Avengers by Hickman vol. 6: Infinite Avengers

“Original Sin” was pretty “meh,” though it stands a better chance of being remembered for its tie-ins than the miniseries proper.  In fact, Jonathan Hickman uses the event as a springboard for his latest volume of “Avengers” while also furthering his own storylines in the title.  What we get here is deeply weird and bizarre in the way we’ve come to expect such things from the writer.  It’s an interesting read, save for the fact that between answering questions previous volumes and setting things up for future ones the story lacks a genuinely cohesive narrative.

Back in the first volume of “New Avengers,” Captain America used the power of the Infinity Gauntlet to save Earth from an incursion.  However, as a result of this action, the gems which powered the gauntlet shattered and the ability to stop further incursions by this method was lost.  While the rest of the Illuminati were ready to consider anything to save the world from future incursions, Cap called them out on it and drew a moral line in the sand saying he would brook no compromise in this matter.  For that, they had Doctor Strange wipe Cap’s mind of his involvement with the Illuminati.

It’s not specifically stated here, but after Cap’s encounter with the Orb and his “Eye Bomb of Secrets” in “Original Sin,” he now remembers everything.  His first action is to get Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Thor (who brings along Hyperion and Starbrand for added muscle) together to bring in Tony Stark to answer for what he has done.  There’s fighting, of course, but before things can get really out of hand the Time Gem reappears during the fracas and teleports everyone almost 50 years into the future.  There, they meet the Avengers of the future and see some of the results of their actions.  It’s only the beginning of their journey, as the gem keeps reappearing to add another zero onto the amount of years they jump into the future from here.

Ultron triumphant.  The return of the adult Franklin Richards.  A world purged of organic life.  Kang, Immortus, and Iron Lad all united in a single purpose.  That’s what the future(s) hold for everyone and most of them are pretty grim.  There’s also a lot of interesting ideas to take in from all of them.  Not only are Avengers present in all of them, we get to see strange sights like an embittered future Captain America who only affects the clothes and mannerisms of the current one to pacify the “herd.”  Unworthy Thor talking to Worthy Thor about what it means to be broken.  Franklin Richards almost, but not quite, spilling the beans about what’s going to happen in Cap’s struggle against Stark and the Illuminati.  The past fighting a literal war with the future.  The reader is given a lot to take in here, and if you’re a fan of Hickman’s “big ideas” style of storytelling that may be enough to satisfy you.

It doesn’t change the fact that the structure of this volume is basically a hook in search of a proper narrative.  While all of this stuff is neat to observe, it mainly feels like the writer is getting things in place for his next storylines, “Time Runs Out” and “Secret Wars.”  In that sense, “Infinite Avengers” may read better in retrospect once we see where he’s going with all this.  As it stands right now, this volume gets by on the strength of its ideas and my belief that they’re all going to fit together (beautifully, I hope) in the end.

I will say that “Infinite Avengers” does make a good showcase for Hickman’s take on Cap as a square-jawed hero who is determined to do what is right regardless of the difficulty or cost.  It does get off to a bumpy road at first with the recounting of the events that led up to his forced memory loss and his declaration that he’s going to beat Stark bloody for all that he’s done here.  Then he has to deal with everyone in the future(s) telling him how wrong his approach is and even torturing him for it at some points.  As a result, it’s pretty gratifying to see him reject these points and declare his ideology to the Kang(s).  It’s a worthy sentiment.  Whether or not it’s actually the right one in the face of the collapse of the multiverse remains to be seen and pitted against the Illuminati’s own plans.

Lenil Yu, who illustrated the “Infinity” tie-in issues for this series, returns for this arc.  While I’ve always been a fan of his big, energetic style, those issues were also notable for how their quality deteriorated over time.  That doesn’t happen here , as Yu starts by lowering the bar.  There’s less detail and some sketchiness to his work that does suggest he was rushed in order to get these issues out, but he still manages to make these futuristic landscapes distinctive and interesting to look at.  Yu also manages some dynamic panel arrangement over the course of the volume that makes the dialogue-heavy sequences livelier to take in, even if just a little bit of clarity is sacrificed.

Overall, my thoughts on this volume can basically be summed up as, “Good, but wouldn’t it be nice if there was an actual story here?”  “Infinite Avengers” is part of a much larger machine, and this volume winds up being a fairly significant cog in it.  It’ll be interesting to re-read this when Hickman’s run is over and done with to see just how well it fits together with everything else that he has done on this title and “New Avengers.”  Still, it’s not a volume that stands on its own or should be taken in isolation.  Much like the futures it depicts, the ultimate quality of “Infinite Avengers” is still in flux.