The Earth-818 Avengers assemble to save Ghost Rider! But what if he doesn’t WANT to be saved? Your Major Spoilers review of Avengers Forever #3 from Marvel Comics awaits!

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AVENGERS FOREVER #3

Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Aaron Kuder
Inker: Cam Smith & Scott Hanna
Colorist: Guru eFx
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 2, 2022

Previously in Avengers Forever: Tony Stark, the Invincible Ant-Man. Robbie Reyes, a Ghost Rider unlike any other from across the multiverse, still changing, still becoming what he was always meant to be. A Deathlok who refuses to die. A brutally two-fisted Wonder Man. A half-built Vision. The Infinity Thing. Together, they’re all that passes for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes on a world overrun by the Black Skull. But on this day, a day unlike any other, they’ll have to be enough.

THE RESCUE THAT WASN’T

After being tortured for Khonshu only knows how long, The Ghost Rider is short one foot and all his patience. But when Tony “The Invincible Ant-Man” Stark arrives to bust him out, he isn’t interested. Deathlok explains that he and Ghost Rider will be staying, asking Ant-Man whether he’s an ant… or an Avenger? Stark isn’t sure at first, but decides to stay and see what their plan is, while his team formulates their own escape plan, figuring that their boss is now another hostage. They’re still stuck at a few inches tall, thanks to a dose of Stark particles, but Wonder Man and the Infinity Thing aren’t daunted. While the jeweled Grimm repeats that “now is the time of clobbering,” Wonder Man begins firing himself like a bullet through the skulls of their would-be captors. Ghost Rider faces more torture from Black Skull, while Moon Knight and The Vision make their way inside the prison, only for Deathlok’s plan to come to perfect fruition, as Robbie Reyes explains to an incredulous Skull what a symbiote REALLY is…

“YOU THINK THAT THE SYMBIOTE IS A WEAPON?”

…it’s a vehicle, with a human as the engine. The sight of Venom, morphed into a flaming Hellcharger is one of the clever visuals on tap for this issue, but Infinity Thing’s glowing stone body is right up there, as is the sight of Ant-Man taking a microscopic run-up to a growing punch that even shocks Black Skull, It’s all lovely to look at, but the last few pages of the story annoy me on a visceral level. Certainly, it’s early in this series, even early enough that the triumphant moments are clearly and obviously premature, but I still dislike the not-quite diabolus ex machina that wraps it all up. Aaron’s plotting has always gone for the unexpected twists (remember Age of Khonshu?), so I can give him the benefit of the doubt here, but I don’t like it. The heroes of Earth-818, on the other hand, are all lots of fun, including a brutish Wonder Man and a female Spector as their Moon Knight, and the use of Stark as POV character to help humanize Deathlok and Ghost Rider is well-chosen.

BOTTOM LINE: KINDA HATE THE ENDING

All in all, though, Avengers Forever #3 is a strong issue that doesn’t quite stick the landing, but provides a lot of interesting reading and lovely art and coloring throughout, earning 3.5 out of 5 stars overall. After last issue’s gruesome events, I’m glad to see things take a turn for the hopeful, but I also realize that an ongoing series has to play a long game, so I can deal with a terrible turn of events in order to see what’s coming next (and where Giant iron Man comes into play.)

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