Avengers Forever
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| Avengers Forever | |
 Cover to Avengers Forever trade paperback. Art by Carlos Pacheco. |
|
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
|---|---|
| Schedule | monthly |
| Format | Limited series |
| Publication date | 1998 - 1999 |
| Number of issues | 12 |
| Main character(s) | Rick Jones, Kang, Captain America, Yellowjacket, Giant-Man, Wasp, Hawkeye, Songbird, Captain Marvel |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Kurt Busiek Roger Stern |
| Penciller(s) | Carlos Pacheco |
| Inker(s) | Jesus Merino |
| Colorist(s) | Steve Oliff Graphic Colorworks |
Avengers Forever is a twelve-issue comic book limited series published from Dec. 1998 to Nov. 1999 by Marvel Comics. The series was written by Kurt Busiek and Roger Stern and drawn by Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino.
[edit] Publication history
Marvel originally contracted Busiek and Pacheco to produce a series called Avengers: World in Chains, but as it was considered to be too similar to another project (Mutant X, according to Busiek in the collected edition's foreword) it was cancelled by the company. [1] As Busiek and Pacheco were under contract, the pair developed the concept for Avengers Forever instead. [1]
[edit] Plot
The being Immortus sends his servant Tempus to kill an apparently critically ill Rick Jones, the possessor of the 'Destiny Force', a powerful ability he utilized during the Kree-Skrull War. Rick, however, is saved by the alien Kree Supreme Intelligence, who urges him to use the Destiny Force to summon aid. Rick pulls various members of the superhero team the Avengers from the timeline, utilizing past, present and future. The team consists of Captain America, who is pulled from an adventure in which he discovers a high-ranking government official is the leader of the Secret Empire; [2] Yellowjacket from a time when he is mentally unbalanced; [3] Hawkeye from just after the conclusion of the Kree-Skrull War and war against Olympus; [4] Giant-Man (also Hank Pym) and the Wasp from the present [5] while Songbird and Captain Marvel are taken from an alternative future.
The Time Keepers reveal that mankind will eventually travel into space and establish the Terran Empire, which will be at the cost of many alien cultures. A future version of the Avengers will apparently be at the forefront of the expansion. The Avengers battle Immortus across several different eras (including an encounter in the American Old West with the Two-Gun Kid; the Night Rider; the Ringo Kid; the Rawhide Kid and Kid Colt), and discover he is possession of the Forever Crystal, an artifact that can control multiple realities. Kang the Conqueror, who is destined to evolve into Immortus, aids the Avengers and in the final battle he kills the Time Keepers when they attempt to punish Immortus for failing. Captain Marvel merges with Rick to save his life, and then they and all the Avengers are returned to their respective time lines with a lingering memory of the incident. [6]
A consequence of the adventure is that due to Immortus' use of the Forever Crystal, an alternate Earth version of the Avengers formed in the 1950's (consisting of Marvel Boy, Venus, the 3-D Man, Gorilla-Man, the Human Robot, Jimmy Woo, Namora and Jann of the Jungle) [7] now exist in mainstream reality (Earth-616 ). [8]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Cronin, Brian Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #146 Comic Book Resources.com
- ^ Captain America #176 (vol. 1, Aug. 1974)
- ^ Avengers #59 (vol. 1, Dec. 1968)
- ^ Avengers #88 - 100 (vol. 1, May. 1971 - June 1972)
- ^ Avengers #4 (vol. 3, May 1997)
- ^ Avengers Forever #1 - 12 (Dec. 98 - Nov. 99)
- ^ First seen What If…? #9 (Jun 1978)
- ^ Agents of Atlas #1 - #6 (Oct 2006 - Mar 2007)
