Avengers Armageddon #3: The Road to Hell…

After the disastrous battle across Symkaria. Ross has gone missing and Colton has gone AWOL. As the Avengers regroup and figure out their next move, Colton reveals his plan for the world and a series of betrayals will rock the heroes to their core.

After some build up through the first two issues, Avengers Armageddon delivers a legitimately great issue that establishes its stakes. If there is anything holding this issue back, it’s the greater Marvel universe. It’s hard to fear a potential nuclear holocaust when: Origin boxes are floating around unaccounted for, a demon-possessed Hulk is infecting his way across the country, Knull and Hela are battling over symbiotes, and the original Hank McCoy is preparing to release a mutant plague across the planet. However, in spite of these more structural bumps in the road, the creative team still manages to pull it together where it counts.

Chip Zdarksy reveals Colton’s ultimate goal, the end of conflict on Earth. No nukes, no weapons, and no soldiers. It’s a bold position that’s been explored across multiple different forms of media, but I don’t think Marvel has taken a swing at it yet in the main universe lens. There is the question of humanity’s want for conflict and violence being somewhat protected by Wolverine of all people, Bucky’s joining of Colton’s cause makes sense as they are both two old soldiers wanting to end their mission (Logan also fits that category but goes another way). Colton to his credit is also not just rambling. Zdarksy brings up a very good point that the Avengers are reactive instead of proactive, which has been explored in various forms before, but never on this scale. There are lines that COlton crosses that can’t be undone, and the world feels the consequences of Ross’ decisions.

Ari Aninidito’s art has some very strong moments backed by Jesus Arbutov’s deep colors. This is a book with art just as epic as its narrative.