Avengers vol.
4 #5
Avengers vol.
4 #5
Title: “Breakout! Part five”
Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Penciller: David Finch
Inker: Danny Miki
Colors: Frank D’Amarta
Editor: Tom Brevoort
The Avengers run from the Tyrannosaurus Rex. Iron Man says that quinjets don’t just grow on trees, and that he isn’t made of money the way he used to be. The dinosaur catches Iron Man in his teeth. Spider-Man asks Cap what they should do. Cap says that Iron Man has got it. Iron Man blasts the dinosaur from the inside and the dinosaur comes tumbling down. Iron Man climbs out of the dinosaur’s mouth. He takes off his helmet and says that is something he didn’t think he was going to do today. Cap says that they will get the others. Spider-Man asks where Jessica and Luke got off to.
Spider-Woman blasts behind her in the direction of the claws. She grabs the arm attached to the claws and flips him over. She grabs the arm and jabs the claws into the own guy’s neck. Wolverine lies on the ground with own claws in his neck. He knocks Spider-Woman off him and says, “Son of AAARRGHH!” He lunges at Spider-Woman and says that she stabbed him in the neck. Luke grabs Logan’s fist and tells everyone to calm down.
Wolverine hits the downed dinosaur as he comes flying out. Luke and Jessica come back and say that the others aren’t going to believe this. Wolverine says that she slit his throat with his own claws. Spider-Woman says that she could give a #$%#!! and that he came out of nowhere. She tells Cap that he jumped her. Cap puts his shield between them. Luke Cage asks Logan what he is doing there. Logan asks them, but then says to hold on and that he is still healing. Iron Man asks Jessica if she did that to him. Jessica says that he came up behind her and that she didn’t mean to. She says that it is SHIELD training. Iron Man says that is not too shabby. Luke asks Logan why he jumped Jessica. Wolverine says that he is being tracked. He says that he is being followed and couldn’t take any chances. He says that he wasn’t expecting them and that he doesn’t recognize their scents. He says that this place is screwy like that. Luke asks who is following him. Iron Man asks him why he is there. Logan asks if they know who Karl Lykos is. Logan says that someone called the mansion yesterday saying that a couple of Savage Land mutates offered him some cash to break Lykos out of jail. Cage asks who it was. Wolverine says that it was a guy named Hudak. Spider-Man says that he knows that name. Wolverine says that he wears a contraption. Spider-Man realizes it is Scorcher and says that he is a load. Logan says that Hudak said he was trying to live on the straight and narrow after that stuff with Fury and the secret war. He says that he was worried that he was getting sucked back in so he called them because there is no more Avengers and SHIELD isn’t easy to get on the phone. Logan says that when the Raft got broken into the other day that it happened exactly the way Scorcher said it would. He says that he knew it was Lykos and that he knew where he would go. He says that he jumped in the Blackbird and flew in. Iron Man asks where he landed. Wolverine says that he crashed over there. Cap asks where the X-Men are. Logan says that they are in class and that they have kids to look after. Cap asks if he came there himself. Logan says that he has done it a bunch. He says that truth be told that he has been having a rough patch. He says that there has been too much change with not a lot to show for it. He says that he thought the air would do him good, and that there is something fishy about the way this went down. Wolverine says that he has had mutates on his tail for about six hours, but that “happy pants” broke his stride. Jessica says that he put a knife to her throat. Wolverine says that this is the jungle and that he wasn’t expecting… Wolverine asks what they are anyway. Spider-Man asks if anyone else’s spider-sense just went off. Suddenly about a dozen mutates leap out at them. Spider-Woman asks what they are. Wolverine says that he already told her they were mutates. Cage says, “mutates?” Spider-Man says that to Google it when they get home. Cage says to blast a hole through them. Iron Man says that his armor is down. Spider-Man says that his organic webs aren’t webbing. Spider-Woman says that she is shooting blanks too. The whole group starts to get sleepy. Vertigo appears and says, “Sleep now, humans.” She tells them to give in to her and not fight it. Captain America is the last to pass out.
Steve wakes up to find that he, along with all the others, are bound naked by energy restraints. Peter says, “Yep. We’re naked.” Jessica asks if they couldn’t leave their underwear on. Peter says that he wasn’t wearing any. She asks him why he wouldn’t be wearing any. Peter says that he chafes. Jessica is silent for a moment and then says that she wants off the team. Luke asks the freaks what the plan is for the afternoon. Peter asks if anyone isn’t going to ramble on about their big, evil plan. Stark asks how they got his armor off without setting off the booby traps. Brainchild points to his giant head. Peter says that he night want to get that head checked out and that it looks swollen. Brainchild welcomes Peter back to the Savage Land and says that he looks forward to continuing his experiments on his unique biology. He tells Stark that he has read his papers and that he should be proud of what he has accomplished with his limited abilities. Peter asks if they’ve ever noticed how obnoxious “evolved” people are. Steve Rogers says that he wants to speak to Karl Lykos. Lykos appears and tells him to go ahead and talk. Steve tells him to surrender. Lykos says that he probably isn’t going to do that. He asks what brings such a motley gang of costumes to find him. Steve says that forty-four dangerous criminals escaped from prison to cover his escape. He says that SHIELD agents with families lost their lives, and that because of him more innocent lives are in danger. He says that every death is on Lykos’s head and that they are there to avenge them. Lykos says that he didn’t know it was forty-four. Brainchild says that is the surface world, and that he doesn’t care. He says that they don’t care about them. Lykos says that Brainchild had to know that they were going to come after them. Brainchild says that they were actually told that they wouldn’t. He says that was the deal, but that it seems they were lied to again. Lykos says that this is bad. Brainchild asks what they will do to them that they haven’t already. He asks if they will rape their land or enslave Lykos. Steve orders Lykos to surrender again. Lykos asks what would happen then. He asks who they would be handing him over to. He asks if Steve even bothered to find out why they locked him up in the first place. He asks if he even knows who he is. About his other self Sauron. He asks if they know how they forced Sauron to work for them. He says that he thinks he doesn’t. He asks Steve if he knows what Weapon X is. He says that Logan knows. He tells Logan to tell the flag waver what his country does to mutants behind his back. About how they send them on missions to murder other mutants who might end up being trouble. He says that the minute you say no that they lock you up. Logan says, “Wah, wah. Boo-hoo.” Lykos says, “This from you.” He tells Brainchild to kill them now. He says to kill them and dump their bodies in other territories. He says that if anyone finds out that he held Captain America and Iron Man like this there isn’t enough Vibranium to buy him out of it. Brainchild starts to tell Lykos about the opportunities, but Lykos says, “No. No experiments. Kill them. Kill them right now.” He says that he will just be giving SHIELD excuses to wipe out everything he has built there. He says that there is no plan for this. Brainchild says that they could turn them into mutates and then send them to attack the surface world. He says that it would send a message. Lykos says, “Not really”. Brainchild says that Lykos is coming off as rather ungrateful for the lengths they have gone to get him back. Stark asks Steve if he has heard enough. Steve says, “Absolutely.” Tony says, “All right then… assemble.” Peter says that they are already there. Tony says that he wasn’t talking to them. The Iron Man armor says, “Voice print identified. Good morning, Mister Stark.” It initiates battle mode. Tony says, “Attack mode. Target: Lykos, Karl. File unlock 54/11.” Brainchild says, “Oh, no, no, no!! Not my baby!” Lykos asks if he sees now. The armor begins firing and blows up the machinery Brainchild and Lykos are on. The Avengers are freed from their restraints. Jessica says that you go to all the trouble to not be naked all day. She zaps Vertigo. The armor continues firing. Stark says that they scrambled and that bought them two minutes. He gives the armor the order “Quivers”.
Wolverine asks if they are a team now as the others dress. Cap says that he knows they are new at this, but that he is going to ask them to follow his commands. Cage says, “Done”. Spider-Man says “sure”, but adds that he thinks they should all get armor. Tony asks if he has seven billion dollars. Spider-Man asks what all that about Vibranium and them thinking they could do this without getting in trouble. Steve says that at least they know why their friends as SHIELD didn’t want their help. Spider-Woman asks if they are going to believe these wackos. Luke says that he just assumes that everyone is a piece of crap, and then you’ll be pleasantly surprised to find anyone who isn’t. Spider-Woman says that SHIELD doesn’t make deal with foreign countries, and that they don’t trade agents’ lives for Vibranium. She says that they are a peacekeeping taskforce. She says that this would be the opposite of peacekeeping. She says that even if SHIELD did things like this that the Savage Land is off-limits to all countries. Spidey says, “Aw, nuts, I tore my booty.” Cage looks at him. Spider-Man asks, “What?” Cage says, “Booty?” Spidey asks him what he calls it. Cage says, “A boot.” As the mutates approach, Cap says that here they go. Spidey says that he has to say it. Captain America shouts, “Avengers assemble!”
Lykos
runs from the fight. Wolverine chases after him with his claws out. Wolverine
stabs Lykos through the chest. Cap shouts, “Oh my God… Logan, no!” Logan is sent
flying. Sauron soars into the air. He says that Logan should have listened to
his leader. He says that you never get too close to Karl Lykos even if it is to
kill him. He says that it allowed him to take his mutant energies out of his
body and into his. He says that now he can see him for who he really is. Sauron
starts to gave at them with his hypnotic eyes. He says that he was brought there
for a reason, but then suddenly Sauron is shot in the head.
From the bushes, A SHIELD agent says that she wants the entire structure cleared and cleaned in ten minutes. She says that there will be no survivors. Another agent says that is Captain America. She says that she doesn’t care if he is Ronald McDonald. She says no witnesses means no witnesses.
Avengers Files rating: 8 out of 10
I’m not a big fan of Logan, but even I think he’s portrayed poorly here. First he cries like a little girl about getting stabbed in the neck, and then he tells Jessica that it is no big deal that he put a blade to her throat cause “It’s the jungle, Sweety”. Then Sauron tries to appeal to his own murderous and controlled past and Logan mocks him. Peter Parker is still funny and Luke Cage is quickly becoming my favorite character in this book. Other than that the plot is pretty thin… though alluded to here and there. Finch rocks out loud. A little more action next issue one can hope, but look at that Vertigo! 4.5 out of 5 for the art
Review and picture by The Leader