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Avengers World #7: Review

Jun 2014
Nick Spencer, Stefano Caselli

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Story Name:

(no title given)

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

Avengers World #7 Review by (June 15, 2014)
Stefano Caselli continues the alternating artists game. There seems to be some confusion in this issue whether the Chines team is the Ascendants or the Ascendant. It says the Ascendants was formed after Infinity, but I'm not sure whether SPEAR is older than that. Xian Zheng says "As it always has been, as it always should be. The shield in the west, the spear in the east." This is a close analogue of a speech given in Jonathan Hickman's SHIELD #1 by Zhang Heng in 114 AD - Hickman's SHIELD series told of a much older version of SHIELD. Of the Ascendants members, Saber and Weather Witch were on China's previous super-team the Dynasty from some Iron Man issues starting with #513. Devastator and Vector seem to be new but might be reworked versions of Revolutionary and (less likely) Soldier One from the same team. Monkey King wasn't on that team but appeared before in Fear Itself:- Iron Man 2.0 #5-7 and Monkey King #1. I've already mentioned Dynasty. China has had other super-team. Collective Man was in 2 of them:- 3-Peace (in Alpha Flight and X-Force) and People's Defense Force (in Mighty Avengers). 3-Peace's opponents China Force could also count. There's probably others I've forgotten.




 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Avengers World #7 Synopsis by Rob Johnson
This issue we return to the situation in Madripoor, but this time the focus is on Falcon. Back in #3 Shang-Chi confronted the Gorgon who magically roused the giant dragon on whose head the island of Madripoor rested. Shang-Chi lost the fight and fell critically wounded from the flying dragon.

He had been sent here by Captain America and SHIELD with Black Widow, Falcon and Wolverine to investigate and defuse rioting in the streets. The other 3 don't know that the chaos is (presumably) a side-effect of Gorgon's magic. But they realise they can't do anything and Widow tells Cap she wants to abandon the mission. But 1st Falcon flies off to look for Shang-Chi, who'd sneaked off on his own.

All birds have fled the flying island, so Sam Wilson has to fly high and rely on his own eyes. He can't see his fellow Avenger, but he does spot a flying spy device. He follows it to a large hovering craft - like a giant ring supported by 6 huge vertical engines. There is a tower structure on 1 side, and Falcon flies in.

More flying devices meet him and scan him to confirm his identity. Then he is greeted by a Chinese guy in a business suit called Xian Zheng (although why he calls his suit Xian Zheng isn't revealed - very old-type joke) who welcomes Falcon to his ship The Circle.

It tuns out that this is the HQ of China's hitherto unrevealed answer to SHIELD called SPEAR. They have Shang-Chi in a hospital bed - they presumably rescued him from his fall. Zheng explains Gorgon's hand in all this (and the Hand's). And now Hand ninjas riding small dragons are attacking the craft.

When Thanos invaded Earth in Infinity the Avengers were away in space. China realised it needed its own defensive force, and Zheng now unveils SPEAR's own super-team called the Ascendants.

The team go out to deal with the attackers. Weather Witch hurls lightning. Saber and Vector are obviously mislabelled because Saber must be the totally masked guy with the light-sabres. Female Vector just hits hard. (Everybody seems to be able to fly, or at least do very agile leaps.) Devastator is an Iron Man equivalent. Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, does martial artsy stuff with his staff.

The Circle is here because the dragon is heading for Shanghai. Gorgon aims to rule China. Zheng says he'll extract Black Widow and Wolverine from Madripoor. But he wants Falcon to visibly work with the Ascendants, to show the world that the Chinese heroes are on their side.

In the SHIELD helicarrier Iliad Cap and Maria Hill are monitoring this and other situations (see other issues of this series). They see Falcon alongside the Ascendants.


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Barberoids 1 cover original artwork on ebay

Stefano Caselli
Stefano Caselli
Andres Mossa
Mark Brooks (Cover Penciler)
Mark Brooks (Cover Inker)
Mark Brooks (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: Joe Caramagna.
Editor: Wil Moss.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Black Widow
Black Widow

(Natasha Romanoff)
Captain America
Captain America

(Steve Rogers)
Falcon
Falcon

(Sam Wilson)
Iron Man
Iron Man

(Tony Stark)
Wolverine
Wolverine

(James Howlett)

Plus: Hand (The Hand), Monkey King, S.P.E.A.R., Saber, Weather Witch.

> Avengers World: Book info and issue index

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