Avengers: A Classic Marvel Villain Just Put an End to an MCU Villain

The following contains major spoilers for Avengers: Twilight #5, on sale April 17 from Marvel Comics.

Avengers: Twilight just ended the life of an iconic Marvel villain. Unfortunately, it only makes another MCU big bad even stronger.

Avengers: Twilight opens with the young James Stark still struggling to come to terms with the idea that his longtime confidant, Kyle Jarvis, is in fact none other than Johann Schmidt, better known as the Red Skull. Though James is still willing to join the Red Skull in their supposed fight for the future of America, the latter isn’t so willing to let anyone else join them in their plot. Specifically, the Red Skull’s concerns lie with Ultron, whom the former is more than happy to relegate to the annals of history by eliminating the last digital vestiges of before taking off for the battle at hand.

dead x-men 4 cover header

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Avengers: Twilight #5

• Written by CHIP ZDARSKY
• Art by DANIEL ACUNA
• Letterer JOE CARAMAGNA
• Cover by ALEX ROSS and DANIEL ACUNA
• Variant Cover Artists BENJAMIN SU, CAFU, TONY DANIEL and JAY DAVID RAMOS

Avengers: Twilight drops readers into a future in which average citizens are threatened with imprisonment or worse for the mere act of recording their surroundings. This overt surveillance state rose from the ashes of H-Day, or Hero Day, during which the secret identities of nearly all the world’s superheroes were leaked before they and their loved ones were targeted by the world’s villains in a carefully calculated assault.

In the aftermath of H-Day, the heroes of the Marvel Universe were decried as failures, if not threats unto themselves. This led to the rise of the surveillance state in which elderly versions of Steve Rogers, Luke Cage, and Matt Murdock still live. Though these heroes were initially incapable of fighting back on their own, Captain America’s powers were returned to him in secret, giving the resistance forces a much-needed edge with which to fight back against their overpowered oppressors.

The Amazing Spider-Man #47 cover header.

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Ahead of the series’ release, Zdarsky explained, “My goal with anything is to create a story that is both new reader friendly and also welcomes in older readers who will enjoy the references sprinkled throughout.” Zdarskey added, “I think if you have a base knowledge of Marvel superheroes, there’s really something for you here.”

Zdarsky also commented on Captain America as the perfect focal point of Avengers: Twilight, noting that “His ethics and morals and outlook have a consistency to them, so seeing how he reacts to a changed America is always interesting… And this future America is seemingly perfect, so Steve has to question whether or not to upset what his fellow Americans are comfortable with in pursuit of the truth.”

Avengers: Twilight #5 is on sale on April 17 from Marvel Comics.

Source: Marvel Comics

The Avengers members

The Avengers

Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Marvel’s Avengers first appeared in 1963. While Marvel Comics premier superhero team has boasted a rotating cast of heroes, and even spinoff franchises like the West Coast Avengers, heroes like The Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America, The Wasp, and Thor are mainstays of this potent franchise that has helped defined Marvel Comics and the MCU.