As Hopeless said the series is driven by the heart of the characters and not to designed around the bloodshed, and this issue works in concert with the premise, while still exploiting character death to further of character building. I don't want to be accused of giving Walker too much credit, but in an issue that begins and ends on ironic notes it feels totally excusable as another spoonful of irony that breaks the fourth wall.

So far, the kids think they're in real danger and they are acting accordingly, and sometimes revealing parts of themselves they'd rather leave hidden. That's the good kind of tension that turns into gripping storytelling.

[1] http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=40986, Steve Sunu, Hopeless and Walker Populate "Avengers Arena" For Marvel NOW! Thu, September 13th, 2012 at 9:21am PDT

This experience should change Cap in some way, but so far the only changes that have come have been inorganic and forced, and unfortunately we cant blame it all on Zolas science experiments. I have to admit, though, Zolas surprise at the end of the issue is a step up a human head onto a dogs body.