Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #9 Review
The end of Avengers: The Children’s Crusade is here and what does it mean for the Marvel Universe?
Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #9
Stature is dead. To ease both his and Scot Lang’s pain, Iron Lad offers to take her into the time stream to find a way to bring her back to life. Captain America tries to say that it wouldn’t right. It takes Vision stepping up to say that Iron Lad must leave her in peace with Lang. The resulting tantrum from Iron Lad destroys this version of Vision. Still planning to take Cassie somewhere into the time stream to prevent her death, Wiccan finally tells Iron Lad that doing that would only secure his future as Kang the Conqueror. He departs promising to be better, but it leaves the giant elephant in the room for both the X-Men and the Avengers – what will they do with Wanda? Cyclops wants to still punish her, but a cooler head prevails as he said it would be best to see her try and failing to make up for all she’s done. Cap invites her back onto the Avengers, but she declines. Wanda decides to go out and find herself before making any other plans. The following day, the Young Avengers disband, and for the months that follow, Wiccan dives into a depression as the Marvel Universe continues on with no interaction from the depressed hero. Finally, Ms. Marvel tells Billy and Teddy that Cap wants to see them at the Mansion. The Young Avengers are finally memorialized as true Avengers and their future seems somewhat secured even if they are a pale comparison to what they began as.
That rundown of this issue is massive because this issue is indeed massive. There’s a conclusion, an epilogue, and a new beginning in this single issue. We get Scarlet Witch back as someone who will do everything she can to make up for the wrongs she once did. Stature does indeed die, but her death is a heroic one and actually surprising. You don’t want any character that has grown as much as Cassie Lang grew to die, but when her death actually means something, and her remaining dead meant more to her friends than the fleeting attempt to prevent her untimely end, it actually becomes far more special than Bucky’s “death” in Fear Itself, or even Hawkeye’s death in Avengers Disassembled (only because he came back so, so soon in House of M).
It took nearly two years for this story to come to a completion and a lot of questions were answered with this last issue. The biggest question I had since issue one, page one, was “When does this story take place?” Well, that’s answered and it’s actually brilliant how it plays out. Even though this started long before Fear Itself, I think it’s best said that it happens almost immediately after the events of the Serpent War. It explains why Steve Rogers is Captain America again. It explains Simon’s unwillingness to help them find Wanda early on. He even tells her how much she really wouldn’t want to be a part of the Avengers with what he feels they’ve become now. It definitely explains how the original Vision has returned in the pages of Avengers when the Young Avengers already had a Vision of their own. The scene with Wiccan moping over the outcome of this “crusade” showed where they were. The end of the main part of the story comes just before Spider Island. By the end of the epilogue, you learn they did have a role in the Avengers Vs. X-Men story. What that is we’ll see, but it appears this ends just after the upcoming event. I can’t tell you how awesome it was for me personally to get the answer to the main question of “When?” this book delivers.
That’s not all I get out of this book either. I get my beloved Wanda Maximoff back. Her apparent appearance at the start of Avengers Vs. X-Men confirms that she truly is back in the Marvel Universe and this issue tells you what she’s going to be doing. I hope this means we get to see a lot more of her. I got to see a change of opinion from the Avengers about Wanda. That was another sticking point for me early on. I can see why ol’ Scotty boy would still be pissy. He probably even has the perfect reasons for his continued issue with Scarlet Witch. In a way, I feel as though I get some closure from the original creators of the Young Avengers, Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung. The creation of this team was something that I kinda raised an eyebrow at. I wasn’t sure exactly how they would fit into Avengers lore when they were unveiled. Now, they’ve done what they set out to do. They’ve become Avengers and there doesn’t really seem to be a purpose for a “Young” Avengers anymore. It all comes to a natural conclusion. They suffered losses and it’s time for them to move on. It felt right. Absolutely it was a bittersweet closure with a couple fine characters dying, and the team’s ultimate disbanding, but it also ends on a hopeful tone. They may not come back as I knew them for a while, but I feel okay with it.
In the end, it’s a great conclusion to a series that was extremely well written and beautifully drawn. I don’t know I could have asked for anything more.
A COMIC BOOK BLOG RATING
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Excellently wrapped up and answering all the questions I had. Cheung’s art was absolutely stellar. I finally can stop asking when the Scarlet Witch is coming back. | None. I’m perfectly satisfied now that I can see the whole story played out. |
| Rating |
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2 Comments
Amen brother. I also wanted to see how this one ended as it had HUGE implications on the upcoming AvX crossover hitting the shelves next month. I’m glad that Wanda didn’t restore the powers of all the mutants as that would just have negated every mutant story from the past 5 years. Still, this begs the question of how the hell she was strong enough to remove everyone’s powers but is too weak to give them all back? Convenient, no? The team breaking up was bittersweet but if you notice, the remaining members represent Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye and Hulk. Switch Hulk for Cap and you have the second team of the original Avengers. I also really enjoyed this series and hope this is not the end of the “Young” Avengers.
Thanks Victor. I believe the implications made by the series was that X-Factor and Wanda came to the conclusion that she shouldn’t just make a blanket decision to simply give everything back to everyone. She would let the mutants who lost their powers decide if they even want them back. Then after that, Doom took a bunch of her powers with him. She’s more or less back to the Scarlet Witch she was pre-Busiek/Perez.