Onslaught: Marvel UniverseIssue(s): Onslaught: Marvel Universe Review/plot: Instead, Onslaught's defeat is just incoherent. Franklin and X-Man struggle to get out on their own and nothing about their actions seems to matter. The Cyttorak Gem isn't even mentioned; the closest we get is the lame idea that Jean Grey shutting down the Bruce Banner side of the Hulk somehow allows the Hulk to get strong/angry enough to crack Onslaught's "armor". Dust-Mite Onslaught at least kind of looks like Juggernaut from behind, if you squint. Heck, even the psi-armor isn't explicitly mentioned but i guess we can assume it's preventing Onslaught from pushing everyone away. And of course Onslaught is just a random monster now, not a despair-ridden Xavier, so there's nothing to reason with, no emotional (or continuity-based) solution. And nothing comes of Joseph. And i'm just talking about the story on its own terms, not even considering what was meant to be happening based on Road To Onslaught. And this is also before we get into the weirdness of Onslaught creating a second sun. This is of course a set-up for the Heroes Reborn pocketverse but it makes no sense for Onslaught to be doing that Road To Onslaught tries to explain, sort-of. It would have been smarter to just say that Franklin creates the pocket universe subconsciously and transports the heroes there when they seemingly die here, and that's something that could have been saved for Heroes Return; there was no need to have Onslaught trying to create a pocket universe in this story. As for what we actually get in terms of the strategy against Onslaught, it's nonsensical on-the-fly stuff like Wolverine piercing Onslaught's field with his berserker rage... ...which doesn't even work (Mr. Fantastic's "unless..." doesn't lead to anything specific, either). We've had about 100 tie-ins of things not actually working. It's time to see a coherent plan with a strategy behind it. Not saying it should be a walk in the park, but it should have some basis in what's already happened. After Hulk cracks the armor, Onslaught becomes a floating gas, and Thor gets the idea to go absorb it into his body so that they can kill Onslaught by killing him. And Thor's body isn't enough so all the heroes have to go in. Except mutants. Why? "Since he began his life as a mutant, a mutant genetic pattern would give him the perfect means to live again." Except the Scarlet Witch, because of her hex. Bwah ha ha! The contortions involved in all of this! One thing that has always pissed me off is that Iron Man drags Dr. Doom into the Onslaught miasma too. Sacrificing yourself is heroic. Forcing someone else to sacrifice their life is murder. And not a good showing for Doom, getting dragged around by Teen Tony. Dr. Doom was the guy who subverted the whole Secret Wars event so that it became about him! In my view, if you're not going to match that, stop including him in these crossovers. The big idea is that the X-Men are supposed to be killing the other heroes. And the story says that the public sees this, causing the X-Men to become even more hated and feared by the people they protect than ever before. But what we actually see is, uh, this: No point in making this embiggen-able. That sucks. One of the weirder developments is that Banner goes into the miasma but Hulk doesn't. This allowed Marvel to have its cake and eat it too, keeping the Hulk published in the real universe while Banner becomes Hulk all over again in Heroes Reborn. But it results in some strange/fun stories in Hulk and will allow for a connection to be shown between Heroes Reborn and the Marvel universe. When it's over, there's a little blue ball near where Franklin lands. He's later shown holding it. Also, Apocalypse again claims that this will usher in an Age of Apocalypse. Apocalypse's next appearance will be in the Hulk title about a (publication) year from now where he tries to make the Hulk one of his Horsemen. I do take issue with what i quoted from Paul O'Brien saying that Onslaught was Marvel's most incoherent crossover this side of The Crossing. He clearly never read Siege of Darkness or Starblast. I mean, if you count the Clone Saga as a crossover, that's a contender. My point is that MOST of what Marvel was doing around this time was incoherent, and by that standard Onslaught is pretty normal or even slightly better than normal. As i've said before, at the 500 foot level, it's actually a cool idea. It's just that every single detail failed to support it. Quality Rating: D+ Chronological Placement Considerations: The conclusion to the Onslaught crossover. Hulk #446 takes place in the aftermath of this. I'm following the MCP in tagging a separate Banner-less Hulk starting with this issue. References:
Crossover: Onslaught Continuity Insert? N My Reprint: N/A Inbound References (12): show Comments are now closed. |
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