The Age of Ultron is over! In yet another weird twist, the Event basically ended at issue 6 and, with issue 7, an entirely different story has begun despite still calling itself Age of Ultron. Thats what it feels like anyway with this issue. There were a lot of complaints from readers that this Event seemed completely pointless because none of the major characters killed so far are going to remain dead - complaints that it turns out are totally justified with issue 7 which basically shrugs yeah, those last 6 issues? Didnt mean anything because they didnt happen. Oh, terrific! They didnt happen because Wolverine and Sue Richards travelled back in time to kill Hank Pym, the creator of Ultron, which Logan did successfully. Travelling back to the future, there is of course no more Ultron as his creator was assassinated before he could build him, so the Age of Ultron never happened. But of course, even though they changed the future seemingly for the better - no more Ultron ruling Earth - things definitely arent the way they were before Ultron launched his attack. Instead of the Avengers, there are now the Defenders, the lineup you can see on the cover. Standouts are Colonel America who might be Nick Fury as Cap or Steve Rogers looking like Fury, its not explained in the issue, and Cable, who looks a lot like his dad, Cyclops, or is Cyclops with a new look, though again its not explained. Janet Wasp van Dyne as the new Captain Marvel is an interesting choice but the rest of the characters look exactly the same (Hulk, Thing, Doctor Strange, Star Lord, Wolverine). Its not that much of a major shift really as the world is still there, people are living normal lives despite the numerous mini-helicarriers zipping about the place. If any of these characters possessed any amount of common sense, they would simply talk to one another and figure out whats happened. But of course this is a Marvel comic so the Defenders begin attacking Logan and Sue, believing them to be Skrulls in disguise. Honestly, in a world as crazy as the Marvel Universes, cant one of them wrap their minds around the ideas of alternate versions of themselves or time travel? No, they just want to kill Logan and Sue without talking about it. Doctor Strange even tells the Colonel I think we need to talk to him who answers I knew you were going to say that. Id really rather not. Why not? Is the Colonel so stupid that rather than use speech and intelligence, hed prefer to destroy something hes never seen before? Does he have no curiosity? What an imbecile! Logan is strangely out of character in this issue - the real Logan that is - who claims to have no knowledge of the Kree/Skrull war and when Sue asks him how many people he killed, he answers Nobody that didnt have it comin. Really? What about all those innocent people he murdered in Enemy of the State? Or any number of people who didnt really deserve it over the decades hes been around? Does he really think they all had it comin? Sue meanwhile seems to have become stupider - there was all that talk from her in the last issue about being careful not to change much in the past because who knows what the consequences will be. Yet after killing Hank Pym - kind of a big thing to change - shes surprised that the future has changed! Yeah Sue, thats what happens when you change the past - the future gets changed too. Get better!
I wont give away the big final page reveal but I will say that theyve basically replaced one devil for another. That final page almost felt like it needed a cameo from Nelson just so he could say Haw, haw!. And this is yet another Age of Ultron comic - the 7th out of 10 - where we still havent seen Ultron and, now that he technically doesnt exist, it doesnt look like we will see him at all. For a super-smart robot, its surprising he didnt think of this scenario. I mean, to be outwitted by Wolverine? Thats gotta sting for a smartie like Ultron. I will say that I liked a couple of things about this issue - Carlos Pachecos art is fantastic and I wish he drew the whole comic rather than just the past scenes. And I liked how when Doctor Strange cast a spell, Bendis wrote the name of the spell, and the page number and book it came from, at the bottom of the panel. It makes it seem less random than Strange just conjuring up clever, glowing symbols. Were now into the home stretch of the Event, about to enter the final act and I have no idea where this story is now headed. Bendis has thrown in so many curveballs that its anybodys guess where were going next. I dont mean this in a good way either, things have just gotten too chaotic to make any sense of. Issue #7 is definitely the worst one in the series so far: the characters act stupidly, the whole reason to have this Event has been erased, and all of the issues that preceded it have been for nothing. Im beginning to think that someone needs to go back in time to stop these comics from happening...
Age of Ultron #7 by Brian Michael Bendis, Brandon Peterson and Carlos Pacheco is out now at your local comics shop and online at Comixology and Marvel Unlimited