YMMV / Heroes Reborn

• Audience-Alienating Era: Widely considered to be one, but between it, Heroes Return, and Avengers Forever, they undid a lot of the damage The Crossing did (teen Tony, adult Tony being evil and dead, mutated Wasp). Still, the executive side of the comic book is one thing, the actual plots and arts are another. In themselves, the issues by Rob Liefeld are even worse than The Crossing, and perhaps the worst material in all the history of the Avengers.
• Critic-Proof: Critics and fans reject it, but it had good sales. Good sales as to save Marvel Comics from bankruptcy.
• Growing the Beard: Liefeld quit after issue 7. Walt Simonson then took over the Avengers title, penning five very well-received issues. Captain America saw similar improvements when James Robinson took over writing duties.
• Older Than They Think:
  • An attempt at streamlining the continuity and origins of Marvel heroes, ditching the older continuity, and starting rumors of replacing the originals entirely, years before Ultimate Marvel.
  • The idea of the Avengers being a team under the command of S.H.I.E.L.D. Sound familiar? Yeah, this predates The Ultimates.
  • The approach to the coming of Galactus, with several heralds instead of one, and each one establishing and protecting a machine at distant places of the world instead of a single machine in New York, was used again in the animated series The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.
  • The first post-Liefeld Captain America issue mildly retconned Cap's backstory to reveal that the United States tried defrosting him during both The Korean War and The Vietnam War, only to put him back under when their mental conditioning started to buckle. Years later, the revelation that the Winter Soldier, formerly Earth-616 Captain America's sidekick Bucky Barnes, was kept in hibernation by the Soviets until needed made this twist horrifyingly familiar. That said, as noted above, in HR!Steve's case, this was revealed to be lies.
  • This was also the first time the Scarlet Witch had been portrayed as purely a sorceress and not a mutant, which is how most of the world would eventually know her because of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
• Salvaged Story:
  • Heroes Reborn: The Return, the miniseries that hauled everyone back to Earth-616 once it was clear that Heroes Reborn was a failure. Before then, the second halves of the Heroes Reborn: Captain America and Heroes Reborn: The Avengers titles, both heavily Retooled after Liefeld rejected Marvel's new contract terms and Wildstorm took over production.
  • Berserker Thor not being the real Thor.
• Shocking Moments: The Galactus storyline was crammed with these. The first issue literally ended with the destruction of the earth, the third issue began with the the death of the Fantastic Four.
• Win Back the Crowd: It may seem weird, but it is the greatest example, even while the comics themselves are reviled by both fans and critics. But pre-Onslaught Marvel Comics was nearing bankruptcy, and the whole "Heroes Reborn" operation saved the company.
• The Woobie: The Swordsman. He charges against Loki... and he tosses him away as if he were nothing. He charges against Kang... and he tosses him away as if he were nothing. He charges against Hulk... and goes to the hospital with massive injuries. Then Loki turns him into energy, and absorbs him. End of story. Really, why did they bother to put him there to begin with? Just because a guy with a sword could be made to look like an anime character?
  
  It got worse for him after the Avengers and the Fantastic Four left Counter-Earth. Much worse. After getting cancer, founding a new superhero team and becoming Counter-Earth's Deadpool, he discovered the truth of his origins. It drove him completely and homicidally insane. He stole a Helicarrier and nuked Uatu's home in the moon in a failed attempt to destroy Counter-Earth that instead sent him into the main Marvel universe. He ultimately met his end at the hands of the original Deadpool and Pandapool.