Avengers #2 [2010] by Brian Michael Bendis & John Romita Jr.

AVENGERS #2

The original Avengers series ended at #502 after the Avengers Disassembled storyline. The series is now back after the Dark Reign saga. Steve Rogers steps down as Captain America and steps up as the world’s top cop after Norman Osborn. Maria Hill is now running this team of Avengers with the combined might of Thor, Iron Man, and the new Captain America.

Steve Rogers assembles the Avengers just as Kang comes for a visit warning them that reality is coming to an end due to their children. Living in a world ruined and rebuilt by Ultron – the Avengers children had to survive by any means necessary and they did by destroying Ultron and taking over his empire. Now wielding a power that they do not understand or control they are on a collision course to destroying the universe. It is up to the Avengers to go into the future and stop them.

First they need a time machine and they recruit Marvel Boy. Both Tony Stark and Marvel Boy construct their time machine that shows them possible futures of the Marvel Universe. These futures include characters such as Avengers Next, Iron Man 2020, Days of Future Past, Killraven, Marvel 2099, Death's Head II, Age of Apocalypse, Earth X, and the future where they are heading towards.

The communication is interrupted by the Future Imperfect Hulk, Maestro. Now the Avengers believe that the space time continuum is broken and could have ramifications for the Marvel Universe. Then Wonder Man attacks destroying the time machine they built and disappears stating that he warned Steve Rogers not to reunite the Avengers. Realizing that they do not have that much time left Tony Stark asks Marvel Boy to construct another time machine quickly. However before anything can be done the X-Men villain Apocalypse arrives with his four horsemen: Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death.

Brian Michael Bendis sets up a Back to the Future type story for the first arc of this new series. Spider-man’s addition to the Avengers adds humor to intense action scenes. Unlike his other series the New Avengers and Avengers Prime, the story is very well constructed and keeps the reader’s attention as they follow the characters to the next issue

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RECOMMENDED – 4 OUT OF 5