Age Of Ultron (#1-10) PART ONE

"Welcome to the end of the world" - Nick Fury

Time for my first event comic and I've always had a bit of love/hate relationship with them.  On the one hand it's always exciting seeing all the company's characters teaming up for a massive adventure.  On the other hand they disrupt on-going storylines and can cut short promising runs especially for smaller titles.  And they are a right pain to deal with when it comes to trade collections as a storyline is put on hold for a crossover that the reader may very well have no idea about due to only following a series casually via collections.  Some trades are classy enough to include a little explanation, but most will leave you flumoxed as all of a sudden your favourite characters become embroiled in an story in which Nothing Will Be The Same Again, only to pick up where they left off right afterwards.  I've decided to look at the ten issue 2013 Marvel event comic Age of Ultron, written by  Alias scribe Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by British artist Brian Hitch because it's the one I genuinely like the best of all I've read and reads pretty well on its own sans tie-ins.  It has nothing to do with the Age of Ultron Avengers film, not least because X-Man Wolverine and Sue Richards of the Fantastic Four are two of the main protagonists and at that time they were owned by Fox not Marvel Studios hence the entirely different filmic adventure.  I am proceeding on the assumption that readers are familiar with all the Marvel characters involved in this adventure, so lets continue with the first half of this story.

We open upon a New York that is in ruins.  Some villains led by Leland Owlsley (one of Daredevil's rogue gallery) comes out of a house that is still standing to invite in a confused looking young woman.   Suddenly Hawkeye appears telling her to run away as he barges into the house.  Downstairs is another woman and the assorted baddies are offering her various drugs.  Hawkeye cocks his bow and tells them to leave her alone.

There is a scuffle and people end up with arrows stuck in them including the woman who got aggressive when she realise she wasn't going to get her fix.  The villains retreat to the basement and Hammerhead says if the can capture an Avenger they'll "we can sell him to the big guy as well.  An Avenger buys us a lot of free passes."

But using a variety of arrows including exploding ones Hawkeye takes them all down and we finally see what Hawkeye has come for.  A bedraggled, barely concious Spider-man, his mask off his costume ripped to his waist.  Hawkeye pops something in Peter's mouth to pep him up a bit and Peter says he loves Hawkeye.  Owsley then tries to give an ultimatum that Hawkeye and Spider-man should fight and they'll let the winner go.  But Hawkeye fights his way out with Spider-man staggering in his wake.

Ultrons over New York.

Unfortunately the commotion has attracted the attention of some floating robotmen who all look like Ultron.  They command everyone to exit the premises immediately.  Owlsey shouts up at them that they paid, "there was an understanding!"  But the robots just impassively start firing on the building, and all the villains are killed in an explosion.  However that gives Hawkeye and Spider-man and opportunity to escape.

Spider-man: "Thanks for the rescue, Hawkeye.  And I... didn't get you anything."

He asks if there are others and Hawkeye says "not enough" and they run through the ruined streets. Until they arrive at a makeshift base.  Hawkeye says this won't be pleasant, but Spider-man says it can't be worse than the week he just had.

Inside Luke Cage lunges at Hawkeye saying they told him that if he left he shouldn't have come back. Hawkeye retorts that he was bringing him back and to get off him.  She-Hulk demands Tony Stark (Iron Man) check them over.  So he presses a scanning tool to various bits of Spidey and Hawkeye's anatomy and he declares them clean, of things that you know of says Luke darkly.

Spider-man has collapsed and Hawkeye says "could one of you 'heroes' help the poor guy.  He's been through a lot."  She-Hulk says how do they know nothing followed them, but them Emma Frost of the X-Men comes over and says "there clean. Leave them alone."  Luke says irritatedly that Hawkeye was told he wouldn't be welcomed back, and Hawkeye says he wasn't going to give up on what was left of their friends. 

Luke says there are rules they have to live by if they don't want to die. Hawkeye says they are going to die and he'd rather live what time they have left the way he wants to.

Hawkeye: "And I'm not going to let what happened change the value of my life.  And shame on the rest of you. Shame on you for giving up."

She-Hulk says that no one game up, but Hawkeye spreads his arms and says what do they call this? Tony Stark says they have no plan.  Hawkeye says "whose fault is that?"  Tony says he's thinking.  Hawkeye says is that what you call it as we see Captain America sat on the floor, head bowed, his arms crossed on his knees looking utterly defeated.

Should have asked Squirrel Girl for help.

We then cut to a hooded female figure walking through the ruins of San Francisco.  Flying robots pass overhead but don't see her.  Then a shaky looking man points a gun at her and demands she hand over anything she has, a car, food, anything.  She talks back to him sending him more panicky and he says he's going to shoot her.  But she says if he was he would have done, he's a coward.  She pulls away her hood to reveal she is Black Widow with a horrific burn scar on her face.

Black Widow: "Did you get to watch your family die?  Do you think they watch you now?"

And then he is shot in the head by a sniper who was watching over her.  She and him have a quick conversation via sign language in which they agree to meet up back at the safe house.  She tucks herself into the rubble as some civilians run by before being obliterated by the the robotic Ultrons.

She makes it back to the safe house and meets up with the sniper who is Moon Knight. She says that that the hospital is the worst place so far, she thought it would take "just a little longer for humanity to completely collapse in on itself".  Moon Knight asks if there have been any word from the outside world.  Black Widow says everyone is "dead or dying... it's getting worse."

Moon Knight turns his attention to where they are.  It's one of Nick Fury's safehouses.  He has a huge board with photos of all the heroes and villains pinned to it.  Black Widow says this looks like the place he holed up in during the Skrull Invasion (see Secret Invasion a previous Event Comic).  It's currently "the safest place in the universe."

Black Widow and Moon Knight in a Fury safehouse.

Moon Knight queries what if Ultron hacks into S.H.I.E.L.D files and finds all Fury's vaction spots.  Black Widow says that Fury never wrote anything down.  The machine can't find this place because nobody knows it exists.  Moon Knight says it was lucky they were both running a black ops mission when everything went to hell.   He says that they have to find someone else, there must be others who made it through this.  Black Widow says quietly that she doesn't mind going out, they are all going to eventually, and Moon Knight says they won't go until they take Ultron with them.

Back under Central Park where New York's surviving heroes are gathered. Spider-man is telling his story.  He first tells them he is Peter Parker, aliases seem pointless now.  Peter says he was asleep when everything started, at first he thought the strain of everything he'd been through had cracked him.  He almost welcomed that as a reason.  Somone off panel asks him what he saw and we get a double page flashback of himm swinging through the streets as a huge robotic construction crushes buildings and squats over Manhattan.

Flashback to Spider-man on the day of the attack.

Back in the present he asks if it's just Manhattan but they have assumed it's everywhere, they have to assume because they can't get anything into the air, not even an Avengers copter or plane.  Apparently Washington D.C. is just gone, like it never existed which is one fact they do know.  Peter puts his head in his hands and goes silent for a moment.  Then he says he saw a white flash and next thing he knew he woke up drugged and tied to a chair.

Peter then tells them they were going to sell him to Ultron. Tony Stark is confused by this.  Luke cage also says that why would Ultron need him and why would he need those goons to bring Peter to him. Peter says he doesn't know, "I don't think it's a matter of need.  Maybe just want."  But he's not an expert on world destroying artificial organisms.

He was under the distinct impression that they had done it before, "bartered a person of interest".  Storm comments that it conquers the world and barters with trash.  Luke says maybe Peter heard it wrong.  Peter just says are they going to do something now?  When Tony Stark says "survive", Peter says that isn't something. Suddenly Captain America stands:

Captain America: "No it's not...but that's because we didn't have a plan. Until now."

We then cut to She-Hulk and Luke Cage approaching the huge metallic structure. They check they are alone then Luke tells her to brace herself.  She-Hulk asks if he wants to switch?  Luke says that's not the plan and he punches her hard in the face, knocking her out.  He lifts her limp body up and makes his way into the metallic structure.

Luke Cage PAWNCH!

We return to the rest of New York heroes about one hour before.  They list several of the people they have lost, Cyclops, Thor, Hulk, Benjamin Grimm.  Peter asks Luke about Jessica Jones and their baby.  Luke doesn't answer, his face shrouded in darkness. They didn't make it.

Captain America then lays out his plan. Now they know Ultron is bartering for superheroes, they'll give it something to barter with. Storm still doesn't understand why a robot that could destroy the world is doing deals with "low renters?"  Tony Stark says Ultron was created to have human needs and desires, and those like "revenge, torture, hate" he's programmed himself to act this way.  Let's say he won, he took the world.  "Maybe it's not enough" says Emma Frost.

Hawkeye says a big "screw Hank Pym for inventing Ultron in the first place?"  Tony says it's not his fault.  This angers Hawkeye, who points out that him rescuing Spider-man got him treated like a pariah but Hank Pym gets a free pass for inventing the thing that shuts down the world.  Captain America yells at them, saying none of that matters now.  If Ultron is buying and trading for superheroes they should give him one.

They can use that to see how far one of them can get into Ultron's world, grab some intel and maybe do some real damage.  It would have to be someone sturdy who can take the punishment, both She-Hulk and Luke Cage say "I'll go" at the same time.  Emma tells them that Tony is about to tell them both they aren't going.  But She-Hulk says she isn't sitting around here one second longer, so Luke says he'll be the one who sells her.

Wolverine says that should be him, but Captain America says with his adamantium bones he'd just be seen as the bigger prize by Ultron, "he will flay you alive the second he sees you, strip you for parts and who knows what else." Tony agrees.   She-Hulk says that if by some miracle they make it out, they can't come back here again.   Captain says to meet up at the Mutate Village in The Savage Land.  The rest of them are going to travel there now and hope they have enough vegetation and supplies to get themselves back on their feet.

We return to Luke carrying She-Hulk now inside the Ultron base.  He says he is here to do a deal.  Elsewhere in Chicago Red Hulk, Taskmaster and Black Panther are scouting out the land.  Taskmaster spots an Ultron and Red Hulk goes bounding after it. He manages to rip its head off but wasn't fast enough to avoid attracting more attention from other Ultrons.  Red Hulk tosses the head at Black Panther and roars at him to go.  The Ultron unleash a barrage of energy blasts.  Red Hulk smashes them all to bits, but falling rubble causes Black Panther to fall and break his neck.  Taskmaster takes the Ultron head from him and runs.

Dun-dun-duuuuh!

Inside the Ultron base, Luke Cage can only mutter "Sweet Christmas" as he is lead to the centre. They show him across a bridge to a column of light and a horrified Luke Cage sees who is controlling this all.  It's not Ultron, hovering there, missing his lower half is Vision who flatly says "Luke Cage.  What do you offer?"

Luke asks to speak with Ultron but Vision just repeats himself.  Then says Ultron can see and hear them.  Vision goes quiet for a moment then he yells:

Vision: "He controls from the future!  He watches and controls us all from the fuaaagh!  Aaarrgghh!"

And his torso contorts in pain.  Luke mutters to himself that Ultron isn't even here.  Then Vision asks what does he offer again.  She-Hulk suddenly says she's heard enough, she starts fighting the Ultrons while telling Luke to get back and tell Tony what he saw here and she punches him away sending him crashing through the shell of the structure.

As she battles the Ultrons she says to herself that she told him she was stronger and that she is almost the strongest there is.  Then one of the Ultron's fires a thin energy beam through her skull, killing her instantly.  Vision bows his head.  As Luke falls Ultrons attack him, he fights them shouting that they killed his wife and baby. He crashes into a building and then from a distance we see a huge nuclear explosion which he is at ground zero of envelope a portion of the city.

In San Francisco Moon Knight wakes up with a start.   Black Widow asks if he was having a bad dream, he says he dreamed the world ended and he was hiding out in one of Nick Fury's secret bunkers with Black Widow.  Black Widow says that Fury has several emergency bunkers for end of the world scenarios.   One of which is in the Savage Land. Where there might be others.  All they have to do is sneak out of the city and find there way down there.

The rest of the heroes are flying out of the city, Storm is using her wind control powers to keep the non-flyers aloft and Sue Richards is using her psychic powers to keep them all invisible.  They hear the blast that caught Luke Cage and they hope Luke and She-Hulk weren't caught up in it and they carry on out of the city.

Red Hulk and Taskmaster.

In Chicago, Red Hulk has caught up with Taskmaster, he has a headless Ultron body tied to his back.  Red Hulk accuses him of "abandoning ship" and when Taskmaster says he was sticking to the plan to grab some Ultron tech and get out the city Red Hulk kills him saying "I don't trust you."

We then jump forwards eight days.  The heroes have arrived in The Savage Land only to find the place is in a worse state than New York.   But there doesn't appear to be any Ultrons hanging around.  They plan to head inland to the Citadel when Ka-Zar, the Lord of the Savage Land appears.  He leads them to his village and tells them that what they seek is here.  Luke Cage made it here before them.

Using her psychic powers, Emma Frost reads his mind from outside saying he survived a nuclear blast but he's dying.  He found a plane and piloted it here and when it crashed he dragged himself the rest of the way. He knows Ultron's secret, that he's actually controlling things from the future and using the Vision as a conduit.  Tony says that explains alot. 

Ka-Zar and The Savage Land.

Wolverine starts to tell them Luke has died but trails off. Emma says he should have died in the blast but hung on so he could tell them what they needed to do next.  Suddenly Red Hulk, Black Widow and Moon Knight appear saying that they'll go get Ultron and wipe him from existence and "God Bless Nick Fury, because we know just how to do it" says Black Widow.

We then get a flashback.  Vision is lying on a table with Tony Stark, Reed Richards and Henry Pym looking him over.   Vision is non-responsive, he was rippped in half in a previous Marvel Event.  Tony tells Reed that he's a "one of a kind biomechanism.  Created by Ultron".  Reed is impressed, Henry says they haven't been able to duplicate the technology that created him because they have never been able to do the same for Ultron.

Henry says he didn't really create Ultron, he just planted the seed.  He created the first version of his A.I. and from them Ultron took over and created what he became and Vison as well. Reed says he can understand why Henry wouldn't want to take full credit for creating Ultron.  Redd then asks how they can get Vision back on his feet, Tony says he doesn't know which is why he asked for their help.  He should have healed himself long ago, "maybe he's damaged beyond repair."

They discuss what they can do, apparently he did heal for a while then stopped.  Henry says that Vision was the only good thing that came out of Ultron's creation.

Henry Pym: "Sometimes I fantasize about going back and telling myself to never create Ultron."

Reed says he fantasizes about going back in time to be nicer to Victor Von Doom in college.  Henry says that then Vision would never have been created, "and who knows what the world would look like then?" Then suddenly the Vision's eyes flutter open and Vision sits up and tells them they all look well.  Tony Stark smiles with joy.

The Vision recovers back in the past.

Then we cut to him looking tired and sad in the present as the last heroes of Earth travel through the Savage Land.  Suddenly Tony starts laughing hysterically, saying that Ultron built a robot, so they took it in and made friends with it and one of them even married it.  They put him in place so Ultron could use Vision to attack them.  He babbles about how brilliant it was. Captain America tells him to steady himself, but Tony says "you don't see it, Cap? You don't see the brilliance?  This is our fault."

They arrive at their destination and Captain America orders a perimetre sat up.  Emma Frost can't penetrate the facility, it's been built to keep telepaths out.  Sue Richards turns blue and uses her powers to travel through the rocky tunnel until she finds a secret code entry pad and a huge locked vault door.  She returns to the others and tells them what she found. None of them have any idea what the code might be, so Red Hulk smashes the door open to be greeted by a barrage of gunfire.

Inside is Nick Fury and when he realises who it is he stops firing.  He tells them not to come any further and holds up a green computer window which he uses to check everyone is who they are supposed to be.  Once he has satisfied they are all legit, he welcomes them into his bunker.  He says he's been down here a week, he had it built after the Skrull Invasion. 

Nick Fury.

The place is full of captured tech including the Ultimate Nullifier. Peter asks if they are at that point yet?  But Tony says he won't entertain the thought.  He asks Fury what the plan is.  Fury says he's standing on it.  Tony is startled to find he is standing on Doctor Doom's Time Platform.  Fury had figured out Ultron was attacking from the future too, he found out when the S.H.I.E.L.D Helicarrier was crashed into the Kremlin by Ultron. 

Nick Fury: "The transmissions were timestream based.  Last thing I overheard before it all went to hell."

He says he was going to give the superpeople three more days to find their way to him before he went on assignment himself. His plan is to head up into the robot's house and "unplug him for good."

Various heroes volunteer to come along, but Tony says that Ultron now knows they know where he is. He might have used Luke Cage to set a trap for them so when they go there he can disintegrate them, or Cage did get the information legitimately and now Ultron knows they know and is ready for them.  Quicksilver says "it's our only hope." 

But Wolverine has an idea of his own.  They go back in time before the robot was created and cut off the hands of the an who created it.  When told it was Hank Pym, he says "so we go back there and we cut off his head." Some of the others say why don't they go back and just tell him not to do it.  Wolverine says that won't work, they'll be daring him to do it, "he will look at our warning as a challenge".

A few of the assembled say they agree, but Sue says that would "completely obliterate the space-time continuum".  Peter says killing an Avenger would be "astronomically insane! Not to mention morally horrific".  Storm tells Wolverine he has no idea what the world would look like if he went back in time and did anything like that. He angrily says it's got to be better than this.

The superheroes who are heading into the future start to take various weapons from Fury's collection.  Tony Stark is happy to find an old suit of his that isn't connected to any outside servers or communication systems and so Ultron can't take it over.  Fury drafts a few more including Sue Richards leaving the rest to set up a defensive perimeter and they all get on the time platform and disappear into the future.

Immediately Wolverine demands to know if anyone can get the time platform up and running again.  He is still determined to go back in time and kill Hank Pym.  He extends his claws and says he's seen everyone die at the hands of this thing, it's taken everything, big hitters like Thor included.  The others won't stand a chance against Ultron, they won't be coming back.  He hasn't been around as long as he has for it all to end like this.  So start up the time platform so he can put the back the way it's supposed to be, "and just so we're clear. I ain't askin' for permission."

Wolverine lays it all out.

And on that cliffhanger we end this first half of my look at the series.  So far it's really been artist Brian Hitch carrying the comic with scenes of destruction and ruins rendered utterly beautiful to look at, an extremely impressive achievement that really sells the power of Ultron and also means I couldn't scan a lot of the best images.  Of course that brings us to a complaint that is often levelled at Brian Michael Bendis which is something called "decompression", that's when a comic is considered padded by lots of double page spreads and splash pages at the expense of dialogue which makes the comics quick to read and leaves people feeling ripped off.  Now I like decompression. I like a story that takes time to set the scene, to breathe as it were, I get just as much enjoyment from a page of lovely art with no text as I do from a heavily dialogue based sequence.  Bendis isn't the only one who draws accusations, it's been levelled at the industry for around the last ten years when "writing for the trade" mentality set in and stories that might have been told in four issues would get padded to six for a trade release. But I only read trades so again I have a bit of a different perspective on this.  I can understand why readers on a monthly basis might feel they are not getting their money's worth, so the best comics tend to be the ones that balance things a bit better.  The second half of this story is far more dialogue and plot heavy than this half, but I would argue you needed all the double page spreads and splash pages of just how utterly ruined the world has become to set up the stakes that will become a big part of the rest of the story.   I'll comment more on the overall plot when I wrap this up in a few days time, until then toodles!