Secret Avengers (2010 series) #37

Captain America sits with the Secret Avengers for a report on their mission against the Descendants….

Black Ant gloats over the wounded Venom but Venom is able to turn against him and knock him out—but not kill him, which gives Ant the advantage. And then Valkyrie skewers him through the back so he shrinks and vanishes….

The giant Sentinel bearing Father electrocutes Giant-Man while Human Torch explains to Captain Britain that humanity is being offered a gift and Cap B insisting mortality is an important part of being human. Spider-Man carries Hawkeye up to where he can snatch the Orb of Necromancy from Father and they are starting to feel the beginnings of the nanomites taking effect in their bodies. Bystanders in whom the change is almost complete plead with Hawkeye to let the process take hold of him. He hesitates and Lady Deathstrike is on him, tearing at him while mocking his humanity; Cap B clouts her in the head and he and Hawkeye barely escapes being stomped by the Sentinel. Cap B yanks the Sentinel into the sky by its foot while calling on Clint to destroy the Orb. While agonizing over the rule that Avengers don’t kill—until suddenly Human Torch rushes by him and explodes the Orb, saying, “We will not erase humanity to write our future.” With the destruction of the Orb, all over the world the Descendants die, bringing an end to Father’s plans. But Father tells Captain Britain that one Descendant remains, before dissolving into dust. And Human Torch flies off….

 Hawkeye describes the look in the Torch’s eyes, the look of a man who destroyed the only chance of a world where he fit in and he will live with the cost for the rest of his life….