Mighty Avengers #3 Review

The Revolution was a bit disappointed with Mighty Avengers #2. Bendis managed to bring the story to a screeching halt as we got absolutely no progress on a single plotline. I hope that this was a momentary hiccup and that Bendis regains his focus and delivers a story with a clear direction and purpose in Mighty Avengers #3. Let’s hit this review.

Creative Team
Writer: Brain Michael Bendis
Artist: Frank Cho

Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Story Rating: 6 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: We begin with Ms. Marvel deciding that a tactical retreat is in order so that they may devise a plan to take down Ultron. Sentry says that he will stay and try to stall or contain Ultron. Ms. Marvel tells Sentry to not throw Ultron into the sun until they know that Tony is really gone. Sentry retorts that he doesn’t throw everything into the sun.

The Avengers leave and Sentry locks horns with Ultron. They engage in one titanic brawl.

We cut to the SHIELD Helicarrier. The Mighty Avengers arrive at the Helicarrier and Wasp quickly phones Hank Pym. We shift to Hank Pym and Tigra getting romantic. Tigra asks if Hank and Jan are really done. Hank says that they are completely done. Tigra then pounces on Hank and starts licking him.

We are about to get to some sweet raunchy sex when suddenly, Hank’s phone starts ringing. His computer starts saying he has e-mail. Then the front door busts down and a bunch of SHIELD soldiers storm in. Hank stands up with his pants down around his ankles. The SHIELD officer tells Hank that his ex-wife needs to see him now.

We shift back to the War Room on the SIELD Helicarrier. Ms. Marvel absorbs energy off Ultron and gives it to the SHIELD scientists to analyze. Wasp says that Ultron took Tony’s skin and armor and used it to make herself. Suddenly, the power goes out and Ultron’s robotic head appears on every screen in the War Room.

We cut to Sentry and Ultron still brawling. Ultron says that Sentry’s physical defeat has been calculated and executed. Sentry looks up into the air and sees the powerless SHILED helicarrier crashing from the sky right above his head. Sentry flies up and grabs the helicarrier and pushes against it to keep it from crashing.

However, the Sentry cannot stop it from continuing to fall. Suddenly, the Helicarrier stops falling and the Sentry sees Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man at his side helping him hold up the Helicarrier. The heroes then safely land the helicarrier onto the ground.

We cut to into inside the helicarrier where Maria Hill has been knocked out. Since Tony is missing, and Maria Hill is unconscious, that would leave a Level Ten agent in charge. Black Widow is the only Level Ten agent. Black Widow starts barking out orders. Ares is in love as Black Widow barks out the orders and takes control. Black Widow says they have lost visual of Ultron and sends the Avengers out to locate Ultron.

Sentry asks Ms. Marvel how Ultron is able to control the weather. Ms. Marvel thinks that that is a good question. Ultron is missing. Hank Pym arrives on the scene in a helicopter. Dr. Pym tells the pilot to land the helicopter at the scene of the battle. The pilot tells Dr. Pym that they can’t land since Pym is wanted elsewhere.

We cut back to the Avengers aboard the Helicarrier. Suddenly, Iron Man’s original silver armor flies onto the scene. The original suit of armor says that if the Avengers are receiving this message than Tony Stark is dead. The suit of armor then tells the Avengers to listen carefully. End of issue.

Comments
The Good: Mighty Avengers #3 was a better than average read. Bendis delivered a good blend of his usual solid dialogue with plenty of quality action. Bendis sometimes falls into the trap of loving to hear his own voice and delivering an extremely talky issue that goes nowhere. Instead, at least Bendis gives us plenty of action on this issue, but still manages to go nowhere.

Bendis has managed to create some good chemistry between the various Avengers. I think Ares falling in love with Black Widow was hilarious. I could see how her style would appeal to him. I like how Bendis establishes Black Widow as a premier field commander.

Between Tony Stark, Ms. Marvel and Black Widow, the Mighty Avengers is loaded with extremely talented field generals who are more than qualified to lead this team into battle. And that many qualified people to lead this team should certainly lead to some conflict down the road.

I am enjoying watching Ms. Marvel continuing to battle through self-doubt in her growth as the Mighty Avengers new leader. I continue to like Ms. Marvel more and more with each issue. Bendis is doing a good job elevating Ms. Marvel to the level of other A-List heroes. It should be interesting to see if Ms. Marvel can get the other Avengers to stop questioning every move she makes.

The scene with Pym and Tigra was classic. I absolutely loved it. Bendis shows off his nice sense of humor. Tigra and Pym are such an incredibly unusual pairing. You would never imagine these two characters hooking up with each other. But, it totally works for me. I can see exactly why the uptight Pym would find Tigra a wild and dangerous attraction. And I can see how Tigra would be attracted to the incredibly smart Pym and her desire to get him to drop his guard and really enjoy life on the wild side.

Bendis ends Mighty Avengers #3 with a cool hook ending. I certainly wasn’t expecting to see Tony’s original armor fly onto the scene. It appears that Tony has pretty much every possibly contingency thought of and planned for. It is very curious that Tony would use his original armor as the failsafe to kick into place in the event of his death. I’m definitely interested to see what Bendis has in store for us with this interesting little plot twist.

Frank Cho’s artwork is fantastic. I love Cho’s style of art. I cannot understand at all how anyone would dig Yu’s artwork over Cho’s artwork. To each his own I guess. Cho draws a beautiful looking comic book that bolsters a meandering and slow storyline. The battles scenes between Ultron and Sentry were awesome. Cho certainly draws one bad-assed Sentry.

The Bad: Once again, Bendis manages to go through another issue without actually doing anything. Is it just me or is this story arc insanely slow? The pacing on the Mighty Avengers has been just terrible. I actually don’t know which title is moving at a slower pace. The New Avengers or the Mighty Avengers. It is like watching a tortoise race.

Honestly, what happened in this issue? We got more of the same endless and mindless brawling between the Sentry and Ultron. Ultron then attacks the SHIELD helicarrier and then makes an escape. That’s about it. Wait, Bendis does finally manage to pull Pym into the storyline, but doesn’t do anything with him.

Good lord, I know you want to build a nice foundation for your story arc and to provide some lead-in story for this story arc, but this is ridiculous. It has been three issues into this new title and we are still setting up the scene for this story arc. How long is this story arc going to be? 12 issues? It feels like Bendis is just wandering around aimlessly with no particular purpose in mind.

Overall: Mighty Avengers #3 continues to trend that Bendis has established of not being in a hurry to advance a single plotline. I just don’t think that a team title is best suited for Bendis’ talents. I know that Marvel wants to have a big name on the Avengers, but I just don’t think Bendis is the man to get the job done.

If you are a huge Bendis or Avengers fan then you will probably enjoy this title. Otherwise, I have to say that Mighty Avengers just isn’t doing enough to get me to recommend that people spend their money on this title.