Avengers Finale

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis

Pencillers: David Finch, Alex Maleev, Steve Epting, Lee Weeks, Michael Gaydos, Eric Powell, Darick Robertson, Michael Mayhew, David Mack, Gary Frank, Mike Avon Oeming, Jim Cheung, Steve McNiven, George Perez

Inkers: Danny Miki, Alex Maleev, Steve Epting, Lee Weeks, Michael Gaydos, Eric Powell, Darick Robertson, Gary Frank, Mike Avon Oeming, Mike Morales, Mike Perkins

Colors: Frank D’Amarta, Brian Reber, Eric Powell, Morry Hollowell, Avalon’s Andy Troy, David Mack, Pete Pantazis, Justin Ponsor

Editor: Tom Brevoort

Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne stand outside the destroyed Avengers mansion. Jan says that it is kind of beautiful in a way. Hank asks if this is how Tony is leaving it. Jan says that it is his and that he can do whatever he wants with it. She asks Hank what he is thinking, but Hank says that he doesn’t want to say. They walk inside.

Beast says that his favorite thing about Hawkeye was that no matter what Cap said that he disagreed, and not just disagreed, but crazy disagreed. He says that if Cap said he liked turkey that Clint would say that turkey sucked, Cap sucked, and who died and made him boss. Simon laughs. Cap tells Jarvis that it isn’t necessary as Jarvis wipes a table. Jarvis says that he is sorry, and that it is just a habit. Jan and Hank walk in and say hello. Warbird hugs Jan and asks if she can’t return a phone call. Jan says that she was out of the country. Warbird says that’s why phones were invented. Jan says that she wasn’t blowing her off. She says that she was just in recovery. Warbird says that she was worried. Jan starts to apologize, but then she sees Jennifer Walters. She asks Jen why she isn’t hulked up for the big reunion. She asks why she is there as Jennifer Walters. Jen says that she thought it would be in bad taste considering. Jan tells Jen that no one is mad at her and that she didn’t do anything wrong. Jen puts her hand up to her mouth and says, “The Vision”. Hank says that Vision’s body was already destroyed before she picked it up. He says that it wasn’t her, and that it was Wanda. He says that she was controlling her and that no one there thinks otherwise. Jen starts to speak, but Tony cuts her off as he thanks everyone for coming. He says that the only upside to this has been that he has been able to put the genie back in the bottle as regards his secret identity. He says that he would never ask any of them to outright lie for him, but that if they are asked that he would appreciate them at least saying something that doesn’t contradict him. Everyone just looks at Stark. Tony tells them that what he has to say next is just about the hardest thing he has ever had to say out loud. He says that because of the damage to him and his company that he isn’t going to be in a position to finance the Avengers anymore. They all just keep looking at him silently. Tony says that the foundation he created to fund the Avengers just doesn’t have the cash. He says that when someone like him has a day like that, that it cost him billions of dollars and that thousands of jobs were lost. He says that he has to think of the people whose lives depend on him. They all just keep looking at Stark silently. He says that as long as he had that hanging over his head that he won’t be in a position to rebuild the foundation. He says that with the UN treating them like a date that wouldn’t put out that he doesn’t think they could get the government funding they would need. He says that he knows that whining about money when Clint, Scott, Wanda, and Vision are no longer with them seems crass, but that it affects them all or he wouldn’t bring it up. Stark says that he has started the proper paperwork and that this property will be declared a landmark. He says that he has sealed off the tunnels and cleaned out all the sensitive material and technology. He says that he has gutted the quinjet for parts, but that he is going to leave it, and the property, as is. He says that he knows some of them disagree with this idea, but that it is his property and that right now that is what he needs to do with it. He says that he thinks it is a fitting memorial. He says that he feels like he has let them down, but that he is in a position where no matter what he is has to let someone down.

Warbird says that she is so mad at Wanda. She says that she doesn’t know about the others, but that she doesn’t forgive her and she never will. She says that she knows that it isn’t a generous thought, but that it has been months now and that it is all she has been feeling. She says that she hates Wanda for what she has done, and that she hates her more than she has ever hated anyone. She says that she doesn’t forgive her. She says that they have all gone through just as much nightmarish crap in their lives as she had, but that they held it together. They didn’t go on a rampage. She says that she could have and that they know what she is talking about. She says, “Damn her for what she has done to us.” Jan says that Wanda would have forgiven her. Warbird starts to say she would not have, but Quicksilver says that she would. He says that his sister loved them. They ask Pietro where he has been. Quicksilver says that he as on vacation in Greenland reading novels when all of this was happening. Simon says that they saw him that day. Pietro says that must have been his sister’s doing. Jan asks Pietro if he knows where Wanda is. Pietro says that she is with his father. He says that Magneto has taken her to Xavier, and that Xavier is trying to repair her mind with a number of psychic techniques. He says that Xavier tell try to repair her mind, but that even if he does that once his sister realizes what she has done that it will be impossible to ever heal her. He says that she will never be the woman she once was. He says that no one could recover from this. He picks up a small shard of glass. Pietro says that he came there to apologize. He says, “I came here to…” but then he is gone. Simon calls out to him, but Iron Man says that he is already out of the city. Warbird says that he should have told them where she is. Jan asks what difference it would make. Falcon asks if anyone has seen or heard from Thor. Jarvis asks if Wanda could have reached Asgard. Falcon says that it got all the way to the Kree army. Hank says that may not have been the real Kree army and that they might have been created out of thin air. Jan says that she keeps hoping that she would wake up and that the mansion wouldn’t be like this. Beast says that the one thing that bothers him is that he wonders what Wanda’s overall plan was. He wants to know why some of them were killed, but that some were only hurt or embarrassed. He asks how far she would have gone with it if she had went all the way with it. He asks just how powerful she is. He asks if she slowly dipped into madness or if she just snapped. He wonders how much control she had over it. He asks if it was only that day or if it was slowly building. He asks what else she had an effect on that they didn’t even notice. Warbird asks, “So this is it, right? We’re done.”

Jennifer Walters says that she is done. She says that she came to tell them in person. She says that she knows that it wasn’t really her that attacked them, but that it was. She says that she has failed and that she failed the team. She says that if they only knew what her personal goals were… if they knew what she had hoped to accomplish and what she has actually done that she has failed. She says that she is sorry and that she loves them all, but that she is done with the Avengers. Jen excuses herself. Jan tries to call after her, but Jen is gone. Jan says, “Hank?” Hank says that he may as well tell them that he has accepted a fellowship at Oxford. He says that he and Jan are leaving in a month. Warbird asks if they are back together. Wasp says that it is complicated and jokes that she knows that is shocking coming from them, but that the whole thing was an eye opener and put things in perspective. She says that Hank was there when she woke up in the hospital. She says that he had been there so long that he had grown a beard, and that it really showed her something. She says that she thinks they just need a change in scenery to help change perspectives. Falcon says that he thinks so too. He says that if anyone cares that he is done there too. He says that he doesn’t want to be a guy deserting a sinking ship, but that it looks like he would be sitting in it all by himself. He says that he has some stuff going on personally, and that it isn’t about them at all. He says that he might retire the Falcon wings all together. Captain Britain says that her life has changed so much in the short time she has been an Avenger. She says that she just wanted to say thank you. She says that she is returning to England with a renewed sense of purpose in life and that it is all because of them. She says that she is going to go now, but that she will never forget them and will always be there for them. They tell her that she doesn’t have to leave now, but she just says goodbye.

Warbird says that they did do good things. She says that she just wants to know that it was worth it. Hank asks Tony what his favorite moment was. Tony says that for him the best thing they ever did was just getting together in the first place. He says that he was so new in the armor and the adventure that when the team got together, even the Hulk, that he knew that it was worth doing. He says not to tell anyone, because of how arrogant it sounds, but that he thought of them as the Beatles of super heroes. He says that he will never be more proud of anything, and that is why he picked up the check in the first place. He says that it was the best money ever spent. Tony asks Jan what her favorite was.

Jan says that for her it was finding Captain America. She says that they needed him and the country needed him. She says that they still need him. She says that from the second he joined the team that the entire team was energized. She says that she still gets chills thinking of that day. She says that when she saw the shield that she couldn’t believe it. Jan tells Hank Pym to tell the others what his favorite moment is.

Hank says that they might find it odd, considering that he wasn’t there for most of it, but that he wishes he could have played a bigger part in the Kree-Skrull war. He says that this was the Avengers at their very best. He says that it was two alien races using New York City as a battleground with them standing in their way. He says that from the outside that it looked like a pure victory. Hank says that sometimes the battles can feel compromised, but not this one. He says that he wishes he were more a part of it. Hank asks Simon what his favorite moment is.

Simon says that it might seem in terrible taste considering, but that his is Wanda marrying Vision. He says that it wasn’t the most heroic or victorious moment, but that it was the best moment. He says that he is going to remember them just like that. Simon asks Beast.

Beast asks if they remember Michael Korvac. Beast says that it was the one time where he thought that they wouldn’t, couldn’t, save the day. But they did. Beast says that the guy had the power of a universe at his hands… or at least he said he did. Beast says that it looked like they couldn’t win and they did… as a team. Beast says that they saved the entire universe and that sounds like a pretty damn good day.

Warbird says that she wasn’t even an Avenger for her favorite. She says that it is when the Avengers and Mar-Vell kicked the daylights out of Thanos. She says that the stories they tell of that are her favorites. She tells them to try describing a situation that fantastic to one of their civilian friends. She says that they have no idea… they have no frame of reference. She says that they all know how inspirational Mar-Vell was to her in her early development. Warbird asks Jarvis what his favorite is.

Jarvis says that he has a soft spot for the fisticuffs that took place right after those vulgarians had the audacity to foul the mansion with their presence. Jarvis says that they referred to themselves as the Masters of Evil, but that they were just repulsive human beings. He says that in all the time he has served the Avengers he had never felt so helpless and violated, but that the Avengers were victorious and his humble life was spared. Jarvis says that ended up a lovely day.

Falcon says that his favorite moment wasn’t one where he was an Avenger either. He asks what they think it means that half of them picked adventures they weren’t a part of. He says that maybe they liked the idea of the Avengers more than they actually enjoyed being in the Avengers. Falcon says that his favorite moment was when word came down that Hank Pym put the beat down on Ultron. He says that must have felt great. He says that he is surprised Pym didn’t pick this one. He says that he hopes Ultron stays down this time, but that for a moment there during Wanda’s chaos he thought Ultron was back and it scared the crap out of him. He says that now he wishes it had been Ultron. Falcon asks Cap what his moment was.

Cap stands up. He says that the Avengers have been a part of his life since he woke up to the new world. He says that even with all the drama and tragedy that it never occurred to him that it could ever end. He says that he never thought it would happen. Cap raises his glass into the air and toasts to Clint Barton and Scott Lang. Simon raises his glass to the Vision. Hank toasts to Mar-Vell. Tony Stark toasts Jack Hart. Beast toasts Swordsman. Wasp toasts Mockingbird and Hank adds Yellowjacket. Falcon toasts Doctor Druid. Simon toasts Whizzer. Beast toasts the Two-Gun Kid. Tony toasts Gilgamesh. Wasp toasts Marrina. Cap toasts Thunderstrike. Warbird raises her glass and says, “How about… to all of us. Wanda, too.”

Tony grabs his helmet and says that they shouldn’t keep them waiting any longer. They all walk upstairs. Simon asks if anyone actually showed up. Iron Man asks if he is serious. They open the doors and outside are thousands of people holding candles and signs commemorating different Avengers.

Avengers Files rating: 9 out of 10

Review by The Leader

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