If you like epic stories that put the entire Earth in danger, you’ll probably love Avengers Beyond. It’s the kind of story that’s big and bold and could suit an MCU adaptation. Avengers Beyond #1 launches your favorite Marvel heroes into a situation that could end everything as we know it. There are big stakes in Derek Landy and Greg Land’s next foray into Avengers storytelling after their All-Out Avengers action frenzy ended.
Avengers Beyond #1 opens with She-Hulk contemplating losing herself and going berserk on a villain who seems to have the heroes on the ropes. The team consists of Iron Man, Thor, Blade, Black Panther, Captain America, Captain Marvel, and She-Hulk, and they’re facing The Autocrat. He has some kind of mind-control virus that’ll cripple the world, and She-Hulk thinks killing him may be the only option. Thankfully, she kept herself in check before realizing it was all a test.
The strength of this story is the big twists and turns. The heroes are fighting an unwinnable battle; the tables turn, and they realize Beyonder is up to something, and then the tables turn on him. It’s got the big sweeping style of storytelling that suits a blockbuster. It also introduces some new ideas surrounding Beyonder, who is a mostly untapped character these days.
Props to Landy, who writes a rather tight first issue, weaving in The Autocrat with a larger threat you won’t see coming. It all involves the Beyonder, who narrates via the captions. The stakes and scope of this story are so huge it’s a surprise this isn’t a summer event, but it’s also a relief knowing it’ll be self-contained. Sure, unimaginable threats that could kill everything have occurred before, but the way Landy lays it all out makes it feel special and unique.
The story gets fully established via some slightly heavy-handed exposition by Beyonder, but once things are laid out, it’s clear how this is a job only the Avengers can tackle. As the Beyonder reminds us, these heroes don’t ever give up. The lead-in to the Beyonder also uses a clever idea involving Black Panther and Iron Man that reminds us they’re both equal in their genius. A nice reminder since Black Panther’s intelligence is sometimes forgotten.
Love this bit with Iron Man and Black Panther.
Credit: Marvel
Those heavy-handed captions continue throughout the read, adding context to scenes as the story jumps around a bit. It mostly works, but sometimes it can feel like you’re running through a list of things inhibiting the pace and action.
Another weakness in the overall story is a character named Tiamok. She takes up four pages in the opening issue, filling the book with pointless action. It looks clean and exciting but also unnecessary punching and kicking. That’s to be expected in a superhero book, but it feels like it goes on too long. At the end of the day, it appears Landy is working towards developing a new character embroiled in cosmic shenanigans, but she comes off as rather flat.
Artist Greg Land’s best work is on Beyonder, who clearly has too much confidence in himself. That helps establish the unique ego of this character as well as how he could put all of the universe in danger. Customary facial expressions by Land are everywhere in this collection, so don’t be surprised if it looks familiar. Still, it looks slick and never looks unfinished.
Avengers Beyond is good at supplying a mega threat in a self-contained story. It captures the nuance of each character and feels efficient as it gets us from an opening conflict to new threats to fight in each issue. Sure, there might be some pointless action that feels overly long, but this is an exciting Avengers book you won’t be able to put down.
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