Infinity #6: "Amber"

[superboyprime]

The conclusion to Marvel's latest Big Event...

Comments

[simiansyndicate]

I don't mean this in a mean-spirited way, but...so this happened, and it is over now, but what are the implications? I mean, I don't see anything either earth-shattering or satisfying as far as an end goes.

[q99]

Yea, I wouldn't say it's a *bad* end... but 'Thanos has a son, the son turns him into a statue' isn't a cosmos shaking thing, it's just taking Thanos temporarily off the table again.

[devastron]

Thanos was also left in the custody of the Illuminati/New Avengers group. I was left under the impression that if the whole universe destroying thing got too bad for them they would just find a way to unleash Thanos again to help them out by destroying the other Earths/Universes.

The other implications would be...

1. The Skrull empire is reborn after its virtual destruction from attacks by Galactus, the Annihilation Wave and losses back in Secret Invasion.

2. The Shi'ar Empire looking like a force to be reckoned with again.

3. Ditto with the Kree.

4. Annihilus and his forces having now having a stable and what appears to be permanent access out of the Negative zone.

I suppose it might not seem like a big deal if you are just looking at things from a purely earth perspective but another writer could certainly pick up on some of those threads and run with them.

[cainofdreaming]

Hickman glosses over the re-emergence of the freaking Annihilation Wave in two panels?

Oh the fuck. "My concepts are bigger than yours" is really off the charts here.

[q99]

I presume the thought is that most of the wave was simply destroyed in Annihilation, so it's not *as* big a threat as it was, just something to worry about.


Because otherwise.... yea...

[cainofdreaming]

It was presented as "the second great Annihilation Wave" previously in the series. And the cosmic alliance leaders seemed to regard it as as big a threat than the previous one. The Builders did end up destroying the portion that was deployed against them, but the amount that actually got through the wormhole to take part in that fight didn't seem in the same league than during Annihilation so I'm not sure how big the wave's losses were in the end.

[icon_uk]

So what did Thane actually DO? Did he just create an amber shell around his daddy dearest and whatsername? And if so, what is the significance of the smouldering thing in front of the cube?

[protogarrett]

Yeah, it's rather vague what Living Death exactly is. Thane is being set up as a Big Bad worse than Thanos. It was a great event, and I think this was all set up for both future Earth events and big Cosmic events.

Sad to see Ex Nhilo die and leave the avengers. He was actually kinda nifty. Abyss also left, so boo. Nightmask and Starbrand are remaining and they haven't said anything about Capitain Universe. (Which still leaves LOTS of heavy hitters on their side.)

[icon_uk]

How is Thane considered to be a Big Bad worse than Thanos? We've seen him devote his past life to healing and do ONE thing deliberately since he accepted his Thanos side, and that was STOP Thanos, that's a tick in the "Good" column. (The deaths caused by his accepting his Thanos side weren't deliberate)

[beyondthefringe]

I got the impression that Ex Nihilo and Abyss were sort of status unclear at the moment. There's a bit in #24 where Steve and Tony are discussing members, and they make it sound like those two (Ex Nihilo is specifically mentioned, Abyss not, but they do go together) are possibly available, maybe not, but undecided.

[halloweenjack]

I thought it was a deliberate callback to the time, way way back, when Adam Warlock turned Thanos to stone at the end of the original cosmic (aka Infinity) gems saga.

[icon_uk]

I suppose it might be, but I see a big tonal difference between turning someone who had been alive to stone, and basically slabbing them a la CGC.

[halloweenjack]

It's pretty much the exact same pose.

[starwolf_oakley]

Adam Warlock since Spider-Man was there to let him out of the Soul Gem. Actually, the story suggests that a few cosmic being had done... something so Spider-Man would be at the right place at the right time.

[big_daddy_d]

I can only go by the use of the ability in the Avengers Alliance game as I've unlocked Thane. It's simply that. Trap someone in Amber for god knows how long. In game just a turn. lol

[kevinroc]

I can only go by the use of the ability in the Avengers Alliance game as I've unlocked Thane. It's simply that. Trap someone in Amber for god knows how long. In game just a turn. lol

In-universe, it will be whenever Jim Starlin finishes his already announced new Thanos projects.

(Apparently Starlin didn't know Thanos was going to be in Avengers until he saw the movie. And he and Marvel started talking to each other again. We don't know how things went beyond Starlin agreeing to more Thanos work. Unfortunately, Starlin did say he started the project before he learned much about the Infinity event but he'll try to tie the continuity as tightly as he can.)

[chrisdv]

So, next turn then.

Wow, the game really nailed that power.

[silicondream]

So what did Thane actually DO? Did he just create an amber shell around his daddy dearest and whatsername?

Thane triggered his Serrano-Vision, and reimagined Thanos as Piss Thanos. It is a terrible power, or at least somewhat embarrassing.

And if so, what is the significance of the smouldering thing in front of the cube?

I think that’s just a chunk of rock that the cube is sitting on top of, and it’s smouldering for atmosphere (or to emphasize that the earth is still hot from all the energy beams being slung around a second ago)?

[halloweenjack]

Thane triggered his Serrano-Vision, and reimagined Thanos as Piss Thanos.

That is literally about the only thing that would get me to pay cash money for this.

[thanekos]

Space Peter Cushing will never ever stop talking.

(Of course, it's his talent..)

[doctor_spanky]

I'm not really enjoying Hickman's run. It's a cosmic disempowerment story that neglects character arcs and warmth, and instead introduces a pack of unpleasant nihilistic non-characters

I like some of his cosmic concepts, but there's nothing human grounding the story. And the whole thing's too grimdark and self-serious to be fun

I'm excited to see Jim Starlin's make sense of all this in his Thanos thing he's writing

[akodo_rokku]

I'm not, since Starlin's cosmic DC work over the last several years has been so laughably bad. But we'll see.

[obsidianwolf]

Quality wise I'm not either but a small part of me can't wait to watch Thanos biggest fan go retcon happy on some of Hickman's concepts. I'm predicting it will be like that time he had to give a reason for Thanos not losing to Squirrel girl.

Edited for spelling.

[mrstatham]

I think my biggest problem in all of this is that Thanos has felt like such a non-entity in the face of what I'd call Hickman's 'A' plotline, that being the Builders. There was just too much going on in Infinity, and it isn't helped by the fact that it's still an ongoing thing; We had about fifteen issues of build-up or so in both Avengers and New Avengers, tie-in issues in the same months as Infinity, and NA is still carrying on the story; I'm almost questioning why Infinity as an event book needed to exist when it could have just been a six or seven part crossover for New Avengers and Avengers.

Still, at least Marvel have gotten good at the double-shipping thing and put competent artists on this book AND figured out ways of making the varying art styles fit to the varying tones of the story, whereas Forever Evil is dragged out as fuck and the art really isn't that pretty.

[chrisdv]

Well... At least Captain America got a better deal than Commander Shepard did in ME3.

[silicondream]

So, Thanos hates the idea of having kids. It's come up in multiple plotlines, he's visited terrible vengeance on Nebula for claiming to be his granddaughter, Gamora's there to be his metaphorical daughter so writers can explore any relevant emotional issues without having to invent actual offspring, etc.

And Thanos' powers and personality are, for the most part, not genetic. I mean, his closest relative is Starfox. It takes insanity, decades of technomagical R&D that makes Victor von Doom envious, and the occasional power boost from an ambitious top-tier cosmic entity to end up where Thanos is in life.

Given all this, why would you write a story about how Thanos has a kid and the kid inherits death powers and worse-than-death suspended animation powers and he defeats Thanos in one shot and then wanders away into space?

Also Curse Your Sudden But Inevitable Betrayal, Ebony Maw! Your only known superpower is being blatantly evil and treacherous, which is not normally something Thanos needs help with? I feel like this story would only make sense if it was all a prequel to his first appearance in the 70s when he was still figuring out his shoulderpads and he hadn't even blown up his first planet.

[wizardru]

I don't mean this in a mean way, but i honestly thought this event was over a couple of months ago. It seems so unfocused. I doesn't look bad (though it wasn't to my taste), but seemed very....I don't know, stale? I guess a lot of the ideas here of creating a Grand Unification Theory of the whole Marvel Cosmos feels really forced, to me. A lot of the material kind of feels like they've gone a long way to reset the MU back to 1986 status-quo or something.

I'm not sure why this falls so flat on my ears, when I've liked other Hickman stuff, but there it is.

[writeofway]

So the universe almost ended? Huh. Must be a Wednesday.