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Fear Itself #5: Review

Aug 2011
Matt Fraction, Stuart Immonen

Story Name:

Fear Itself 5: Brawl

Review & Comments

Rating:
3 stars

Fear Itself #5 Review by (August 30, 2011)
Review: All-action issue puts off most of the plotting problems in favor of a lot of epic crashing and bashing. That’s it, a simple uncluttered issue that works out as the most successful one yet. Thing fans will probably be happiest (eventuallY0 as he is rescued from the baleful influence of the villains.

Comments: The title comes from a famous quote by Franklin D. Roosevelt, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Hulk lands in Eastern Europe for the events of FEAR ITSELF: HULK VS. DRACULA #1.


Fear Itself #5 Review by (February 6, 2013)
There are no issues specifically attached to events in FI#5. But after FI#5:- In Invincible Iron Man #507 Iron Man creates Uru weapons in Asgard. Rescue and the Detroit Steel Corps fight Grey Gargoyle/Mokk in Paris. In Journey Into Mystery #626 Loki visits Surtur, and then recruits the Destroyer before visiting Serpent's palace (flying as seen in FI#5) In Avengers Academy #17-18 the students return from Washington to the Infinite Mansion. But Absorbing Man/Greithoth and Titania/Skirn turn up there to harass them. (#19 will lead into FI#6.)

Before the current issue FI#5:- FI: Uncanny X-Force #2 continues UXF vs Purifiers as they incite mass suicides. Alpha Flight #3 has more on AF vs the Canadian dictatorship. In New Avengers #15 Squirrel Girl saves Danielle Cage during Sin/Skadi's attack on New York. While in New Mutants #29-30 the team are in Las Vegas after Juggernaut has left. Dani Moonstar leads them to Hel to get help from Hela, but the others wind up in Hell fighting Mephisto instead.

With/after FI#4 we find:- Uncanny X-Men #542 we see X-Men vs Juggernaut/Kuurth in San Francisco, while Magik & Colossus go to tell Cyttorak that Juggernaut has defected to the Serpent. Cyttorak takes the Juggernaut power away, and gives it to Colossus. (But Cain Marko still has the Worthy power.) In FI: The Deep #3 the 'Defenders' continue against the Undying Ones and Attuma's minions in New Atlantis. Then there's FI: The Home Front #5 wherein Speedball helps survivors in flooded Newfoundland and a new arc starts starring Amadeus Cho, X-23, Spider-Girl (Anya Corazon), Thunderstrike (Kevin Masterson) and Power Man (Victor Alvarez), who find themselves fighting monsters in the Pacific. We'll find out why next issue. Hulk #38 continues from #37. After the destruction of Avengers Tower, Red Hulk's enemies fight Thing/Angrir and then Sin/Skadi's army invading New York.

Now we get into more fruitful ground, before FI#4:- Thunderbolts #161-162 sees Juggernaut/Kuurth leave Chicago on his way to Las Vegas and then San Francisco in FI#4. Thunderbolts try to stop Sin/Skadi's missile (tech stolen from Zemo) hitting Chicago, but the warhead lands in Lake Michigan and releases vicious amphibian attackers. Ghost Rider #2 continues its own plot. The only connection this time with FI is that FI has forced the baddy's hand. In FI: Youth In Revolt #4 there is dissension in the ranks in Las Vegas post-Juggernaut. In Avengers #16 Steve Rogers leads a group of female SHIELD agents to capture Sin/Skadi. But it's a trap. FI: Wolverine #2 continues Wolvie vs STRIKE. Note Avengers Tower is still standing, and Thing has probably not long become Angrir.

With/after FI#3 there is:- Black Panther: The Man Without Fear #522 continuing BP vs Hate-Monger and American Panther. Heroes For Hire #10 has more of HFH vs Thing/Angrir and the fear monster and others. And Herc #6 finishes his tie-in arc still with little real connection to FI.

Another busy month for tie-ins, with more of the event to spread them across. Outside of continuity there is FI: Fellowship Of Fear, the Handbook on FI and other fear-related events/characters. During or after FI#2 we have:- The last issue of FI: Deadpool #3 reveals that Walrus's fake hammer was really a magic hammer to fight werewolves. And in FI: Fearsome Four #3 Psycho-Man plucked the old New Fantastic Four from elsewhere in the multiverse using Man-Thing's power, and now sets them against the Fearsome Four. But Howard the Duck uses the No-Thing to defeat PM and the New FF.




 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Fear Itself #5 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

In New York, Thor comes face to face with his two foes Angrir, Breaker of Souls, and Nul, Breaker of Worlds, formerly the Thing and the Hulk. Elsewhere in the city Captain America and the Avengers are confronting Skadi, daughter of the Serpent, formerly Sin. At the site of fallen Asgard, Tony Stark stands before Odin, denouncing him for his passive attitude toward the human race, using them for cannon fodder. Tony points out that the villain has granted extraordinary weapons to his minions; now Tony wants access to Odin’s workshop to make something equivalent for his side….

Thing and Hulk batter Thor around, until the Thunder God summons Mjolnir; it speeds to him—ripping a hole through Thing’s back as it comes. "And him I liked," says Thor, "But you? You were always a giant pain in the @$$." And he proceeds to savagely beat the Hulk with his hammer. Meanwhile, Franklin and Valeria Richards run to the side of their dying Uncle Ben….

Skadi and Cap rush at each other and she unleashes a bolt that sends him crashing through a parked car yards away. Suddenly the sky darkens, a floating platform descends, the Serpent has risen and announces that his is the day the world dies. The Avengers assemble to stop him but the Serpent strikes a blow with his own hammer that creates a shock wave hurling the heroes hundreds of feet away. Cap hurls his shield at the villain but the Serpent catches it…and shatters it in his hands. He lets loose an even larger blast…. When Steve awakens, Spider-Man tells him that the bad guys left while everyone was unconscious; Spidey then asks permission to go home and check on his family. Cap demurs but Spidey tells him, it’s time to go….

Franklin Richards uses his powers to heal the Thing of his fatal injuries—which also frees him from control by the Serpent. Meanwhile, Thor admits he cannot beat the Hulk; when they rush at each other, Thor’s blow sends the Hulk into space. The Hulk reenters the Earth’s atmosphere in a fireball heading toward Europe. Thor collapses….

When the Avengers see Spider-Man leaving, they ask Cap what is going on. Cap replies that he allowed Spidey to stand down…because they are going to lose this war….



Stuart Immonen
Wade Von Grawbadger
Chris Eliopoulos
Stuart Immonen (Cover Penciler)
Wade Von Grawbadger (Cover Inker)
Laura Martin (Cover Colorist)


Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Captain America
Captain America

(Steve Rogers)
Hawkeye
Hawkeye

(Clint Barton)
Hulk
Hulk

(Bruce Banner)
Iron Man
Iron Man

(Tony Stark)
Luke Cage
Luke Cage

(Power Man)
Ms. Marvel
Ms. Marvel

(Carol Danvers)
Spider-Man
Spider-Man

(Peter Parker)
Spider-Woman
Spider-Woman

(Jessica Drew)
Thing
Thing

(Ben Grimm)
Thor
Thor

(Odinson)

Plus: Franklin Richards, Serpent (Cul Borson), Sin (Synthia Schmidt), Worthy.

> Fear Itself: Book info and issue index

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