Rogue and Wanda have been on a collision course since the start of this series and Remender brings it to an end that feels inevitable when it comes, with Rogue's mistrust of Wanda blinding her to the possibility that she might actually be wrong about her. In that way, it's a familiar story about the arrogance that comes with power, with Rogue using all the means at her disposal to impose her will on reality. The twist, of course, is that she therefore becomes exactly what she claims to hate about Wanda, something that she seems to realize as she stands over Wanda after delivering the killing blow. (Wanda makes the point, too, just in case Rogue isn't self-aware enough to get there on her own. When Rogue tries to justify her action by saying that Wanda was too dangerous to live, Wanda asks what Rogue is.) But, Remender doesn't stop there. Rogue not only pays for her crimes (against both Grim Reaper and Wanda) with her life, but Wolverine, in a way, is forced to pay for his crimes as well. After all, Rogue is motivated to kill Wanda because she feels like she knows what the real Logan would want her to do, ignoring his earlier injunction against killing Wanda. Moreover, Logan begs the Reaper to spare Rogue's life, something that drives the Reaper to comment on the irony of Logan asking for mercy. Simon is the only one left able to make a noble sacrifice, giving his life to power Wanda's spell to call mutantkind to her side to stop the Apocalypse Twins.
Remender keeps your emotions high throughout the issue, making you feel a profound disappointment in the failure of the characters to meet heroic ideals. In fact, he makes this disappointment all the more profound by calling into question whether the deaths will make matters better, as heroes' deaths usually do. We open the issue with an unnamed father telling his unnamed daughter about the "truth about the day they celebrate as a holiday and the true cost of [their] failure." But, he caveats this term, telling his daughter that [he and her mother] called themselves heroes but "behaved as anything but." In other words, the outcome may be a good one (inspiring a holiday), but the squabbling that left three Avengers dead may have done little to contribute to it. Dr. Doom in 2099 seems to echo that point when he refers to the "infantile bickering" that may have caused the collapse of the Universe that we also see at the start of this issue. (Seeing Kang save the various heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe's future was awesome, in no small part because it makes you wonder what he's planning.) Remender makes it clear, in this way, that the heroes will likely win the day, as we all know that they will. But, it won't necessarily be because of some noble sacrifice. It's not Thor killing Janet Van Dyne at the end of "Secret Invasion" or Nightcrawler sacrificing himself in "X-Men: Second Coming." The resolution may come in spite of the heroes, not because of them. Now, that's some fascinating stuff.
***** (five of five stars)
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