Review: Age of Ultron #10
Since the beginning of Marvel‘s first major event since Marvel Now!, I’ve been a bit down on Age of Ultron. Overall, to me the pacing has been uneven and story predictable. It felt like write by numbers with certain beats being hit in a narrative weaved together to get us… someplace. And maybe that’s what bothered me throughout the nine issues leading up to Age of Ultron #10. I felt this was an event not to tell us a new and fresh story, but instead to get us from point A to point Z with little care that we saw anything new or interesting in between, just that it got us there. And with this, the last issue of the event, I was right. Age of Ultron #10 doesn’t wrap up the story, it just leaves lots of questions and leads in to what’s next. When I got to the end, I felt like the image to the left.
I thought it odd that Marvel NOW! introduced us to new teams and even new looks for characters and then we were thrust into an event that’d be unreadable for new readers. And in a way Age of Ultron gets us through Marvel NOW! to Marvel THEN!. Some of those more interesting changes are undone with new elements introduced leaving me as a reader frustrated. Marvel with this event moved into DC territory (events changing or erasing continuity) almost with a wink and nod about it all, making it all the more frustrating.
There is some good. Age of Ultron wraps up the Ultron part of the story and that ties into nicely with some comics that came before, much like Secret Invasion tied into New Avengers #1. But again, the fact that I can say that backs up my initial thought we’ve seen nothing new in this event. It’s cool having read issues that months ago I thought odd and a bit weak in story spun into something interesting. It’s nice planning and cool for veteran readers.
We know Angela enters the Marvel universe as well. Something huge is given just a few pages and then immediately pitches the next series to follow. Something that happens in another spot as well which is frustrating.
The art too is awesome. There’s a bunch of pages, I can’t say what they are without spoilers, that are beyond solid. A great testament to Marvel’s history and what’s come before. The visuals are generally great throughout the comic.
While Age of Ultron wraps up some things, it also sets up A LOT! And that might be my biggest issue with the comic. As the prologue kicks in, it’s interspersed with ads for what to read next. An interesting idea but it makes the event and story feel all the less wrapped up.
Age of Ultron is going to be important for a while as it sets up what’s to come, but that doesn’t make it good. And as a reader, and Marvel fan, that’s frustrating. When it was all done, I felt like I spent all this money to just be pitched more things to read instead of a complete story that begins with issue 1 and ends with issue 10.
Story: Brian Michael Bendis Art: Bryan Hitch, Carlos Pacheco, Brandon Peterson, Alex Maleev, Butch Guice, David Marquez, Joe Quesada
Story: 6.75 Art: 8.25 Overall: 7 Recommendation: Read
This didn’t really change or erase continuity, for the most part. The one thing it changed was Avengers #12.1, from a couple years ago. And, I guess, it prevented the whole Age of Ultron from ever happening, but that was always going to happen.
I thought the event had some good stuff in it. It wasn’t a great event overall, but there were cool elements to it. The world under Ultron was pretty cool. The world of Morgan le Fay was really cool – I would’ve loved to have seen more of it, actually. Issue 9 had some cool ideas being thrown around. And this final issue did a good job going back to Avengers 12.1, and going from there to defeat Ultron.
And I do like how it all damaged the timeline. I think that’s going to set up some interesting stories.
So here’s my question, one example of something that irked me and the best example of it messing with some of the changes…. what does Beast look like now?
It has set up a lot of potential, but because of that, it didn’t feel like an ending, just “To be continued….”
I also felt like we’re approaching DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earth territory with this. Trying not to spoil things.
I think the use of Beast’s previous cat-man look was meant to show that the scene in the lab happened soon after AU10. I guess between then and now, they just haven’t had much time to work on what happened. Though it does make Beast look even crazier for bringing the past X-Men to the present even after time damned near broke as a result of it being abused. Oh well.
Definitely agree it makes him look crazier, but you have an entire series based on time travel and an event that’ll screw with that all even more.
I really think this issue reminded me of the “To be continued” ending of Back to the Future II. I disliked it then, dislike it now.
SO now there are two Wolverines in the present ?? The Wolverine that was present from the Inteligencia battle, and slashed Ultron from the back.. Then there is the Wolverine that came back to the present with Sue Storm in the car, the one who got the headache !! Remember, present Wolverine left, and came back to the time stream, but he returned to a NEW timeline where Age of Ultron NEVER happened.. So there’s the Wolverine who went into the time stream.because AoU happened, and the Wolverine who progressed through the timeline normally because AoU NEVER happened..
I like the fan-made AoU Shocker Ending.. A fan specualted PYM DID IT ALL.. The reason we haven’t seen Ultron is because Pym Did It All.. Pym basically had been through the time stream before, and decided the only way to stop Ultron was TO BE Ultron.. Rule the world, and masquerade as Ultron.. There was even that mystery flying figure that batted Spidey out of the air (in AoU #1 and #2), that could have been Uber-Pym observing his handiwork.. I think it would have been better to reveal a time-mad Pym as behind AoU, and it fits nicely with not seeing Ultron all series..
And that’s another question. Was the person in the air with the cape ever revealed?
There’d also be two Sue Storms right? Wolverine leaves her and says she should go hug her family. But there’s already a Sue Storm at that point in time. Right?
If Pym was the villain this theory could have explain a lot of things : Why Ultron let live a certain number of humans ? WHy does he bargain with super villains ? Why, in the future, the savage land is still there ? a much better ending.