Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Javier Garron
Color Artist: David Curiel
Cover Artists: Javier Garron & David Curiel
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Reviewer: StoryBabbler
For a while now, there has been a mysterious ally aiding the Avengers of all kinds. Not just the team we know in the main 616 universe but across the entire multiverse. This enigmatic Avenger Prime has been a leader of these multiversal Avengers against the darkest of forces, the most deadly being Mephisto’s Council of Red and the Multiversal Masters of Evil led by Doom Supreme. But now that the armies of Doom Supreme are marching at his door, behold the story of Avenger Prime in Avengers #65!
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Review:
Let’s get the big reveal out of the way: Avenger Prime is Loki. Yes, you read that right. The mysterious Avengers Prime that the last few story arcs have been building up as the leader of the multiversal Avengers is Loki of all people. Or rather, an alternate Loki than the one that we’re all used to in the main continuity. There is some poetry to this reveal, that the foe who first united the Avengers to stop him would be the one to sincerely turn over a new leaf to help them save the cosmos as a hero. However, despite what the cover shows and the synopsis says, this is not an epic story. Fair warning, there will be spoilers throughout the review.
To start off, I will be referring to Avenger Prime as Loki Prime to separate him from the mainstream Loki. The story starts off by showing how Loki Prime’s life differed from the Loki we know. His Thor died in an accident trying to wield Mjolnir, he usurped Odin’s throne and ruled Asgard for a while, and he would go on to observe the goings and doings of other Lokis and Avengers across the multiverse. From there, you see how his story continues to diverge as he gets his way until he doesn’t which leads him to realize how “important” the Avengers are to not only the Earth but the universe’s existence. The problem with this whole backstory is that it’s portrayed in a rather dull manner.
Loki Prime narrates his story, but there’s a lot of telling and no showing. You’re never given cool glimpses of how he usurped Odin, or how he prevented the emergence of the Avengers, or how he combated the villainous forces that arose in the Avengers‘ absence. You’re only given the end results. It just breezes by his all of his achievements that would warrant some cool panels and even a splash page. Not to mention, Loki Prime himself rarely emotes or does anything interesting other than lurk about. The comic never ramps things up by showing him conduct schemes, fight anyone, or do anything interesting other than stand and look bored. Now, there is some precedent for this as the comic initially uses the trope of the villain feeling hollow in his victory to show Loki Prime only feels empty from his victories, but he’s like this almost all the time and it’s dull.
To compare with a comic that pulls off the idea of showing an alternate version of a popular villain finally winning, look to the Thanos 2016 series, specifically #14 of the Thanos Wins volume by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw. Quick story recap: present-day Thanos is taken by the new (at the time) Cosmic Ghost Rider to 1 billion years in the future at the order of his future self, King Thanos, who nearly killed everything in the universe and needs young Thanos’ help to kill one last foe. In the 14th issue, it has the first ten pages show King Thanos’ life with solid narration paired with cool illustrations of pages and panels showing his warpath of death and annihilation as he defeats one great foe after another all leading to the grim present. Then it spends the rest advancing the present story with young Thanos and King Thanos.
In this comic, it really isn’t until the tail-end of the story where we see Loki Prime actually do anything, and it’s just to quickly kill off some throwaway versions of Dr. Doom and summon the main Avengers teams to the battlefield. Even before that, the comic does show his fight with the other Mephistos that attacked him several issues ago, but like before, it only shows the aftermath. Weirdly enough, compared to the many bizarre and grand ideas Jason Aaron previously introduced in this series and in his companion series, Avengers Forever, the backstory of Loki Prime has to be the most tame and boring in comparison to say the origin of Doom Supreme.
Final Thoughts:
Avengers #65 delivers readers the tale of how Avengers Prime came to be who he is. While the artwork and colors were good as usual, the story was sadly lacking. The origin story of this version of Loki is good on paper, but it wasn’t pulled off in its execution. Overall, the comic was not as thrilling or compelling as it could’ve been. But hopefully the next part of this story will show this Loki in action.