Avengers #47: Review

Aug 2021

Jason Aaron, Javier Garron

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Story Name:

World War She-Hulk part 2: The Winter Hulk

Review & Comments

Rating:

Avengers #47 Review by Rob Johnson (August 6, 2021)

Red Widow mentions that Perun and Chernobog aren't currently on Earth. These are Winter Guard's 2 god-level members who would have made a big difference in this story. They haven't been seen since #10 but we don't know where they've gone.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Avengers #47 Synopsis by Rob Johnson

Last issue She-Hulk was abducted from Avengers Mountain HQ and taken to Russia for a 'trial' for trashing Red Square (fighting Sub-Mariner during the Enter The Phoenix contest). But really she's been taken by Red Widow and the Winter Guard for brainwashing in the Red Room.

It's taken weeks for the Avengers to find out where she's being held and launch a rescue mission. Now they're approaching an old deserted Soviet military compound in the Siberian tundra which the Winter Guard have now repurposed. Captain America and Iron Man are on the snow-covered ground in white camouflage mode. Cap recognises the guards as Spetsnaz (Russian special forces), in particular a team called the Wolf Spiders. The only weakness in their carbonadium armour is small ear holes. Shellhead switches to Iron Sniper mode and fires things in there which take them down. Once inside they switch to dark camo mode as Steve Rogers recalls that it was at a place like this that Bucky Barnes was turned into the Winter Soldier.

She-Hulk is still resisting the brainwashing and breaks out of her confinement and starts Hulking from room to room until she runs into a bevy of very young ballerinas. But their faces are covered by Black Widow-style spiders and they shoot guns at her then leap on her, claiming to be killers just like her. Then we see that this is all in her head and she's still in restraints. Red Widow wants to know why the android Vostok's mentally invasive tentacles haven't broken her yet. He replies that Shulk needs great self-control to keep her gamma radiation from killing everyone for miles, but he's breaking through her mental defences.

Cap and IM get nearer but are attacked by Crimson Dynamo and Red Guardian. CD tries to alert the Kremlin but the Avengers have blocked the place's comms, and they have also disabled the ancient security cameras. Our heroes trade targets - Iron Man takes down Guardian and Cap tackles the Dynamo. But surprise is no longer with them so they call in the air cavalry ...

... and Captain Marvel dives down to be met by Darkstar who brags about defeating her last issues. But Carol Danvers calls in an air strike, in the form of Thor's hammer Mjolnir thrown with pinpoint accuracy to KO Darkstar. Now CapM is in the building.

Vostok alerts Red Widow that the Avengers are here. He says that She-Hulk's mission is implanted deep in her mind and his other work is almost done. The synthezoid extrudes a pair of guns from his body and RW takes them to go buy him some time. She finds Marvel and shoots at her. CM expects to shrug the attack off but these are special guns that fire bits of Vostok's substance which bind Danvers' body and start to infiltrate her brain.

But Vostok finds his own meddling with She-Hulk may have worked too well as she emits heat which melts him and a gamma blast from her mouth which completes the job. Possibly as a consequence Captain Marvel is able to free *her*self and attacks the Widow, trapping her arm in some twisted metal and KO'ing her with the flick of a finger.

She-Hulk is truthfully on the rampage now and comes across the other 4 combatants. 1st she attacks CD and RG, but CapA and Iron Man aren't sure their raging comrade knows *who* she's beating up and may just turn on them next. Instead Shulk smashes her way out of the building and off.

Steve Rogers contacts Thor and asks him to track She-Hulk. Then he calls the Mountain for medevac for the Winter Guard. Ghost Rider shows up in his flaming car immediately. Iron Man has found the remains of Vostok plus Red Widow's arm.

We see the bleeding Widow staggering through a winter forest and reporting to her superior by radio. She's heading for the drop point to receive a package, and asks for a spare arm to be included - she had to rip hers off. She assures him that the Winter Hulk has been successfully deployed and will assassinate the target.

We've only seen her in action in the shadows up to now, but now we see She-Hulk tramping determinedly through the snow. Her skin has changed from green to red and her hair is blonde and she has a new mainly white uniform. (Though I don't know when or why she put it on. RW told Vostok to 'suit her up' but it didn't look like he got the chance.)

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