Age of Ultron is Brian Michael Bendis’ last hurrah on Marvel’s massive Avengers franchise. Bendis began writing Avengers when it was a third-tier comic book property, and he was – in a large part – responsible for turning the comic franchise into a sales juggernaut. The fact that Marvel was simultaneously working on a massive cinematic universe built around these characters – if only because they’d sold off most of the other ones – probably didn’t hurt.
So, with Bendis moving off the Avengers franchise, ceding the crown of lead Avengers writer to up-and-comer Jonathan Hickman, he wrote Age of Ultron. It was a story the author had been hinting at for quite some time, from the first arc of his relaunched adjectiveless Avengers title through to his short run on Moon Knight. Having completed a grand sweeping story arc running from Avengers Disassembled through to Siege, Age of Ultron feels like an epilogue to Bendis’ run – a post-script to the tenure of the man who changed the franchise.
It also feels, rather awkwardly, like the most self-consciously Avengers-y Avengers story ever aveng(er)edBendis’ approach to the Avengers was iconoclastic. Part of what turned New Avengers into such a fascinating read was the way that it relentlessly skewered the sacred cows associated with the franchise. Bendis killed off Hawkeye; he turned the Scarlett Witch into a global threat; he destroyed the mansion; he recruited Wolverine and Spider-man to join the team – a move which made sense sales-wise and consolidate-your-major-brand-wise, but which clearly went against decades of precedent.
Bendis wasn’t shy when it came to criticism of the Avengers franchise’s history. New Avengers took the heroes from their lives of luxury and status, turning them into down-and-out social pariahs. The villains of Bendis’ run were less cartoonish than they had been in the past – corrupt political figures and street-level gangsters became concerns for the team. The Avengers seemed to spend as much time fighting each other as they did punching bad guys in the faceThere’s a very credible argument that Bendis effectively transposed the X-Men set-up to the Avengers. This isn’t as much of a criticism as it might sound – there is a reason that Uncanny X-Men became a breakout hit when it decided to focus on the trials of a bunch of down-and-out dysfunctional superheroes. From the outset, The Avengers have really been a very upper-class bunch of superheroes, characters who take pride in their place at the top of the superheroic food chain. They even have a butler, and characters like Hawkeye seem to take a surreal pride in their membership of the exclusive club.
Given how subversive and deconstructive Bendis’ New Avengers run had been, it’s fascinating that he spent most of the tail end of his run – his work in the short space of continuity that Marvel dubbed “The Heroic Age”, with the relaunch of adjectiveless Avengers following on from Siege – trying very hard to capture the look and feel of classic Avengers stories. There’s a sense that Bendis had blown everything apart and was now enjoying the opportunity to put it back togetherHis work in this space has a decidedly old-school feel to it. This is obvious from his choice of artists on adjectiveless Avengers. On New Avengers, Bendis collaborated with rougher and more modern artists like David Finch and Lienel Yu; on Avengers, he worked with more conventional old-school veterans like John Romita Jr. or Walt Simonson. Even his choice of villains and his general storytelling style seemed more nostalgic – after years of telling a street-level grounded story, his first adjectiveless Avengers arc was a time-travel romp with Kang as the foe.
Age of Ultron is really the pinnacle of this shift in emphasis. The title is a clue – it’s a comic book built around one of the most classic Avengers bad guys. The last time that Bendis wrote for Ultron was in the opening arc of Mighty Avengers, a comic book that Bendis consciously styled as a more conventional Avengers throwback. The use of Ultron here is generic at best. He’s a genocidal bad guy who plans to destroy mankind… becauseThere’s no effort made to define Ultron or what he wants. Indeed, Ultron is pretty far removed from the action for most of the story. The story opens with Ultron already having conquered the world, and it’s revealed quite quickly that he is controlling events from the future. Which might be an interesting story hook, but it’s really just introduced to make it harder for the heroes to stop him. Ultron is in the event’s title, but he is so generic that he could easily have been replaced by somebody like Apocalypse.
(Then again, Bendis has arguably never been particularly interested in writing generic supervillains. Early on, Peter Parker is rescued from the clutches of Hammerhead and the Owl. Asking what the two criminals did with him, Spider-Man explains, “Drugging me, talking crap, you know…” Sue Richards finishes for him, “
Age of Ultron is Brian Michael Bendis’ last hurrah on Marvel’s massive Avengers franchise. Bendis began writing Avengers when it was a third-tier comic book property, and he was – in a large part – responsible for turning the comic franchise into a sales juggernaut. The fact that Marvel was simultaneously working on a massive cinematic universe built around these characters – if only because they’d sold off most of the other ones – probably didn’t hurt. So, with Bendis moving off the Avengers franchise, ceding the crown of lead Avengers writer to up-and-comer Jonathan Hickman, he wrote Age of Ultron. It was a story the author had been hinting at for quite some time, from the first arc of his relaunched adjectiveless Avengers title through to his short run on Moon Knight. Having completed a grand sweeping story arc running from Avengers Disassembled through to Siege, Age of Ultron feels like an epilogue to Bendis’ run – a post-script to the tenure of the man who changed the franchise. It also feels, rather awkwardly, like the most self-consciously Avengers-y Avengers story ever aveng(er)edBendis’ approach to the Avengers was iconoclastic. Part of what turned New Avengers into such a fascinating read was the way that it relentlessly skewered the sacred cows associated with the franchise. Bendis killed off Hawkeye; he turned the Scarlett Witch into a global threat; he destroyed the mansion; he recruited Wolverine and Spider-man to join the team – a move which made sense sales-wise and consolidate-your-major-brand-wise, but which clearly went against decades of precedent. Bendis wasn’t shy when it came to criticism of the Avengers franchise’s history. New Avengers took the heroes from their lives of luxury and status, turning them into down-and-out social pariahs. The villains of Bendis’ run were less cartoonish than they had been in the past – corrupt political figures and street-level gangsters became concerns for the team. The Avengers seemed to spend as much time fighting each other as they did punching bad guys in the faceThere’s a very credible argument that Bendis effectively transposed the X-Men set-up to the Avengers. This isn’t as much of a criticism as it might sound – there is a reason that Uncanny X-Men became a breakout hit when it decided to focus on the trials of a bunch of down-and-out dysfunctional superheroes. From the outset, The Avengers have really been a very upper-class bunch of superheroes, characters who take pride in their place at the top of the superheroic food chain. They even have a butler, and characters like Hawkeye seem to take a surreal pride in their membership of the exclusive club. Given how subversive and deconstructive Bendis’ New Avengers run had been, it’s fascinating that he spent most of the tail end of his run – his work in the short space of continuity that Marvel dubbed “The Heroic Age”, with the relaunch of adjectiveless Avengers following on from Siege – trying very hard to capture the look and feel of classic Avengers stories. There’s a sense that Bendis had blown everything apart and was now enjoying the opportunity to put it back togetherHis work in this space has a decidedly old-school feel to it. This is obvious from his choice of artists on adjectiveless Avengers. On New Avengers, Bendis collaborated with rougher and more modern artists like David Finch and Lienel Yu; on Avengers, he worked with more conventional old-school veterans like John Romita Jr. or Walt Simonson. Even his choice of villains and his general storytelling style seemed more nostalgic – after years of telling a street-level grounded story, his first adjectiveless Avengers arc was a time-travel romp with Kang as the foe. Age of Ultron is really the pinnacle of this shift in emphasis. The title is a clue – it’s a comic book built around one of the most classic Avengers bad guys. The last time that Bendis wrote for Ultron was in the opening arc of Mighty Avengers, a comic book that Bendis consciously styled as a more conventional Avengers throwback. The use of Ultron here is generic at best. He’s a genocidal bad guy who plans to destroy mankind… becauseThere’s no effort made to define Ultron or what he wants. Indeed, Ultron is pretty far removed from the action for most of the story. The story opens with Ultron already having conquered the world, and it’s revealed quite quickly that he is controlling events from the future. Which might be an interesting story hook, but it’s really just introduced to make it harder for the heroes to stop him. Ultron is in the event’s title, but he is so generic that he could easily have been replaced by somebody like Apocalypse. (Then again, Bendis has arguably never been particularly interested in writing generic supervillains. Early on, Peter Parker is rescued from the clutches of Hammerhead and the Owl. Asking what the two criminals did with him, Spider-Man explains, “Drugging me, talking crap, you know…” Sue Richards finishes for him, “