Avengers AI 11, Avengers Undercover 2

Avengers AI 11
Humphries (w) and Araújo (a) and D'Armata (c)

Alexis, transported to the year 12,000 AD, has been told that she needs to save Jessie Clatterbuck from deactivation by SHIELD. She's caught a glimpse of the future, one where Dimitrios has destroyed mankind and many other species and is only really challenged by the Avengers Empire, a traveling Avengers team composed entirely of AI. Her older self sends her back in time with explicit directions and she returns and delivers them. Dimitrios has created a Trojan Horse around Clatterbuck; if SHIELD deactivates her, a virus will run through their systems granting him access to all of their weaponry. The future Alexis saw had Dimitrios controlling all of that hardware and even a secret nanobot weapon that would devastate mankind before Dimitrios, in the form of a new start-up company, would offer everyone nanobot-repelling rings that would sterilize humanity. It's a dark future and one that can only be prevented by stopping SHIELD from taking Clatterbuck. Unfortunately, Jocasta has just pressed the button to deactivate the LMD.

As this book heads towards its conclusion next issue, the plot has really ramped forward. Alexis sees the future and learns how to stop it. It's an interesting idea and puts SHIELD in the place that SHIELD so often finds itself: the cause of the entire world's problems. Despite the rapid dissemination of plot here, Humphries still manages to get a couple of character moments thrown in, although he has no time for subtlety here. Victor returns to a body and he and Doombot bond the tiniest bit as he accuses Doombot of staying because he wants to and not because he feels like he's stuck. Hank continues to worry that he has been more of a harm to society than a help and is allayed by Vision, who assures him that he's done far more good than bad. Future Alexis demands that Alexis save the world then go see Steve Rogers because, apparently, she's in love with Steve Rogers, etc. If this issue is any indication, the finale should be pretty solid with a lot of plot and only a little time to get through it all.

Avengers Undercover 2
Hopeless (w) and K. Walker (a) Beaulieu (c)

The Murder World survivors head down into the pit entrance of a giant villainous underground city in Bagalia in the hopes of finding Cullen Bloodstone. They're spotted almost immediately and are forced to fight their way through a few minor bad guys on their way to Cullen on Cammi's tracker. When they're through the bad guys, they push into a bar owned by Arcade where Cullen supposedly is. As they arrive, they're shocked to find that Cullen has accepted the way of life proffered by the villains below. They try to talk him into leaving with them but he refuses. He's not evil, he says, just happy to be in a place where people aren't afraid of him all the time. The kids get comfortable for a bit while they see if Cullen's okay (Cullen explains who they are to everyone and everyone is excited to meet them). Hazmat and Anachronism dance for a bit, Death Locket is examined by mad scientists before Excavator (who she had wailed on outside) comes to buy her a taco, Chase makes out with a villainess, and Cullen introduces Nico to Daimon Hellstrom, who helped him control his powers and has some experience in controlling black magic and distancing himself from his parents. Cammi gets sick of it and attempts to finally pull them out of there but Cullen insists they go elsewhere. Daimon magics them away and puts them in nicer clothes, sending them to a fancy dinner party where Arcade is introduced as the guest of honor.

Really neat turn here for this series. AVENGERS UNDERCOVER was advertised as as a book where the survivors from AVENGERS ARENA go undercover in the new Masters of Evil. I think that's probably still coming but I didn't expect it to go this way. I really like this interpretation, one where these survivors go what seems to be the natural way. They're all good kids (with maybe varying levels of good); that's why Arcade stole them away and that's why there's a conflict here. However, it's not unreasonable to believe that this would be the next logical step. Hopeless throwing in Daimon Hellstrom as one of their first contacts in this seedy underworld is another great "writes itself" sort of move. Hellstrom isn't all bad for sure. He constantly finds himself assisting heroes or working at odds against villains and the ties to black magic and bad influences makes him a natural fit to hang out with these kids. There's so much that this book can do and I think it's off to a good start, taking things in a new and interesting direction. Pretty great second issue, helps to confirm that things are moving the right way.