I’ve been keeping close tabs on the reviews and message board discussions re: JLA/Avengers ever since I declared the first issue to be far superior to any sort of bread, sliced or otherwise. More or less, the net’s thoughts on issue number one have been unanimously positive (or as unanimously positive as the internet is able to be). One of the few nit-picky criticisms has been a simple one as it relates to the conclusion of issue #1: how in the heck are the Avengers going to have any shot against the JLA next issue (regardless of Thor’s hammer shot on Superman)? I have to admit, the situation does look bleak for the Assemblers: outnumbered by a team that includes the likes of Superman, Wonder Woman, The Martian Manhunter, The Flash & Green Lantern with a sharp drop-off in traditional “power players†on their side after Thor. However, I’ve been pretty engrossed in fantasy football since the NFL season kicked off three weeks ago, so maybe it’s the armchair quarterback in me talking, but I see a way for the Avengers to pull out the win…
Battle Plan: A
For the record, the combatants in question, based on the lineups we saw at the end of #1:
The Avengers: Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, The Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Quicksilver, The Vision
(not sure why they wouldn’t bring along at least Yellowjacket, The Wasp & She-Hulk, but oh well…)
The JLA: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, The Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Plastic Man
I’ll go ahead in bullet points to show what I’d advise if I were the brains behind the A-Team…
-Picking up from where we left off, I assume Thor rushes in to follow up his hammer shot to Superman. Since Wonder Woman looked pretty pissed, we can presume that Thor is about to taste Amazon fist. It falls to Captain America here to prove that his reputation as the best field commander/battle strategist in comics isn’t overblown (Batman is more of a prep work/behind the scenes guy…Cap’s main competitors would be guys like Cyclops or Nightwing). If he’s smart, he sees that Supes got taken down by Thor’s hammer, but is not hurting as much from his fists, and determines that the magic element of Thor’s hammer was the difference-maker (kind of a stretch, I admit, but I’m also more or less counting on somebody, most likely Green Lantern, to yell out something like “Wow! That hammer hurt Supes! Must be magic, one of his few weaknesses!†followed by a long glare from Batman). Noticing this, Cap has to warn Thor that WW is coming up behind him and hope that A)Thor doesn’t mind battling a woman and B)He doesn’t mind leaving his fight with Superman to deal with the more immediate threat. Now, knowing that Supes is a major threat that must be dealt with, Cap has but one option: sic The Scarlet Witch on him. This will prove a big-time move since Supes will be probably the most reluctant to battle a seemingly unarmed woman, but, more importantly, Wanda is one of the best in comics as far as utilizing magic as an offensive weapon; Superman is taken out of the fight nice and quick.
-From there, Cap has to recognize Wonder Woman as threat number two (since she was gutsy enough to directly engage Thor) and the big green guy as a close third. Logically, the next biggest hitter, Iron Man, gets directed against The Martian Manhunter. This could actually turn out to be a lucky draw for the Avengers as you know with all the telepathic adversaries he’s dealt with over the years, Shellhead must have some sort of scramblers built into the armor, and his repulsor blasts have just enough fire to weaken MM (I’m assuming that this story takes place before “Trial By Fireâ€) enough for a knockout.
-It’s going to be more or less a given that the two speedsters, The Flash & Quicksilver will immediately go after one another (doubtful either is going to have the patience to wait for orders). Pietro is of course no match for the Fastest Man Alive, but with the power increase he’s had since his solo series, he’s going to give Wally maybe the best race he’s ever had (apart from perhaps Zoom) and will leave him worn out. Since her battle with Superman should be over, Scarlet Witch should be able to swoop in here, exhibiting a bit of the overprotective nature Pietro usually shows her, and disrupts Flash’s speed force connection with a chaos blast, long enough to allow him to be taken down and out (you may be seeing the pattern here: Avengers will have trouble with JLAers one on one, but if they switch opponents, letting one Avenger wear somebody down then coming in for the kill shot, they should be able to capitalize on the exhaustion factor; it’s more Marvel character style to plan things out like that, whereas DC characters will just barrel ahead and try to win with power, a definite disadvantage here).
-At this point, Batman has probably moved to the background to plan strategy; Cap will recognize this as a threat and probably go after him, and just needs to keep Bats off-balance long enough for Quicksilver to recover and lend a hand. But doesn’t this seem a bit too easy given that Batman has more or less been portrayed as the toughest character to take down in comics over the last decade or so? Maybe, but remember two things: 1)Batman is at his best with prep time, and unlike even a DC character he may be encountering for the first time, he has absolutely no intelligence on the Avengers & 2)Cap is damn good in his own right, probably not good enough to beat Bats one on one, but good enough to both hold his own and hold Batman’s full attention from plotting strategy long enough for another Avenger to pick up the ball.
*Quick check-in here: by my count we’ve got Green Lantern, Aquaman & Plastic Man still at full-strength for the JLA. On the Avengers side, it’s more or less just Hawkeye & The Vision who have yet to experience any action, while Captain America, Iron Man, The Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver have got to be reeling, at least. And Thor & Wonder Woman remain locked in battle*
-Teamwork by the Avengers now becomes key. I figure Hawkeye and Plastic Man are naturals to go one on one simply because they’ll piss each other off with wisecracks. Interestingly enough, has Plas gone after one of the Avengers’ heavy hitters such as Iron Man or Thor, he might have been the sleeper that won the fight for the JLA (we all know the potential power Plas has, and really, neither of those guys would have much to counter him with), but in combat with the Avengers†“weak link,†I’m going to have to give Hawkeye the unexpected edge. Why? Because Clint Barton is one of the shrewdest guys on the Avengers (don’t forget, he’s beaten guys like the Grandmaster, one of the big bads of this series, with nothing but his wits), and he will be quick to realize that within his array of trick arrows, he’s definitely got something that can take out a shapeshifter (be it a freeze arrow, a neural dart…whatever; any of the various ways Plas has been taken out of fights early in JLA) and he’ll use it. Provided Hawkeye’s arms don’t get pinned down to the extent where he is unable to use his bow, he takes this one and gives the Avengers a big break.
-So we’re down to two JLAers (not counting Wonder Woman…more on her later). I’m betting Cap can peg GL as the bigger threat, because, bold as he is, Aquaman would probably make a rush at the other team. Because of this, the King of the Seas could actually do some damage, but knowing him, he’ll probably go after a heavy hitter, most likely Cap himself. Cap can hold his own against Aquaman, but if he’s already been fighting Batman, he’s going to get fatigued; enter The Vision, who’s stayed out of things analyzing until this point, who makes short work of Arthur with his solar blasts, dehydrating him.
-The biggest challenge for the Avengers may come from Green Lantern; let’s not forget that this is the guy who was the last JLA member standing in the battle with the Ancients during The Obsidian Age. Cap has to direct as many of his resources as he has left at the last member of the opposition. As they can fly, Iron Man & The Vision need to run interference (counting on Vision not being too exhausted from taking out Aquaman from afar, even if Shellhead is worn from fighting J’onn), and Hawkeye needs to do his best from long distance, experimenting with trick arrows, hoping something works. There’s still a pretty good chance that Kyle could handle all three of these Avengers, if he’s motivated; then it comes down to Scarlet Witch, for the third time, to land the deciding shot on a worn-down JLAer.
-Which leaves us with Thor vs Wonder Woman. Bottom line: WW’s powers come from the gods, Thor is a god. I’m going to say Thor takes it on his own, even if it effectively removes him from the rest of the battle.
So there you have it, my plan for the Avengers to beat the JLA. Yes, it has some major holes in it, mostly because it counts on some JLAers hanging back and doing nothing and not using teamwork, but it’s still a way.
Of course, realistically, the Avengers have no shot, and not because of the characters currently on the scene…it comes from the fact that the JLA is in the DC Universe, have a telepath handy, and about a hundred former members and allies who could fly in and clean up. The Avengers are in it deep enough, just wait until Captain Marvel, Firestorm, Zatanna, et al show up.
It will be interesting to see.
This & That
–Superman/Batman is looking like that rare title that can actually make every issue feel like a blockbuster anniversary type event. Everything just feels bigger in scope. Besides that, I’m really enjoying the look into what makes the headline characters tick, not just in their very telling interactions with one another, but in the excellent dueling narration. I think some of the best character work with both of these guys can be done when the other is held up as a point of comparison. My hat is off (for the second week in a row) to Jeph Loeb. And it goes without saying that McGuinness’ work is beautiful.
The challenge here will be can they maintain the book’s level of quality as an ongoing past this initial (and very cool) arc involving Luthor. I think the idea of bringing in different artists is a good one, but I’d like to see Loeb stay as long as he can; he has done my favorite interpretations of both characters in the last few years. I’m just weary of this becoming World’s Finest in an era where the nuances of that title no longer fit on a regular basis; by that I mean having to resort to imaginary and gimmicked stories every month.
As far as the potential revelation in regards to Batman’s origin…for the record, I don’t like it; for the record, I also don’t think it’s going to stick for a moment, and that’s why I’m ok with it.
-I remain torn on Uncanny X-Men as I have been for quite some time. On a superficial level, I’ve always been a continuity nut (one reason I never cared for Morrison’s New X-Men) and Austen is awful at writing faithful versions of characters that have been around for years (I fear his run on Avengers). On the other hand, he’s taking some secondary characters (Juggernaut, Havok & especially Archangel) and taking some cool chances with them and making them more interesting than they’ve ever been. On the other hand…Northstar has been more or less everything he shouldn’t be as far as a stereotype goes (and after a tremendous issue introducing him to the team), Jubilee is invisible, and Annie gets kind of irritating in that her conflicted feelings towards mutants seem to be brushed aside but continually mentioned. I don’t think Austen is a brilliant writer, but I do think his stories are fun; if I were more of a critic, I’d probably hate this title, but since I’m more of a fan, I enjoy it (for the most part). Looking forward to Larocca though.
-Saw Underworld this weekend and was pleasantly surprised. It’s a great story that starts off making you think it’s a very base action movie and then has a lot more going for it. The mythology and world created is quite brilliant and the story is paced perfectly, peeling off levels of confusion and mystery rather than dragging on then packing all the good stuff into the last ten minutes. I’d say if anything, the problem is that it’s a tremendously written and filmed movie with mediocre acting; Kate Beckinsdale shows very little range, Scott Speedman really doesn’t do anything, and the rest of the supporting cast can’t play much else but extreme emotions. Still, that the movie still comes off as well as it does despite the acting speaks volumes of the production.
Next week, I’ll take a look at the upcoming Superman revamp, plus whatever else is going on. Somebody else’s turn on Monitor Duty, see you all next week…
