post-Disassembled.

And I left Wolverine out because he's a goddamned X-Man, not an Avenger, so don't ask.

Yank Ares and Spider-man and add The Wasp and I'd buy that. Plus that roster is getting a bit big. I say bring back the West Coast Avengers.


If they do do a JLA / All Star team then they should have reps from all the big teams.

Big 3
Spider-Man
Hulk
Wolverine
Beast
Pick one of the FF
The Wasp



I dunno. You pick an All-Star team.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

The cover for Siege 4 makes me very happy.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I wouldn't necessarily want to see a West Coast team right away because, as with Pym's Mighty Avengers, it'll get shafted in sales. You know Bendis is gonna snap up all the popular characters, leaving the West Coast team feeling like the leftovers to the masses. I mean, in an ideal world, we could get two teams and they'd both sell, but initially I think two books would just dilute the Avengers in their "new" era. Put out one team that hits the major areas of the Marvel universe first, then in a year or so, split some of them off with some other characters to create a new team and give them a series. Can't just throw everything at the wall all at once these days.

 

[Franklin Richards]

Wouldn't it be great if Quicksilver grew up and was a good leader? Then I could see him leading two teams at the same time.

"We've got a situation in Burbank!"

"I'll be right there."

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Nah, I like him as the incorrigible bastard he is. Slott's idea to have him heap all his recent sins on an imaginary Skrull was a stroke of genius. It really brought the character back to his center after like 10 years of drifting back and forth from too good to too evil.

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

As excited by the idea of this as I am, the reality that Bendis might be in charge of the entire Avengers' universe disturbs me.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, I'm worried too. But, like I said before, there's always the off chance that he'll consider the past 5 years "his" Avengers era and effectively retire from them. And his writing of major characters has kind of improved a bit over the years. He sometimes borders on actually finding some characters' voices now and then.

 

[Franklin Richards]

Bendis and Slott switch places on Spider-man and Avengers.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

The 2 problems I see with my fond hope that Bendis will retire from Avengers work are:

1) Bendis sells a lot of comics. I have no idea why, given that I find a lot of his mainstream work virtually unreadable, but the man appeals to a huge section of the comic-reading audience. Marvel's probably not gonna want to lose that mass appeal by allowing Bendis to go off and write other titles.

2) The Avengers are at the center of the Marvel universe now largely because of Bendis' ability to appeal to a mass audience, and Bendis seems to like being at the center of the MU's interconnected continuity. He probably won't want to leave.

Still, a man can dream...

 

[iloveclones]

NEW AVENGERS: FINALE
Written by BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS
Pencils & Cover by BRYAN HITCH


Hopefully, they've given Hitch a year or so to finish this. Otherwise, you'll see this around issue 9 or 10 of whatever the Avenger title is going to be.....

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I kind of hate how Hitch's name has become synonymous with "event" at this point. I like his art most of the time, but I actually think he's gotten a bit worse over the years. Compare his current work to JLA: Heaven's Ladder or The Ultimates and it seems like it's overall a bit rougher and less impressive. And I could certainly do without his trademark delays, especially on big event stories.

Still, it's only one issue so I imagine he'll be okay on that. Plus I doubt I'll actually be buying it anyway. The end of the New Avengers era is not something noteworthy to me. I'll be glad once it's over and the Avengers (hopefully) come back to a more traditional setup.

 

[iloveclones]

I enjoyed it for the most part, flaws and all. But I'm kind of getting sick of the whole "The event that Bendis has been planning since he was 11 years old....." advertising.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Bendis has already said several times that he's not going anywhere post-Siege.

 

[hippie_hunter]

An ideal unified Avengers team for me would be Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Pym, Hawkeye, the Vision, She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, Ares, and maybe Luke Cage. That pulls together representatives from just about every corner of Avengersdom, both pre- and post-Disassembled.

And I left Wolverine out because he's a goddamned X-Man, not an Avenger, so don't ask.

I'm thinking that Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Clint Barton as Hawkeye, Mockingbird, and Ms. Marvel are guaranteed on the team. And dare I say, I think we might see the Hulk come on once World War Hulks is done so the roster can look like most media interpretations of the Avengers that include the Hulk (Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and probably the Avengers film).

I think Cage's tenure with the Avengers is done. The latest story arc sorta hinted that Cage is more willing now to settle down now that he has a child and Bendis has the Alias relaunch to continue his story.

And I think Wolverine will be gone too. A character like him would not be suited for the Avengers in the Heroic Age considering that he's a part of a covert assassination squad. And the latest story pretty much shows him being completely unable to participate due to his X-Men duties.

 

[CaptainCanada]

Bendis also said that Wolverine would still be around, though he'd be sitting out the Siege stuff because of Utopia before showing up again.

 

[chamber-music]

Pym/Wasp better make the Avengers cut due to his shared history the big Cap/Iron Man/Thor and the upgrade his got under Slott.

 

[Spider-Gnome]

Marvel isn't doing a LOST where at the end of Siege a bomb goes off and everyones memory gets whipped clean, are they?

No, but I wish they would go LOST with Amazing Spider-Man in which Pete slowly learns clues about the split timeline and they fix the mess of OMD.

If they do do a JLA / All Star team then they should have reps from all the big teams.

Big 3
Spider-Man
Hulk
Wolverine
Beast
Pick one of the FF
The Wasp

If going this route, the FF member should be either Johnny or Ben, and that would give Spidey a buddy on the team.

2) The Avengers are at the center of the Marvel universe now largely because of Bendis' ability to appeal to a mass audience, and Bendis seems to like being at the center of the MU's interconnected continuity. He probably won't want to leave.

Not sure about anybody else, but the combo os Spider-Man joining the New Avengers, the cross over events of such things as Civil War & Secret Invasion, and Norman Osborn's rise in power has gotten me more interested again in the Marvel Universe instead of just Spider-Man's corner of it.

Of course, if Norman is killed and Spidey is no longer an Avenger, it's back to Manhattan & Forest Hills, Queens for me.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It's gotten me less interested. Norman Osborn's a small-timer and always will be, in my book. The only thing that's saved Dark Reign for me is the fact that Osborn's clearly proven that he's not up to the task of wielding such power at every turn. I can reconcile that with the Osborn I remember from earlier Spider-Man stories. Spider-Man himself I just avoid now.

 

[Spider-Gnome]

It's gotten me less interested. Norman Osborn's a small-timer and always will be, in my book. The only thing that's saved Dark Reign for me is the fact that Osborn's clearly proven that he's not up to the task of wielding such power at every turn. I can reconcile that with the Osborn I remember from earlier Spider-Man stories. Spider-Man himself I just avoid now.

Well, I find myself more interested in Spider-Man in the big MU context right now, more so than in his devil-created world in his title.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I gradually lost interest in Spider-Man over time. He used to be my favorite character, but then I discovered Thor, and then Spider-Man's comics started sucking, and then OMD happened. OMD was just the straw that broke the camel's back for me.

 

[chris moore]

Can't say I mind Dark Avengers ending cos as much as I've enjoyed it, I wouldn't want them to convert it to a secondary Thunderbolts title or something. And as great as New Avengers has been, I don't really mind them doing away with a street level Avengers team.

My main concern (which I've seen a few mentions of above here) is Hank Pym being lost to the ether after such a great comeback and update

 

[Dread]

http://comics.ign.com/articles/106/1061476p1.html

It certainly fits some rumors that had been floating around. After over 5 years, NEW AVENGERS was hardly "NEW" anymore. There didn't seem to be a need to have DARK AVENGERS around after SIEGE ended. AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE had been rumored to be relaunched as AVENGERS ACADEMY for at least a month or two. I mean, "The Initiative" ended a few years ago technically. Three years is a fine run for a launch these days; many haven't made it that far.

The biggest surprise for me is MIGHTY AVENGERS, although sales are slipping on that so a relaunch was inevitable.

I wouldn't be surprised if they add up all the AVENGERS titles so they can add them up to #600 or something and that will be the book Bendis is on, strictly AVENGERS. I imagine Gage could get whatever A:TI relaunches into. The biggest question mark is Dan Slott on Mighty Avengers. Will he get a relaunch too? Or will his Avengers run end after barely a year and a half?

 

[bored]

I expected something like this, but not quite so drastic. Just PLEASE don't give Bendis the whole franchise again. It had no soul when it was just him writing "NA". I really want Slott to keep a team book like he's gotten to do for the last year in "MA".

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

I sense pain and misery on the horizon.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Yeah, everyone who's wishing Bendis away is gonna be disappointed.

Including me.