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.Marvel Comics has released some torturously horrid flops . However , Iron Manand the Avengers’Crossingstoryline is just about one of the bad stories the publishing company ever went through with . Plagued by slow-witted character progress , convoluted time - traveling nonsense , and a general melodramatic smell , this controversial storyline bookmarked an already tumultuous time for Marvel . Even now after 20 years , Crossingremains a black stigma most readers care to forget .
For those unfamiliar , Avengers Crossingwas a multipart saga that span across ongoingAvengersseries , Iron Manseries , andForce Workseries . Like Spider - Man ’s ownClone Saga , Crossingrequired reader to observe along every series to keep up with the patch , causing incredible legibility upshot on top of its difficult plot . While the story officially began inAvengers : The Crossing # 1 ( 1995),its prelude unofficially began a few return prior inIron Man # 319 ( 1995 ) . And whileCrossingis heavily focused on Tony Stark , it submit Iron Man in the worst possible direction .
Iron Man Instantly Becomes A Villain
Avengers: The Crossing #1 (1995),Written by Bob Harras & Terry Kavanagh; Art by Mike Deodato Jr.; Color by Marie Javins; Lettering by Richard Starkings
Crossingbegins with a metre - displaced Yellowjacket flailing through the timestream all while taste to return to the present . Along the way , the heroine appears in a possible near - future where Iron Man has turned on the Avengers , and the team is labeled as outlaws to be obliterate . When Yellowjacket fall to Earth-616 ’s present , she rushes tothe Avengers Mansionto monish the team of Stark ’s betrayal . regrettably , the Avenger is intercepted by Stark , who already knows of the future she just fancy . Iron Man promptly kills Yellowjacketto keep her silent before dragging her corpse into the mansion .
Grant Rogers aka Hydra Cap aka ' Evil Captain America ' has n’t been interesting since Secret Empire , but now , Marvel Comics is last doing him correct .
Meanwhile , the Avengers are all gather to celebrate the proceeds of their old base while investigating a mysterious door that has also appeared at heart . later on that dark , Marilla , the Inhuman nanny of Luna Maximoff , discovers that Tony is able to start the mysterious door on his own . Marilla is quick tocelebrate with the Avengerfor his effort , but it cease when Iron Man begrudgingly kills the nanny , claiming she saw too much .
Tony Learns He Is the Killer, Which He Knew All Along
1 Short Night, 3 Dead Friends
One of the major take thatCrossingfaces from the beginning is that thereaders know , to some level , who the villain is . While we already get laid thatIron Man is now somehow a killer , the Avengers are left to investigate the sudden and mysterious deaths of their friends . By the timeAvengers # 391 ( 1995)comes in , the Avengers are struggling to keep up with these speedy disasters . We find Gilgamesh at death ’s door , and he is afterwards killed by a mysterious figure who come out out of nowhere . Vision discovers residue from Marilla ’s murder , and Giant - Man even finds Yellowjacket ’s DNA touch in the admixture .
Later , after review the Avengers Mansion ’s protection footage , Stark determine that he is the cause of death , revealing that he had purportedly blacked out during each old killing .
With a startling three deaths in one dark , Iron Man demand that the Avengers provide the mansionand any wonder about the mysterious door behind . InIron Man # 321 ( 1995),Stark and Hank Pym proceed try on to start the door . Meanwhile , Hercules checks inand lets Tony love that a young blonde womanhood had recently approached the demi - god with a word of advice , prompting a panicked reply from Stark . later on , after survey the Avengers Mansion ’s security footage , Stark watch that he is the killer , revealing that he had purportedly blacked out during each previous kill .
Iron Man Turns The Avengers On Another Ally
The Lies Are Beginning to Crack
Despite Tony ’s ego - trust artlessness , inForce work # 17 ( 1995),Iron military man win over everyone who will hear that Hawkeye is Marilla ’s killer . Hawkeye ’s airless ally , US Agent and Black Widow , ca n’t consider Clint would ever kill their friend and launch an independent investigation . They discover that the footage of Marilla ’s and Yellowjacket ’s deaths were doctor up , leading them to trust that either Tony Stark or Reed Richards is to blame . With War Machine ’s help , Hawkeye ’s allies start to further believe that Iron Man is the rightful killer whale . Meanwhile , Tony continues experiencing severe amnesia , arouse up in random locations in his armour .
Not every Avenger joined the squad for the proper reasons , and these characters make out to penetrate Earth ’s Mightiest Heroes in cunning ways .
Whilethe rest of the Avengersslowly start to build their lawsuit against Iron Man , the hero himself continues to flounder around in his daylight - to - day existence . The brownout have embark on to take a deep mental bell on the “ hero,”who act as if he does n’t recognize what is start on . At some dot , Tony even encounters the mysterious figure who killed Gilgamesh , but no Avenger is willing to answer his call when he call out for aid .
Tony Stark Calls For The Death Of The Avengers
His Secret Is Exposed by a Baby
By the timeForce work # 18 ( 1995)hit shelves , Tony ’s clarity was back , and he is see asking his hidden “ master ” toorder an attack against his investigators and fellow Avengers . Later , inIron Man # 323 ( 1995),Iron Man and Hawkeyefinally face each other , but both claim that neither believes the other kill Marilla and Yellowjacket . They both repay to the Van Dyne estate , where the Avengers are presently domiciliate . Hank Pym use an “ Image Inducer ” to see Tony ’s recent memory board , but everything seems normal until Pym next uses the machine on sister Luna .
Stark sump into a deep pit of sorrow , not for what he has done but for what he is about to do , before boldly proclaiming , “ You must all die … ”
At the beginning of this whole trial by ordeal , baby Luna find Tony stamp out Yellowjacket but could never vocalize her veneration , rather repeating “ Bad Man ” around Tony . In an instant , the facade of ignorance , blackouts , and confusedness that both the Avengers and the readers were led to consider fades aside . Stark cesspool into a mysterious pit of ruefulness , not for what he has done but for what he is about to do , before boldly proclaiming , “ You must all die … ” With both the Hero of Alexandria and readers now totally lost toIron Man ’s motivations , the story prepares to stand out into its dead on target plot .
After Months Of Teasing, Crossing Teels Us What We Already Knew
This Is Apparently Just Who Tony Stark Is
Crossingforces us to endure 15 grueling issues , overspread across four unlike series to get to its climax . The total time , Marvel forge at unnecessary plot point after plot point for little issue . After all , we arefinally told the one affair we knew the entire sentence : Tony Stark is the killer . This reveal does n’t even consider the political campaign ’s sub - plot including the sudden fade of Vietnam - seriously .
While the Avengers develop to face up Doctor Doom , Iron Man is choose a different path , setting up a major conflict with one of his teammate .
After months of trail along a story , Crossingfinally finish the prelude . Just the prelude , not even the genuine event itself . The series is no ripe as its complicated tale eventually reveals the version of Tony Stark we have been study about this entire time is actuallyan previous version of Tony from the future who had become disillusioned with his employment . The future Iron Man intromit he teamed up with Immortus , masquerading as Kang , to replace his younger self and destroy the Avengers .
The Avengers Pit Tony Stark Against Tony Stark
From Hero to Villain to Hero All Over Again
So how do our heroes fight back?The Avengers go on to recruit a young teenage Tony from the pastwho can face his malign sometime self . While the Avengers do gain some traction against their time - traveling foe , circumstances turn against the Avengers once more inIron Man # 325 ( 1995 ) asfuture Iron Man rips the centre out of his young self , leaving him to die out .
In a complete heel - turn from his character ’s forward motion throughout this total debacle , the day is suddenly save by the very scoundrel who began this whole journeying .
The Avengers clash with Immortus and his force , but they fail to overcome the might of an intact US Army . In their darkest minute , the succeeding Iron Man revert to sacrifice himself for his older friends after having a change of heart … for some ground . In a gross heel - crook from his character ’s progression , the day is suddenly saved by the very scoundrel who began this whole journeying . Using the future Iron Man ’s suit , the Avengers successfully resuscitate young Tony , who became Marvel ’s primary Iron Man untilMarvel ’s Onslaught eventin mid 1996 . Complicated , right ?
CrossingCompletely Tarnished Iron Man’s Character Growth
The Avengers Were Left Physically and Emotionally Broken
So , what really makesCrossingso bad ? Is it thenonsensical and irrelevant plot points , needlessly hollow character development , and a chintzy deus ex machina solutions?It is all of the above . Crossingcompletely obliterated one of Marvel ’s most dear Hero in the slow way possible . The baddie of this story is n’t some far - future Tony Stark turned warlord ; He ’s a version of Tony from not too far into the future who have complacency rot him out . Marvel wants to make it exonerated that evil was inIron Man ’s nature .
As West Coast Avengers previews a battle between Tony ’s team and Sam Wilson ’s Avengers , Marvel officially tease the fighting as a Civil War - degree outcome .
Long - stand character arcs and relationships were destroyed in a matter of months and for what ? Iron Man was once again a distressful souse . War Machine and Hawkeyeboth plough their dorsum on the Avengers . Even most of the Avengers distrusted each other after this story . Earth ’s Mightiest Heroes had been reduced to a neurotic , misshapen mess . There was no character outgrowth for anyone , just disintegration and disillusionment . Marvel spend months trying to gammon - fist together multiple different secret plan in a time - traveling epic but only come through in charge down the pillars of its skilful Hero .
Marvel Retconned The Story Months Later
CrossingWas a Desperate Attempt at Survival for the Publisher
Crossingis one ofMarvel ’s risky storiesthe company has ever tell , if not the infrangible regretful . It finally served no purpose and did n’t work toward generating any type growth . The writing was all over the place , and its rapid scene change made the plot point unmanageable to follow . character and submarine sandwich - plots were added for the heck of it . So to be completely good , it feel as ifCrossingwas knowing makeweight .
Crossingis nothing more than a unblushing grease on Marvel ’s story that everyone has collectively agree to forget .
At the time of its passing , Marvel was facing imminent bankruptcy and was desperately try out to cast what it could out there , hoping something would stick . apparently , this upshot did not do the illusion . Within a few month , theOnslaughtstoryline effectively retconnedCrossingcompletely , thanks to Franklin Richards ’s Counter - Earth resurrections . Now , Crossingis nothing more thana shameless stain on Marvel ’s historythat everyone has collectively agreed to forget . So while Marvel has sure dropped other controversial stories over the class , thisIron Mandisaster is just about as high-risk as they get along .
