Not that we should have expected anything less from the likes of Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribić, but Marvel’s Aliens vs. Avengers #1 is the perfect melding of two universes. It also is surprising, tense, sometimes heartbreaking, and definitely goes in directions you don’t expect.
Actually, to be more precise, this comic is a perfect melding of the Alien franchise and Hickman’s sensibilities. That’s abundantly clear as we start off with a Marvel Universe riff on an Engineer pointing to a star system, straight out of Prometheus. We jump to a slow pan-in on a spaceship, a stalwart of the Alien franchise, though in this case, it’s a Shi’ar ship. And then the swerve: this takes place in the future, with an older T’Challa leading his son and the Galactic Empire of Wakanda to try and stop some rogue scientists from unleashing the xenomorphs on the universe.
They’re too late, though. And over the course of several pages, Hickman and Ribić kill the Earth… Something teased multiple times in the Alien movies, but is shockingly successful here. Left in the wreckage are the old Avengers of the title: Hulk, Captain Marvel, and a man who may either be Weyland (from the Alien movies) or Iron Man. Regardless, these dregs left in the last human city are desperately trying to fight back — only they’ve already lost.
If you were expecting the more straightforward fight teased on the cover… Well, you should have known better. Hickman is in his end-times era in this book, Doom, and over in Wolverine: Revenge. He’s spent so much time building the mythology of the Marvel Universe, now he’s now spending his time destroying it.
Granted, he’s done that before too, with Ribić on Secret Wars… The book this is most tonally a successor of, down to the focus on Miles Morales in the first issue. It’s grim. It’s dark. The book is epic in the way the Alien movies can rarely achieve, thanks to the logistics of creating hundreds of xenomorphs. If you’ve had Alien fever reignited thanks to the release of Alien: Romulus, this book is the perfect follow-up. Albeit with a few more superheroes.
The big question, though, is that if they destroyed Earth in issue one… What’s next?
Aliens Vs. Avengers #1 Rating:
Aliens Vs. Avengers #1 Official Synopsis:
ALIENS AND AVENGERS FACE OFF! It’s all led to this: Xenomorphs reach Earth! The perfect organism meets a planet of superhumans. Who will be first to fall? Legendary collaborators Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribić cut loose in this four-part epic unmissable for Marvel and Alien fans alike!
