Time Runs Out part 1 (Avengers and New Avengers)

Time Runs Out part 1

Avengers #35-39 and New Avengers #24-28

Originally released in 2014

Written by Jonathan Hickman

Art by Jim Cheung (A #35), Mike Deodato (N.A. #24, 28, A #39), Stefano Caselli (A #36-38), Kev Walker (N.A. #25-27)

I'm glad Marvel had a reading order for this set of issues, because it seemingly requires that you jump back and forth between Avengers and New Avengers.  Since Steve Rogers rediscovered the Illuminati and informed the rest of the Avengers, eight months have passed.  In that time, Steve became an old man and seemingly became the leader of SHIELD, Sam Wilson has become Captain America, the Illuminati has gained several members (Captain Britain, Amadeus Cho, and Hank Pym in his Yellowjacket identity; Pym going into that identity never seems like a good sign), and the Illuminati have gone into hiding.

The growing rift between Steve Rogers and Tony Stark echoes the Civil War event, though in this case, it doesn't seem like either side is intended to be in the right.  Both Steve and Tony are obsessive over their respective goals, refusing to compromise or listen to reason and firmly believing that they're the only one in the right when it's clear that it's not a black-and-white conflict and all of their pointless arguing is wasting what little time the universe has left.

Thor has also gone through some changes - as a result of the Original Sin event, he's no longer worthy to wield Mjolnir, forcing him to use the hammer belonging to his alternate universe counterpart that only works if someone is unworthy of using it.  Also, he's lost his arm.  All of this sets up Jason Aaron's run on Thor, where a mysterious woman takes up the mantle of Thor. (at least, it was originally intended to be a mystery, though nowadays, her identity seems to be fairly common knowledge)

Captain Britain only makes brief appearances, but his involvement seems ominous.  While I'm not sure if Captain Britain's comics introduced the multiverse to the Marvel continuity, it played a major role in fleshing it out, with the Captain Britain Corps. being made up of the individual defenders of a given universe.  Now, Captain Britain explicitly states that he's the only member left, so someone or something is deliberately trying to destabilize the multiverse, or the underlying problem is so big that it killed or trapped every other member.

On top of this, the Illuminati's existence and the concept of Incursions have become public knowledge thanks to Namor and his newly-formed Cabal.  The Cabal consists of Thanos, Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight (two of his most loyal lieutenants), Black Swan, an alternate universe version of Terrax the Terrible, and Maximus the Mad.  The nations of the world seemingly voted to let the Cabal run rampant over Wakanda and take the Illuminati's anti-matter bombs in exchange for the Cabal saving the universe by slaughtering other Earths.

Even Namor is disgusted by the slaughter that the Cabal has been doing, and turns to Doctor Doom for help, though he's soundly rejected.  Doom, as it turns out, has his own plans for the Incursions; it's unclear what they are, but they involve Molecule Man and possibly going back to the beginning of the universe.

While in hiding, Doctor Strange managed to take over the Black Priests - I'm not sure if this happened off-screen or if it was in another book. (Sam becoming Captain America, and Steve aging decades over the span of eight months, happened in other books)  With the Black Priests under the relatively benevolent command of Doctor Strange, the biggest threat to the multiverse is the conflict between Rabum Alal (Black Swan's lord and master, also known as the Great Destroyer) and the White Kings (who have only been vaguely hinted at so far).

Also, Sunspot bought out A.I.M., Cannonball had a child with Smasher, and Shang-Chi found a way to clone himself. (the visual below isn't a representation of his movements; it's various clones of his in action)  It's a LOT, though I seem to be nearing the climax.

Hickman's writing does a good job at making this feel like watching a car crash in slow motion - we know that things are going to go horribly wrong, and seemingly nothing can be done to prevent it. (that sounded like more of a compliment in my head; he does a good job at giving characters major flaws that cause them to come into conflict with each other for logical reasons, when other stories force a conflict in when it might not make sense)

I wanted to continue this storyline, but as it's twenty issues long (ten for each series), I felt like it would be best to do half now and half at another time.  Still, I had a lot of trouble putting this story down and stopping for the day - I wanted to see what happened next, especially with Secret Wars looming further down the road.  I know Captain America and Iron Man are going to have to compromise at some point, though for all I know, nothing short of a universal reset will fix their fractured friendship.