The Avengers are in trouble. Avengers 5.1 is the concluding tale of how Cressida betrayed the new Avengers of Hawkeye, Scarlett Witch, Captain America, and Quicksilver, and how the world was righted from this superhero double cross. Iron Man, Giant Man, Wasp, and Thor left their spots on the superhero team, and at the start of this comic, we are greeted with cover art that shows them weeping over the graves of the new Avengers.
Cressida, also known as Avenger X, worked with Captain America to train this new bunch of recruits, and, in the training, Cressida betrayed them all and attacked. Here in this edition, we see the conclusion to this long drawn out battle.
Avengers 5.1 brings an end to the tale of the New Avengers comic line with gusto.
My Opinion
I really enjoyed how Avengers 5.1 started quick and maintained the action-packed battle scenes throughout the book.
Sometimes comics tend to bog down the reader with unnecessary dialogue or exposition that allows us to capture the mood of the characters. That’s nice to see, and for the avid reader, we would get a chance to see inside the mind of our characters, but Avengers 5.1 avoids this approach and starts the fighting right away.
Cressida can amplify and harness the powers of the Avengers. The ability to steal the agility of Captain America, or the hex’s of Scarlett Witch, and the speed of Quicksilver would make her a formidable villain. But she can’t beat the Avengers, even the new ones.
Iron Man and the original team, have arrived to put an end to the power of Cressida, but the team that is laughed at, and referred to as also-rans, did not perish to Cressida’s powers. I like the fact that writer Mark Ward focuses on this new group of the Avengers that Captain America has trained to defeat the villain, rather than relying on the big guns.
With a little help from Hank Pym who cured them and ultimately made them immune to Cressida’s power, the new Avengers are able to resolve the situation and overpower the villain.
I only have one complaint, the ending. After blasting Cressida far away, she lands in the forest to be confronted by the villainous group the Frightful Four. Coincidence or convenience? They are angry at her and bury her alive in the ground. I have no complaints about this, villains deserve their fate. The problem is that when the Avengers arrive tracking her movements, they can’t find her, give up immediately searching assuming that she has escaped. Come on, the Avengers give up and assume that the villain is gone, without really searching for her. I mean they could have looked around for a few minutes, seems a little more like Scooby Doo than superheroes — only a minor complaint for a thoroughly enjoyable action packed comic.