Avengers 21, New Avengers 11

Avengers 21
Hickman (w) and Yu and Alanguilan (a) and Gho (c)

The Avengers and the resistance have landed a couple blows in a row against the Builders but ultimately, it could still all mean nothing. Though it inspired some of the conquered worlds as well as reigniting the resistance, at the end of the day they're still horribly outnumbered and outgunned. That fact is made more obvious by the defeats those fighting for the rebellion have suffered. There have been little victories from battle to battle but they're still losing the war a little too quickly. On the brink of what seems to be absolute defeat, Ex Nihilo and Abyss direct Captain America to Captain Universe, saying that the universe's dying has caused this war, not vice versa. Captain Universe, once made well again, can help them defeat the Builders. The Ex Nihili manage, as a unit, to save Captain Universe, who promptly finds the Builders. They don't believe in her any more and tell her that the universe is dying and they want to destroy the axis that seems most ill to try to save the whole. She recognizes their ends but won't allow their means and defeats them handily when they engage her. The last surviving Builder, scurrying to another universe, leaves his universe-spread alephs behind to "destroy everything."

There's still a ton happening here as we inch towards the end of Infinity. The next books in this event (aside from this week's New Avengers, reviewed below if I've done my job, and the tie-in books that don't actually advance the plot) are Infinity 5, followed by Avengers 22 and 23, then Infinity 6, followed by New Avengers 12. We're right on the brink of finishing this event off and there's still plenty happening to see it to the end. Captain Universe hints at her own impending doom (possibly as a result of the universe dying, possibly to erase such a powerful being out of existence, like so much Sentry) before wiping the floor with the Builders. It's an important hint and it's an important action as it very much turns the tides, now pitting the resistance against the alephs (which are numerous but perhaps easier to defeat) and a dying universe (which they were already facing but only in the background of a more immediate threat). Also worth noting that the resistance, in their most desperate moment, called on the Annihilation Wave to help them, worrying that it would win out and turn on them, only to watch as the Builders easily turned them inwards on themselves, potentially destroying the Annihilation Wave. It serves as a final blow to the resistance here but, in the grand scheme of the universe, it could mean more. Guys, the Annihilation Wave imploded and it's a backdrop in this event. That's how much is happening. Good stuff. Now let's see what's happening with Thanos.

New Avengers 11
Hickman (w) and Deodato (a) and F. Martin (c)

The Illuminati (minus Black Bolt) have arrived at another incursion point in the middle of the Earth's war against Thanos. When they arrive at the point and just as they realize they have to use the horrible antimatter weapon they've created, an Aleph falls from the other world into theirs and beckons them to meet its master. They go, with the promise of a way to destroy worlds. The Aleph's master, of course, is a Builder, though a Builder from the universe that had contained the now incurring world. These Builders side with the Builders of the 616 who have decided that destroying Earth(s) could save the universes as a whole and know that the 616 has defeated its Builders, as the Builder who escaped to another universe in Avengers (above) escaped to the world that's now incurring. Complicated, though the Builder waves away any thought of coincidence by saying that a wounded swimmer swims to the nearest island and this incurring world is certainly the nearest universe. The Builders explain to the Illuminati that the Earths need to be destroyed and release them back to their own world before using their world-killer to destroy the incurring world. They ask why the Illuminati, possessing a power that can destroy worlds, has not destroyed its own to save the universe. Meanwhile, Thanos' army is devastating Wakanda. As a backdrop.

Guys, this event has just so much going on. In typical New Avengers fashion, this issue is certainly very complicated and forces you to realize a few extra things about Builders if you didn't already know. For example, every universe seems to have them and they're all pretty attuned to what the others are thinking, though some may have different ideas. Once you kind of get that, the rest of the issue falls pretty neatly into place. As if that weren't enough, though, for the first time in its long history (barring immense and sudden Phoenix-powered tidal waves), Wakanda's walls have been breached and Thanos' army, led strategically by Corvus Glaive and physically by Proxima Midnight, is in the Golden City. Shuri is forced to pull her troops back to regroup, allowing Thanos, Corvus, and Proxima to the Necropolis, where they don't find the gem they're looking for but manage to find the world-destroying weapon (which Thanos describes as "delightfully unexpected") and the imprisoned Terrax and Black Swan. He does not free them but he certainly takes note. You guys. There's so much going on. The next New Avengers, as I pointed out above, won't come out until after the Infinity main event has finished. Very curious to see how that plays out.