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Avengers Forever #14: Review

Feb 2023

Jason Aaron, Jim Towe

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Story Name:

Avengers Assemble part 7: The battle for the All and the Always

Review & Comments

Rating:

Avengers Forever #14 Review by Rob Johnson (February 18, 2023)

This is part 7 of the Avengers Assemble event. This issue flows very well and lets lots of chars shine, especially the Steves. So I'll give it 4.5.

Chris Sotomayor, Morry Hollowell help colourist Frank Martin.

In #12 Vision reasoned that the Mephistos were tunnelling through the God Quarry to get to the 1st Firmament beneath, from which they could control all subsequent iterations of the multiverse. But now Mephisto may be saying that the real plan was for him to become ultra-powerful by absorbing all the other Mephistos. Or maybe both.

Anyway we may find out in part 8 in Av#66, or back her next issue in part 9.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Avengers Forever #14 Synopsis by Rob Johnson

Most of the Multiversal Masters Of Evil have been killed in 1M BC on Earth-616. Most of the Mephistos have been driven away from Avengers Tower in the extra-dimensional God Quarry. Now Avenger Prime (an alternate Loki) has brought the regular Avengers plus what's left of the 1M BC Avengers from Earth-616 to the Quarry (in Av#65) to help the Multiversal Avengers fight of the invasion of alternate Dr Dooms led by Doom Supreme of the MMOE.

The voiceover for this issue is a letter written during a lull in the battle (between Av#65 and this issue, but he seems to keep writing it while fighting the Dooms) by 1 of the multiversal Steves, alternates of Captain America. Last issue Doom The Living Planet knocked the Tower down, and now we see Iron Man and Phoenix searching through the rubble. They've obviously rescued Robbie Reyes (the currently powerless Ghost Rider/All Rider) who was in the Tower when it fell because we see him embracing/being supported by Captain America and Ant-Man (Tony Stark of Earth-818).

Then the Dooms attack again and Captain Carter leads the Howling Commandos (all the alternate versions of Steve Rogers) and the Carol Corps (all the alternate versions of Carol Danvers) against them, while Loki and Agamotto of the 1M BC Avengers engage Doom Supreme in sorcerous conflict. There are casualties on both sides. We see Carols and Steves die. We see Valkyrie slaughter Dooms with several Mjolnirs on the end of chains. And 1 of the Steves uses a Mjolnir to that effect too.

The Goddesses Of Thunder spent previous issues collecting the hammers from various realities where the MMOE had killed Thor, and they arrived in #12 in an Asgardian starship (looking as usual like a Viking longboat) towed by the chained hammers. Last issue they killed many Mephistos by dropping the Mjolnirs on them. And we saw 1 of the Steves successfully pick 1 up because it deemed him worthy, as Cap-616 has been known to do before. That Steve was the scrawny, bespectacled artist who was the POV of the 'training session' of Steves we saw in #7. And it is he whose letter we are hearing even as he bashes Dooms. We also see the chubby Steve and the dog Steve from that issue in the fray. And even Cap-616 takes orders from Peggy Carter.

Elsewhere Ant-Man (Tony Stark-818) fights alongside Iron Man (Tony Stark-616) and they exchange banter. The Asgardians Odin (from 1M BC), Thor and the 3 future Goddesses Of Thunder join forces to defeat some of the more powerful Dooms. Old Man Phoenix (a future Logan/Wolverine) leads the current Phoenix avatar (Maya Lopez) against Planet Doom who spews molten lava on the defenders. Star Panther joins them and blasts a tunnel through the planetoid. Mjolnir-bearing Steve saves chubby Steve from a Doom and then collapses from his many wounds. Chubby carries him in search of a medic but speccy Steve tells him to take over the hammer. Chubby says he can't pick it up because he's not worthy, but speccy points out that he's already carrying it lying on his chest.

Doom Supreme tore out Agamotto's eyes in the Avengers Assemble Alpha 1-shot but the wizard still uses his pineal eye to see with. Now DS kills him by turning the air in his lungs to acid while Loki watches. But it is Sub-Mariner who leaps in to punch the foe in revenge. Namor suspects that Loki is no true Avenger and will turn on them when the battle is over. But he says that *he* isn't a true Avenger either, so if that happens he won't hesitate to kill him. Then they both have to face the returned head Doom.

The 2 Phoenixes dive into the hole Star Panther made in Planet Doom in order to destroy more of his innards, which unleashes another torrent of lava. Which engulfs the spot where Doom Supreme, Loki and Namor are fighting. We also see the 2 Steves stuck on a rock amid the flow. Speccy Steve hands chubby Steve the letter he's been writing and asks him to deliver it. Except it's just addressed to 'to whom it may concern'. Steve had nobody and had hoped to meet someone before he died. Which he does now and lets the hammer fall. Dooms rise out of the molten lava but chubby Steve lays into them with the Mjolnir.

Meanwhile Captain Marvel (CD-616), Nighthawk and Thor, God Of Fists are exploring the caverns that Ant-Man, Moon Knight (Mariama Spector) and Vision-818 found full of burrowing Mephistos (#12). They now appear deserted but the tro find 1 who claims that Mephisto-616 has betrayed the Council Of Red (of alternate Mephistos) and he begs them not to let him take him. Then an enormous red foot stomps down and the little Mephisto is absorbed into it. They look up to see a giant Mephisto who welcomes them to the end of everything.

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Barberoids 1 cover original artwork on ebay

Jason Aaron

Jim Towe

Frank Martin

Aaron Kuder (Cover Penciler)
Aaron Kuder (Cover Inker)
Alex Sinclair (Cover Colorist)

Letterer: Cory Petit.
Editor: Tom Brevoort. Editor-in-chief: C. B. Cebulski.

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Avengers

Captain America
(Steve Rogers)

Captain Marvel
(Carol Danvers)

Iron Man
(Tony Stark)

Mephisto

Odin

Sub-Mariner
(Namor)

Thor
(Odinson)

Valkyrie
(Jane Foster)

Plus: Agamotto, Ant-Man (Tony Stark 818), Avenger Prime, Captain Carter (Peggy Carter), Doom Supreme, Doom The Living Planet, Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes), Goddesses of Thunder, Howling Commandos, Nighthawk (of SSOA), Phoenix (Maya Lopez), Phoenix-Wolverine (Logan), Star Panther, Thor, God Of Fists.

> Avengers Forever: Book info and issue index

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