Free Comic Book Day was Saturday (5/7), and boy was there a lot of things to take in. The (apparent) deaths of two major comic book heroes, the introduction of the all-new all-different Wasp, and the beginnings of new eras for Spider-Man and Steve Rogers.
Beware, spoilers ahead!
She-Hulk and War Machine Don’t Make it to Civil War II #1
The prologue of Civil War II is a must read to understand where our heroes stand at the beginning of the series. Long story short, an Inhuman called Ulysses can have visions of the future. While visiting the Avengers with Medusa and Crystal, he has a prediction of Thanos coming to Earth and stealing the Cosmic Cube.
After a long and bloody battle with Thanos, War Machine and She-Hulk are both critically injured. This is particularly hard for Captain Marvel, as War Machine and She-Hulk are the two people closest to her. It isn’t made clear if they are both dead, or just unconscious. It also isn’t made clear if this is actually happening, or is this is just Ulysses reciting his vision.
On another note, if War Machine and She-Hulk die, they probably won’t be the only ones dead in the aftermath. The solicitations for issue three already revealed that “One of the biggest heroes in the Marvel Universe will fall!”
The All-New Wasp Really is All-Different
The back half of the Civil War II prelude introduced the all-new all-different Wasp to the all-new all-different Marvel Universe. The all-new Wasp is a completely new and original character, a Russian woman named Nadia. She’s a brilliant scientist, but more importantly, an observed Hank Pym fan girl.
The story begins where Avengers: Rage of Ultron ends. Nadia has gone to Hank Pym’s house to meet him, but he had just died at the hands of Ultron. So Nadia, since she had already learned to develop Pym Particles like her mentor) breaks into his house and “borrows” a prototype Wasp suit. She’s convinced that he would want her to carry on his legacy. She begins her quest to introduce herself to each of the Avengers one by one, by showing them her amazing abilities. How well this turns out remains to be seen.
Just a reminder, Janet Van Dyne is still out there in the Marvel Universe, so she may not be comfortable with someone stealing her name.
Spider-Man and Steve Rogers Begin New Eras of Their Lives
Steve Rogers: Captain America prelude began a new era for Steve, and his enemy HYDRA. The story shows Captain America on a mission to take out a HYDRA bomb, only to have another bomb go off in it’s place. Cap then goes before the US Senate Intelligence committee, reveals to them how HYDRA has evolved from a joke to a well oiled machine, and asks them to declare a formal war on HYDRA.
Meanwhile, the back half of the book kicks of Spider-Man: Dead No More, where we see Spider-Man fight the Rhino (who is supposed to be dead) who is trying to kill the Kingpin. Spider-Man saves Kingpin’s life, but not before Rhino gets away. The Rhino returns to his master, the man in the red suit, and begs him not to kill his wife (who is also supposed to be dead.) The man in red in joined by Gwen Stacy (obviously supposed to be dead) and the two forgive Rhino reveal that they have plans for Spider-Man too.
Invincible Marvel 