Avengers #6

2nd story:- Continued from New Avengers #5. Hank had invented a new Pym formula that allowed him (and Jan) to change size mentally without taking pills each time. Strangely it didn't restrict Wasp's abilities. There is at least one famous example of a scientist experimenting on himself, when Barry Marshall drank bacteria to prove that they caused stomach ulcers, rather than the previously-believed stress or spicy food. Previous theories of Hank's mental health began his problems with the lab accident that caused his Yellowjacket-schizophrenia in #59-60. Or with the mental manipulation of his creation Ultron in #58 (flashback). Continued in New Avengers #6.

Maestro refers to Kang as Kang early on, but calls him Immortus at the end. And no-one else seems to be surprised by his transformation, so it looks like all the future guys were in on it. Immortus then turns on them, and says he's learned how they would beat him, suggesting that was his purpose all along. But they didn't beat *him*, they beat Ultron! That, and the blasts from his fingers, might make me think he's really Ultron in disguise. But he continues to claim to be Immortus until the lightning fries him. There's also the problem with the Grounhog day timeloop. If it was caused by Kang repeatedly bring armies from alternate timelines to the same event, then surely that younger Kang would be the one trapped there. Except they say Kang/Immortus isn't trapped because he's a time-traveller. So presumably young Kang time-travels away from the battle scene, becomes Immortus (for reasons unknown), returns to the loop point, and conspires with Maestro et al to go to the Avengers as Kang. This is the kind of devious thinking that time-travel stories inspire. And I still don't think the plot hangs together. But I still love them! The relationship to the Next Avengers DVD is easier to fathom. This is an alternate version of the Next Avengers. In the DVD Ultron has conquered the world, as he has done here. He has also killed the NA's parents, along with the rest of the Avengers except Thor and Iron Man. Presumably something similar has happened here. But in the DVD it is the NA, with Iron Man and Hulk, who defeat Ultron. Here of course the story diverges, involving Kang and the past Avengers.

Ultron was seen out in space (after being ejected from Iron Man's armour in Mighty Avengers #6) leading the alien Phalanx during Annihilation: Conquest, where he was apparently destroyed. He will return from there in #12.1, heralding the Age of Ultron which old Iron Man warned about. However the only evidence of his activities so far is an Ultron body whose shipment Moon Knight will intercept in his 2011 series (and keep the head as a trophy). Before his consciousness left for space Ultron infected the Avengers' computers. This infection manifested as another Ultron in MAv #32-36, before being banished to ultra-space. What exactly is the relationship between Kang and Immortus in this series? (Ignoring the fact that they were split into 2 separate beings in Avengers Forever.) The 'previously' splash page of this and earlier issues say that the Kang who visited the Avengers in #1 is an earlier version of the Immortus seen being killed by the Next Avengers. And we are led to understand that the Kang who attacks Ultron is even younger. The Kang who visited the Avengers is the one with Maestro and Old Iron Man this issue. But he seems to be Immortus in disguise, who then gets killed by the Next Avengers. So it's presumably Immortus who visited the Avengers. And the evolution from Kang to Immortus must have happened between attacking Ultron and now. However the pre-Avengers Forever Immortus was generally shown to have outgrown Kang's lust for conquest, which this version hasn't. So maybe this Kang is after the split from Immortus in Avengers Forever. And maybe he's later taken on the name Immortus without the maturity.

This series never did give details of the background of the Next Avengers, apart from saying that the female is Thor's daughter. But we can assume their origins from their DVD. The female is Torrun daughter of Thor and Sif. The one with the photonic(?) shield is James Rogers son of Cap and Black Widow. (Presumably we're talking the Bucky Cap here? Which makes it stranger that Torrun says she hates him, for no explained reason.) The one with the bow and arrows is Francis Barton son of Hawkeye and Mockingbird. The black guy is Azari son of Black Panther and Storm. The other guy is Henry Pym Jr son of Hank and Jan. (If this lineage had been revealed in this story, it would have been another indicator that we're in an alternate future, because Jan's dead and childless in current Marvel. But then that's just Marvel-dead.) The Next Avengers and Maestro will be seen in vision of the future in SHIELD (2011) #4.

This is the last part of The Next Avengers, and also the last appearance of the Heroic Age banner. The misleading cover shows Thor vs Maestro. They have never been in the same *time* in this whole story arc. Ultron is actually Hank Pym's fault, rather than the Avengers in general. He invented him way back in the original Avengers #58 (in a flashback). The Kang with Maestro makes it sound as though the Kang attacking Ultron is *much* younger. Killraven hasn't shown up in the present since then. His only later appearances have been in his alternate future. The future-dwellers are careful not to tell Cap (Bucky) of his fate. This presumably refers to being sent to the Gulag after the upcoming Trial of Captain America in. Or maybe even 'dying' in the later Fear Itself?