Avengers West Coast #50

[iamrman]

In an attempt to solve the mystery behind the Vision’s origins, the Avengers visit the grave of the original Human Torch.

Immortus being cryptically vague as always. We’re lucky this particular plan didn’t involve Space Phantoms. Or did it...?

Comments

[thanekos]

The story spends a page addressing the obvious contradictions to its premise, then pulls back to reveal that those contradictions were the work of a villain smirking about how all of this will lead to his own self-gratification.

This unintentionally leads one to identify the writer (" [rigging] this colossal deception ") with that leering egotist.

[full_metal_ox]

This unintentionally leads one to identify the writer (" [rigging] this colossal deception ") with that leering egotist.

You’ve pinpointed the central annoyance of so much of Garth Ennis’ and Mark Millar’s work.

[starwolf_oakley]

Immortus' motives seem clear enough. Partially. Although I don't think we got clearer look at what he wanted until the AVENGERS FOREVER miniseries.

John Byrne explained his original plan at ByrneRobotics.com.

When I came to do AVENGERS WEST COAST this was the accepted way of portraying Wanda's power -- but the more I thought about it, the more I realized this was really an incredible complication of something that had once been so simple. I mean, think about it! For Wanda to alter probabilities she would have to be reaching back thru the whole temporal chain of events that led to a single moment. She would have to be altering time -- retroactively!

Well, that sure seemed like something that could catch the eye of Immortus, eventually, and as I wrote the story, it did. Immortus, who had been seen pinching off alternate realities as part of a set up to this story, was engaged in a program of whittling the multiverse down to a single time-line. One which he would control.

Discovering Wanda's power, he was going to kidnap her and use her to further his plans. And the first thing he was going to do was alter probabilities so that when the Avengers battled Kang the first time, Kang won!

[scorntx]

... that bit about Wanda's powers seems an awful lot like latching onto a minor detail and seriously overthinking about it.

[mindsweeper]

I am amused by Wanda here.

‘Papers? I don’t need no stinkin’ papers.’ That’s been her attitude most of this run, impatience followed by doing whatever she wants.

‘Let me just use my completely unpredictable reality warping powers on this grave.’ Like of all possible outcomes, this hex probably turned out the best it could.