It’s a much better issue overall, but the last two issues have set the bar so low I can’t give it huge kudos. The closing revelation is cute but so many of the villainous motivations here are, well, villainous rather than strategic. With stakes this big you’d expect less Dr Evil style mwahaha-ing and more manipulation. The threat to Teddy feels only marginal, give a) Billy would intervene in a heartbeat and b) there’s barely any time left for any threat to cause changes worth paying attention to. Reed Richards and Stark just generally whine while the attack on Wakanda irritatingly mirrors Thanos’ attack in the MCU’s Infinity War. There’s less action and more plot but what there is is thin and there’s little to get invested in with anyone. Mantis? Meh. Cap? Off panel. Thor? Off panel. Sue Richards? Just stands around. Teddy has some good dialogue but Ewing doesn’t have his voice quite right.

Valerio Schiti’s art feels a bit more appropriate than usual but it still doesn’t feel epic enough for the scale of the story (I don’t think it’s unfair to compare directly with Neal Adams) and only gets some of the emotional moments. It’s all near-missing again, which feels unnecessary given how long Marvel had to tweak this event during the worldwide lockdown.