So I picked up the first prequel comic to the Marvel's Avengers video game coming out this May. It centered around Iron Man trying to figure out who stole his operating system and was selling it to criminals. The real takeaway, however, was that this is our first real look into the world in which this game takes place, so I wanted to go through and point out a few things that I noticed and thought were interesting.

Well-Oiled Machine

Remember the opening scene in Age of Ultron where the Avengers were pretty much unstoppable until Hawkeye got hit? Yeah, well, I feel that level of cohesion here. Cap actually uses the word cohesion now that I think about it...

Either way, the Avengers are kind of getting their butts kicked by some D-listers (Titania, Absorbing Man, Whirlwind, and Beetle) before they kick into gear. I'm talking callouts, co-op, buddy moves. The particularly fun one is 'Jade Wall', where Iron Man slammed Titania into Hulk's massive body.

Normally, this would just be the Avengers teaming up and stopping bad guys. But since this is a precursor to a video game, one has to wonder if these team-up moves will integrated in gameplay? I would like to fly people into Hulk's chest at Mach 5!

Tony v. Bruce

We've seen a scene in the game where game where Tony and Bruce were at each other's throats, which I thought was due to the rather extraneous circumstances. But in this comic, Tony and Bruce get into a heated argument when Tony implies Bruce let his tech slip to S.H.I.E.L.D.

I suppose that this means the two don't necessarily get along, even before the events of A-Day. This is a far cry from the 'Science Bros', but could make for some interesting, and dramatic, storytelling.

S.H.I.E.L.D.

Speaking of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury (who has hair like in Earth's Mightiest Heroes) talks to Iron Man about a deal they had, working together. It seems he and Bruce were working on something big at a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility (in New York), and we know that S.H.I.E.L.D. lent the Avengers the Chimera Helicarrier used on A-Day. I feel that S.H.I.E.L.D. might have more of a presence in the game than we've seen so far.

I would also like to note that Beetle was imprisoned in The Vault, which is a famous Marvel prison. I guess since they used The Raft in Marvel's Spider-Man, they wanted to make sure there was a distinction in their supermax facilities.

Cliffhanger Ending

So, spoiler alert, it turns out that Spymaster was the one stealing Tony's software. That's because S.H.I.E.L.D. was secretly scanning Iron Man, Fury noting that he and the Avengers possessed too much power for there not to be contingencies.

Iron Man stopped Spymaster, but he went down letting Tony know that they lived in the Information Age, and his final words were: "Too much data, Stark... you can't keep it safe."

I wonder if Tony's OS being out in the wild is a plotline they'll pull on in the game, or if maybe it contributed to the tragic events of A-Day. Either way, it was real ominous, and I think there's more to it.

Well, that's it for me True Believers. Did you spot any other interesting tidbits in the comic? Let me know in the comments below. Face Front, and I'll see you in the Multiverse!