New Avengers v. 2 - includes New Avengers (2010) # 7-13 by Bendis, Mike Deodato, Howard Chaykin & more
the premise(s): The Avengers try to prevent The Hood from assembling a complete collection of Infinity Gems and becoming all-powerful. The New Avengers try to take down Superia (who once turned Captain America into a woman) from absconding with something nasty and resurrecting HAMMER. Plus: the 1959 Avengers (yes, that's right) assemble to take on The Red Skull and... Captain America (who is not usually a woman).
the lowdown: Though they contain some different characters and supposedly independent plotlines, it seemed appropriate to review the second volumes of each of Bendis' 2010 Avengers series together, because whether it's intentional or not, they contain very similar themes. Each deals with the folly of attempting to obtain and control great power, but neither deals with the concept in a particularly satisfying way.
Avengers sees the team racing around trying to keep The Hood from getting his mitts on the Infinity Gems. Back in the Illuminati miniseries, Bendis established that the Illuminati members took the gems out of circulation, under the premise that they were too powerful to be loosed upon the world. It seems they did a lousy job of safeguarding the gems, because by hook or crook they're all back in play here. The Illuminati's role in hiding them away (and also: in existing) gets revealed, and Iron Man & Captain America have it out (again).
Meanwhile, New Avengers features a story split between 1959 and now, with the connection between the two stories only becoming clear at the end. [SPOILERS!] In 1959, Nick Fury puts together an unorthodox team of mercenaries including Kraven, Sabretooth and a few others to attack a group of Nazis led by the Red Skull. It turns out that the Skull has almost perfectly replicated the Super-Soldier serum and has created his own Captain America. So there's a big fight that ends on a somewhat ambiguous note. In the present, the New Avengers are fighting Superia (who once turned Captain America into a woman), and lo and behold they stumble upon the Skull's serum, which has been thieved from Fury, who has had it on ice for fifty years because... wait for it... he thought it was too powerful to be left in play. During the fight, though, Mockingbird is mortally wounded and will die unless she's administered the formula. So the Avengers have to decide between letting their friend die or using this dangerous serum on her.
Both stories are outwardly cautionary tales on the folly of craving power. Captain America is outraged that the Illuminati existed, immediately kicking Iron Man off the team. And it's hard to argue with his perspective - whatever good intentions the Illuminati may have possessed, they were hilariously incompetent at doing much of anything, including locking up the gems. Even if one assumes that the actions they were taking were actions that needed to be taken, by story's end there's virtually no credible justification for these jokers being the ones to do it. Likewise, we're told over and over (in as exposition-heavy a story as you'll ever see from Bendis - he completely abandons his usual narrative style in favor of Watcher Narration) that The Hood's quest is folly - not because it can't work, but because the power he seeks is too much for him to handle.
So this is an interesting idea - not especially novel but I don't recall seeing Bendis toy with it too often in the past. The problem is that, in both cases, his examination of the issue is undercut by the story's conclusion. [SPOILERS - SERIOUSLY, I ALREADY WARNED YOU ONCE!] Iron Man pretends to destroy the gems, but secretly re-assembles the Illuminati, this time with Steve Rogers in tow. The New Avengers give Mockingbird the Super-Soldier serum. So after issue upon issue cautioning against the irresponsible use of power - both arcs end with the protagonists using power irresponsibly.
This is, of course, a valid approach, but it's problematic given that we're supposed to... y'know... *like* the Avengers. But seriously - how anyone, anywhere actually likes Bendis' Iron Man is, at this point, lost on me. Not only is the guy an arrogant prick, not only is he secretive toward and manipulative of his so-called friends - the dude never learns anything. He never, ever learns anything from his mistakes. And these other guys just keep following his lead like he has any idea what he's doing, which makes them look like idiots because clearly he does not. Meanwhile, the New Avengers mostly stumble through their arc, do a bad job of torturing the bad guys to get information, and then break down and use the serum without any real understanding of what it is or what it does. What the hell, right? Worked for Barry Bonds. Their motivation may be understandable - attempting to save their colleague's life - but geez what if she turns into The Blonde Hulk or something and kills a bunch of people?
the verdict: So although both of these stories have some interesting ideas, and one of them is really well-drawn (I'll let you guess which one - but the answer might surprise you), both take the characters to an unsympathetic place, and that's a problem in an ongoing serial. Both arcs play off the notion of power corrupting, but neither resolves its basic conflict in a satisfying way, either from a philosophical or an emotional POV. Neither series really feels like it's on particularly steady footing right now.
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