Avengers: Armageddon opens with Red Hulk starting an international incident and, potentially, a new World War. This is an auspicious hook for Marvel‘s big summer crossover event. Unfortunately, beyond that setup, everything else seems sadly familiar.
Avengers: Armageddon builds off the events of last year’s One World Under Doom and the Captain America and Wolverine comics by Chip Zdarsky. The long and the sort of it is that General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross has taken over Latveria and declared it New America. He has also declared his intent to personally invade every dictatorship in the world with his personal army of Hulks. All to impose his idea of American democracy on the people of Earth.
Unsurprisingly, the Avengers are ready to move in and bring Red Hulk to heel. This is largely because General Ross knocked Steve Rogers into a coma. However, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes face unexpected resistance from the United Nations. It seems the nations of the world are sick of superheroes imposing their ideals on the world. To that end, they promise retribution should they get in the way of the ordinary human soldiers dealing with Red Hulk.
Armageddon fails to stand out as Marvel event
Zdarsky has a great handle on the various Avengers and other Marvel heroes. The best parts of the book center around all the interactions and layered relationships. Chief among these are the friendship between Bucky Barnes and Namor and Spider-Man and Tony Stark discussing their mutual admiration of Steve Rogers. Unfortunately, the book falters in trying to set up its story as something memorable.
The central conflict seems like a retread of One World Under Doom, with the heroes having to fight an all-powerful tyrant who is several steps ahead of them. Everything else seems like a rehash of Civil War. Beyond the X-Men sitting the fight out (because they have their own problems) there’s also the idea of a government body trying to force superheroes not to help.
The artwork is serviceable, but hardly outstanding. Both Frank Alpizar and Delio Diaz are talented artists, but they do little more than keep the characters visually distinctive. There’s nothing glaring bad in the action sequences, but neither is there anything that stands out. In this, it matches the script quite well.
Avengers: Armageddon #1 is a tepid start to what promised to be a hot event. Unfortunately, this first chapter does very little to distinguish itself from earlier Marvel crossovers. Thankfully, enough is done right to encourage the hope that it might build momentum as the story continues.
Grade: 6/10
Avengers: Armageddon #1 is now available at comic shops everywhere.
