Awesome / Secret Wars (2015)

The Marvel Universe died as it lived: fighting to the bitter end.

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Last Days

• In Captain America and the Mighty Avengers #8, Monica Rambaeu and the Blue Marvel take T'Challa and Reed Richards to task for leaving them out of the Incursion crisis.
  Blue Marvel: Spoken like a true autocrat. Did it occur to you that the other seven billion of us might have liked a say in this?
  T'Challa: Oh? Have you asked them? Excuse me, doctor. I have other matters to attend to. [walks off]
  Blue Marvel: Of course you do. [to Reed] Are you as comfortable on your throne, Reed?
  Reed Richards: Adam... I've heard you out. I've been extremely generous with my time. But, we're done here. [tries to walk off] You don't know me. You don't know who I am or what I've gone through. Maybe when you deal with the kind of crisis we have dealt with, then maybe then you can judge—
  Monica: [Berserk Button pressed] All right. We will.
  Reed Richards: What do you mean by—
  Monica: You don't have a monopoly on crisis, Reed. Or on "Walk in my shoes". Trust me— [Monica shifts to her Nextwave uniform, Reed gasps] —You don't know me. You have no idea.
  Reed Richards: Monica...?
  Monica: The Illuminati failed. It failed all of us. If we somehow survive the mess you people made, we'll talk about what comes next.
• That Punisher scene down there where he crashes the villains' party? The Punisher #19 revealed he killed them all. To elaborate, Frank managed to single handedly kill Kingpin, Sandman, Bullseye, Lizard and about another dozen villains using conventional weapons AT THE SAME TIME.
• Loki: Agent of Asgard: Frigga fighting King Loki, and then managing to kill the Midgard Serpent. Most of the Ragnarök really, there are definitely worse ways to spend the end of everything than doing an epic battle on the moon.
  • Not to mention the fact that Loki singlehandely saved Asgard! Or rather their story! Locked in an awesome final battle, the God of Stories preserved their story to be told in the new universe!

Secret Wars (main title)

• In the very first issue, we open with Doctor Doom standing before a rift in space, behind which live the Beyonders, other-dimensional beings almost single-handedly responsible for the multiversal decay:
  Beyonders: WE ARE BEYOND. DREAMERS. DESTROYERS. ALL OF REALITY OUR WHIM. WHO DARES STAND BEFORE US?
  Doctor Doom: I. Doom.
• Even as Reed Richards crosses the Despair Event Horizon, we see a glimpse of Doom's masked visage in the white light.
• Colossus pulls off a Fastball Special... not with the currently-deceased Wolverine, but with the friggin' Hulk. Colossus throws him through the Incursion point into the Ultimate Universe and manages to hit the Triskelion. Then he repeats the process with She-Hulk and Pod. After being ported over by Nightcrawler, the four uplift the Triskelion with their bare hands!
• Even though the world is ending, and it's arguably futile, we still see Spidey swinging through the chaos, rescuing people.
• Cyclops becoming the Phoenix once more and frying the Maker's army.
  Listen to me... you can't kill an idea. It always comes back. Resurrected. Or reborn... into a different form.
• The Punisher crashing Kingpin's "End Of The World" party, attended by several key villains that will soon eat lead. Even more awesome when you consider that some of those villains (like Sandman) are immune to bullets. Frank has balls of steel.
• Susan Storm manages to quell Doom's rage with a simple, humble request for mercy for Brian Braddock. Not many people can change Doom's mind once he's made a decision, and fewer still with a single word.
• Doom has somehow managed to save bits of the shattered multiverse and cobble them together as Battleworld. More than that is The Reveal of his face when Odin speaks to Thor of God. Doom has set himself as absolute monarch of this facsimile world.
  • The opening exposition makes it perfectly clear that Doom is holding the world together with nothing more than his iron will.
• Sinister surviving an Off with His Head! and retaliating.
• The bifurcation of Zombie Venom.
• Miles Morales being able to sneak into the Cabal's ship and avoid their attention is nothing short of amazing.
• Stephen Strange defends his actions to Reed Richards by stating that Victor Von Doom is very good at playing God.
• Issue #4: Just the sight of 616-Reed Richards, who has no Battleworld equivalent causes Doom to completely fall apart.
  • Richards!
• Stephen Strange standing up to Doom, even though it cost him his life.
• Doom takes down a Phoenix powered Cyclops, but not before the latter gets in some powerful shots while delivering a "Reason You Suck" Speech to Doom.
• Reed and Doom have a Worthy Opponent moment.
  Reed Richards: So, it's true. It really is you, isn't it, Victor? It's amazing, an artificial construct of reality where there should be nothing. Look at what you've made.
  Doom: Yes. I did what you and all of your ilk could not. I saved the unsavable in the face of total annihilation. I am a miracle worker. But here you are, so you must be as well.
• And what of the Beyonders? Stephen Strange states matter-of-factly that Doom murdered them, and took their power for himself.
• Doom and Stephen Strange built a bomb of Molecule Men and shoved it right into the Beyonders' faces.
• Valeria announces to her science team (including Tesla and Nostradamus) that they will stop at nothing to find and punish those who killed Dr. Strange.
• From issue 6, what Thanos does: He lets himself get arrested by the forces on the Shield, and then talks to Ben Grimm. In a few minutes, he manages to point out to Grimm that Doom is behind his problems, that Ben's life is Doom's way of torturing him, causing Ben to stand up (remember, he's the wall that goes around the world), ready to show Doom what time it is.
  • Siege, which shows the events, adds on to this, by having Ben actually say his catchphrase as he goes off.
    Thanos: What time is it, Ben Grimm? What time is it?
    Grimm: IT'S CLOBBERING TIME!
• Reed Richards has been working with The Maker (his Ultimate Universe counterpart). The Maker questions how Reed came to look so old and weak. Reed hits him with a Shut Up, Hannibal!.
  Reed Richards: When you find something to care about more important than yourself.
• Issue 7 has quite a few of these.
  • The Prophet who led a revolt against Doom turns out to be Maximus.
  • T'Challa calls himself King of the Dead, a meaning that has changed several times, the most recent can be interpreted as "King of a Dead Nation" or simply being able to communicate with the deceased Black Panthers before him. On Battleworld? He can command the zombies of Battleworld, literally making him the King of the Dead.
  • From the above, when Zombie!Modok questioned him, Namor threw his trident through his face before asking "Your king is waiting for an answer."
  • Captain Marvel convinced Baron Sinister to desert, something he's been waiting to do.
  • Thor convincing the Thors that Doom is not the All-Father then leading the charge against Doom's loyal.
  • Maestro leading the Worldbreakers against Doom.
  • And finally, Doom sits calmly on his throne, observing the unfolding chaos, calm as a cucumber.
  Doom: ''I am betrayed. Again.''
• Like the Issue before, Issue #8 has a few.
  • Black Swan confronts and prepares to kill Peter Quill, who has been warning her to just back off or she'll regret it. When she refuses he uses his trump card, a small sliver of wood. After stabbing it into the wood of the world tree...
    "I... I... I AM GROOT!"
    • What sells this is Franklin's Oh, Crap! look as it grows gigantic and smashes Castle Doom to the ground - after just casually killing the Thing with Galactus, who refused to kill him, he's now up against an opponent who has no qualms with smashing him.
  • Thanos gives Doom a glorious "Reason You Suck" Speech. Doom's answer? Casually rips out Thanos' skeleton.
• Ben takes out quite a few heavy hitters with minimal effort.
• In issue 9, Doom finally admits that Reed is smarter than him.
  Doom: It's the same thing it's always been between you and I...YOU THINK YOU ARE BETTER THAN I AM.
  Reed: No, Victor. You're wrong. I've always believed you could be better than what you are.
  Doom: No. I mean NOW. This moment. If you had this power, you think you could have solved it all—solved everything...You think you could have done SO...MUCH...BETTER... DON'T YOU? DON'T YOU?!
  Reed: Yes. And we both know it, don't we?
  Doom: Yes, damn you...NOW DIE!
  • After Doom concedes that Reed is smarter and could have used the power better, Owen Reese says that since the two of them are in agreement over that point, he diverts that power to Reed. Cue a massive Oh, Crap! look from Doom as he realizes exactly what was just said.

War Zones

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows

• In Renew your Vows, Spider-Man fighting Venom to the very end and making an entire house on fire collapse on him. All of this to defend his wife and daughter.
• In issue 2, it's his He's Back! moment, saving the Power Pack from the Regent's forces.
  • Spidey knocks out Rhino with one punch ("OH, SHUT UP!"), and then takes down Beetle and Boomerang (off screen), giving Power Pack enough time to run.
  • Both Peter and Mary Jane running to Anne's school the moment they hear an incident, because they just knew Anne would be involved. She's not.
• In issue 3, Peter kills Hobgoblin, and reveals himself not to be the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man people knew of old.
  Spider-Man: Hobgoblin, ladies and gentlemen. Let's give him a hand. (beat) What? Not funny? Good. I'm done being funny.
• In issue 4, we got:
  • Sandman's Dying Moment of Awesome, allowing himself to get captured and get the remaining Avengers into Regent's base.
  • Annie finally cutting loose with her powers and dropping the invading Sinister Six.
  • And both Annie and Mary Jane teaming up to rescue Peter.

1602: Witch Hunter Angela

1872

• In issue #3:
  • Red Wolf is discovered infiltrating Mayor Fisk's mansion, so Bullseye calls him out for a duel in the street. While threatening him with a far more gruesome demise if he doesn't, Red Wolf shoots him right in the bullseye on his forehead, from a distance, in the middle of the night. He then leaps from the second-story window shouting for justice for Sheriff Rogers' murder, sets Grizzly on fire by throwing a lantern at him, and pistol-whips Elektra.
  • This is soon followed by Tony Stark showing up when Red Wolf is put at a disadvantage, clad in his new western steampunk Iron Man armor.

A-Force

• In A-Force #1 we have battle with a megalodon and from Nico blasting it with magic spells, to Captain Marvel punching it out of the water to America Chavez throwing it so hard it flies over the Shield, taking a small chunk with it, and lands in the Deadlands.
• The battle with Sentinel from second issue, even Nico, who has a good reasons to be angry at the others at the moment, has to admit it was pretty cool.
  • She later gets a smaller, very subtle one, with acting protective towards Singularity, making it clear that if her own team will try to take her new friend away, she will take them all on at once.

Age of Apocalypse (2015)

Armor Wars (2015)

Captain Britain and The Mighty Defenders

• Faiza Hussain smashing a Nigh-Invulnerable wall apart with one blow from Excalibur.
  • Faiza remembering her original reality, not being a native to Doom's Battleworld.
• Yinsen and his Defenders telling Doom they'll stand against Doom's law to protect Faiza from suffering for something she had no control over. They pay for it, sure, but it doesn't make it any less awesome.
• Dr. Faiza Hussain is a healer, not a killer, so how does she fight back against the militant regime of Mondo City after being taken captive? First, by using her healing powers to dismantle and reassemble the sentient torture chair she's strapped into. Then, she summons Excalibur and destroys the gun of the guard threatening her. Finally, she confronts Big Boss Hill, who is both Baron and Thor of Mondo City, and destroys her Thor hammer in a Single-Stroke Battle. All without harming a single soul.
• And all of this? All part of Doom's plan.

Captain Marvel and The Carol Corps

Civil War (2015)

Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars

E is for Extinction

• After years of getting ridiculed by Magneto's X-Men and the general public Scott, Emma, and Logan get their powers back thanks to Xorn and show both Magneto's people and the U-Men that they've still got it.

Future Imperfect (2015)

Giant-Size Little Marvel: a vs. x

Guardians of Knowhere

Hail Hydra

Hank Johnson, Agent of HYDRA

House of M (2015)

Howard The Human

• Howard out playing several crime lords and getting the all in one place so the cops could arrest them all.

Inferno (2015)

• After virtually three decades of always being made the perpetual loser in dealings with the X-Men, Madelyne Pryor comes out the almost complete winner this time, only losing her boyfriend Alex.
  • Even Lampshaded with "Awesome," as the story's closing line.

The Infinity Gauntlet (2015)

• Thanos gets defeated by one Anwen Baiken, who practically wins by doing nothing. Confronting her, she seemingly hands over the Reality Stone with no opposition, and he then proceeds to assemble the rest of the Infinity Gauntlet. In reality, she had used the real Reality Stone to create a fake Infinity Stone, the Death Stone, which looked identical to the Reality Stone; however, when used in place of the Reality Stone in an Infinity Gauntlet, it basically self-snaps the user...no points for guessing what happens to Thanos.

Mrs. Deadpool and The Howling Commandos

M.O.D.O.K. Assassin

• M.O.D.O.K from M.O.D.O.K. Assassin single handily defeating several Sentinels of the Sentinel territory. It's even mentioned he's the reason why they don't leave to attack the Mutants in the House of M territory.

Old Man Logan (2015)

Planet Hulk (2015)

Secret Wars 2099

• Giant Emotion Eater Shuma-Gorath invading the future? Brute force not cutting it? Simple! Summon Bigger Fish and unleash Giganto the Fearless!
  • Also points for Miguel, who finally puts his father in his place. By shoving him out of Alchemax's tower.

Spider-Island

Spider-Verse (2015)

• Spider-Verse #1 gives us the cathartic moment of Spider-Gwen decking The Jackal in the face.
• The opening exposition in Spider-Verse #1 also informs us that all of Battle World is being held together by the iron will of Doctor Doom alone.
• A villainous one for Norman Osborn. Somehow, he remembers Gwen Stacy, and had known that she would gain access to his secret project, where he had Spider-Ham held captive.
• Spider-Gwen, under fire, realizes she can't take Norman Osborn for questioning and save Spider-Ham at the same time, pitches Norman into his security force.
• Spider-Man Noir uses a sonic device of his own making to stun Carnage, puts two rounds into Cletus Kassidy's chest, endures a What the Hell, Hero? from his fellow spiders, then shows them that the Carnage Symbiont is already repairing the damage.
• Gwen, having a deep distrust of Norman Osborn, has parted ways with her fellow Spiders, and is alone, staring at her own grave, when she's greeted by Peter Parker.
  Peter: Hello. My name is Peter Parker, and I used to be Spider-Man.
• Gwen demonstrates that she's a Combat Pragmatist during her first run in with Venom:
  Gwen: First, when dealing with someone stronger than you, hit them with something other than your fist. Second, keep your distance. Third, make sure all the useless people without Spider-powers are clear.
• Spider-Gwen defeating Venom with an electric guitar and a very loud amp.
• Spider-Gwen devises a Batman Gambit to deal with Norman Osborn.
  Gwen: Thing is, Norman's not stupid. He'll know this is a trap. But he'll come anyway, because he's crazy.
• To distract a Thor that's trying to kill them, Spider-Ham pulls a Your Mom on the Thor. She puts him through several walls, but he survives pretty much unharmed, just like he predicted he would.

Squadron Sinister

• The classic Squadron absolutely mauling their Supreme Power counterparts, tearing them apart without any trouble.

Weirdworld

Where Monsters Dwell

X-Tinction Agenda

Years of Future Past

Battleworld

Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies

Battleworld

• Issue #4, Silver Surfer shows up in Dystopia to get his board from the Maestro's trophy room. Most characters are utterly terrified of the Maestro, and for good reason, but the Surfer is able to nonchalantly No-Sell every single attack before picking up his board and going on his way.
  • Issue #4 in general is nothing but a series of alternate versions of the Silver Surfer averting the original's tendency to suffer from The Worf Effect hard. It's as awesome as it is satisfying for fans of Norrin.

Ghost Racers

• The entire race in Ghost Racers. It's like a mixture of Death Race, REDLINE, and Mad Max put into a few pages.
• The final issue, with the Ghost Racers finally rebelling and ending the races, declaring themselves free and something much more...
  Burn eternal! Ride eternal! And forever unleash your unrelenting wrath upon the wicked and corrupt!
  Racers no more! We're SPIRITS OF VENGEANCE!
  • Not to mention that one of them is a freaking T-Rex with robot arms surfing on a fighter jet and another is an ape riding mini-locomotive.
  • And what about the villains of the story? Zadakiel tries to kill Gabe, but Robbie teleports himself in his place and lets Eli consume Zadakiel's soul. And Alejandra tears Arcade's eyes out, which is followed by him being run over by every single Ghost Racer.
• Carter Slade has been redesigned. Originally, he was a cowboy dressed in all-white with a cape and full-face mask. Now? He's a freaking skeletal centaur with gattling guns attached to his sides.◊

The Inhumans: Attilan Rising

The Korvac Saga (2015)

Marvel Zombies

Master of Kung-Fu

Red Skull

• The Red Skull, of all people, pulls off a Big Damn Heroes to save the villains who have been dropped and left for dead behind The Shield, double-crossed by those wanting to find out if he's dead or not.

Runaways

Secret Love

Secret Wars Journal

Siege

• How do you stop an army of giant ant-zombie men? By focusing the combined might of the Endless Summers and focusing all their blasts through a lens made by Leonardo da Vinci.
• In the last issue, Thanos gets a big one for actually inspiring Ben Grimm to stop being the Shield:
  "Doom has asked you to live on your knees. Every day of this life, he's beaten you as you lie there. What do you do? You Stand up. What time is it, Ben Grimm? What time is it?"
• And then Ben Grimm stands up, a hundred feet tall. And what does he say? "It's Clobbering Time."

Star-Lord and Kitty Pryde

Thors

• In Thors #4, during the final battle of Battleworld, Ultimate Thor throws his Mjolnir, just as Battleworld gives way to a new, normal Earth, and the hammer survives to land on Old Asgard.
  • And before that, Jane Foster rallying the Thors to be truly worthy of their hammers and join her in the fight against Doom, which many of them agree to even before Old Thor throws in his support.

Ultimate End

X-Men '92

• As Cassandra Nova defeats Jean Grey, Jean calls out Xavier, ready to end things:
  Nova: You. Did you finally run out of broken toys to throw at me in this little tantrum, Charles?
  Xavier: You ambushed me. You attacked me. And, you hurt my students. And now, you will suffer the consequences.
  Nova: Really, now? What will it take to—
  Xavier: I wasn't talking to you, Cassandra!
  [Summons Onslaught, who busts through Nova's body and rips out the Shadow King.]

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