To save two worlds, it will cost the Avengers and Champions more than they can bare!
AVENGERS #674
Writer: Mark Waid
Artist: Jesus Saiz
Cover Artist: Alex Ross
Publisher: Marvel Comics
What You Need to Know: The Avengers and Champions have defeated the High Evolutionary. But they still must travel to the center of Counter-Earth in order to stop it from colliding with our Earth. The two teams have only a limited time with the Evolutionary’s followers still protecting his core. With Viv Vision turned human, the teams are one man down and racing against the clock.
What You’ll Find Out: Traversing the depths of Counter-Earth, the Avengers and Champions make their way closer to the core in hopes of stopping the final phase shift that’ll destroy both worlds. And while this is classic superhero adventuring at its best. It’s really the father/daughter moment between Viv and Vision that matters most here. Vision finally confesses why he’s been overprotective of Viv. Telling her that he’s been to the future and knows that he will live forever, but his family was never meant to. And while the Vision is able to unburden that secret, there is little time to let it sink in. The Champion’s and Avengers are confronted by one last army of Ani-men with only minutes left to spare.
Viv, who has no powers, sneaks past all the fighting in order to try and shut off the Evolutionary’s machines herself. But she runs into an unexpected guardian of the core. The High Evolutionary’s son, Higher Evolutionary. The Higher Evolutionary isn’t there for his father, rather he thinks he’s protecting the life on his planet. Viv must convince him to change the phase shift or those he is trying to protect will die. Viv nearly convinces him until the fight from the Ani-men, Avengers, and Champions spill into their conversation. Higher Evolutionary takes this as a sign Viv is lying and attacks the two teams himself. Again, Viv sneaks past the fighting and enters the core. Viv stops the two worlds from colliding and being destroyed. But her new frail human body can’t handle the vibrational frequency and she phases out of existence…or so it seems.
What Just Happened? Waid pulls the trigger on his year-long story around the Vision and his daughter. Little seeds planted in both his Avengers title and Champions title that was the connecting factor in this crossover all along. While it’s fun to have the classic story of the old guard and new guard. It becomes much more touching when the element of family is there. Especially when one looks at it from the standpoint that as a parent, Vision just wanted to protect his daughter as long as possible. Waid does his best to make this hit the heartstrings. He succeeds as nothing feels forced or superficial, even if this was the ending you could see coming. And in all fairness, it’s the only ending that would make sense for maximum impact. No other characters in the story have as much of an emotional connection as Vision and Viv.
I honestly don’t think Alex Ross could ever do a bad cover. The dude is just artistic talent personified. The cover just speaks volumes on its own. Saiz follows suit as he makes every page count in this emotional part of the crossover. From the colors to facial expressions, there is no wasted space on any of these pages. It’s even a testament to his skill as he brings the most human moments in the faces of characters like the Vision and the High Evolutionary. It’s a pretty book from start to finish.
Rating: 9/10. Final Thought: Besides the predictable nature of Viv sacrificing herself to save the worlds. It really doesn’t take away from how good the issue was. It’s just solid writing and solid art all across the board. And considering that there is still one last part to go before the crossover ends. It’s difficult to imagine what could come next after such an ending to this issue.