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Avengers #42: Review

Jul 2001
Kurt Busiek, Alan Davis

Story Name:

No More Tomorrows

Review & Comments

Rating:
4.5 stars

Avengers #42 Review by (August 28, 2020)
The 2nd letterer this time is Jason Levine.

The other fates for humanity Kang shows are:-
In 1 future (from the Machine Man 2020 (1984) mini-series) the Midnight Wreckers are fleeing from robots in a world run by mega-corporations.
Then the world of Fantastic Four #273-274 where the Moon was destroyed in a war and the debris caused the fall of civilisation on Earth. (This is actually the timeline Kang was born in.)
A world overrun by invaders from Mars (seen in Avengers Forever #4, but a variant of the future in the War Of The Worlds in Amazing Adventures).
A world destroyed by the Norse Ragnarok (not any particular occurrence of Ragnarok in any other Marvel mags).
An Earth conquered by the elder demon Chthon via a plague (again invented for this issue).
A world boiled dry by the Sun.
A world ruled by Magneto and the mutants (but not House Of M which hadn't been invented yet).
The alien Kamado turn humanity to dust (as described in Defenders #124-125).
The Badoon enslave the Solar System (in the tales of the original Guardians Of The Galaxy).
A huge pyramidal spacecraft hovers over Earth (see future issues of this series).
What looks like the population turned into Hulks (as in #38-40).
Humanity cyborged by Ultron (similar to his Slorenian project in #19-22, and the upcoming Ultron Imperative 1-shot).
Black Panther ruins the global economy (a possible consequence of his current actions).
And finally Earth and the Heroes Reborn Counter-Earth collide.

The Winter Guard were formed from 2 previous Russian supergroups, as will be told in the Hulk: WG 1-shot. They 1st appeared in Iron Man (1998) #9-10 followed by Thunderbolts #25 and the Maximum Security mini-series, in all cases including the 3 chars seen here. (Steel Guardian is the renamed Red Guardian IV.)

I'll say more about Attuma, Deviants and the Presence next issue.

Darkstar will be forgotten about and will next show up in Thunderbolts #57 with others of the Winter Guard and lots of Avengers.

Iron Man won't be in the next 2 issues or the 2001 Annual. He'll complete his getting-away-from-it-all stint as Hogan Potts in his #44-45 and then regroup with the team with his 2001 Annual. Then after the Sons Of Yinsen return in the 1st half of his #46 he'll attend a charity auction in a tale in Fantastic Four #50 and join the Avengers again in Av: The Ultron Imperative.





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Avengers #42 Synopsis by Rob Johnson
Last issue Black Knight, Captain America, Firebird, Quicksilver and Thor were investigating radiation spikes in Siberia near the Forbidden Zone of Khystym. Hazmat-suited scientists show them a message they received from Darkstar, Steel Guardian and Vanguard of Russia's Winter Guard who had gone into the Zone. Quicksilver translates from Russian to say that the Research Station is abandoned with signs of violence but no bodies. Then the Avengers hear sounds of battle and rush to help.

Also last issue Kang and his son Scarlet Centurion destroyed the UN Building but saved all the lives within to make a point. They now have the area surrounded in a forcefield, with Goliath (actually the Yellowjacket version of Hank Pym), Iron Man, Triathlon, Vision, Warbird and Wasp inside with the diplomats. And Kang has announced that he's here to save Earth from future doom. Now the master of time explains in more detail by showing them all some ways in which humanity ends on various timelines.

1st we see Earth overrun by radioactively-glowing green humans (whose skeletons we can see through their flesh, to make us think of X-rays) who convert others to their fate with a touch. They are all part of a communal mind.

Then he runs through a whole load of other fates which I'll leave to my Comments.

Some of the Avengers want to attack Kang. Scarlet Centurion threatens to start killing ambassadors if they do. Chairwoman Wasp calms things down. And Carol Danvers is convinced by everything about Centurion that he is someone she knew called Marcus (Kurt Busiek is going to string this mystery out for several more issues yet). Meanwhile Kang repeats that his knowledge of the multiple branching futures means that only he can steer humanity through to a glorious destiny as a star-faring civilisation.

Meanwhile the US Army has been in contact with the Secretary General inside the forcefield, and they launch some missiles at Kang's huge spaceship Damocles Base. Kang says he allowed the communication and made his spaceship visible so that he could now show them how futile their resistance is. He displays a view of the attack, the resulting fireball, and the ship unscathed.

The Conqueror now says that he intends to conquer Earth to save it. His warriors from the future will take Europe in about 3 weeks, and spread out from there to the rest of the world. Superheroes will be converted to loyal soldiers. The people of Earth will be allocated suitable positions in the new world order, including those selected to be breeding stock. And the improved humanity will defend the Earth, and later conquer other worlds.

Kang believes that the people of Earth will welcome this future rather than the uncertainty and imminent disaster offered by the current governments. He has made sure everyone can hear what he's been saying. And he offers a place in his new order to any who rise up in favour of him. And he lets his captives access outside news where they hear that Attuma is leading the Atlanteans to invade Canada, and Deviants are emerging from inside the Earth in China. And there are many small uprisings.

He dissolves the surrounding forcefield, but the surrounding US military are ordered to hold their fire. Before he leaves with his son he lets them know that the 1st doom he showed them is already happening ...

... and we return to Khystym where the Avengers find Darkstar buried in rubble. She tells them that the Presence has returned and he's taken the others. And they see that villain in his floating chair surrounded by glowing green translucent figures as Kang showed. 2 of them are obviously Steel Guardian and Vanguard, and another we will discover next issue is Presence's longtime companion Starlight.



Alan Davis
Mark Farmer
Tom Smith
Alan Davis (Cover Penciler)
Mark Farmer (Cover Inker)
Tom Smith (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: Richard Starkings.
Editor: Tom Brevoort. Editor-in-chief: Joe Quesada.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Black Knight
Black Knight

(Dane Whitman)
Captain America
Captain America

(Steve Rogers)
Iron Man
Iron Man

(Tony Stark)
Kang
Kang

(Kang the Conqueror)
Quicksilver
Quicksilver

(Pietro Maximoff)
Thor
Thor

(Odinson)
Wasp
Wasp

(Janet Van Dyne)

Plus: Firebird, Presence, Scarlet Centurion (Marcus Kang), Starlight, Steel Guardian, Triathlon (Delroy Garrett Jr.), Vanguard, Warbird (Carol Danvers).

> Avengers: Book info and issue index

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