Even with Marvel's slightly spoilery promos, this one is a shocker, and it once again flips the table on Aaron's Avengers, while looking pretty great. But, man, poor Namor. Read Full Review

"Enter The Phoenix" has been an action spectacle, and that is the case once more with the big finale, which also delivers on its promise and reveals the next true host of the Phoenix. Read Full Review

Javier Garrn's art is at least something interesting to look at during this arc, but even then I've seen better work from him in the past, which isn't necessarily his fault. "Enter the Phoenix" has involved a lot of fire-based imagery, and it grows similarly monotonous as it goes on (I have enjoyed seeing his Phoenix variants of existing character looks, though. Those are always fun). Read Full Review

Final Thoughts:Avengers #44 finally finishes “Enter The Phoenix” and delivers a new Phoenix host. However, Jason Aaron's in-story reasoning for the choice is very weak and the reveal comes out of left field. The art by Javier Garron and colors by David Curiel is good. Sadly, that's about the only good thing in this comic. We'll see what Jason Aaron has in store with the new Phoenix going forward in Avengers or in the upcoming Heroes Reborn. Read Full Review

Avengers #44 gives us a new Phoenix, and while that's cool, does anyone even care? This ending and the whole arc felt like a means to an end, but at least it's over. Jason Aaron seems like he's in panic mode, turning to spectacle over a story and next up is Heroes Reborn. Hmmm Read Full Review

I wish I could give this a higher score about halfway through this when I started to realize what was about to happen based on the brilliant dialogue I got beyond excited! I actually started texting my wife saying this is amazing I think they're about to make one of my favorite characters the phoenix! then after the reveal I loved the ending with jean grey. I'm a huge David Mack fan and a huge fan of this character also the X-Men is my favorite book so all of this is beyond perfect. I can't say enough about the dialogue in this arc the writing is absolutely brilliant and the artwork is right on pace with the writing. The final book felt huge and by the end of it I had chills and was holding my hands in the air like I scored the game winning run in game 7 of the World Series Thank you to the creative team especially to Jason Aaron for taking this character to another level like this. This is and will always be one of my all-time favorite arcs! more

Interesting choice for the Phoenix at least. Not my favorite arc; I dig this book more than most I'd say but this was mostly just some nice looking fights. Blade issue and Heroes Reborn have me pretty excited though, especially the Stokoe issue.

It was a pretty decent read. I enjoyed certain parts but for who turns out to be phoenix it seems like a waste of an arc. What was the point of the tournament if thats who "wins"?

SPOILERS

The Phoenix Force was given to a character with the least bearing on the series so far. One with so little a role, I had completely forgotten she was ever in this series, and with so little effort given to her in this series, I was forced to wikipedia the character just to have some understanding of who she is. It seems like the worst choice of them all, as she seems have little to no conflict with anyone or anything going forward. She is simultaneously a safe choice and completely unearned, and I foresee her having less impact on the story than the baby Starbrand.

The swerve of "someone who has fallen will receive the prize" was completely wasted. That reveal should've been the driving force for the tournament; a race to die in battle as opposed to a psyche out that was actually and secretly decided several issues ago, making any re-read seem like a waste of time.

This winner could've at least been made into one of the random Agents of Wakanda or something beforehand. Any build-up at all. I didn't know her before this arc, and her presence in the arc was extremely minimal (apparently she's a deaf Native-American with Taskamster's copy-reflexes, a fact not presented or utilized at all in the story, but then becomes one of the only reasons that she was chosen over the other fallen), leading to a massive amount of questions on why this story exists in the way it does.

Shoehorning in Political Correctness is about all I can come up with. It's as if inclusion is enough as style over substance. The Phoenix Force just got linked to a character solely to highlight that character's existence, instead of story based logical progression. I fear the Phoenix Force just got a lot more boring, as the level of care put into this winning character so far is frighteningly unrealized. more

Finally done with book and It was a waste of time for many arcs now. Spinning wheels on nonsense. I'm off this dumb ride. Javier Garron is wasted here. He needs better writers.

New Phoenix's identity is obvious within a page of her narration kicking in. From there to the end, all I was asking was, "Are you gonna do something the Avengers and/or the readers will find meaningful, or are you just gonna spit this updated character into the Bullpen for some other writer to maybe someday develop?" And each page increased my certainty that the answer was the latter.

This series is tying up so many good characters, so much good art, so many … passable? … words. And it's accomplishing *so little* with them!

*Insert GIF of MCU Thanos saying, "All that for a drop of blood."*

The right decision was made, long live Echo as The Pheonix ! And Shanna was in the finals! My two top picks made it to the end.
Namor got his arms ripped off and put on his knees, Moon Girl got sassy, & Iron Mam still has access to a Celestial. There was some cool plot devices here.
Cap vs. Panther was just a metaphor for the fact that Panther is being held back as a leader with Cap overshadowing him on the team.
The only drawbacks were from The Pheonix itself :
By Pheonix logic, She-Hulk's rage should have made her the new host. An Aaron could have really kept all that "Thor's New Mommy" shit.
Yes, Namor got his arms ripped off - that was a memorable visual, but the pencils were meh. Colors bright. Glad the artist got replaced for the King In Black tie-in. This Avengers needs more shadow. Just like Echo, I guess. Let the road to corruption by esoteric Firebird begin.
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Audiomack.com/cvrthebard more

The whole reveal doesnt really make sense, the art is not that great, the pacing is off, and the story is just not that interesting. Jason Aaron is not the same writer as he used to be.

Felt like they really dropped the ball on this story arc. Definitely a.story that didn't need 5 issues. I won't lie I was totally on board for another Phoenix story especially after the relegation of the 1million bc team but this book felt like a filler book to get to king is black tie ins

Honestly, what was the point of this arc? What's the point of the tournament? Seems like a big filler arc, nothing else. Hopefully there will be a payoff, as currently this book is just going downhill extremely fast.

The conclusion seems to have very little to do with the story arc that got us here.

Okay then.

Man, I am falling off of Avengers really hard right now. I really used to enjoy this run. You can go back and look. You'll see me praising this run, so excited for the future. How naïve! And wasteful, since I've been collecting the run for my physical collection as well! I literally have the trade containing this Phoenix arc pre-ordered. I've had it pre-ordered since like... March 2020. And I'm not going to cancel it, I'm for sure in too deep. It's preposterous. I have Heroes Reborn pre-ordered as well. No clue if that's going to be any good at all. I don't even have faith in it. And I'm sure when the World War She-Hulk trade is listed, I'll pre-order that too, because despite everything, I'm actually kinda excited for that. There's a lot wrong with me and my financial practices. Anyway, I don't like the art in this book. The coloring washes everything out. I can't tell what's happening sometimes. Everything is on fire, and it's just orange and yellow puke everywhere. It was legitimately difficult to read at points. And on that reveal, who cares about Echo? Like, it's such a weird choice and I feel like it isn't being done because Jason Aaron has a great Echo story down the line. more

Avengers
Volume: 8, Issue: 44
“Enter the Phoenix, Part 5: I am Phoenix!”

Publisher: Marvel @marvel
Writer: Jason Aaron @jasonaaron
Artist: Javier Garrón
Colors: David Curiel @davcuriel
Letters: Cory Petit
Cover: Dustin Weaver

As the tournament to decide the newest host to the Phoenix rages on, chaos follows in its wake. The collateral damage as a result of a battle between Namor and Hulk is astounding as a massive explosion devastates a village in Russia. As Thor struggles to comprehend the Phoenix Force’s shocking claims towards his parentage, Phoenix power throughout the globe begins draining away from its temporary hosts into its final choice. Maya Lopez, the woman known as Echo, rises from the sea in flames, relinquishing the power contained by the others and is officially crowned the new Phoenix.

I’m glad to see Echo getting the attention the character deserves but as a host to the Phoenix was not what I exactly had in mind. But who knows, maybe the character will do great things with the awesome power she now possesses. The highlight of this issue was Hulk ripping Namor’s arms from his body and then him reconstituting them with flame. Personally, I feel like this tournament went on a bit too long. I’m also disappointed that from here it goes into a KIB tie-in, even though that event is officially over. But it’s Avengers, so I’ll stick around and see what happens and I know that Jason Aaron is capable of amazing things.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️ (2/5)
Reviewed by: @meanadam of the Comic Book Club of Instagram
Follow: @the_comic_book_club on Instagram for more reviews! more

That's enough for me...I've collected every issue (Yes, I have a beautiful CGC 6.5 #1) but I haven't been this down about this title EVER (no, not even during the Milgrom days)...I'm out.