Review: Avengers Vol. 5- Adapt or Die
Quick Summary
Pros: Both of the stories detailed here are exciting and showcase cool moments from the Avengers. The entire narrative here helps build interest in the future of this series. The artwork looks good and improves the collection overall.
Cons: The focus on the future very slightly takes away from the action in the present.
Overall: The fifth volume in this Avengers series manages to be every bit as good as the previous four have been. Throughout this work, readers have a chance to see the Avengers take on a variety of threats, all of which are depicted with great levels of detail. Readers also learn information that has a big impact on the direction this series is heading, building excitement for even larger story arcs. With this volume, readers who have been enjoying this series have another great read ahead of them.
Story
Avengers Vol. 5: Adapt or Die is another win for Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers series. It sees the Avengers take on high stakes threats from the dark depths of space and from the far reaches of an unknown universe. These threats are intense and take some exciting and skillful maneuvering from an excellent cast of heroes. The entire adventure is also filled with an immense sense of foreboding that something even bigger is on the horizon. Various elements of this collection set up plot points in a way that instills a lot of hope in the future of the Avengers series. Overall, this is an engaging volume that is sure to inspire fans to read even more Avengers comics.
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Adapt or Die starts out by having the Avengers defend the world from being hit by a rogue planet on a collision course with Earth. It is an impressive feat to watch the Avengers accomplish, one with tons of planning and plenty of action as well.
However, the most intriguing aspect of this brief story is the way in which it sets things up for the future. An enigmatic message from a time traveler implies that this rogue plant was sent by someone to destroy Earth and that Iron Man can use its, now captured, power as a weapon. The implications here are intense and build up plenty of excitement for the future of this comic series.
From here, Adapt or Die shifts to detailing a story that involves an evil group of Avengers being pulled into the mainstream Marvel Universe. This leads to some unique confrontations, particularly between the real Avengers and the evil Avengers. It also showcases AIM as a much larger threat than one would have initially believed.
However, like the previous story, the most intriguing aspect of this one is still the way in which it helps prepare readers for the future. It has Bruce Banner become aware of the Illuminati and gives hints regarding the origin of Mapmakers, both of which are concepts from the New Avengers series. By tying these two comics closer together, Hickman is clearly preparing for a larger crossover between two series that have been surprisingly unrelated, considering how closely they affect one another. The possibility of such a crossover and the fallout such an event would have is exciting and further inspires hope for the future of this series.
Unfortunately, this constant focus on the future does slightly take away from the present. By the end of this collection, only a handful of things have actually occurred: the planet was saved, villains were defeated, and secrets were revealed. All of this helps establish plot points for upcoming comics but, in the present, it doesn’t exactly create a ton of interesting drama. Luckily, Hickman writes in such a way that this problem is barely noticeable, as he constantly trains the reader’s eye toward what is happening next. It turns a potentially large problem into a minor annoyance that is likely to go unnoticed by most readers.
(spoilers end here)
Art
The artwork in Adapt or Die looks good the entire time and is a positive for the collection as a whole. Salvador Larroca presents the cast with a solid level of detail, easily conveying their emotions in scenes where they are necessary. This level of detail carries on to the backgrounds as well, all of which are imaginative and well drawn. The artwork here is also grim and dark in a way that suits the tone of this book. This tone is also enhanced by an equally dark color scheme from Frank Martin, which manages to elaborate on this element. Overall, this is a nice looking book that presents readers with visuals they would expect to see from a story of this caliber.
Continuity
Avengers Vol. 5: Adapt or Die continues the story from the Infinity (Review) event, specifically the Avengers storyline from Avengers Vol. 4: Infinity (Review).
The story here continues in Avengers Vol. 6: Infinite Avengers (Review).
This volume also makes a reference to other comic books, detailed below:
- The “go bigger” line comes from the end of the previous Avengers series, now collected in Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis: The Complete Collection Vol. 3.
- Numerous references are made to concepts from the New Avengers series. This includes the death of the multiverse, the existence of the Mapmakers, the Illuminati, and all of Iron Man’s recent adventures. All of this is detailed in the first two volumes of the New Avengers series: New Avengers Vol. 1: Everything Dies (Review) and New Avengers Vol. 2: Infinity (Review).