Over the course of two issues, the stage has been set in the world of ‘Age of Ultron’. After taking some huge losses and an extended time of mourning, the remaining members of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes have finally concocted a plan to deal with this Ultron problem and it seems like business is finally about to pick up in the first major crossover event of the Marvel NOW! era.
When we last left the story in issue two, we discovered that the group in New York are not the only remaining Avengers in this world overrun by their sentient robotic foe. Over on the west coast, Black Widow and Moon Knight have found refuge in one of Nick Fury’s old hideouts and are plotting ways to get back east to take Ultron down. Meanwhile, back in the main base, after Spider-Man revealed to the group how and why he was kidnapped, things began to stir in the mind of Captain America, motivating him to get up off his ass, stop moping, and jump into action.
Now, in the latest issue, the team does just that as they put their plan into action by sending out a few of their own as bait in a way that hopefully will catch the robotic villain off guard. Later, we learn of even more survivors in Chicago in the form of Taskmaster, Black Panther, and Red Hulk who are also working to get to the bottom of Ultron’s schemes.
In my past few reviews, I’ve been coming down a bit hard on Spider-Man and his Peter Parker dialogue, but I think I’ve finally let that go. It could have something to do with reading ‘Superior Spider-Man’ #6AU, or maybe I’ve just stopped caring because the story has gotten really interesting. Either way, I’ve come to accept Brian Michael Bendis’ portrayal of Spider-Man in this series.
At first, there was a lot of talk in this issue just like in the previous issues, but then as the book went on, we got a pretty exciting bit of action in Chicago with the Avengers team there. It’s still a mystery as to what Taskmaster, Rulk, and T’Challa were up to, but that little glimpse outside of the main hub New York was very interesting to me.
Finally, we get to the end of the book and we get a total swerve! The final page was something that I wasn’t expecting at all, so I’m glad that there are quite a bit more surprises left to be uncovered in ‘Age of Ultron’. Up until this issue, the crossover had been fairly bland to me. Maybe bland is the wrong word actually, because I liked it, but it wasn’t an “OMG you have to read this!” sort of book. I was just reading it to keep in the loop. But now that things are really starting to happen, I think that I’m getting more and more invested in the plot.
Act I of ‘Age of Ultron’ is over. The stage is set. The players are in place. Now we can really get to the good stuff, which is something that I’m actually looking forward to immensely after that last page.
Final Score:
AGE OF ULTRON #3
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Bryan Hitch, Paul Neary, & Paul Mounts
