Our
final origin story is that of Iron Man.
A character that has only played a peripheral role in the story so far
but takes center stage now as he goes up to face the Celestials in his Iron Man
house armor. 
In one
of the best pages in the series, we see a double page spread of the Celestials
standing over the New York City skyline while the reactions of the heroes are
all shown in small panels on the bottom of the page. This is a magnificent illustration that shows
not only how large and foreboding the Celestials are, but also how small and
meaningless the super heroes of Earth actually are in the face of gods. 
We
follow this up with Iron Man running toward the fight, hurtling his armor,
which is still miniscule compared to the Celestials, at the giant robot-looking
creatures. As Iron Man fights a losing
battle on Earth, we travel to Asgard, where Loki has traveled to try and
explain to Odin and the rest of the Norse gods assembled there that their life
is essentially a lie. No one believes
him, of course, as they have lived their lives for this long with no reason to
believe anything different. Instead f
staying and reasoning with them, Loki does exactly what you might expect and
kills himself, traveling to death’s realm.
What will become of this, I’m not sure, as we only have one issue
left. 
On the
moon, John Jameson seems to have been brainwashed by Uatu, and begins
brandishing the Ultimate Nullifier about.
Down on Earth, we see Iron Man’s last stand, except somehow, some way,
he survives a suicide mission. As he
collapses in agony, thinking that he has not bought enough time for Earth, he
is proven wrong, as the Silver Surfer and his lady friend show up. That can only mean one thing, right? Before we get to that though, we head back to
the moon where the moon has come out, turning him into a werewolf (don’t
ask). The transformation causes him to
drop the Ultimate Nullifier, which is caught by X-51. We then end with the image of Galactus in the
night sky. I thought Reed killed
Galactus, turned him into a star, you might say. Well, we’ll just have to see who this is if
it’s not Galactus. But it should be
noted that when Black Bolt called someone before he was killed by the
Celestials, this is who he was calling.
The
appendix this month is Cap laying the Skull to rest, speaking to him and
telling him not only Cap’s origin, but that of the real Red Skull as well. It is one of the most poignant and beautiful
moments of the series as Cap deals with survivor’s guilt, PTSD and everything
else that an old soldier who has seen as much action as Captain America could
expect to have. The fact that the
Skull’s real name is James, much like his former partner, may be the tipping
point that caused him to be so introspective.
While this doesn’t really do anything to further the story per se, like
the other appendices did, it is a great set piece that perfectly illustrates
the toll that all soldiers have to endure.
Next (and final) Issue:
It all comes to an end.
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