Avengers Arena 13 Cover

[espanolbot]

Not following this series, but this cover and the solicit amused me.


http://marvel.com/news/story/20792/helpmolly_locate_avengers_arena

Out of curiousity, have they actually established what prompted this whole arena thing in-verse yet? I know that Arcade had a thing for deathtraps, but is there an actual reason for why he's suddenly done this beyond "Just Because"? Like the idea of this thing having gone on for years, and its where all the minor superheroes that just seem to vanish end up.

Like if this series was based in the DCU, the main characters could stump across a hidden bunker inhabited by Trixie Collins, Magpie, Topo and Anarky, who've been hiding out for years like Laurence Fishbourne's character in the (underrated) movie Predators.

Comments

[chrisdv]

Well, Arcade is screwed.

[icon_uk]

I'd agree, but since this is a title which has killed the likes of Juston, not sure I see Molly as being immune.

[espanolbot]

She's in a team-up with Pym at least, that should give her some plotshielding.

[long_silence]

I don't think Pym and Molly are even going to find where Arcade is holding the Arena, them finding it would end things too soon (season one goes on until issue 18 after all), so I think Molly is safe for now.

[shingi70]

Nah Molly is protected by the Xmen event armor. Unfortunately its also why nico and chase can still buy it

[icon_uk]

Wasn't Mettle a mutant too?

[yvonmukluk]

None of the Avengers Academy kids were mutants, I think they're technically Mutates (which are different...somehow).

[bariman]

"Mutants" are people that have a natural X-Gene that gives them superpowers. "Mutates" are people who have been artificially genetically altered to give them powers. Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four could be considered "mutates," while the X-Men and Franklin and Valeria Richards are "mutants" because they are naturally born with genetic powers.

[long_silence]

Does Valeria have any mutant powers? Other than her ridiculous super intelligence (which I think comes from her father or the crazy reincarnation/time travel shenanigans that went on before she was born)

[icon_uk]

In MU terms, mutates are metahumans who do not possess an active x-gene. they are humans who have gained their powers through an external factor, be it radioactive spider-bites, cosmic rays, or even mongoose blood transfusions.

So Mr Fantastic and the Invisible Woman are mutates, but their son Franklin is a mutant, because his powers stem from an active x-gene (Though it's been hinted that the cosmic rays which hit his parents might make him more powerful than he would otherwise have been)

[spacebetween]

Have they actually said that he has an X-gene? After all I grow some what annoyed that everyone born with the powers seems to be lumped in as being a mutant even though their parent/s got their powers by other means.

[ablackraptor]

Going from the only book I've read that actually bothered to explain the X-Gene (namely, an X-Men Secret Invasion Tie-in), the X-Gene isn't a specific gene, but rather any gene that is capable of granting some physiological variation, so technically yes, every human born with powers that are't magical in nature would technically be a mutant.
Of course, that makes no sense since everyone has at least some genetic differences from others, but, comics.

[spacebetween]

You do have a point as I just realised that Beast's X-Gene was because his father received a large dose of radiation

[icon_uk]

The DCU has Roulette's establishment "The House", which had racked up a deathcount before we'd even heard of it, with their "Fallen Players of the Game" including the likes of Firebrand, Impala, Maxi-Man</>, Ram of the New Guardians, Flyboy and most of the Hybrid

[espanolbot]

Hm, so Ram was killed by Roulette's fight club, while Gloss (the Chinese lady) was decapitated in a throw away panel in Cry for Justice. For a group that was intended to breed a new, improved race of humanity (seriously, that's why the group was established, despite having a bloke on the "team" who explictly wasn't into women) they don't really have a good success rate.

Personally? In my mind if someone was ever going to run one of these teenage death match things it should have been Granny Goodness, as a kind of "survival of the fittest" thing to get the best servants for Darkseid. It would explan the high turnover on superhero teams in the DCU at least, with random members being abducted to feed Granny's recruitment drive.

That might have been what was meant to be going on in the Teen Titans tie-ins to Final Crisis, but most of the damn things were such a mess I couldn't make hide nor hair of 'em. Like why was Clock King in there, why did he have superpowers and Phantasm death-balls? Why was he using his powers to justify hitting on Rose Wilson? Did he really kill Kanto and another upper New God just to show how "dangerous and cool" he was?

[icon_uk]

For a group that was intended to breed a new, improved race of humanity (seriously, that's why the group was established, despite having a bloke on the "team" who explictly wasn't into women)

The usefulness of a gay uncle to spoil any kids who came along (and be defacto babysitter) should not be underestimated

As for Clock King having powers, AFAIK he was a new guy who had powers who then bought the "rights" to the name Clock King from Luthor's organisation to make use of brand recognition.

[skjam]

Most people missed it, because let's face it, after Snowflame there wasn't much to keep people reading New Guardians--but in the final issue, it's revealed that they *aren't* the progenitors of the next evolution of humanity, they were just the team designated to make sure the actual progenitors stayed alive long enough to do that.

[espanolbot]

Well, that's mildly less offensive.

Would still love for Snowflame to be canon again though, outside of his fan webcomic.

[icon_uk]

Out of eight members we had a gay bloke, a guy whose biology had been replaced by computer hardware, a guy whose biology was now botany and a woman who was now a non-corporeal part of the Aboriginal Australian DreamTime.. the clues were sort of obvious in retrospect.

[skemono]

Well, at least someone's noticed teenage superheroes have gone missing.

[long_silence]

To be honest I wasn't too crazy about how Gage ended the Runaways/Avengers Academy crossover

The idea that the Runaways would be willing to listen to Hank Pym of all people, to report to him on a regular basis and let him decide whether or not they're suitable guardians for Molly and Klara just goes against everything the Runaways are about.

Also I'm still not too crazy about the Julie Power/Karolina Dean relationship. It was never properly developed

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Well, letting teenage kids play hooky and endanger minors is definitely not what the Avengers are about. I think Gage found a nice balancing act, all things considered.

[blunderbuss]

Yeah, I think I heavily raged before how the Julie/Karolina relationship appeared from nowhere and totally ignored what happened to Xavin.

[practicalcat]

Yes, all of this. Pym or Tigra attempting to exert any pressure on the Runaways post-retrieval-of-Old-Lace (which...she got crushed by a house. How was she in another dimension?) should have resulted in an immediate group-teleport from Nico, rather than "let's you and him fight" and a spell to make everyone "understand" each other. Frankly, that spell still doesn't make sense. Just because Pym and Tigra now understand how badly the Avengers screwed over the Runaways now doesn't mean that they'd go "okay, you can just waltz on out of here back to the streets!"

And I'm still at least 98% sure that Karolina and Julie's relationship is based entirely around the fact they both fly using rainbows.

[majingojira]

#7 Dealt with what sparked Arcade's plan. It's really, really quite bad. Not as bad as #10, mind you, but very bad.

And it's really, really stupid. It is literally the same as the out-of-universe reason: to make Arcade a credible threat again.

Gage's answer to the first question in that interview really speaks volumes to me at least. Mechanically, Mettle's death worked. But due to off focus and other errors, it really was shallow and lifeless.

[goggle_kid]

For those that missed it basically Arcade had a midlife crisis because the other villains didn't like him and hired a new assistant named Miss Coriander who did all the real heavy lifting in building the arena and making the technology possible. Oh and he might have killed Constrictor.

Also anti-magic nanobots are now a thing...

And I would argue issue 9 is worse than 10 even though the heroes now seem to be running on a serious case of the Idiot plot.

[beyondthefringe]

According to Alpha: Big Time, Constrictor seems alive and well...and claiming he's not really a bad guy any longer. It's a very brief scene, but it helps me to think that maybe the real Constrictor we all know and love is out there following his complicated road to grey-area redemption...

[bariman]

Dunno how it ties into the comics, but in the "Avengers Alliance" Facebook game Constrictor won an excessive force lawsuit against Hercules and got more money than he knew what to due with, and now wants to work for SHIELD/the player to get some redemption.

[q99]

Yea, that lawsuit happened in She-Hulk.

And he was in Avengers: The Initiative for awhile too, hanging with the (also working with the good guys) Taskmaster.

[spacebetween]

Avengers Alliance isn't Earth-616, it's a different reality. The game just takes different aspects from the comics and movies and combines it. After all in the game, Ultron was made to combat Kang and went rogue soon after that.

[bariman]

I know it's different, I just meant I didn't know how much of the comics continuity it brings in regarding the Constrictor. The issue of Avengers Arena he's in is one of the covers you need to get, though.

[starwolf_oakley]

Arcade's idea isn't *that* new. Amahl Farouk (the Shadow King) did something similar.

http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix3/flynnalexanderbb.htm

[goggle_kid]

Honestly I find the whole concept of Christos Gage's fill-in issue to be a more engaging concept than the whole set-up for Avengers Arena. Seriously I want a monthly book about Molly and Ant-Man fighting crime.

[terrykun]

Cameo in Avengers A.I. with Victor and his grandpa?

[blunderbuss]

Awwwwww, this cover makes me sad. Poor Molly. :(

[yvonmukluk]

Oh boy, the only issue of this godforsaken series I might consider buying or even giving a second glance to!

And I'm still not going to buy it (I'll just settle for following it via the posts here, same way I've been keeping track of Arena). Because with all due respect to Mr. Gage, this series can't fricking die soon enough. This is a cheap attempt to win back Academy fans and justfying whatever contrivance has stopped anyone noticing the missing kids or at least questioning where they went. I note that this is also being explained in the issue not being written by Hopeless and looking at the interview, apparently Gage is the one setting up the details. Frankly, if another writer has to explain how your story can work (i.e. why the other heroes haven't flipped the Marvel Universe upside down to find the missing kids), that's a pretty major failure of making the story. Not to mention, this issue *can't* end with them making any progress at all, because otherwise Hank would pass it along to everyone else and Arena would be over because they'd found the kids.

This issue will probably be better than most of the others in this series, but they need to hurry up and cancel and/or retcon this stupid story. Heck if they do it soon enough, they can still squeeze the characters into Infinity Hunt or whatever.

[rordulum]

I've not read any of this series, so I know nothing other than it seems to be some sort of Battle Royale knock off (though it's probably more Hunger Games, I suppose).

They can kill Chase, I wouldn't miss him. But Nico was one of my favourite Runaways, and definitely worthy of being more than cannon fodder in some trashy book.

Get Nico to appear in Avengers: AI instead. I liked her relationship with Victor. Up until Whedon ruined it because... I actually don't know why he did that, to be honest. It didn't serve much of any purpose.