Posted - November 5, 2015

Previous: Avengers 37 & 38

We start with a beautiful location shot of Spain.

This is where the Illuminati are currently "hiding". Let's take a peek shall we?

Look at that panel. I don't care how big or how numerous the S.H.I.E.L.D. Avengers are, the Illuminati has the Hulk. And the brainpower, omigod, Richards, McCoy, Banner. Throw in T'Challa, Captain Britain - my money is on this team. Looks like they know it too since they know that Steve Rogers and his team are coming but they're just hanging around, waiting around. Like, you want it? Come and get it.

Now for the S.H.I.E.L.D. Avengers. Let's take a look at these guys.

Okay, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Avengers have the sexy women. Maybe brainpower and brute strength aren't everything after all.

It's interesting that the Illuminati team is organized around one spearhead - the Hulk. The S.H.I.E.L.D. team is built on a foundation made of War Machines.

Who's inside you ask? No one. Rhodey is controlling every single robot.

As the panel above states, the mental effort of controlling all these robots at once has dangerous physical ramifications. Makes me wonder why Steve doesn't just assign one S.H.I.E.L.D. agent per War Machine.

No matter. The S.H.I.E.L.D. Avengers are right on top of the Illuminati and it's game on!

First move.

Wow. The big guy is huge! The Hulk proceeds to take apart the War Machines like they were tinker toys. Just goes to show, always bet on the team with the Hulk unless the other team has another Hulk or Thor.

As if the Hulk wasn't enough, Captain Britain goes Jedi.

Okay, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Avengers "foundation" team is keeping the enemy, well, busy (at the cost of millions of dollars of junked War Machines it looks like). Time to send out the heavy hitters. Here's the heaviest hitter of them all against the Green Guy.

Wow. But that's not all. Carol simply doesn't let up.

Result?

Speaking as the guy who bet his money on the Illuminati, I feel like the world's smartest investor. Hulk knows Carol is basically invincible so . . .

In Captain Marvel's scrapbook the picture above will be captioned "Getting hit by the fucking Hulk!".

Did I say that the S.H.I.E.L.D. Avengers had heavy hitters? I meant 'heavy hitter'. And she just "exited the atmosphere". After Captain Marvel, the only one Steve can send out (other than Sam) is this guy.

Who knows? Clint has pulled some rabbits out of a hat over the years, maybe he can make a real impact here.

Nah.

At this point, the S.H.I.E.L.D. Avengers are about to lose. At least that's what I think. We'll never know because something happens.

Looming large over the two Helicarriers is an A.I.M. ship. Who would have thunk that A.I.M. could outbuild S.H.I.E.L.D.? But they clearly have. This isn't really A.I.M. approaching though. Not the old A.I.M. Advanced Idea Mechanics has been bought by Roberto DaCosta, leader of . . .

. . . the New Avengers. Now. all three Avengers teams, except the Multiversals, are within hitting or talking distance of each other. I wonder what they'll choose?

Talking.

First point:

No more bickering. Form a united front to stop the Cabal's world-destroying rampage.

Second point:

After all is said and done: Justice for all actions taken.

Third point:

There is no more time.

Fourth point:

The Avengers are going to use the upcoming Incursion to destroy the Cabal. This bears some explaining. What the Cabal does during an incursion of two Earths is to blow up one Earth (and it's universe) to save the other Earth (and it's universe). Whether the Cabal is ruthlessly right or ruthlessly wrong is a debate I'll leave for another day. The important thing is to note the Cabal's standard operating procedure: (a) Set up a world-destroying bomb in in World 1 (b) Teleport to World 2 (c) Blow up World 1.

What the Avengers are planning to do is use this.

A shield between worlds

This will prevent the Cabal from teleporting to World 2 and thus, ensuring they get annihilated by their own bomb in World 1. In order to make this work, Namor - a member of the Cabal - will make sure everything is coordinated.

That's the idea. Let's see this plan in action . . .

We are in World 1 and the Cabal gets into a tussle.

The A.I.M. shield is launched.

Namor primes the bomb

Namor escapes and leaves the 'doomed' Cabal.

Namor makes his way to the space between worlds, ready to jump to safety, and here is where the Avengers train starts to derail. Here's the picture that paints a thousand words.

Of course, some of those words might be organized into questions. To the point: The Atlantean owes the Wakandan a blood debt and the Panther has chosen this time - this terribly important time - to settle the score. My question is: How did that knife manage to get through? Namor is bulletproof. That question aside, a knife, no matter how formidable, cannot kill the Submariner, so T'Challa has brought a human weapon:

Or rather an Inhuman weapon. issue 40 of the Avengers is titled "Three Kings", and here they all are - the Three Kings. Atlantis. Wakanda. Attilan. So here we have Namor getting shouted at by the man who must never make a sound, or else.

We end this tale with yet another question: Did we just see the death of Namor the Submariner?

Next: Avengers 41 & 42