Avengers Arena is a comic book series published by Marvel Comics that debuted in December 2012 as part of the Marvel NOW! relaunch.[1] The series shows 16 young heroes from the Marvel Universe and pit them against each other in a kill-or-be-killed, reality-show-like scenario in Murderworld run by Arcade.[2] The series ended with issue 18[3] and was followed by a sequel titled Avengers Undercover that dealt with the survivors infiltrating the Shadow Council's Masters of Evil.[4]
| Avengers Arena | |
|---|---|
 Avengers Arena (Dec. 2012) Cover art by Dave Johnson. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Ongoing series |
| Genre | Superhero |
| Publication date | December 2012 – 2013 |
| Creative team | |
| Created by | Dennis Hopeless Kev Walker |
| Written by | Dennis Hopeless |
| Artist(s) | Kev Walker |
Publication history
editIn September 2012, Marvel Comics announced that Avengers Arena would debut, with a December 2012 cover date, by the creative team of Dennis Hopeless and Kev Walker.[2][5] The series ran 18 issues, and was followed by a sequel series, Avengers Undercover.
The comic has a battle royale theme, notably inspired by the Japanese novel/manga/film Battle Royale and the American young adult dystopian novel/film series The Hunger Games.[6]
Plot
editSixteen teenage superheroes are abducted by supervillain Arcade, brought to his latest version of Murderworld, and forced to fight to the death for Arcade's enjoyment.
As the games begin, Red Raven tries to escape from the area only for her to be killed when an invisible force field breaks her neck and causes her to crash to the ground. Rebecca Ryker faces off against Hazmat and then fights Cammi soon after. Cammi gives her the nickname Death Locket. Throughout the first day, Death Locket remembers the past events that led to her origins.
As the young heroes sleep for the night, they are stalked by an unidentified cybernetic creature.
After several days pass, Arcade shuts off the food supply and makes the weather conditions hazardous in Murderworld, but notes there are safe zones at the edge of each quadrant for the competitors to rest, as well as food and medicine in Quadrant 2. Reptil is injured by an explosion. Hazmat and X-23 take him to the quadrant 2 to get medical supplies for Reptil's burns. Nara, Anachronism, and Bloodstone discover that Apex is manipulating Death Locket and Kid Briton to her own ends. The trio is then teleported by Arcade to the supply cache at Quadrant 2 just as Apex, Death Locket, and Kid Briton arrive. The heroes begin fighting among themselves.
Juston Seyfert is revealed to have survived the attack from the cybernetic creature, but is now paralyzed below the waist due to the injuries sustained when the Sentinel crashed. Distraught at the loss of his best friend, Juston salvages the remains of the Sentinel and creates a suit of battle armor which he uses to attack Death Locket. After being injured by Apex, Nico sacrifices herself by staying behind in order to get some of the other survivors to safety. She is killed by Chase and Juston Seyfert's Sentinel (both of whom were under Apex's control).
Reptil turns into a sea dinosaur in order to hunt some sharks for him and Hazmat to dine upon. The remaining teenage heroes catch up to them and are invited to have shark steaks with them before returning to Murderworld. Molly Hayes notices that Nico and Chase are missing and turns to Henry Pym for help.
Cullen Bloodstone attacks Anachronism, forcing Cammi to try to calm him down. Hazmat and X-23 encounter a Mettle robot with Trigger Scent, causing X-23 to go on the attack. X-23 seriously injures Hazmat leaving her fate unknown. Cammi attempts to stop X-23, but her attempts are useless. Cullen decides only he can stop her. Upon removing his family's ring, Cullen transforms into a monstrous form in order to save them.
As Cullen Bloodstone's monster form continues to fight X-23, Cammi, Nara and Anachronism look for Cullen's ring. Nara ends up diving into the ocean to find it. Nara emerges from the ocean with the ring which attracts Cullen, who ends up killing her.
Apex uses her ability to take over Deathlocket's systems and plans to become Queen of Murderworld. As Hazmat is close to exploding, Reptil swims her out to sea so that the explosion can't harm anyone. The explosion causes everyone to stop fighting each other. Deathlocket shoots Apex off-screen and shuts down Murderworld. Afterwards, the surviving teenagers are rescued by S.H.I.E.L.D., Wolverine, Hank Pym, and Captain Britain. Reptil is fished out of the water by a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent.
Characters
edit| Character | Real Name | Team Affiliation | Death |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hazmat[2] | Jennifer Takeda | Avengers Academy | |
| Mettle[2] | Ken Mack | Killed by Arcade in Avengers Arena #1. | |
| Reptil[2] | Humberto Lopez | ||
| Darkhawk[2] | Christopher Powell | (solo) | M.I.A. in Avengers Arena #3. Corpse was later shown in issue #12. Revealed to be alive in issue #16. |
| Anachronism | Aiden | The Braddock Academy | |
| Apex | Katy Bashir and Tim Bashir | Killed by Death Locket in Avengers Arena #18. | |
| Bloodstone | Cullen Bloodstone | ||
| Kid Briton | Brian Braddock | Killed by Anachronism in issue #6. | |
| Nara | Nara | Killed trying to stop a rampaging Cullen in issue #15. | |
| Cammi[2] | Camille Benally | (solo) | |
| Chase[2] | Chase Stein | Runaways* | |
| Nico[2] | Nico Minoru | Killed by Apex controlling Darkhawk in Avengers Arena #10. Resurrected by her Staff of One in issue #12. | |
| Death Locket | Rebecca Ryker | (none) | |
| Juston Seyfert[2] | Juston Seyfert | (none)* | Killed by Apex in Avengers Arena #9 (May 2013). |
| Red Raven | Dania | (none) | Killed upon colliding with the invisible force-field in issue #2. |
| X-23[2] | Laura Kinney | X-Men* |
*characters were featured as part-time students in Avengers Academy later in that series
Death Locket and the students from the Braddock Academy were created by Hopeless and Walker just for Avengers Arena
Collected editions
edit| # | Title | Material collected | Pages | Publication Date | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kill or Die | Avengers Arena #1-6 | 144 | May 21, 2013 | 978-0785166573 |
| 2 | Game On | Avengers Arena #7-12 | September 24, 2013 | 978-0785166580 | |
| 3 | Boss Level | Avengers Arena #13-18 | 136 | February 4, 2014 | 978-0785189282 |
| The Complete Collection | Avengers Arena #1-18 | 408 | September 11, 2018 | 978-1302911850 | |
In other media
editIn September 2021, Variety reported that the character of Katy (portrayed by Awkwafina) in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was considered a loose adaptation of Katy / Apex, a character created for Avengers Arena.[7]
References
edit- ^ "Marvel NOW!". Marvel.com. 5 July 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Sunu, Steve (13 September 2012). "Hopeless and Walker Populate "Avengers Arena" For Marvel NOW!". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
- ^ "Avengers Arena Cancelled With November's #18". ComicBook.com. 2013-08-15. Retrieved 2013-08-30.
- ^ "NYCC EXCLUSIVE: Hopeless is Seduced by Evil in "Avengers Undercover"". 11 October 2013.
- ^ "Survive". comicbookresources.com. 6 September 2012. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
- ^ Green, Scott (September 14, 2012). "Marvel Reveals "Avengers Arena" Homage to "Battle Royale"". Crunchyroll. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
- ^ McMillan, Graeme (September 3, 2021). "The Best 'Shang-Chi' Comics to Read Before Watching the New Marvel Film". Variety. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
Awkwafina's character Katy in "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" is, in Marvel's comic book continuity, a superhero in her own right. Well… maybe not a superhero, per se. Created for the Avengers Arena miniseries, Katy's alter-ego, Apex, is a far more complicated character than her movie incarnation would suggest, and she's not necessarily the good guy throughout the entire story, either.