Ultron Forever Part 1

Writer: Al Ewing

Artist: Alan Davis

Overview/Discussion:

Even though Secret Wars is the hottest event going on right now at Marvel, I'd like to pick up and discuss issues or mini-series that have been or are under the radar. Basically covering some issues or stories that aren't quite mainstreamed over at Marvel or DC. The cover has the names, Avengers and Ultron, on the title but there wasn't much buzz out for it.

There were three issues that were released from April-May 2015. The Age of Ultron 2015 movie was released as well, along with the graphic novel Rage of Ultron. It started from Avengers: Ultron Forever; then, Marvel shoe horned it in New Avengers and Uncanny Avengers, and on top of that, they issued them as #1's. This is said to take 50 years into the future, but it is not certain if Secret Wars will affect this.

Al Ewing sets up a group of time traveling Avengers including a few 616 Avengers. The story features Captain America (child of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones), old school Walt Simonson Thor, Iron Man (James Rhodes), Hulk, Jane Foster's Thor, Black Widow, and Vision. They will take on, one of Avenger's long time foe, Ultron.

Synopsis:

Avengers: Ultron Forever #1-

The story starts off in the year 20XX at a post apocalyptic Manhattan Island. The Gold Skull and his gang are stealing a shipment of helium. They are suddenly ambushed by Captain America. She easily takes out Gold Skull's henchmen. At one point, she leaves herself vulnerable, which gives one of the henchmen a chance to shoot Captain America; however, she is bulletproof since she is the child of Luke Cage. Right before she subdues the Gold Skull, a light appears around her and then she disappears.

Switch to present day at Avenger's Tower, Black Widow and Vision are training in a simulation room. Black Widow tries to take a shot at Vision with her Widows Bite blast, but Vision just phases through it. Black Widow starts giving Vision crap for not taking their training seriously, but Vision express while reading a news paper and drinking coffee (is that even possible?) that he doesn't need training. They get into the concept of programming where Black Widow mentions about the Red Room program, which consisted of brainwashing and extensive training that she was a part of. The same glowing light that appeared earlier engulfs both of them and disappears.

We then see Doctor Doom on his throne, informing the rest of the Avengers (Black Widow, Vision, Captain America, Female and Male Thor, Iron Man, and Hulk) that they were brought to him in order to save the future. The Avengers at first sees Doom as a threat, so they attack him. Vision holds Black Widow back from the battle, because he recognizes this “Doom”. Once the Avengers are able to subdue Doom, a group of children storm in and stops the Avengers assault. Marek then appears and informing Doom that he was not able to prevent the children from entering the fight. It is revealed that this Doom is their protector.

The Avengers uses this interruption to introduce each other. Later, Doom explains about the Ultron Singularity. Ultimate Ultron defeats all the heroes in 2420, and then converts them into his slaves as well as the rest of humanity. He then builds more Ultron models so that he can rule the universe. He even creates Avenger-like Ultron models. Black Widow mentions that she went through this part of time during Original Sins (a reference to Hickmans Avengers Original Sins tie-in). Captain America claims that Doom has died in her time line, but Vision has an explanation for this. Doctor Doom cuts him off by saying he's THE Doctor Doom and reassures that the Avengers can trust him in order to save the time line. They have no choice but to follow Doom's orders.

Doom splits the team up and plans their assault on Ultron. Iron Man and Vision's main mission is to take out Ultron's factories. Then they are met by the Ultron controlled Captain America, Hawkeye, Spider Woman, and Evil Vision. They battle against the Ultron Avengers, but are incapacitated.

Meanwhile, the other team sneaks their way to the central control system (not much of a stealth mission if you have Hulk sneaking around). Their first priority is destroy the backup system before they eliminate the central operating system. Black Widow emphasizes that Hulk must stay alive at all costs because this Hulk is from the original Avenger's; hence, making him essential for the formation of the Avengers for the entire time line. However, they are ambushed by Ultron Black Widow along with an Ultron controlled army. The Ultron Black Widow manages to snatch Captain America's shield and uses it to decapitate Hulks head.

Both Thors travel to Ultron's base of operations. Ultrons's base turns out to be Asgard. An Ultron Thor is there waiting for them. It reveals to Thor Odinson that he became unworthy in this time line; thus, giving Ultron the chance to conquer Asgard and become the All-Father. This enrages Thor Odinson and the charges towards Ultron Thor, but he is impaled by it's sword.

Review:

Again, this was released around the same time Rage of Ultron and Age of Ultron were released. It felt like Marvel wanted to get a cool and interesting series, starring Ultron as the bad guy, along with Rage of Ultron to help promote Age of Ultron. In my opinion, Ultron Forever was overshadowed a bit by both the movie and Rage of Ultron. Lets look at the positives. This was a far way better story than the Age of Ultron series. We actually get to see more Ultrons than we saw in Age of Ultron. It was nice to see Danielle Cage taking the mantle of Captain America; hopefully, there will be a spin-off series featuring her as Captain America in the future. The art in this book was great. The drawing of Hulk in this book was a nice call back to the original style of how he used to look. Alan Davis stays consistent and gives the book well-detailed artwork throughout the book from start to finish. Writer, Al Ewing, to me is an underrated writer. He created a great spin off from Hickman's Avengers Original Sin issue; also, putting Ultron as the main villain, which hasn't been done that well. As far as the downsides, my complaint is the heroes being killed off or taken out prematurely, such as Hulk's head being chopped off by Cap's shield. He's a freaking HULK! come on! We don't get to see much of Doom nor the actual Ultron that conquered the universe. So overall, if you want to read a cool Avengers story, give this issue and the following stories a shot. But it's not a must read, if you aren't really into Ultron, or want to know more about Ultron.