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Infinity #6

Nov 2013
Jonathan Hickman, Jim Cheung

Story Name:

Amber


Synopsis

Infinity #6 synopsis by Rob Johnson
Rating: 4.5 stars
Ye olde previously page this time only refers back to #5:- The Illuminati returned to Wakanda and learned that Thanos' forces had overrun the capital city and discovered the world-killer antimatter bombs in their secret HQ the Necropolis. Supergiant told Thanos she'd figured out how to activate the Illuminati's bombs and found the trigger mechanism. Thanos confronted his last surviving offspring Thane, captured by Ebony Maw in Orollan. The Avengers and the Galactic Council's forces prepared to liberate Earth from Thanos.

The following pages repeat some of the events from Avengers #23, as the Council fleet fought Thanos' ships and the captured SWORD Peak satellite. Inside the satellite Star-Lord and Rocket Raccoon of the Guardians of the Galaxy helped Abigail Brand and some other agents of SWORD in trying to take the Peak back. But the decisive blow was dealt by the leaders of the Council (Annihilus, Gladiator, Ronan and Super-Skrull) personally taking down Thanos' disgraced general Black Dwarf.

Captain America, Captain Marvel, Hulk, Hyperion and Thor ran the blockade around Earth, and Carol Danvers just manages to crash their spaceship near where Iron Man told them in Av#23 Thanos would be. Hyperion scans the hidden Inhuman city of Orollan and finds only 5 surviving lifeforms. (The rest were killed when the Terrigen Bomb converted Thane into an Inhuman. CA sends Hulk in to announce their presence.

The Illuminati (Beast, Black Panther, Dr Strange, Iron Man, Mr Fantastic and Sub-Mariner) have defeated the troops Thanos left in the Necropolis. They find Supergiant with 1 partially-activated antimatter bomb. She is also mind-controlling Black Bolt, still recovering from destroying Attilan and setting off the Terrigen Bomb in #3, not to mention losing a fight to Thanos in #4. She gets the Inhuman king to use his voice against his fellow Illuminati. Dr Strange retaliates.

Thanos is with his other 3 generals in Orollan, where Thane is held in a containment field by Ebony Maw. Corvus Glaive reports that they've lost contact with Black Dwarf on the Peak. Then Hulk lands. Thanos bats him away, and sends Corvus and Proxima Midnight to keep him busy while the Titan attends to the business of killing his son.

The husband and wife team are well-practised at acting together. Proxima pins Hulk with her energy lance. It was made from the heart of a super-nova, and holds him down with the weight of a star, while Corvus tears at his throat with the glaive weapon that gives him is name. A weapon that can cut atoms. But Corvus Glaive's attack is interrupted by Captain America's shield, followed by Cap and the other 3 Avengers.

Back in the Necropolis Dr Strange has sent an eldritch tentacled monster against Black Bolt and Supergiant. But BB's voice is enough to shatter even that. Until Mr Fantastic gags him with a hand while entwining both foes in his malleable body. Black Panther uses the only weapon he's managed to get hold of - a Rumbler which causes a localised earthquake.

But this affects friends as well as foes. Supergiant is free to finish activating the bomb (although it still must be triggered). Panther warns her that once it's set off she'll only have a few seconds in which to fail to escape. She'll die along with the rest of Earth. But the villain doesn't care.

She explains how her early orphaned and abused life led her to desire death. Thanos found her when he killed his 1st offspring, and she asked him for death too. But he took her to help him find and kill the rest of his children, and promised her death when they were done. The quest has taken years, but now Thane is the last to fall. With this bomb she will kill Thane for Thanos, gain her own death, and kill Thanos too to punish him for making her wait so long for it.

Back in Orollan Ebony Maw and his captive Thane watch as Proxima Midnight pulls her lance out of Hulk, causing him to revert to Bruce Banner. Captain America holds off Corvus Glaive while  Thanos beats back Captain Marvel and uses his eye-blasts to repel Thor. A blast from Proxima's energy-lance scatters the Captains and Hyperion. All the while Ebony Maw's insidious words are worming their way into Thane's mind.

In the Necropolis the bomb is ready to be triggered. But sneaky Maximus has got hold of the trigger mechanism. The mad Inhuman sets the bomb off! But he has a plan. Lockjaw the teleporting Inhuman dog appears, and takes Supergiant and the bomb to (presumably) a deserted alien planet far, far away. And leaves her there as the bomb explodes.

Somewhere in the middle of all that we've seen Cannonball and Smasher fighting Thanos' ships in space near the Peak. Inside the Peak Black Widow, Manifold and Shang-Chi are another infiltration group despatched in Av#23. They've gained control of the station. And on an outside monitor they see Nightmask supporting Starbrand as he single-handedly destroys many enemy warships. And the team of Hawkeye and Spider-Woman see the remainder of Thanos' fleet in full retreat.

Black Widow contacts Iron Man in the Necropolis as the Illuminati pick themselves up amidst the debris. He tells her to coordinate things from the Peak, sending reinforcements to places like Wakanda and New York. He himself is heading after Thanos in Orollan.

There Corvus Glaive is starting to decapitate Hyperion with his glaive. Proxima Midnight hurls her energy lance at the Captains. It splits into 3. CA manages to deflect 2, but 1 wounds him. However 1 of his deflections was aimed to strike Corvus, allowing Hyperion to burn him to ashes with his eye-beams. Proxima rushes to where her husband fell, retrieving his undamaged weapon and saying that the glaive is the man.

CM attacks her but is sent reeling by a blow from Thanos. The staggered Proxima supports herself on the glaive-staff to stand beside her master. As Thor returns to hit Thanos with lightning bolts and Mjolnir. But the mad Titan survives even that, and sends all his opponents flying.

Ebony Maw has continued whispering in the ear of Thane. Thane has spent his life trying to ignore his legacy as a son of Thanos. But now Ebony frees him from the containment field, and urges him to use his new-born Inhuman power against his father. We have seen Thane's blackened left-hand dispense destruction. Now he uses his blazing right hand for the 1st time. And then Ebony Maw spirits Thane away.

Iron Man arrives to find it's all over. Thanos and Proxima Midnight suffer a living death, encased as statues in a cube of force.

In the days that follow many things happen:-

In #3 Black Bolt sent the other Inhumans away before the fall of Attilan - scattering them across the world, maybe across the galaxy. Maximus expects them to believe that he and Black Bolt are dead. Now they are at an old site of Attilan in the Himalayas, where the recovered BB will leave the Codex database of Inhuman lore to be found by his successor as ruler. Maximus realises that his brother's actions were not actually in response to Thanos. He had always intended to scatter the existing Inhumans, and use the Terrigen Bomb to start a new Inhuman age.

The Avengers help repair the devastation caused by Thanos' invasion of Earth. And across the galaxy people pick up the pieces after the war against the Builders. On Whaan Prime, where an Ex Nihilus killed himself and a world in #3 on the orders of the Builders, the Ex Nihili mourn their brother and repair the world. They will return to their role as cosmic Gardeners, restoring other worlds and enlivening new ones for refugees. On Chandilar Gladiator, with Mentor and Oracle, starts to refill the gaps in the Shi'ar Imperial Guard. Ronan and the Accusers return to Hala and the Supreme Intelligence, as the Kree prepare once more for war. On Tarnax II Super-Skrull  is crowned emperor of the Skrulls. On Praxis-2 the stargates that were used to bring the Annihilation Wave from the Negative Zone against the Builders in Av#21 are still active. Annihilus is using them to turn Praxis-2 into Annihilation World. And somewhere Ebony Maw is turning Thane into something worse than his father.

And on Earth Iron Man has taken charge of the frozen Thanos and Proxima Midnight. He has brought them to the Illuminati base in Wakanda's Necropolis.


 

Review / Commentaries


Infinity #6 Review by (December 1, 2013)
3 other tie-ins are post-Terrigen Bomb (#4):- In Secret Avengers #11 the Terrigen-converted SHIELD agent has to face another new Inhuman. In Thunderbolts #18 the part of the team with Red Hulk finishes fighting Supergiant, and the part of the team with Punisher has to contend with the fact that some of the mobsters they were after have become Inhumans. Infinity: Heist #3 features the actual break-in to Stark Tower. The villains have to fight Iron Patriot and some of the Mighty Avengers. They steal Iron Man's armours, but Spymaster double-crosses them. However it turns out he's been working for 1 of them without realising it - Titanium Man who's actually an old Quasar/Avengers for the Kree Captain Atlas. (This suggests that he was also the Titanium Man in Mandarin's army in Matt Fraction's run on Iron Man.) The epilogue in New Avengers #12 really mainly continues the subplots of New Avengers. GoG#9 and Heist4 have been delayed until December. I'll add notes on those after they've been published.

The rest of the tie-ins are set on Earth during earlier issues:- In Infinity: The hunt #4 the various student groups (including some from the Braddock Academy) converge on Wakanda to fight Thanos' troops. This is probably during the 1st attack on Wakanda in #2. Mighty Avengers #3 confirms that this sequence is set soon after #2. While Ebony Maw was tinkering with Dr Strange's mind he let Shuma Gorath into our universe. All the characters Blue Marvel, Luke Cage, Power Man, Spectrum, Spider-Hero, Spider-Man and White Tiger combine as the Mighty Avengers to defeat the monster.

Tie-ins since last issue:- Only Avengers #23 is actually set between these 2 issues. The galactic fleet moves on from Titan to try to get past Thanos' fleet and the Peak satellite to Earth. Guardians of the Galaxy have infiltrated the Peak as seen in GoG#8, but there is no word of their success. Captain America sends a small team of Avengers to help, but they too fail against Black Dwarf. The galactic fleet and some Avengers attack Thanos' forces, while CA and a few Avengers try to reach Earth. The Galactic Council themselves take the Peak. The only other issue set in space is Wolverine & X-Men Annual #1, which tells us what Kid Gladiator did during the war against the Builders in #2-5.

There are some things that haven't been resolved in this event. Everyone seems to have forgotten about seeking the Time Gem. At the end of Avengers #21 the Aleph robots said they were going to 'destroy everything', but no more is heard about this. The Avengers are credited with saving the galaxy, ignoring the fact that it was the Ex Nihili who woke Captain Universe up to destroy the Builders in Av#21 (again). In fact we haven't heard from CU since then. And people who haven't read New Avengers #11 may not be aware that the Avengers are actually the villains in this story! The Builders were trying to destroy Earth to save this universe from the incursions in the NAv series.

We saw the Inhuman city of Attilan in the Himalayas in early issues of Fantastic Four, where it was referred to as the Great Refuge. However it has moved around quite a lot (and was recently a flying city before being destroyed in #3). Backup Tales of the Inhumans in Thor #146-152 revealed that the Inhumans originally lived on the Isle of Attilan in the Atlantic, but Black Bolt moved his people to the Great Refuge to avoid discovery by humans. What If #29-30 said that Attilan *itself* was transported to the Himalayas to become the Great Refuge. The Marvel Universe Wiki says that the Isle of Attilan was built c. 5000 BC, following references in editions of the Marvel Universe Handbook. (This Attilan may feature in the adventures of Tuk the Caveboy in #1-5 of the 1940's Captain America Comics.) The Handbook says they moved to the Himalayas in the 1950's. When we 1st saw the Great Refuge in FF#47 it was said to be in the Andes, but by #55 it was in the Himalayas. The FF Official Index declares the reference in #47 to be a mistake, and the Handbooks and MU Wiki don't mention the Andes. However Wikipedia and the unofficial Wiki at marvel.wikia.com suggest that Attilan was in the Andes between the Atlantic and the Himalayas. Does this mean the Inhumans moved it again between FF#47 and #55, because the FF had found them? But how did the Human Torch know to go to the Himalayas?

Does the title Amber refer to Thanos being preserved in something like amber at the end? The whole Guardians of the Galaxy infiltrated the Peak in GoG#8 to rescue Abigail Brand. That story will continue in GoG#9 which unfortunately has been delayed until after the end of the Infinity event. So it remains to be seen how it ties in with Brand fighting alongside only Rocket Raccoon and Star-Lord here. As I mentioned in #2 Thanos killing all his children was a theme of the Thanos Rising mini-series. But that was set very early in his career, and supposedly ended with the death of the last one. Presumably he sired more, and then decided to purge them all again. The 1st killing spree was to please his mistress Death. But now he seems to be doing it just because he wants to. I don't think he's courted Death since hi 2003 series, and definitely not since he himself was made an avatar of Death in The Thanos Imperative and related comics. Be that as it may, I presume Supergiant has only been with Thanos on his 2nd round of child-killing. But maybe not. The Illuminati created the antimatter bombs as a last resort to destroy alternate Earths in the frequent 'incursions' in New Avengers. They are based on the bomb Black Swan used to destroy the 1st such incursing Earth in NAv#1, and their trigger is the device her minion Manifold used then. (That Manifold has an as-yet-unrevealed connection to the Avenger of the same name.)

Added comment on GoG#9:- The delayed Guardians of the Galaxy #9 was out last week. I was going to wait for Infinity: The Heist #4 this week before commenting on both, but it's been delayed again until January. GoG#8&9 *do* fit in with Avengers #23 and this issue in 1 respect. Contrary to what I said in the comments on #5, only Star-Lord and Rocket Raccoon went into the Peak to rescue Abigail Brand in GoG#8, which matches what is seen in Av#23 and Inf#6. The rest of GoG stayed outside even when Angela blasted a hole in the satellite, and they continue to fight outside in GoG#9. But there are still inconsistencies. In GoG#8 the team are called in by AB, not sent in by Captain America as in Av#23. AB/RR/SL don't meet Black Dwarf, the main Peak opponent in Av#23. The trio destroy the Peak at the end of GoG#9 to let the Avengers get through to Earth, but in Inf#6 Black Widow/Manifold/Shang-Chi take control of it for the same purpose.

Added comment on the delayed Infinity: The Heist #4:- A remote-controlled Iron Man suit helps the villains defeat Spymaster and the Kree Titanium Man. And we find out Blizzard's Inhuman power is to affect electrical systems.


> Infinity comic book info and issue index

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Preview Pages




Jim Cheung
Mark Morales
Ive Svorcina
Adam Kubert (Cover Penciler)
Adam Kubert (Cover Inker)
Laura Martin (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Chris Eliopoulos.
Editor: Lauren Sankovitch.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Adam
Adam

(Nightmask)
Annihilus
Annihilus

(The Living Death That Walks)
Beast
Beast

(Henry Phillip McCoy)
Black Panther
Black Panther

(T'Challa)
Black Widow
Black Widow

(Natasha Romanoff)
Captain America
Captain America

(Steven Rogers)
Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel

(Carol Danvers)
Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange

(Stephen Strange)
Hawkeye
Hawkeye

(Clinton Barton)
Hulk
Hulk

(Robert Bruce Banner)
Iron Man
Iron Man

(Anthony Stark)
Maximus
Maximus

(Maximus Boltagon)
Mr. Fantastic
Mr. Fantastic

(Reed Richards)
Rocket
Rocket

(Rocket Raccoon)
Spider-Woman
Spider-Woman

(Jessica Drew)
Star-Lord
Star-Lord

(Peter Quill)
Sub-Mariner
Sub-Mariner

(Namor McKenzie)
Thor
Thor

(Odinson)

Plus: Ex Nihili, Gladiator (Kallark), Manifold (Eden Fesi), Mentor (A'Lars), Oracle, Ronan (Ronan the Accuser), Smasher (Isabel Kane), Star Brand (Kevin Conner), Supergiant, Thane.