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New Avengers #32: Review

Mar 2015
Jonathan Hickman, Mike Deodato Jr.

Story Name:

The fall of gods


Synopsis

New Avengers #32 Synopsis by Rob Johnson
The previously page:- From Avengers #36 where Sunspot sent Thor and his team off on a suicide mission into the multiverse to find the cause of the multiversal collapse. From last issue when Molecule Man saw them facing the Ivory Kings/Beyonders. From #27 where Thor swapped the axe Jarnbjorn for the hammer of Thorr, which he could only wield because he is unworthy.

This issue starts a bit before Molecule Man's vision last issue. Thor and his team (Abyss, Ex Nihilo, Hyperion, Nightmask, Starbrand and a bunch of Ex Nihili) are standing on a small chunk of a destroyed Earth with the body of a Mapmaker as another universe dies. They've found several dead Mapmakers, and they have seen evidence that the number of universes is dropping faster.

Since #27 they've been following the Mapmakers' map to hunt the Ivory Kings. But the dissolving multiverse is making the map useless. Abyss mentally delves deeper into the dead Mapmaker's brain and discovers that the Ivory Kings are actually off the grid (maybe?), but she can locate them. And Nightmask can take the team there.

But Adam's use of his powers has been making him younger. Starbrand is worried what the effect of this jump will be on his friend, but Nightnask is resolved. He takes their chunk of Earth to this more-than-distant destination, and as he does so he devolves all the way to a foetus and then to nothing.

The rest of the team find themselves in a void facing a bright fissure of energy, through which 2 Beyonders come. 1 looks like a Transformer, the other like a giant cyborg snake. Both continually mutate.

They accuse the Avengers of interfering in an experiment. Thor demands that they stop this experiment because it is destroying the multiverse. The Beyonders think they should just wait until the experiment is finished. Thor(r)'s hammer just irritates the Beyonders and they retaliate by shattering the lump of Earth the Avengers are standing on.

Abyss latches on to the fact that the Beyonders' forms are just manifestations housing the real Beyonders' essences, but that the forms are mutable. Her brother Ex Nihilo sends the other Ex Nihili against the 'Transformer' Beyonder. They surround it, disassemble it and rebuild it - 'fully visualising' it into a solid state (or something like that). Abyss and Ex Nihilo then do what they were designed to do, and reshape that solid into a garden - or in this case a tree. But this act consumes Abyss and all the Ex Nihili.

The 'snake' Beyonder can't believe his brother has been killed. Thor attacks him, but the Beyonder just rips his artificial left arm off and throws him away. His next act is to form a lance and pierce Starbrand through the chest. Hyperion attacks with an eye-beam as hot as a sun. But the Beyonder shrugs it off - he creates and destroys suns. Then it gouges 1 of Hyperion's eyes out.

Thor and the Beyonder fight again. In the background Starbrand's energy starts to leak out of the wound in his chest. At last the Beyonder notices him, and then the exploding Starbrand destroys them both.

Now only the injured Hyperion and Thor are left. They discuss closing the fissure. But then a whole horde of Beyonders comes through.

The heroes have a 'today is a good day to die' moment. Then Thor stoops to pick up Thorr's hammer, but it won't move. The Thunder God laughs as he realises this means he is no longer unworthy.

Unsheathing Jarnbjorn which he still has in his back, the 2 have another 'today is a good day to die' moment. Then they launch themselves against the Beyonders. The battle is joined with sunlight, thunder and lightning. And then all is silent.


 

Review / Commentaries

Rating:
4.5 stars

New Avengers #32 Review by (April 4, 2015)
Mike Deodato is an unscheduled artist replacement for Kev Walker. Thor realised he was unworthy because of something Nick Fury whispered to him on the Moon in Original Sin #7. Then he lost is arm to Malekith in #1 of his latest series, and got an Asgardian artificial replacement in #4. Because he is unworthy he can no longer use his hammer Mjolnir, and his replacement female Thor has that now. But he has 2 other weapons instead. We already knew about the axe Jarnbjorn from the long Uncanny Avengers/Kang saga. Thorr was an evil alternate Thor from Avengers #26-28 whose hammer could only be wielded by the UNworthy - Thor kept it as a trophy. Nightmask getting younger was in publishing terms 1st remarked on in Avengers #35, but chronologially in Avengers World #18.


> New Avengers comic book info and issue index

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Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Thor
Thor

(Odinson)