The gathering began again.
The Civil War is over and Captain America is long gone; Iron Man aka Tony Stark has already implemented the 50 state Avenger Initiative and now he wants to recreate a new, core Avengers team. He gets the job done, but before even training together the team finds themselves up against the Avengers worst enemy in a brand new form and deadlier than ever. -summary
The Mighty Avengers written by Brian Michael Bendis spins out of the Civil War event, and it continues the follow up on Avengers Disassembled, House of M, and Death of Captain America most notably. It's also one of the earlier stories that begins to set the stage for one of Marvel's next major events being Secret Invasion. The series debut in 2007 continuing with Marvel's status quo changes, and it's one of three Avengers titles that was running at this time along with Avengers Initiative and New Avengers. It's actually a pretty good jumping on point, but I really wouldn't recommend skipping the events that lead here because they all had something very entertaining to offer. This TPB collects Mighty Avengers 1 - 6 with artwork by Frank Cho.
The story begins with an all out attack on the city by Fantastic Four villain The Mole Man, as he dispatches his subterranean creatures and the Avengers arrive to stop him. While this goes on, the book flips between past and present events, with the past following Iron Man as he assembles the newest Avengers team being lead by Ms. Marvel aka Carol Danvers. The new team is soon made up of Wonder Man aka Simon Williams, Ares the God of War also brother of Hercules, Wasp aka Janet Van Dyne, Sentry aka Robert Reynolds, Black Widow aka Natasha Romanoff and Iron Man himself. Despite a complete lack of originality here especially taking place with the main villain, Bendis attempts and succeeds in delivering something fresh.
When the Avengers teams were usually formed out of nowhere, they always seemed to bond together by fate. It was a nice change of pace to see Stark and Danvers actually picking whom they believed to be key pieces; with Captain America and Thor dead, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Cage underground, they make an attempt to replace those whom just can't be replaced. It's a very nice idea and Bendis was going somewhere, but he does shoot himself in the foot with his dialog in an attempt to be funny. This occurs when Henry Pym refers to Ares as "Thor-lite". Smart move there Bendis, we already know Ares nor the Sentry could ever replace Thor, so assassinating his character so early was counter-productive. No wonder he never really caught on. Surprisingly, dialog is where this book is the problem, which is something kind of rare for Bendis.
While the main villain's motive remains the same as always, this version of Ultron was still entertaining though as Bendis further established on what exactly makes him a top level threat. I won't spoil how he came about, but I will mention he is very clever, very close to building himself towards being the perfect A.I., and that he enters a very physical hand to hand battle with the Sentry most notably. Physically, this appears to be Ultron at his most powerful. Story wise though, The Ultron Initiative doesn't begin to compare with Ultron Unlimited or Bride of Ultron, I would more than likely place it on the same level of Ultron Unbound as simple entertainment, and it still may fall a little short due to some corny plot elements leading to the climax.
Bendis fumbles with his dialog here though. He uses the thought bubbles in combination with speech bubbles in the same breath, and after awhile it becomes quite disturbing. More over, many of the characters come off as total jerks and you can tell Bendis is trying very hard to be edgy and cool. That kind of attitude feels more in line with the original X-Force team than these mature Avengers. It's so out of place for most characters.
Frank Cho delivers some pretty artwork here with Ultron stealing the show. I'm not going to explain how, but there is some brief nudity with Ultron transforming himself into a woman. Her private parts are well covered with metallic skin that does look cool. There are plenty of moments with the females showing off their stuff, with nearly one page given to the Black Widow in some really short shorts. The action has some good moments with powerful trade offs, and the backgrounds are pretty well done with bright lightening and a constant dark, ominous rain fall.
Mighty Avengers: The Ultron Initiative has its problems, but I'll be damned to say I didn't enjoy the coolness it had to offer; and if you didn't read New Avengers Vol. 6: Revolution, then the twist ending is going to leave a question mark as it begins setting the foundation for a coming big event. As far as reading order is concerned, this takes place after New Avengers Vol. 6 and before Avengers The Initiative Vol. 1, yet it doesn't really matter which order you read them in though. Recommended if you're a serious Marvel fan or you're a casual fan looking for a quick read.
Pros:Artwork and has some really cool moments
Cons:Characters aren't written at their the best
