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Infinity War #4: Review

Sep 1992
Jim Starlin, Ron Lim

Story Name:

Mortiferous Artifice

Review & Comments

Rating:
3 stars

Infinity War #4 Review by (February 15, 2010)
Hulk’s participation in this issue is minimal, largely joining in battles and standing around in a group, though Thanos gets to insult him.


Comments on tie-ins by Rob Johnson:-

The last bit of Quasar #38 fits early in this issue as Contemplator realises he mentally contacted Wendell Vaughn at a bad time because it allowed him to get blasted by Adam Warlock. (And elsewhere Kayla Ballantine appears to be killed by the Black Fleet.)

The last bit of Dr Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #45 also fits in a bit later when Galactus' spaceship and its occupants reform after being destroyed last issue.

Alpha Flight #111 links in to the early part of this issue with Guardian, Sasquatch and Shaman in the fight against Thanos, Warlock and the Infinity Watch on the relay planet, and Aurora, Northstar, Puck and Weapon Omega battling Doppelgangers in FF HQ. Meanwhile Windshear and Beta Flight are facing Firebug in Toronto. They don't know that he is just 1 of the people maddened by the release of the evil Ska'r by the Master Of The World to oppose Magus' plan. Shaman mentally contacts Talisman on Earth to send her to the Ska'r dimension, as Master sends his Gamma Flight to stop Beta Flight finding out about the Ska'r.

Wonder Man #14 leaves its footprints through most of this issue. He unsuccessfully fights Warlock during the opening melee before sharing the scene as the heroes surround Drax, Thanos and Warlock but Galactus' ship arrives and they are all beamed aboard in stasis. When Galactus' scans their minds it makes WM relive his history and come to the conclusion that he's no longer Simon Williams. As Big G sends Thor to Earth WM discusses his fears with his love Scarlet Witch. Then last scene is a replay of Magus kidnapping Warlock and the heroes learn about the duplicated reality.
(Back on Earth Argus joins the ranks of those suffering the side-effects of WM's ionic radiation. While Argus, Alex and Jamie discuss it another Earth appears in the sky.)

Fantastic Four #369 is another issue that parallels our #4. It covers the big battle and the arrival of Galactus. While under Galactus' brain scan Sue Richards confront's her evil side Malice (not a Dop) and absorbs it into her personality to better use her powers offensively rather than defensively. Johnny Storm briefly considers flirting with Psylocke as Galactus and Gamora go to see the Living Tribunal. And then Magus kidnaps Warlock.
(An interlude with Philip and Alicia Masters shows us when Earth's population goes into stasis, and then rogue Watcher Aaron abducts Alicia. Another interlude shows Devos and Paibok subject unconscious Lyja to a procedure that will make her a weapon to be used against the FF.)
The remainder of the issue is connected to the end of IW#5.

The end of Silver Sable & The Wild Pack #4 sees Sandman replaced by his Dop in the Pack, and Silver Sable disguised as a Doombot accosted by the Dr Doom Dop.
This continues straight into #5 where the Silver and the Doom-Dop continue to spar.. Meanwhile the Sandman-Dop attacks the Wild Pack as they fly to Latveria. They defeat it and it reverts to its alien form, but then they are shot down from Doom's castle and start fighting Doombots. Silver defeats the Doom-Dop and uses its armour controls to stop the Doombots fighting the Pack. This Dop also reverts to its alien form and they kill it. Later they find Sandman alive underneath *his* alien Dop.
Meanwhile we see Doom and Kang arriving in Magus' stronghold and later finding the 5 Cosmic Cubes. The issue ends with Galactus scanning the minds of the assembled heroes. All this as shown in IW#4.

There's a Moon Knight-fest in this batch with the back half of Marc Spector: Moon Knight #41 plus all of #42-43.
In #41 in FF HQ during the Dop attack MK follows his Dop and another who have their own agenda to become more powerful than Magus, and finds them attacking Alicia Masters and sleeping Franklin Richards. The other Dop is Franklin's evil twin using a Psi-Phon to steal his mental power. MK fights his Dop and KO's the FR-Dop allowing Alicia to take the boy away. But the MK-Dop grabs the Psi-Phon to steal FR's power from the FR-Dop plus the FR-Dop's own power. Then he uses the combined power to absorb Moon Knights from all over the multiverse.
In #42 the MK-Dop now calling himself Moon Shade has absorbed most of the Moon Knights in the multiverse except for a hardy few like our MK. Now MK follows MS through the multiverse hunting down the  hold-outs. MK fails to save all but 1 of them before destroying MS, and even that last 1 loses his MK power. So our MK is the only MK left in the multiverse.
In #43 MK returns to Earth and helps fight Dops in FF HQ.
Meanwhile Frenchie/Jean-Paul Duchamp consults the Shadow Council about Marc Spector's deteriorating body and tells them they have to get a cure from currently-imprisoned Demogoblin.
Meanwhile again the secret Knights Templar decide they must recruit Jean-Paul.
The issue ends as the Dops stop being replaced and then disintegrate. And then the heroes get put in stasis. All this due to events in IW#4.

Lastly there's Quasar #39 which starts in the penultimate scene of IW#4 where Quasar accepts the Ultimate Nullifier from Thanos to use against the Magus. He creates a quantum dome around himself to protect the others on Galactus' ship while he consults Epoch about the weapon. Epoch doesn't know much but on his advice they quantum teleport to a galactic library planet. Q leaves Epoch to research because he gets challenged by Deathurge, but it turns out his task is just to make sure Q understands that using the Nullifier is suicidal. When he gets back to Epoch it is only to learn the same thing. They return to within the quantum dome.
(Meanwhile Her and Makkari are with the Mourners when the aliens detect another mass killing. They go to Scadam where the Black Fleet are attacking. Her attacks them. This is where Kayla Ballantine died last issue. Now Holly Steckley sees her reform as a blobby being.)





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Infinity War #4 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Thanos and the Infinity Watch (Gamora, Pip the Troll, Moondragon, Drax the Destroyer) battle the Earth heroes’ expeditionary force while on Earth, the remaining heroes fight the doppelganger army. Meanwhile, Dr.Doom and Kang the Conqueror have traced the energy emissions to the Magus’ fortress and, exploring, discover what they’ve been hoping for, the source of the Magus’ power: five Cosmic Cubes. Galactus by this time has managed to reincorporate his destroyed ship and transports the Infinity Watch and the Earth heroes to him, where they exchange information in an instant. Adam Warlock and Thanos decide the only way to stop the Magus is to reassemble the Infinity Gauntlet, which has been rendered powerless by the Living Tribunal. Unfortunately, because of the Tribunal’s ruling, the Gauntlet still does not work. Galactus takes Gamora with him to appeal to the Tribunal to reverse his judgment. As soon as he leaves, however, the Magus arrives to seize Warlock and the Infinity Gauntlet and vanishes. The Earth heroes discover Magus’ plan to absorb Earth into a duplicate reality, and the mystic heroes return to Earth to lead a defense. Thanos decides that extreme measures are called for so he takes the Ultimate Nullifier from Galactus’ ship and gives it to Quasar to use.

Also in this issue: Hulk, Thor, Captain America, Dr. Strange, Invisible Woman, Hank Pym, the Silver Surfer, Nova, the Watcher, Eternity, and many others (from the Avengers, Fantastic Four, X-Men, X-Factor, New Warriors, Alpha Flight).


Ron Lim
Al Milgrom
Ron Lim (Cover Penciler)


Characters

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