As Cap himself says, Remender is playing a deep game here. Every issue, I think we're heading to a resolution and yet every issue Remender raises more questions than he answers. Most of the time, this description is the tell-tale sign of an author (or, more likely, editors) desperately trying to prolong a story that has long passed the point of being interesting (***cough****the Clone Saga***cough***). However, here, Remender's story is so ambitious here that the new questions only serve to make it all the more fascinating.
More than anything, I was surprised by how much we learned about the Apocalypse Twins in this issue without really knowing what their actual plan is.
First, Remender is surprisingly direct in laying out the Twins' goals and motivations. They reveal that the Red Skull's crusade against mutantkind brings about the dark future that the X-Men have often confronted, where mutants like Rachel Summers were used as hounds for Ahab. Moreover, they reveal that several heroes inadvertently helped Kang manufacture this future. They blame Thor for giving Kang Jarnbjorn, allowing him to crack Apocalypse's Celestial armor and prevent anyone from ascending to Apocalypse's throne. As a result, no one is able to rally mutantkind and defeat the Red Skull, leading to mutantkind's decimation. Similarly, Wolverine and his X-Force did little to help the situation, killing En Sabah Nur as a child and allowing Archangel to die, also ensuring that no one would ascend to Apocalypse's throne. With mutantkind decimated, Kang clearly is able to take control.
But, the beauty of Remender laying out the "past" of this dark future is that it doesn't necessary spoil what he has in store for the future of our actual present. (Follow that?) The Twins note that they have found a way to use Jarnbjorn to undo Kang's "crime," but they don't tell us how they will do so. In fact, it's unclear exactly what Kang is doing in this dark future. Is he its overlord or is he acting more behind the scenes? Moreover, we learn that the Twins are planning their own version of Ragnarok, but they reveal few details. Do they plan on eliminating all humankind? Plus, we don't know everything that we need to know about their past. How did they come to turn against Kang? It seems that he simply dumped them into the concentration camps where mutants lived in this dark future. If so, why didn't he just kill them before they had the chance to betray him?
Furthermore, Remender keeps several other mysteries on the back burner. Who's the "her" who the Twins thought would join them after the destruction of Rio? Who manipulated Captain America into South Sudan? Kang? Is he trying to recruit him to stop the Twins? Moreover, Remender seems to lay the groundwork for the reveal that the current Angel isn't who we think he is, given the Twins' comment that Archangel was replaced by a fraud and Logan's comments that Warren is dead. Remender also doesn't turn his focus entirely from the Avengers dysfunction, showing how the secrets that they all keeping (Thor and Jarnbjorn, Logan and Archangel) not only reflects how little trust they have for one another but also makes it worse (such as when Janet discovers Logan and Rogue colluding in the back of the jet).
Moreover, amidst this grand story, we have moments of real characterization. Remender portrays the Twins as sympathetic characters, scarred by their past and trying to prevent it from happening in the future. They feel the burden of their responsibility, even as they seemingly plan genocide. He also spends time playing Sunfire off Thor, reminding us of the potential that this series has as characters with previous experience with one another try to find a way to work together.
Eight issues into this series, I have little idea where we're going, but I'm entirely confident that it'll be awesome.
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