Avengers Assemble: Science Bros

The Stark & Banner bromance comes to the comics..

This is the second collection of the new “Marvel Now” series, containing issues 9-13 and the annual. The concept of the series was to appeal to fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The characters are modeled more on their film counterparts, but the storylines still remain within the Marvel (comic) Universe continuity. I thought the first volume was a lot of fun, but this one takes that to a new level. One of the things many fans of The Avengers film loved was the budding friendship between Stark and Banner, the “Science Bros.” Stark accepted Banner as is, and wasn't afraid of him (whether that was wise remains to be seen!). This first half of this volume provides a showcase for that bromance. A scientist has gone missing at an arctic facility and Stark makes a bet that his team will beat Banner’s to finding him. So Hulk and Spider-woman pair up against Iron Man and Thor. The story takes a darker turn that requires the assistance of Captains Marvel and America. This story finally had the tension that was missing from volume one of the series, plus some character development. The story was well done, and I LOVED the ending! The second half is split between a story of Black Widow responding to a debt marker with the “help” of Spider-woman and Hawkeye and The Vision. This first story nicely balances the darkness of Black Widow’s past, she is atoning for assassinating a scientist, against the bickering/bantering of her two colleagues. The tales hints at what readers can expect from Black Widow’s solo series (which is awesome!). The second story sees Iron Man and Vision trying to help “Sunturion” who is dying and possibly losing his mind – and subsequently control of his powers. Mainly this is a tale of self-discovery for Vision who is somewhat lost after having finally been revived by The Avengers (he was destroyed during the Disassembled event). I’m not a huge fan of his character, but this had some good emotional beats. Overall, I liked this volume even more than ...