New Avengers #25 *Spoilers*

[Will.S]

Synopsis: The issue opens up with a aerial shot of NYC and Stark Tower, a couple of shots on the same splash page pan down on a crowd of people slowly going into a close shot of out suspect hacking into Capekiller armor and shutting them down. The next scene is the same mystery guy hacking into Stark Tower and moving on up into the main penthouse where Jarvis is going about his usual duty.

Jarvis spots him and puts on the alarm but not before getting shot in the arm. Mystery guy apologizes to Jarvis to only be greeted by an intimidating shot of Iron Man ready to take him down but unexpectedly he initiates a code that shuts down Iron Man's armor, leaving Tony Stark trapped within his own armor.

Meanwhile above on the SHIELD helicarrier, an agent notices suspect activity out in front of Stark Tower. As they pan closely in they see a capekiller squad down and quickly rush to their aid. Back to Iron Man, "Kenny" starts to rant at Iron Man while he's down about how Tony used his technology towards the Civil War and how it wasn't meant to be used for that. Agent Hill and her crew try to contact Iron Man but to no avail, back to Kenny he goes on some spiel about how Iron Man does what he wants because he's in a suit of armor and doesn't hold himself responsible. It goes on until he reveals an anti-matter generator that will take him, Iron Man, Jarvis and Stark Tower out of NYC.

Hill plans to storm in and check out the tower but is suited with various cool gadgets that get her in. Kenny activates the bomb while Maria makes her way into the building, the top floor lights up with activity which promts Maria to turn on the anti-grav boots. Tony says to Kenny that if he goes through with it that he';; just go out as a martyr with nobody knowing why or how he died, Kenny mentions how he put his plan out into an internet blog where it'll be read and people will know that it was him that took out the tower and why.

Kenny then accuses Tony of stealing his work to which Stark replies that it was his since he worked for him so it falls under contract. Before Kenny finishes his speech he's shot in the back by Hill, Tony tells her to get out but she throws a bomb diffuser onto the anti-matter bomb and throws herself on Tony as it goes off effectively saving both their lives.

SHIELD, Sentry and Ms. Marvel (even though late) finally come through after all is said and done with questions. A little laterTony then has a talk with Hill that eventually reveals that she wants to relinquish her status as SHIELD director over to Tony.

Review: This was a very interesting take on Civil War as far as the technologies go and how this nobody just up and got into Stark Tower and took down Iron Man so easily. I'm a bit bothered as to how easily Iron Man's armor has been shut down or hacked into (Execute Program, Civil War #3, New Avengers #23) but it works in this story nontheless.

The parts with Hill were very cool, it seemed similar to Millar's Nick Fury raid in Ultimate X-Men. I also enjoyed the whole claustrophobic feel Cheung captured by showing the inside of Iron Man's visor all shut down and powerless.

The ending had a whopper of a clue as to where Tony might go post Civil War and it's something that was speculated at once a few images got out and seeing his general leader'like behavior during CW. Jimmy Cheung's art is just great and at the same time works very well with Bendis's script. It's not a traditional Avengers story by any means seeing as how it's a spotlight of each New Avenger and his or her perspective during the CW but at the same time a unique way of telling it through a human terrorist perspective.

It's not my favorite out of all the NA spotlight issues but it runs at a 3rd or 4th following the Cage, Spider-Woman, and Sentry issues.

[Haunt]

i told you all that Hill wasn't so bad.

[Pyro]

This issue wasn't what I expected it to be. I was kind of disappointed actually. I expected some pro-reg action and that it would be portrayed in a positive light. Instead, we got another angry anti-regger attacking the pro-regs and Iron Man and Hill being all friendly. I didn't like not knowing who the bad guy was until about 3/4 the way through the issue. I honestly didn't care for Hill's attempts at humor. It just seems weird after seeing her so "strictly business" before. Not that she can't have an aloof side to her, but that showing it during a situation didn't seem in character to me. But who am I to say, it was written by the guy who created her.

Of course, Cheung's art was great. Tee hee, I just noticed the little fallen Jarvis on the cover. It looks so funny.

[overcomebyfumes]

I'm a bit bothered as to how easily Iron Man's armor has been shut down or hacked into (Execute Program, Civil War #3, New Avengers #23) but it works in this story nontheless.

Stupid question: Wasn't the point of the EXTREMIS virus that it created a seamless brain/armor interface? Shouldn't that prevent folks hacking into the armor that easily? Or at least get him on his feet quicker? I was appalled to see Iron Man being taken down so quickly.

...and then sit there as helplessly as the reader as we're subjected to yet another anti-reg rant.

The other thing I'd like to point out is that this guy (not sure who he was, still. One of the Stark engineers, I'm guessing) is essentially a suicide bomber. Will we see anything in future issues condemning the Anti-regs adopting terrorist tactics? I don't think so.

Pax.

[We R. Venom]

i told you all that Hill wasn't so bad.

Very true. The woman is just doing her job. And when Chueng Draws her, she is also kinda cute:D

[Pyro]

The other thing I'd like to point out is that this guy (not sure who he was, still. One of the Stark engineers, I'm guessing) is essentially a suicide bomber. Will we see anything in future issues condemning the Anti-regs adopting terrorist tactics? I don't think so.

Good point. What he did was really bad. He wasn't even superhuman. Just a terrorist.

I also didn't understand how the antimatter generator was stopped. Did Hill throwing the balls at it work?

[overcomebyfumes]

This issue wasn't what I expected it to be. I was kind of disappointed actually. I expected some pro-reg action and that it would be portrayed in a positive light. Instead, we got another angry anti-regger attacking the pro-regs and Iron Man and Hill being all friendly.

I don't understand how you can have an issue centered around the guy leading the pro-reg faction, yet there is absolutely no (zero, nada, none, zip, zilch) insight into how the pro-regs think or work, or even anything positive said about registration. Does Bendis completely miss the point? Tony says more about what makes him tick in the Sentry issue than he does here.

Of course, Cheung's art was great. Tee hee, I just noticed the little fallen Jarvis on the cover. It looks so funny.

Cheung's art is fantastic, but I can't help but think that it's wasted here. Too many talking heads and not enough action.

Pax.

[Sijo]

Oh God, could this story have been any more gimmicky?

They invent some new character who just happens to know how to deactivate or bypass SHIELD and Stark technology -even Iron Man's armor!- he brings along an incredibly dangerous superbomb, yet Maria Hill happens to arrive in time with just the stuff needed to stop it. And then she goes boo-hoo I never wanted this position please pity me and by the way Stark you would make a great SHIELD director.

Is this why people hate Bendis's stories?

[Will.S]

I don't understand how you can have an issue centered around the guy leading the pro-reg faction, yet there is absolutely no (zero, nada, none, zip, zilch) insight into how the pro-regs think or work, or even anything positive said about registration. Does Bendis completely miss the point? Tony says more about what makes him tick in the Sentry issue than he does here.

Bendis doesn't really have to show more positivity for registration. The Iron Man CW tie ins and the CW mini itself are doing it already so it would be sort of redundant to do it again. He also solidified Iron Man's take on it in the tail end of the Sentry issue. This book was more about technological secrets getting into the wrong hands, the safety of the tower becoming compromised, SHIELD's relationship with Iron Man, and moving Tony into a possibly new position.

There's also the good Maria Hill characterization which I liked and is followed up upon from the Spider-Woman issue.

[Pyro]

I don't understand how you can have an issue centered around the guy leading the pro-reg faction, yet there is absolutely no (zero, nada, none, zip, zilch) insight into how the pro-regs think or work, or even anything positive said about registration. Does Bendis completely miss the point? Tony says more about what makes him tick in the Sentry issue than he does here.

Yeah, that's exactly what I meant before. I was expecting more focus on the agenda of the pro-reggers and more focus on Iron Man, but unfortunately, that's not what we got.

Bendis doesn't really have to show more positivity for registration. The Iron Man CW tie ins and the CW mini itself are doing it already so it would be sort of redundant to do it again. He also solidified Iron Man's take on it in the tail end of the Sentry issue. This book was more about technological secrets getting into the wrong hands, the safety of the tower becoming compromised, SHIELD's relationship with Iron Man, and moving Tony into a possibly new position.

But he does have to show more positivity for registration. Each of these CW issues have focused on a single character and their place in the war. So far they've each shown the character's views and the reasons they made the choices that they've made. Instead, this issue only had Tony in the story. It wasn't about him. You say it would be redundant to show Tony's views, but I feel that this was a missed opportunity to show him in a better light. He wasn't portrayed negatively, but he wasn't the focus of the issue. And besides, Cap has two issues (NA #21 and CA#24) outside of the main CW title. I haven't read Iron Man yet, but from flipping through it at the store, it doesn't seem to have what I was hoping to get from this issue either.

[sephirothskiller]

Good point. What he did was really bad. He wasn't even superhuman. Just a terrorist.

I also didn't understand how the antimatter generator was stopped. Did Hill throwing the balls at it work?

Arggh! My pet peeve!!

Okay, this dude was not a terrorist. Just because someone doesn't belong to a group doesn't make them a terrorist!!! This was an attack on a combatant, and thus not a terrorist attack. Terrorist attacks entail attacks on a civilian population.

That said, I hated this issue. I thought that for some reason they cast the anti-reg guy in a bit of a positive light. And the anti-matter generator would have caused a gigantic NUCLEAR explosion which tiny pills really shouldn't have absorbed.... I mean seriously.

[Pyro]

And the anti-matter generator would have caused a gigantic NUCLEAR explosion which tiny pills really shouldn't have absorbed.... I mean seriously.

Hence, the attack on a civilian population. And that's assuming no one else was in the building. Kenny (or whatever his name was) was kidding himself thinking he would only kill Tony (and Jarvis).

[overcomebyfumes]

Has the terr... Iron Man's attacker shown up in any previous Iron Man comics, or is he a completely new character? I'm not totally clear on who he is.


...and how exactly does someone construct an anti-matter device in their garage without alerting anyone? Sure, this guy's an engineer, but I'm a biologist, and I know if I tried to grow anthrax in my basement, just ordering some of the necessary equipment to a non-business address would get me put on a watch-list... You'd need a good size particle accelerator to even get any quantity of antimatter - even in a comic-book universe, antimatter doesn't just happen to be lying around - and having one of those in your garage would surely get you noticed. Ok, now I'm nit-picking.

Pax.

[Haunt]

Has the terr... Iron Man's attacker shown up in any previous Iron Man comics, or is he a completely new character? I'm not totally clear on who he is.

Pax.

he's a never before seen Stark employee who was apparently recruited from college by Stark himself. he's the designer of the "Cape-Killer" armor. he thinks that Stark has misused his design.

[Pyro]

I assume he's new due to:
A.) Never having heard of him before.
B.) No one else having heard of him before.
and C.) the fact that he did nothing besides serve the story's purposes and then get killed.