Avengers’ Longest Storyline Ends, But Was It Worth The Wait?

The longest storyline in the modern history of Marvel’s Avengers is coming to a conclusion in December 2022, but after such a long buildup it’s inevitable to ask if the finale of Jason Aaron’s run as writer of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes was worth the wait. Mephisto’s machinations to destroy the Avengers and conquer the Multiverse have been developing for four years, and for the majority of the time, the story felt like a slow drag rather than a thrilling ride.

Jason Aaron was tasked in 2018 to relaunch Marvel’s flagship superhero team. For the first time in years, the “big three,” Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man, were all available to join the team, so it was a chance to bring back the classic Avengers, but with some new faces such as Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes) and Blade. The group dealt with major crises, starting with a troupe of rogue Celestials and a new superhuman Cold War with Russia, but very soon in the series, one overarching villain began to show his tail and hooves. The Demon Lord Mephisto realized that, to conquer Earth (and thus the universe) he has to get rid of the Age of Heroes and its biggest champions, the Avengers, at the moment of birth. To this purpose, he recruits a group of villains from many realities, called the Multiversal Masters of Evil, led by the most deranged and evil version of Victor von Doom, the Doom Supreme.

When Mephisto’s plan took form, it developed on two different levels and in two different comic books. The main Avengers series follows the Mightiest Heroes of Earth-616 dealing with the demon lord’s machinations in their home reality, while Avengers Forever focuses on the Multiverse, showing many Earths that have been taken over by the Masters of Evil and turned into nightmares, while the Invincible Ant-Man recruits a multiversal team of Avengers to put a stop to it. Many times it was teased that two final confrontations will take place, one in the Stone Age of Earth-616 to protect the Avengers of 1,000,000 BC from the Masters, and one at Avengers Tower at Infinity End, the residence of the mysterious Avenger Prime, where the multiversal Avengers will assemble to defeat Mephisto and his Council of Reds. Marvel finally announced when and where this will all happen: Avengers Assemble Alpha #1, by Jason Aaron and Bryan Hitch, is coming out on November 30, followed by Avengers #63, by Jason Aaron and Javier Garròn, on December 7, and finally Avengers Forever #12, by Jason Aaron and Aaron Kuder, will arrive on December 21.

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While Aaron’s Avengers run has been without a doubt big and ambitious, developing throughout four years of stories and featuring a cavalcade of characters from the entire Multiverse, when a story becomes too big it always risks losing its sense of direction. Mephisto’s plan started back in issue #7, and getting closer to #60 readers still have no idea of what it could be. Doom Supreme and his new Masters of Evil have been interesting, but the Multiverse shown in Avengers Forever has been mostly disappointing for its lack of originality. More importantly, the actual Avengers, who should be the protagonists of the story, were sidelined by an ever-expanding plot and a procession of Multiversal characters who will soon be forgotten. The buildup has been so long that it’s hard to maintain interest and to believe that the stakes are actually high.

When the Time Runs Out storyline took over every Avengers comic for eight months as a prelude to the destruction of the Multiverse in Secret Wars, the buildup was commensurate to the stakes and the delivery. Aaron’s plot lasted six times more and it’s impossible that the delivery will be bigger than the end of the Multiverse, but readers will have to get to the end of this Avengers story to find out the answer.