{"id":9326,"date":"2023-08-18T23:02:31","date_gmt":"2023-08-18T22:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=9326"},"modified":"2023-08-18T23:02:31","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T22:02:31","slug":"uncanny-avengers-1-annotations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/?p=9326","title":{"rendered":"Uncanny Avengers #1 annotations"},"content":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>UNCANNY AVENGERS vol 4 #1<\/strong>
\n“Truth & Justice”<\/strong>
\nWriter (main story): Gerry Duggan<\/strong>
\nWriter (G.O.D.S. page): Jonathan Hickman<\/strong>
\nArtist: Javier Garr\u00f3n<\/strong>
\nColour artist: Morry Hollowell<\/strong>
\nLetterer: Travis Lanham<\/strong>
\nDesign: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen<\/strong>
\nEditor: Tom Brevoort<\/strong><\/p>\n

UNCANNY AVENGERS.<\/strong> I don’t normally do Avengers books – and this\u00a0is<\/em> edited by the Avengers office – but it’s a five-issue Fall of X tie-in complete with the X-books design and written by Gerry Duggan. Despite the title, it’s really a second X-Men book with Captain America guest starring.<\/p>\n

This is the fourth run of\u00a0Uncanny Avengers<\/em>. The other three involved mash-up Avengers and X-Men team (the “Avengers Unity Squad”) designed to promote human-mutant relations. Duggan wrote volume 3 for 23 issues, and Captain America, Deadpool and Rogue were all featured prominently in that run.<\/p>\n

COVER \/ PAGE 1.\u00a0<\/strong>Pin-up of the team.<\/p>\n

PAGES 2-3. <\/strong>Tribute to John Romita.<\/p>\n

PAGES 4-6.<\/strong> Flashback: <\/em>Dr Stasis and M.O.D.O.K. revive a mystery man.<\/em><\/p>\n

This scene seems to be a parody of Captain America emerging from stasis and being told about how much things have changed, except this guy is being informed that it’s a dystopian future that needs to be reversed. The obvious implication is that the man being revived here is the new Captain Krakoa who debuted in\u00a0Free Comic Book Day 2023: Avengers \/ X-Men<\/em>. and who appears later in this issue.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“Orchis, … filling the void in law and order since S.H.I.E.L.D.’s demise.”<\/strong> This is how Orchis have been presenting themselves more generally outside the X-books (particularly in\u00a0Invincible Iron Man<\/em>). Presumably their role in helping defeat\u00a0Judgment Day<\/em> helped them to present themselves as some sort of quasi-superhero force. It’s not as if self-appointed world-savers don’t have a track record of being tolerated by Marvel Universe governments, after all.<\/p>\n

PAGE 7.\u00a0<\/strong>Recap and credits.<\/p>\n

PAGES 8-11.\u00a0<\/strong>Ben Urich recaps the plot for the benefit of Avengers readers.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ben Urich<\/strong> features prominently in Duggan’s\u00a0X-Men<\/em> run as the sympathetic journalist to whom Cyclops ultimately gives the story about mutant resurrection.<\/p>\n

“Mutant Massacre.”<\/strong> Captain Krakoa attacked Washington as a false flag attack in\u00a0Free Comic Book Day 2023: Avengers \/ X-Men<\/em> (which a footnote bizarrely chooses to call FCBD: Uncanny Avengers<\/em> – the Marvel Unlimited search engine is enough of a chore when you have the\u00a0right<\/em> name, guys, so do try to get this stuff correct). The use of “Mutant Massacre” is an ironic nod to Orchis apparent wiping out of most mutants and a callback to the Morlock massacre of the 1980s.<\/p>\n

I don’t know what the story about “E.S.U. Professor Gill” is referencing.<\/p>\n

“The mutants banded together and formed a nation. The announcement was heard around the world.”<\/strong> Professor X telepathically announced the foundation of Krakoa in\u00a0House of X<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Krakoan drugs.<\/strong> The drugs were tainted by Orchis infiltration, as revealed in X-Men\u00a0<\/em>in the run-up to\u00a0X-Men: <\/em>Hellfire Gala 2023<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Captain<\/strong> Krakoa\u00a0<\/strong>was originally Cyclops, using a cover identity as of\u00a0X-Men<\/em> #6 because he had died publicly in combat, and Krakoan resurrection was still supposed to be a secret.<\/p>\n

“Most of the mutants walked through their magic plant gates and haven’t been seen since.”<\/strong> Again,\u00a0X-Men: Hellfire Gala 2023<\/em>. The round-up of other mutants has been covered in\u00a0X-Men<\/em>.<\/p>\n

“There’s a civil war raging up there…”<\/strong> This is the current storyline in\u00a0X-Men Red<\/em>.<\/p>\n

PAGES 12-17.\u00a0<\/strong>Psylocke and Penance attack an Orchis Filtration Center.<\/em><\/p>\n

All of a sudden there are an awful lot of mutants who weren’t on Krakoa, to make this plot work. Seriously, there are enough random mutants for a facility of this size in\u00a0Kansas City<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Orchis’s mutant inhibitor injections have previously been seen in\u00a0X-Men<\/em> and\u00a0Immortal X-Men<\/em>. It\u00a0seems<\/em> to be genuine, but would you trust the guys who poisoned the Krakoan drugs?<\/p>\n

Psylocke.<\/strong> For the benefit of any Avengers fans who may be joining us, this is not Betsy Braddock, who was swapped back to her original body a few years ago. This is Kwannon, the true owner of the body that Betsy spent the 1990s and 2000s in – hence the caption about her being a Hand assassin. Despite what the narration says, she was more of an all-round low-level telepath than specifically a psychic knife user; that’s more of a trick that she picked up from Betsy.<\/p>\n

“The new Sentinels packing Iron Man’s technology.”<\/strong> The Stark Sentinels, seen extensively in X-Men<\/em> and Invincible Iron Man<\/em>. Orchis member Feilong got access to that technology by being the latest villain to take over Stark’s business.<\/p>\n

Penance.<\/strong> Monet’s Krakoan status quo is that she can<\/i> turn into this form but normally chooses to operate in her standard form – which is perfectly good for most purposes and has general Wonder Woman-style superpowers. The fact that she’s actively choosing to use the Penance form as a starting point might be defensive but it seems equally likely to be a reflection of her mood.<\/p>\n

“There were children on that island.”<\/strong> One of Psylocke’s main motivations is the loss of her child, as covered in Fallen Angels<\/em> and Hellions<\/em>.<\/p>\n

PAGES 18-22. <\/strong>Captain America recruits Psylocke and Penance into the Avengers.<\/em><\/p>\n

Captain America regards Orchis as fascists, but still sees his solution here as involving a public display of unity by putting some of the remaining mutants on a version of the Avengers. The rest of this group does comprise actual former Avengers – Deadpool, Quicksilver and Rogue – though including Deadpool in a team with an urgent public relations goal seems… questionable? Mind you, Deadpool’s had periods of mass popularity in the past within the Marvel Universe. At any rate, Psylocke and Monet decide to tag along, though it’s fairly clear that they regard Captain America as a pathetic centrist.<\/p>\n

The team’s secret base as described by Deadpool sounds like the X-Men Mansion, though we saw it in\u00a0X-Men\u00a0<\/em>#25 and it looked deserted.<\/p>\n

PAGES 23-24.<\/strong>\u00a0Captain Krakoa enters Krakoa.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Thunderbird<\/strong> appeared back in\u00a0X-Men<\/em> #1-2 (of the current run) and was named in honour of John Proudstar, only for him to be resurrected a few months later.<\/p>\n

The Brotherhood\u00a0<\/strong>is apparently just Captain Krakoa, Blob and Wildside – presumably the latest incarnation of the group variously known as the Brotherhood, the Brotherhood of Mutants and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. They’ll name themselves later in the issue as the new Mutant Liberation Front (the trailer page confirms that the “new” is not part of the name).<\/p>\n

The Blob and Wildside were both Krakoan residents – Blob in particular spent most of the Krakoan era working behind the bar – and heaven only knows how either of them avoided being marched through the gates by Professor X. Both ought to have been near to a gate, and non-resistant to Professor X’s control. Perhaps Orchis deliberately diverted a couple of bozos for use in this role.<\/p>\n

Although Blob is a career villain, he’s basically been a genial neutral throughout the Krakoan era – he was happy behind the bar and he doesn’t really want to get back into this. Wildside was a semi-crazed member of the original Mutant Liberation Front from the 1990s and has no real interest in any of this. The narrator tells us that Blob believes he’s working for Cyclops (which implies that Captain Krakoa can fake the voice), while Wildside “didn’t care”. Wildside isn’t normally the serial killer that the narrator presents him as here, but maybe he’s specifically very angry about Orchis right now, for understandable reasons.<\/p>\n

Oddly, Captain Krakoa’s entry onto Krakoa seems to go completely unnoticed by Professor X, who has been actively resisting landing attempts by Sebastian Shaw’s men over in\u00a0Immortal X-Men<\/em>. But Shaw’s men aren’t Orchis proper; maybe Orchis have better resources for this purpose, or maybe the stolen Captain Krakoa suit provides some protection against psychic attack.<\/p>\n

PAGE 25.\u00a0<\/strong>Captain Krakoa recruits Fenris.<\/em><\/p>\n

Fenris<\/strong> have been in the Pit since\u00a0Bishop: War College<\/em> #5. They’re shown here in their original 1980s costumes, but they weren’t actually wearing those when they were sent into the Pit. That’s probably just a continuity error. But a couple of other things about this scene are more odd. First, Fenris were working with Orchis in\u00a0Bishop: War College<\/em>. They have no apparent motivation to suddenly sign up to join with Cyclops. Maybe they get some exposition between pages 24-25 and decide that they need to defend themselves against the anti-mutant forces, but it’s not exactly their normal thing. Second, Mr Sinister is also in the Pit, and Fenris\u00a0met him<\/em> just after arriving – where is he?<\/p>\n

The art seems to suggest that despite Krakoa being dormant, these guys were still tied up in its vines and being sustained in some way by the island. I think we have to go with that, since otherwise they’d surely have starved to death in the last ten weeks.<\/p>\n

Duggan clearly subscribes to the reading of the characters where Andreas is very much the submissive twin.<\/p>\n

PAGE 26.\u00a0<\/strong>The Unity Squad gather in the subway.<\/em><\/p>\n

Deadpool’s previous redemption arc is from Duggan’s\u00a0Uncanny Avengers<\/em> vol 3. If I remember correctly, it all leads to Deadpool throwing in his lot with Hydra during Secret Empire<\/em> because he trusted Captain America so thoroughly that he believed the Hydra impostor.<\/p>\n

PAGES 27-28.<\/strong>\u00a0The Unity Squad meet the X-Men.<\/em><\/p>\n

Specifically, that’s Shadowkat, Rasputin, Ms Marvel and Emma Frost (as “Hazel Kendal”), plus Tony Stark. A similar meeting \u00a0is seen in X-Men<\/em> #25, which is probably <\/em>meant to be the same one, although Emma’s clothes are coloured differently.<\/p>\n

PAGE 29.\u00a0<\/strong>Quicksilver transports his teammates.<\/em><\/p>\n

“He and his sister discovered they weren’t really the children. They were not mutants…”\u00a0<\/strong>This is part of the plot of\u00a0Uncanny Avengers<\/em> vol 2. At the time, it was mainly a corporate synergy exercise, designed to detach Wanda and Pietro from the X-Men franchise (where Marvel didn’t control the movie rights) and shift them to the Avengers.<\/p>\n

“Then, before he could reconcile with Magneto, the master of magnetism was killed in action on Arakko.”<\/strong> During\u00a0A.X.E.: Judgment Day<\/em>.<\/p>\n

PAGES 30-34. <\/strong>The Avengers versus the New MLF.<\/em><\/p>\n

Straightforward.<\/p>\n

“Disguising yourself in the uniform of your enemy is a violation of the Geneva Conventions.”<\/strong> Article 39(2) of Additional Protocol I. It’s actually a bit more complicated than that – there’s an absolute bar on using the uniforms of neutral nations, presumably because it might start another war. But using enemy<\/em> uniforms is only banned in certain circumstances (broadly, connected with combat). Wearing an enemy uniform to sneak behind enemy lines for scouting purposes is espionage, but it’s not a war crime.<\/p>\n

PAGE 35.\u00a0<\/strong>Data page. This is reprinted from\u00a0X-Men<\/em> #23.<\/p>\n

PAGE 36.\u00a0<\/strong>G.O.D.S.\u00a0<\/em>trailer page, which has nothing to do with anything that concerns us.<\/p>\n

PAGE 37.<\/strong> Trailers. The Krakoan reads NEW AVENGERS.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As always, this post contains spoilers, and page numbers go by the digital edition. UNCANNY AVENGERS vol 4 #1 “Truth & Justice” Writer (main story): Gerry Duggan Writer (G.O.D.S. page): Jonathan Hickman Artist: Javier Garr\u00f3n Colour artist: Morry Hollowell Letterer: Travis Lanham Design: Tom Muller & Jay Bowen Editor: Tom Brevoort UNCANNY AVENGERS. I don’t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-annotations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9326"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9328,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9326\/revisions\/9328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.housetoastonish.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}