ComicsMarvel ComicsAvengers: Twilight gives Steve Rogers the Dark Knight Returns style story we didn’t know we neededWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
ComicsMarvel ComicsAvengers: Twilight gives Steve Rogers the Dark Knight Returns style story we didn’t know we neededWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
Just as the MCU Avengers are hitting rocky waters thanks topotential changesto the plannedAvengers: Kang Dynastyfilm, in comics, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes just kicked off one of their most compelling stories in some time in Avengers: Twilight, a flash-forward future story in which an aging Steve Rogers comes out of retirement,Dark Knight Returnsstyle.
With Avengers: Twilight #1 now on stands, the fate of Steve Rogers and the Avengers in this future dystopia have been revealed, and the title is already setting up a story that reminds us just how much we love the Avengers, and Steve Rogers specifically - and why.
Spoilers ahead for Avengers: Twilight #1
Like the aging Bruce Wayne of Dark Knight Returns, the Steve Rogers of Avengers: Twilight explores what has become of his home, trading Gotham for a version of New York City that is overrun with the prying eyes of the sinister corporate interests who run the United States and even the Avengers, while Steve and his remaining allies have been relegated to sitting on the sidelines as they age, watching as the city and world they love gets harder and harder to live in.
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
He meets with an aging Luke Cage, whose bulletproof skin has begun to harden, reducing his mobility, and Matt Murdock, who has given up his life as Daredevil entirely in order to focus on offering legal aid to his community. As for Steve himself, his Super Soldier Serum has been drained from his body, and he feels lost after a failed bid for a seat in the US Senate.
For Steve, life has moved on. But Luke and Matt urge Steve to get back in the fight, telling him his voice matters in the fight against the encroaching corporations who monitor everyone’s activity and violently enforce a curfew against the citizens of New York. Steve resists the call to action until he sees an ad on TV for a “docu-series” which promises to expose the “truth” about Steve’s old enemy, the Red Skull, which claims the Skull was actually a hero working to defeat the Nazis from within - a blatant lie.
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
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(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
The parallels to The Dark Knight Returns are obvious, from Steve’s dissatisfaction with the world he lives in, to the foreshadowed battle between Steve as Cap and James Stark as a new, villainous Iron Man a la Superman in DKR. But the focus on Steve Rogers first and foremost sets Avengers: Twilight apart in tone and even in its larger themes, which focus on a strongly anti-authoritarian message and a more collective view of justice.
It all makes for one of the most compelling Steve Rogers stories in years -Steve is often at his bestwhen he’s struggling to live up to the ideals of what Captain America should be, and making hard choices to prioritize his own values and the idea of the greater good even when it means going against a corrupt authority. Avengers: Twilight puts a totally new twist on Steve’s relationship with the identity of Captain America, and also with the Avengers, who have moved on from the glory days of being Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to simply acting as a superpowered arm of American imperialism.
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)
Avengers: Twilight #2 goes on sale January 31.
Check out thebest Avengers storiesof all time.
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