Captain America, Iron Man, Thor. When you pick up a comic focused on one of those characters, for the most part, you know what you’re getting. That is rarely the case with a character like Moon Knight. Even if he is just taking over and Avengers title, as opposed to the comic just being his own.
For a while now, the Avengers have been torn apart by the moon god known as Khonshu. The heroes have been scattered as Moon Knight ushered in this “Age of Khonshu” in an attempt to protect the Earth from an even greater evil. Now, that age is coming to an end, for better or worse.
Over the last several issues of Jason Aaron’s “Avengers” run, Moon Knight has been acquiring power, both figuratively and literally, for his moon god. He has defeated several of Earth’s mightiest heroes and taken their powers for his own purposes. The powers and weapons of Thor, the Iron Fist, Doctor Strange and the Ghost Rider have all been at his disposal.
On top of that, the armies of Khonshu have been terrorizing the masses and keeping the Avengers at bay. Captain America, Blade and She-Hulk have been trying to rescue the captive Black Panther, while Iron Man and Captain Marvel have been trying to keep the new Starbrand from joining Khonshu’s arsenal.
Meanwhile, the real war is happening within Marc Spector’s mind. Is he doing the right thing? He tries to justify his actions by allowing himself to think he is protecting the Earth from a coming attack from Mephisto. But how can he allow such atrocities to continue? Ultimately, the fate of the world is in the hands of Moon Knight.
“Age of Khonshu” gets caught between being a big Avengers story and an intimate Moon Knight story. While it very much focuses on Moon Knight and his relationship with Khonshu, the moon god who saved his life in Egypt so many years ago, it’s also a story about the Avengers saving the world from a major threat. Unfortunately, it isn’t given enough time to really dig into both.
While we get these events from Moon Knight’s perspective, this issue barely scratches the surface of the character. This finale was set up for a potentially huge moment, with Moon Knight acquiring the the Phoenix Force at the end of the last issue. Unfortunately, that moment doesn’t pay off in a meaningful way as Moon Knight doesn’t do much with the power in this issue.
“Avengers #37” certainly features a great deal of entertaining and epic moments. For instance, we do get to see Captain America take on an army of mummies and werewolves. We also get to see Blade and She-Hulk take on the powers of two other great characters. The only problem is, those moments don’t get much of a follow up and are sure to leave readers wanting more.
Those moments and the general nature of this crazy story do however provide some great opportunities for some very unique and incredible art. Javier Garron gets to do some very different things with his work in this issue, like Moon Knight with the Phoenix Force and some Avengers with different powers. He also just provides some really impressive panels featuring some of our favorite characters.
“Avengers #37” is available now.