Have you recovered from the shocking events of Uncanny Avengers #14?
Writer Rick Remender, Executive Editor Tom Brevoort and Editor Daniel Ketchum faced the fans in a Marvel Liveblog over the death of two fan-favorite Avengers and an X-Man and what’s next for the team.
SPOILER WARNING!
If you have not read Uncanny Avengers #14 you may not want to keep reading.
Here we go:
Scarlet Witch and Wonder Man agreed to help the Apocalypse Twins “rapture” the world’s mutants off Earth into a mutant haven. Wanda and Simon were actually summoning the mutants to stop the plans of the heirs of Apocalypse.
Rogue (thinking Wanda was once again hurting the mutant race like the Decimation) killed the Scarlet Witch. Grim Reaper killed Rogue. As Wanda was dying she and Simon initiated the “rapture” but did it work?
Are Rogue, Scarlet Witch and Wonder Man really dead? Kang is the master manipulator behind the scenes (he stole and raised the Twins) so could some time twisting lead to a resurrection?
Along with the deaths, you saw Kang recruiting from various timelines with nods to Marvel epics like Earth X, Marvel 2099 and Remender’s Uncanny X-Force run.
“When you have somebody like Kang in the background, manipulating history, how much of this is the Apocalypse Twins getting one over on him and how much is him getting what he wants? He’s such an amazing character and he’s so powerful. The only thing he’s tethered to is his sense of honor. He doesn’t want to just change time and cheat,” said Remender, “The story coming after Ragnarok Now is Kang becoming the central antagonist.”
“Rick always thinks big, and ‘big’ is never quite big enough for him. Why just Kang when you can have Kang, Stryfe, Iron Man 2020 and Doom 2099? When you’re painting on a canvas that big, the jeopardy is that large. Things like this issue are bound to happen. That said, I think if people go all the way back to Uncanny Avengers #1, it’s not hard to see that this trajectory was there, it was set up.” added Brevoort.
The triple death shocker was the culmination of the post-Avenger vs. X-Men Unity team be ripped apart.
“I wanted to show with this book a team of heroes working together despite differences to make the world a better place, but as I wrote it, it didn’t feel earned yet. My instinct instead became to continue to shatter and break. Between Civil War and Schism and AvX, we haven’t really seen true ramifications. It’s so unheroic for them to be fighting each other rather than trying to try to find a better path. This time, because of the threat, there were giant consequences. Whether or not they will be able to recover and shake hands…not necessarily.” said Remender.
“The conclusion of Ragnarok Now is pretty shocking. There will be some concept of a mutant home world in space. This will be an examination of mutants finally getting what they thought they wanted,” said Remender of the issue.
“I feel bad for Wonder Man because nobody is upset that he died. Where are the Simon Williams fans?” asked Brevoort.
As you can see from issue 18 – the shift moves to founding Avengers, Janet Van Dyne and Havok.
“We’re going to tell this story through the eyes of the last human on the planet: Wasp,” said Remender.
“The good news for Havok and Wasp fans are that they clearly make it to issue #18 in some way. The bad news is what happens to them beyond issue #18.” – teases Tom Brevoort.
“Wasp was the leader of the Avengers when I was a kid, so in my mind, she’s always kind of in that role. She’s always pulling the levers. Whether she’s conscious of it or not, she does it in a natural way. It lands her in a pretty unique predicament coming out of Ragnarok Now. I think we’ve found a very interesting role to put her in,” said Remender.
“Issue #14 was the feel good issue,” teased Remender about the next arc.
The writer will follow-up on the future scene from issue four in which the Red Skull has become Onslaught.
“We will still circle back to the first arc, which had Red Skull with Xavier’s brain as well as his S-Men. That plus Kang and everything else will lead to the biggest thing I’ve ever written for Marvel,” said Remender.
During the Q&A Remender said Rogue was in a “deep depression” over Professor X’s death and led to the fatal confrontation with Wanda.
“I think it’s interesting that when people are grieving, they have selective memories, and in the case of Rogue, her grief over Xavier’s death led her to Scarlet Witch.”
Along with story elements from Remender’s X-Force run, the writer is tying the state of team with other books including Captain America’s solo series which Remender writes.
“Cap is reeling from Dimension Z. I thought it was appropriate to have him confess this a bit to Wasp, who was lost for some time in the Microverse. Captain America would not have allowed this team to shatter were he not so frazzled, I don’t think. Dimension Z can be blamed in large part for the team splitting up.”
Back to X-Force – the Apocalypse Twins are the children of Angel (of the X-Men) and rivals to Evan – known as Genesis at the Jean Grey School.
“Without spoiling anything, I will say the story leads to a place that involves Evan and perhaps Angel. How that happens, I would hate to give away.”
Can these fan-favorite heroes be dead or could it all be part of Kang’s or Onslaught’s master plan? (After all we just saw an all-new Four Horsemen made of recently deceased heroes and villains.)
“There is a sleight of hand happening here. There is time travel and alternate futures involved. We are still building to something that will involve Onslaught in a fairly significant role.”
Uncanny Avengers #15 arrives December 18th.
By Editor