writer: Brian Michael Bendis

art: Various

As you would imagine, this is a downbeat tale of Marvel's long-running superteam, The Avengers. It begins with the appearance of a zombified Jack of Hearts and the explosion of Avenger's mansion. Antman is killed. Then, Tony Stark, who is speaking at the United Nations starts acting drunk and insulting the representative from Latveria. He's angrily dismissed for his behavior and the Avengers are cut off from any government funding. That night The Vision shows up, not in control of his powers. He starts melting and out come several Ultrons, which the Avengers battle. However, She-Hulk ends up really hulking out and kills The Vision before the others can stop her. And things get worse. A few other members are killed and I'm not talking about peripheral characters. These are some of the founders...

By the conclusion of this epic tale the team discovers that the cause of all the chaos is one of their own. Tony Stark, who had been funding the Avengers no longer can support them, as his own business is in jeapordy. And they all agree that the team is no more. Damn. I felt like I was reading something from the Ultimates Universe. However, this all leads up to The New Avengers...