» Avengers Forever
Avengers Forever was a twelve issue mini series by Kurt Busiek, Roger
Stern, Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino, not to mention a kick-ass story. The
current Captain Marvel series spun-off from it and explains the current
situation between Rick Jones and Captain Marvel.
So what exactly happens? Well, Rick Jones is attacked by an agent of
Immortus (the Master of Time) but then he is stopped by Immortus' younger self,
Kang the Conqueror. The Supreme Intelligence and Libra then re-awaken the
Destiny Force within Rick. Seven Avengers from the time-stream are summoned
to protect him; Captain America, Hawkeye, and Yellowjacket from the past;
Giant Man and the Wasp from the present; and Songbird and Captain Marvel from
the future.
The Avengers then head for Kang's city, Chronopolis, where he is under
attack from Immortus. Immortus is able to retrieve the Forever Crystal which
will give him control over the time-stream, Kang escapes to Purgatory, and the
Avengers escape in a Sphinx to outside the time-stream.
So then the Avengers split up and travel to various times (the Old West, the
1950s and the near future) to try and figure out Immortus' plans. They finally
decide to head to his stonghold Limbo, where Yellowjacket is captured, and
seemingly betrays the team.
The Avengers are taken to Immortus' bosses the Time Keepers at the end of
time. Here we learn that Immortus was trying to keep humanity contained to
Earth to prevent their being wiped out of existence by the Time Keepers (who
themselves were fearful of humanity and the Destiny Force because in almost
half of the time-lines humanity became corrupt and evil).
Anywho, Kang, Rick and the Supreme Intelligence show up to save the day,
Immortus is killed by the Time Keepers, and they start to turn Kang into
Immortus. Then they decide to use the Forever Crystal to erase all the time-
lines where humanity has become evil. Capain Marvel switches places with an
older Rick, the two Ricks use the Destiny Force to recruit help from good
Avengers and a huge-ass battle ensues (during which Rick is severely injured).
In the end Kang remains as himself, the Time Keepers are killed, a new
Immortus is revealed and the Forever Crystal is seemingly destroyed by Captain
America. Captain Marvel molecularly bonds himself to Rick to save his life and
everyone is returned to their proper times.
In the present, Rick notices he's wearing the Nega bands and instinctively
bangs them together. Because of a temporal flux, the present-day Genis-Vell
replaces Rick, much to his disappointment.
So that's Avengers Forever. I'd definitely recommend picking it up (it's
available in trade paperback form now) since this plot summary doesn't even
come close to doing it justice.
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Trading Spaces is created and maintained by Louis
Digout. Captain Marvel, and the distinctive likeness(es) thereof are Trademarks of Marvel Characters, Inc. and are used without permission. All
original content copyright © 2002 Louis Digout.
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