New Avengers #1-8
Originally released in 2013
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Steve Epting (#1-6), Mike Deodato (#7-8)
It's interesting to contrast Hickman's run on the New Avengers with Hickman's run on the Avengers. The Avengers focuses on a large team with plenty of action, with most of the struggle being against threats to the planet. Meanwhile, New Avengers focuses on a small group called the Illuminati, with the conflict being internal - when you have to kill in order to save everything that you know, how long before your soul becomes irreversibly tainted?
So needless to say, it's not exactly fun or light-hearted. The Illuminati consists of geniuses and world leaders - Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Black Bolt, Black Panther, Namor, Mr. Fantastic, and Beast. (Captain America was a part of it, but he saw that the group was headed to a point where they'd commit atrocities in the name of the greater good, so they wiped his mind - Beast is a new addition to the group, taking the place of the late Professor X) The group discovered Incursions, events where one Earth from across the multiverse is about to collide with another, and the resulting collision would destroy both universes that the Earths originate from unless one Earth is destroyed first.
From early on, it seems like this is going to end in a tragedy. The group finds themselves in a no-win situation where they have to keep destroying alternate Earths in order to keep their Earth alive, and even then, the survival of their Earth might not be a guarantee. The only one who doesn't have any moral qualms about this is Namor, who's a colossal jerk that reminds his teammates of that fact on a regular basis.
The Illuminati tries to find non-fatal ways of resolving the conflict, but they are quickly running out of options. The first Incursion that they encounter ends when Black Swan, an acolyte of a being known as "the Great Destroyer" or "Rabum Alal", blows up the other Earth before being taken prisoner. While he was a member, Captain America convinced the others to use the Infinity Gauntlet to send the Earth back, but the force of doing so destroys most of the Infinity Gems, leaving them defenseless while also drawing the attention of several major cosmic figures.
They've gotten lucky so far, with one Earth being uninhabited and used as a bomb by a mysterious race called "the Mapmakers" or "the Builders", while another Earth was in the process of being devoured by Galactus, but their luck can't last forever. Sooner or later, it seems like the Illuminati will be forced to destroy an inhabited Earth, and the blood of countless beings will be on their consciences.
Whether it's due to a misguided belief that they're the only ones who can make the hard choices or sheer arrogance that the seven of them are better equipped to handle these problems than every single other being in Marvel's universe, the Illuminati chose to keep the group's existence and activities a secret from everyone, even their families and loved ones. Already, this seems like it's backfiring - within the Inhumans, Maximus and Medusa already know that Black Bolt is keeping secrets from them, even if they aren't sure what.
In addition, Namor flooded Wakanda, killing many of its citizens and weakening their position in the world, so T'Challa is very up front about wanting to kill Namor. Not helping matters is that their countries are headed for war, and T'Challa's role as the King of the Dead gives him little say over the affairs of the living, so when Shuri disregards T'Challa's council and decides that war with Atlantis is necessary, he can't do anything to stop it.
On top of all of this, Doctor Strange is researching spells that could potentially save the Earth from an Incursion, but at the cost of his life and/or soul. The Illuminati aren't the only ones who are having problems, though - while exploring space, Iron Man finds the Living Tribunal's corpse. The Living Tribunal is such a major player in Marvel's cosmic hierarchy that when Thanos got the Infinity Gauntlet, killed half of all life in the universe, and subjected the universe to his twisted whims, the Living Tribunal chose not to intervene because an event that only impacted a single universe was too small-scale for him to step in. I don't know what could have killed him, but his death is a clear sign that something is very wrong with the universe.
One Incursion takes place in Latveria's borders, and while Doctor Doom hasn't learned about the full extent of the Incursions yet, he knows that Reed and Doctor Strange are involved somehow. The Illuminati's secrecy and scheming feels like a house of cards that could blow over with the slightest breeze, and all of that is before Thanos launches a full-scale invasion of Earth at the end of issue 8.
This ties into the Infinity event that introduces Thanos's lieutenants, the Black Order, so it seems like a good place to stop for now. Going by the issue previews, it seems like this issue came out around the same time as Avengers #15, so I'll read up to that before reading the Infinity event. The drama in these issues is gripping and keeps me guessing when and how this is all going to collapse, and what the fallout is going to be like. (at the very least, it seems like Captain America is going to hold a grudge, and Sue is going to be furious at Reed) I'm aware of some details about what's to come, such as the identity of Rabum Alal, but I'm still interested to see when and how this backfires horribly on the Illuminati.
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