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Marvel time travel and Age of Ultron - Now with AofU #10 SPOILERS
Maximara
Posts: 6
The biggest flaw with Age of Ultron is it goes against the main way time travel works in the Marvel universe. Generally you can't change history with time travel. If your trip is not part of some time loop, the moment you arrive in the past you create an alternate universe (or you arrive in an alternate past--Marvel hasn't always been consistent on that) that has NO effect on your present. The only exceptions we have seen is insanely powerful beings and those have either been retconned (Age of Apocalypse reality became Earth-295) or forgotten (the whole TimeQuake saga in What #336-35)
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M
It also makes Kang the biggest dork in the MU. He travels here and there through time but never really changing anything..just creating a mess.
For instance, in House of M Rachel reveals that she has no alternates in the (presumably parallel universe) multiverse and yet we have seen alternate timelines that have a Rachel Summers with the Phoneix force.
So the question is is Kang going after alternate timelines or parallel universes that resemble alternate timelines? If the former then yes he is a dork but if the later...
I haven't read any of this title but I do like alternate timeline stories. Is the whole thing and alternate or just some of the issues? I'm still on the fence about picking it up when it its paperback.
For example, Spider-man in AU is clearly Peter Parker, not "Peter Parker," clearly indicating this was written before the whole MarvelNOW! IF it wasn't, then Spidey is written differently from his own title.
Having said that, I've never been a fan of Bendis' writing style. In each title, he finds 1 character to write similar to Spider-man. I find his take on Spidey to be very annoying.
As for this event; skip the trade, google the key pages & read Wikipedia.
That's kind of like asking if now is now or now...or now now. The initial couple issues could be either the 616 timeline commonly known before this story or it could be a divergent timeline from the word go. After that, there's time leaping.
M
I was very much looking forward to this event. I like Ultron, I think he is one of the greatest Avengers villains. 9 issues in and we have yet to even see the "real" Ultron!?!
The story started out with Ultron already established as the victor and establishing himself as the world's ruler. I had to remind myself of other stories (whether they be books, comics, television or movies) with resistance fighters and how often we only see them fighting the enemy's minions or soldiers until the very end.
Now, characters that died during his tenure (e.g., Hawkeye) are back and mutants are proliferating once again. Pretty soon, Logan will have his stoggie back!
At least it is not like DC who has reset their universe so many times that I doubt anybody readers or writers alike even know what is in continuity.
I like the fact that the story keeps things (as well as the readers) off balance. The only complaint I do have is the amount of decompression involved in the story -- at times it works, but most of the time the pacing lags.
M
So many times with Bendis event/Avengers comics, it seems like some story element will be missing, or there will be huge plot holes, or totally out-of-character moments. And fans try to defend this by saying "Bendis is just doing something different. Give it time." But then in the end as often as not the disjunctures are just left dangling and nothing is explained. After a while, personally, I've just taken to assuming "The glaring flaws in these comics don't mean that 'Bendis is planning something'; they mean that Bendis wrote all of this so fast that he didn't think about whether it made enough sense or not."
The event is called Age of Ultron. We're on issue 9 and we haven't seen Ultron yet. There's 1(ish) issue left. It's a Brian Bendis event comic. Chances that we'll actually see Ultron for at least more than a couple decompressed pages in the final issue? 50% Chances that Brian Bendis wrote this whole thing without even realizing that the actual title character didn't even appear in it? 50%.
The title is The Age Of Ultron, and that's what we're seeing: the Age in which he conquers and dominates. Nothing in that title is a guarantee that we will actually ever see him doing it in person. I hope we do see him, but I think folks have the wrong expectation based on the title.
I probably came across as a Curmudgeon in my earlier post. There are many things I am enjoying about this series. Exploring the nature of Hank Pym and just how bad-ass Ultron is (his over all "effect", even though we have yet to see much of him in person) are worthwhile. Things I am not enjoying; Wolverine, more Marvel time travel, and Bendis. Generally I have no problem with Bendis... but I think he has worn out his welcome (with me). A good example is all the hoopla around "his" Guardians of the Galaxy, while everything great about the title was developed earlier by Abnett & Lanning.