Secret Wars Battle Report, Week Thirty-Seven

It’s over! Nine months and change after that Free Comic Book Day prologue, Battleworld has come and gone, delivering tons of creative stories, a couple of duds, and a couple of changes to the Marvel comics we’ll be reading. Bam Smack Pow has led you this far. Let’s see what the finale had to say.

Secret Wars #9

What happened:  While Black Panther and his army of zombies distract Doctor Doom, Mr. Fantastic and the evil Ultimate Mr. Fantastic bust into the Molecule Man’s hideout to take away the source of Doom’s power. Ultimate Mr. Fantastic tries to kill the Earth-616 version, but Molecule Man rescues him and kills the bad one. When Doom catches on that something’s wrong, Molecule Man takes away Doom’s god powers so that the final fight with Reed Richards can be more personal and fair. During that battle, both men admit they think Reed Richards would have done a better job remaking the world, and when Molecule Man hears that, he deems Battleworld a failed experiment, blows the whole thing up, and builds The Prime Earth. It’s pretty much just like the Earth before Secret Wars, but Wakanda has a space program called Alpha Flight, Ultimate Spider-Man and his supporting cast are in the main continuity, Doom is handsome again, and everyone thinks Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, their two children, and the Future Foundation are dead. In reality, those last few people are in a space outside of reality, rebuilding the universe. Franklin Richards dreams up new realities, Reed gets those set up in an available space in the multiverse, and a piece of the Multiple Man goes with each new one to anchor it, healing Owen Reece in the process. And to close out, Reed stops saying “Everything dies” (his catchphrase for the run of Hickman’s Avengers) and instead learns that “Everything lives.”

Was it good: It was an interesting choice to end the event (and the three years of Avengers before it) with a super-personal Richards-Doom brawl and then take the Fantastic Four out of the superhero game for the next few years. I’m not the biggest Fantastic Four fan, so I don’t love feeling like I’ve been tricked into reading a Fantastic Four event, and I don’t love how little eight months of tie-in material mattered in the end, but it was well-written. Readers can end this series satisfied with consistent high quality.

Is it necessary: Yes, as far as the story goes. Maybe, as far as the Marvel Universe goes – not a ton has really changed, and if you weren’t reading Fantastic Four, it’s hard to think you’re going to miss them all that much. Yes, Weirdworld and the girl from A-Force are on Prime Earth now, but this issue doesn’t really mention those, and we saw the world exploding and remaking in the final issues of Thors, Old Man Logan, Ultimate End, and Weirdworld.

Should you buy it: You should.

It has been a long nine months, and I am sure we can call this event a success – creative flourishing in the Battleworld framework has inspired some really great teams on the All-New All-Different relaunch, and I think we had a good time in the process. Except for, like, Hail Hydra. That was just dismal.

Final tally!

Essential Reading:

Really, just Secret Wars. Well done, Marvel.

Recommended Tie-ins:

A-Force, Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, Captain Marvel And The Carol Corps, House Of M, Inferno, Inhumans: Attilan Rising, Marvel Zombies, Old Man Logan, Star-Lord & Kitty Pryde, Thors, X-Men ’92 (digital version), and Ms. Marvel or Silk (Last Days).

Good Books That Just Don’t Make Top-Tier:

1602 Witch Hunter Angela, 1872, Age Of Ultron Vs. Marvel Zombies, Captain Britain And The Mighty Defenders, Civil War, Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars, Ghost Racers, Giant-Size Little Marvel: AVX, Hank Johnson, Agent Of Hydra, Howard The Human, Infinity Gauntlet, Korvac Saga, Master Of Kung Fu, M.O.D.O.K. Assassin, Red Skull, Runaways, Secret Wars 2099, Secret Wars: Battleworld, Secret Wars Journal, Secret Wars: Secret Love (for two stories), Secret Wars Too, Siege, Spider Island, Spider-Verse, Squadron Sinister, Weirdworld, Where Monsters Dwell, X-Men ’92 (print version), and X-Tinction Agenda.

Books To Skip:

Age Of Apocalypse, Armor Wars, E Is For Extinction, Future Imperfect, Guardians Of Knowhere, Hail Hydra, Mrs. Deadpool And The Howling Commandos, Planet Hulk, Ultimate End, Years Of Future Past, and any of the Last Days titles you weren’t already reading.

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