Avengers of Prehistoric Future Past.

Good news! Tony Stark is back to being Iron Man! Steve Rogers is back to being Captain America! Thor Odinson is back to being just Thor! What could make this better? All three of them are back in the Avengers! Yes, it’s true! As a part of the Marvel “Let’s Try To Keep Things Fresh” movement – they’ve brought the big three back together, as their original selves, and as a part of the Avengers – which will launch with a new #1 issue! But who else is in the Avengers? Let’s take a look shall we?

• Black Panther – Sweet! I’ve always dug Black Panther when he appeared in the Avengers… never been one of my top favorites, but always a very cool, mysterious character! The movie has me appreciating Black Panther more than ever! (If you’ve not yet seen it – stop reading this – and go see it – then come back and finish reading this!)
• Captain Marvel – I’ve always been a big fan of Captain Marvel (ever since her Ms. Marvel days!) So that’s great that she’s on a big, core book to get some extra attention! (I admit, my favorite version of Captain Marvel was her Binary form, in the pages of Uncanny X-Men #164).
• Hulk – Er… but it’s Jennifer Walters, not Bruce Banner – but she’s gone through some changes, and is extremely amped up and looks just like Hulk (with the over sized muscles, rather than Jennifer’s more feminine appearance of She-Hulk). So apparently she adopts – or has already adopted the Hulk name. Which I am fine with – I’ve always been a She-Hulk fan – but part of what made her great was having that strength but also having that sense of humor. Curious if this Hulk will have any intelligence?
• Ghost Rider – Oh. But… it’s Robbie Reyes. That’s… unfortunate. I get he got a big push in Agents of SHIELD (a show I stopped watching after the alternate dimension alien planet thing… and even then, I was watching it out of habit and not because I enjoyed it anymore), so I was already done watching AoS by the time the Robbie Reyes push came along. Sorry, give me Blaze or Ketch.
• Doctor Strange – Nice! But he’s only on the team for a short bit – and his slot will be a rotating one (which sounds like the chance to bring in other Avengers members from time to time, depending on the story!)

So far, so good, right? I mean – I can tolerate Robbie Reyes as Ghost Rider. So what are the other details?

Who is the creative team? Writer Jason Aaron and artist Ed Guinness. Well. I dig Ed Guinness’ art – but I admit, I dropped Thor: God of Thunder when Jason Aaron was doing it and doing that back and forth between present and past – every – single – issue. It just got too annoying so hopefully he won’t –

Hold on – the details just rolled in…

The series will have a familiar feel for those who read Thor: God of Thunder, with the series shifting back and forth between present day events with the current Avengers team and the story of the prehistoric Avengers of 10,000 BC.

Hold up a second. 10,000 BC Avengers?

What?

There were Avengers… in 10,000 BC? Why yes… apparently there was… and it was introduced by Aaron and includes… the first Black Panther, the first Ghost Rider, Odin, the Phoenix, a version of Starbrand (which originated in New Universe), the first Iron Fist and Agamotto… and they formed to fight a Dark Celestial or some such thing like that.

So… I commend that Aaron is doing some continuity stuff – and this, over all, seems like it could be an interesting team to read about (but for Odin’s sake – why is even the 10,000 BC version of Phoenix also a redhead – could we not have gone with any other color?) – and while, initially I was annoyed at Avengers existing in 10,000 BC – after doing the research and digging up the team – it’s a cool concept. But, if I couldn’t hang with Thor: God of Thunder constantly going back and forth between present and past, I doubt that I’d tolerate it for long in Avengers – and these days, it’s about crunching money and being picky what I pick up, because of the cost of comics, so – sadly, this will be a pass for me – which is a shame, because Avengers and X-Men were my go-to comics, and what brought me into the world of collecting.

– Tawmis