YMMV / Armageddon 2001

• Ass Pull: The reveal of Monarch's identity didn't make sense, as Hawk was of only average intelligence, had no tech savvy, and was dedicated to chaos over order, all in violation of Monarch's personality. This is because it was changed at the eleventh hour after the story's ending — with Captain Atom as Monarch's identity — was leaked. Even worse, DC tried to do damage control by also cramming the original plan back in via several retcons later on, after no one cared anymore. Hawk is also specifically one of the few heroes with a future where he survives to fight Monarch in hand-to-hand combat in 2001. It all adds up to the nadir of the trope: a twist that shocks and surprises the audience totally overriding good storytelling.
• Harsher in Hindsight: In the first Superman future, we see Superman becoming a Knight Templar after losing all of his loved ones to a nuclear bomb, with Batman being the primary one opposing him. Flash forward to Injustice: Gods Among Us twenty-two years later...
• Overshadowed by Controversy: The last-minute switch regarding Monarch's identity after the original planned reveal was leaked is more well-known than the event itself, which is otherwise considered one of the more forgettable of DC's annual events.
• Technology Marches On: Accounted for — Matthew Ryder, before becoming Waverider, deliberately uses obsolete technology from the late 20th century, incompatible with that of 2030, to prevent Monarch's minions from finding his plans if discovered. Truth in Television, since by 2001, computers and peripherals that could read 3.5" diskettes were already rare.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Adventures of Superman Annual #3 is the only time Superman willingly becomes lovers with Maxima, who is no longer evil, and it's hinted the two will indeed have children someday. Since Maxima's entire goal is to breed a child with Superman, we never get to see what kind of child the two will have.
  • More than one reviewer has complained that the first issue and the premise are great, but it builds up to such a letdown of a payoff because of the changed and nonsensical ending.
  • During his review of the comic, Linkara suggested that instead of the rewritten ending that was given, Waverider himself could have become Monarch by seeing potential futures of all heroes and, out of paranoia, became the very monster he wanted to stop to prevent from any of them from becoming threats. It also wouldn't have worked as well as sticking to their guns, but if they were going to hold to the idea that there had to be a twist no matter what, it would have been a better alternative.
• Uncertain Audience: At the best of times, the "hero goes crazy and becomes a villain after butchering his supporting cast" plot is something beloved by marketeers, who want a shocking hook to sell the story, and writers, who've grown dissatisfied with the "stale" status quo and want a big change, a big shakeup, while being despised by fans, who feel their emotional investment in the subject matter is being rendered pointless. Armageddon 2001 was positioned to avoid this pitfall by having Monarch's past self confront him, refuse to become him... and then, out of a desire to preserve a leaked "twist," creative zigged instead of zagging, actively having Hawk become Monarch in the flesh, killing his future self and then climbing into the armor.

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