All right, so, somewhat as expected, Bendis uses future Tony Stark's time-bomb suggestion as the potential solution to the Ultron problem. He actually manages to sell it pretty well here, with the Logans and Sue convincing Hank that he has to allow all the other damage that Ultron does before the "Age of Ultron" to happen, so that they don't change the existing timeline. In this way, Bendis walks us to the brink of "Flashpoint" without actually seemingly crossing that line; if Hank does what he's told to do, nothing really will change in the Marvel Universe that we know. At this point, it would be easy to cry over spilled milk, lamenting how we got here that our best solution means the total preservation of the status quo that existed before this event started. But, taking the story on face value, this solution is probably the one that makes the most sense, so I'll give Bendis credit for that.
At this stage, the final question, of course, is if Hank does what he's supposed to do. The cover for the next (and last) issue shows the heroes battling Ultron, which raises several questions. After all, if Hank's plan works the way that it's supposed to work, we wouldn't see this battle: Ultron would suddenly self-destruct in the future, since it's from the future where he launches the attack. As such, it's unclear how the heroes would find themselves in some sort of face-to-face confrontation with Ultron (assuming the cover depicts actual events). Did Hank deviate from the plan? Or, is it just an unexpected consequence?
The real question post-"Age of Ultron" is what effect it will have on the Marvel Universe. The advertisement for "Age of Ultron" #10 A.I. says that it's the beginning of the Marvel Universe's "next evolution." If true, it would imply that we do actually have a Flashpoint moment on our hands. Something happens that permanently changes the past and the characters that we used to know are no longer the characters that we knew. I'd be surprised if Marvel totally committed to such a scheme, given that it hasn't really worked out that well for DC.
In other words, we need to see why Marvel bothered. Is it a "Fear Itself" type of event simply to boost sales? Or, are we really going to see something different? If so, how is that going to happen? This next issue could somewhat save this event, if it gives us a believable conclusion that leads to reasonable changes. If not, and we really do return to the status quo, hopefully it will bolster my commitment to stop reading all these events. I guess we'll see.
Ugh, this event... The very fact that you were forced to type out "the Logans" makes me cringe. Damned Bendis and his propensity for writing terrible events... I also love the fact that 9 issues in, we STILL haven't seen ULTRON!!!!!! All we've seen are his drones and Vision. But never the real, prime Ultron! GAH!!!!
ReplyDeleteAs for the aftermath of this event, I was talking with JT, and he has a pretty good guess/idea(JT? Good idea?? Bah!) as to what could rock things in the Marvel U, without really shaking things up ala DC and the ill-fated New 52. The Wolverines messed with time/space to such an extent that there is some bleed from other dimensions into the main 616 dimension. So some Ultimate U characters pop up. Or some characters from the What Ifs. Or some characters from 2099. I've been hearing things about Spidey 2099, and JT's idea would make sense considering the rumors that have been circulating. Being such a geek for alternate universes, I'd be 100% okay with that!
Your comment about the Logans made me LOL. Seriously, too true. I almost would've been better had he mined it for comedy value and had, like, more future Logans arrive. Then, present Logan would have to slaughter them all. At least that would've been funny (in a sick, twisted way).
ReplyDeleteGood, good call on the bleeding multiverses. Like you said, it wouldn't screw with the existing timeline, but would shake up stuff. Given my obvious affection for Spidey 2099 (since, at times, this blog lately has devolved into a Spidey 2099 fan site!), I would also be totally OK with that. (It also means I should shake a leg and actually get through the whole series soon-ish.) It would almost make this whole event worth it.
Yes! That would have been so much better! Have like 5 or 6 Wolverines wandering around, and then Wolverine could kill them all! THAT would have been better than what we ended up with! On top of that, how exactly did Wolverine kill... um, Other Wolverine? He had blood on his claws, so he obviously used them, but with his healing factor, what could he possibly have done!? I get the feeling that Bendis had it happen off panel because he had no idea how to kill Wolverine...
DeleteYup, I figured I'd mention the Spidey 2099 thing to you. Here's hoping Marvel makes up for this event with the aftermath!