Preamble
I really came to love Nick Spencer’s run on Secret Avengers. I loved his A.I.M. vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. storyline and it felt like a big spy movie every month. But he abandoned me for Avengers World with Jonathan Hickman as co-writer and Stefano Caselli as artist. As I sat with pen in hand reading Avengers World: A.I.M.PIRE I found myself wondering is there room in this title for Mockingbird?
Situation Report
Director Maria Hill has problems. The world is big! But with shrinking budgets, S.H.I.E.L.D. is small! With Hill needing more manpower to protect a complex world, she strikes a deal with Captain America to partner with the Avengers is a complicated arrangement. In fact, she even bribes Cap with a gift for his cooperation. With a pact to protect the world in place the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. face multiple global threats. Gorgon takes full control of a burning Madaipoor. A city of the dead awakens in Italy. Something questionable is happening Canada, isn’t it always? And finally A.I.M. Island is reshaping itself, growing and transforming into a new and incredible nation….no an empire! The Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. deploy against all these threats in an Avengers World.
Level Seven Analysis
We have to be honest. In the current governmental budget landscape, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s budgets woes make sense. So yeah, Hill needs to reach out to a group with similar a.i.m.s. (see what I did there) that has both the manpower and the financial stability of the Avengers. Of course, despite the claims of full cooperation and the most open of books, Cap is worried that Hill will use this partnership for her own agenda. This is mostly because MARIA HILL MOST CARES ABOUT HER OWN AGENDA. Seriously, Captain America did not just get unfrozen and he knows the score. Eventually, Maria Hill will commit some sort of immoral act or try to use the Avengers in a semi-evil way and A.I.M. will be replaced by the Avengers on Maria Hill’s target list.
What I like most about the Spencer and Hickman collaboration is that A.I.M. is back front and center. And since this seems to be the joint S.H.I.E.L.D. and Avengers book, the heat on A.I.M. seems to only have intensified. We get the Scientist Supreme, we get the A.I.M. ministers, and we get a seemingly more loving and huggable A.I.M.. But the stakes have to be higher than that time Agent Fury Jr. led his team against A.I.M. Island because not it’s the A.I.M. Empire and it is bigger and badder than ever. So A.I.M. may be all smiles but nothing good can last forever.
Hey, do you remember that time Cannonball and Sunspot went drinking with some A.I.M. guys? They had some good times. Do not worry agents, Hickman and Spencer remember too!
Conclusion
Technically, I am guessing in an Avengers World there is room on the roster for Mockingbird. Seriously, they have a huge roster, though they lack a magic caster. And with Black Widow distracted by her multiple commitments, well I am begging you Mr. Spencer bring her back…and Daisy and Winter Soldier!
In the final analysis, I liked Avengers World: A.I.M.PIRE better as a second Avengers title than Avengers Assemble. I love that Spencer and Hickman bring the S.H.I.E.L.D vs. A.I.M. dynamic back. And I look forward to watching this title grow. And I really look forward to Cap returning his gift when things go sour!
S.H.I.E.L.D. Roster
Agent Hill, Bruce Banner/Hulk, Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Clint Barton/Hawkeye, Jessica Drew/Spider-Woman, Sebastian Druid/Druid, Sam Wilson/Falcon
S.H.I.E.L.D. Associates
Steve Rodgers/Captain America, Tony Stark/Iron Man, Logan/Wolverine, Thor Odinson/Thor, Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, Shang-Chi, Hyperion, Izzy Dare/Smasher, Roberto de Coasta/Sunspot, Sam Guthrie/Cannonball, Eden Fesi/Manifold, Tamara Devoux/Captain Universe, Kenneth Connell/Star Brand, Nightmask
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