Infinity #2

The other tie-ins follow the space-faring Avengers team, and show in more detail the battle between the Galactic Council and the Builder fleet. Av#18 covers the campaign in general. Avengers Assemble #18 shows the battle from Spider-Woman's point-of-view, and Captain Marvel #15 obviously does the same for its title character. There's lots of overlap. Critically CM#15 shows what happened to her quincruiser after it was damaged in the battle. The rest of her crew escape in lifepods, but CM seems to regain her Binary powers. This crossover comes at an awkward time for CM. In CM#14 she was presumed dead. But now here she is, supposedly with her memories erased. This probably won't be properly explained until after Infinity in CM#17. Spider-Woman doesn't like working with the Skrulls who join the Council in Av#18 (because she was replaced by 1 long before Secret Invasion). But she gets saved by a Skrull in AvAss#18. SW is also awkward around Hawkeye after she dumped him in #9 of his series when she found he'd been sleeping around. Ironically that issue was published in the month following Av#12, which was the only issue in the latest Avengers run where they were seen doing anything together (sunbathing in this case).

As is my wont I'll be summarising the tie-ins that have appeared so far, including the Avengers and New Avengers issues I've fully processed. As I mentioned last time, NAv#8 was advertised as a prelude, but actually happens after Inf#1. The Avengers have left for space as the Illuminati go about their individual business. Iron Man and Mr Fantastic gear up to defend the Earth against the Builders. Wakanda and Atlantis go to war, and Atlantis suffers a heavy defeat. Maximus gives Black Bolt the pocket universe, and also another device that will become relevant later. It ends with the arrival of Thanos' fleet. One of the actual tie-ins released since #1 may occur even earlier. The digital comic Infinity: Against the tide #1 has Silver Surfer seeing the Builders destroying a Skrull world. This may be part of what led to Skrull refugees arriving on Earth back in Av#15. We aren't told how Surfer escaped from his status in recent comics of being confined to Asgard and Earth. Thunderbolts #14 is only peripherally involved with Infinity, but the next issue may be more relevant. The team sets out on a new mission. On the way they hear that the Avengers have left Earth, and they don't know that Thanos' forces are about to arrive. We have seen hints here of much of what happens in NAv#9. Thanos sends his forces to Earth. The Black Order are to discover from the Illuminati members the whereabouts of the only Infinity Gem to survive NAv#3. To get revenge on the Wakandans for the destruction of Atlantis, Sub-Mariner tells them Black Panther has it. The issue ends with Black Bolt summoning the Illuminati to the meeting that finishes this issue.

We haven't heard before of a son of Thanos being among the Inhumans. But this son-killing could tie-in to the Thanos Rising series where Death had Thanos killing all his offspring over the galaxy. That series ending with Thanos destroying the Titan civilisation *could* justify the scene in #1 where Thanos holds court on ruined Titan. However tying that series into such recent Marvel continuity would be difficult. Most of it happens before Death reveals who she is, and Thanos has known his lover was Death since before his 1st appearance in 1973. The attack on Titan more likely refers to such an event that supposedly happened before then, and Titanian civilisation was rebuilt. Sydren is an alien member of SWORD whom we've seen almost since it's 1st appearance. The Illumati's palm-devices were inserted in NAv#3. Among other things they can be used to tell the group to assemble. But I don't think they cause/enable the members to teleport to the caller. So I'm guessing that it's Lockjaw (who's shown here) that brings them.

I find continuing confusion over Thanos' objectives. To a large extent this is because to generate suspense Hickman is slowly revealing stuff, preceded by cryptic hints. But I detect the usual problem with such a tactic - when the truth is exposed, some of the preceding actions and statements aren't just cryptic, they don't make sense. In #1 Thanos sent his Outrider to Earth to seek out the Infinity Gems. The Outrider reports back that the Illuminati destroyed the Gems except the Time Gem, and Black Bolt knows where it is. In #1 Thanos also received a Tribute of heads from a defeated planet. In New Avengers #9 (as reported here in the previously page) Thanos sent the Black Order to find the Gem, and said he'd extract the Tribute from Earth himself. But the Order attacked all the Illuminati *except* Black Bolt, who is the one who is supposed to know the answer. Finally in this issue Corvus Glaive of the Black Order confronts Black Bolt but *doesn't* ask where the Time Gem is. Instead *he* demands the Tribute. The Tribute of heads is now revealed to be specifically the heads of all the Inhuman children of a certain age. And Black Bolt says it is aimed to ensure the death of Thanos' son. Was the Tribute in #1 also the heads of children? And was this also intended to kill a child of Thanos?