First Look: AVENGERS ARENA #3

@CircularLogic: The art and writing looks top notch the only thing not working for the series is the over used plot.

@DrLove: To be fair, at least they're getting revived and have their own movie.

Think about it, the Avengers reaaallyy got popular around the time Bendis got his hands on it.

And I'm sure the reason'll be explained in his actual series.

He's got some good runs and has the potential to really nail the atmosphere.

Loeb... I'm just waiting and hoping.

Hazmat better survive this book, or I'll be pissed.

I already lost a favorite in the first issue, and I'll be very pissed off if they do kill her.

God, this book is going to drive me mad.

@chocobojam said:

My problem with this series is, im almost not familiar with all of the characters. the only character that im somehow familiar is X-23 and the others i dont care if they die because they really look like expendables. And is it Arcade too strong for a supervillain?? i mean what kind of power can instantly kill a superhero with just a snap of a finger and can create a whole new place that no one can get out. And im curious, do the Avengers or the X-men has encountered Arcade before?? what did they do to beat this guy up??

You're the reason this book exists. Avengers Academy, Runaways, Annhilation, Darkhawk, you should have learned about these characters. But because you didn't try titles that weren't mainstream, now they're dying like this.

I hate X-23 fans. I really do.

Oh, and Arcade was a joke before. He would build giant size Pinball machines to kill the X-Men. Now he's uber powerful and picking on kids.

But as you say, you don't care because you didn't try stuff that wasn't mainstream.

I hate this book so much.

I like the cover, even though, it isn't original at all. And who doesn't like fights in the snow? Woo!

@Cafeterialoca: Everything from Marvel is mainstream.

@Cafeterialoca: "Waaah waaah only super serious hardcore fans like me deserve to read comics, everyone else is the reason everything sucks waaah waaah."

@chocobojam: I'm unfamiliar with most of the characters, apart from those from Avengers Academy and Runaways. It sucked seeing Mettle die in the first issue, although it was both in-character for him to sacrifice himself and a good way to illustrate how powerful and dangerous Arcade is now.

I'm interested to find out just how Arcade became this much of threat; he never even had powers before, he just built elaborate death-traps that always completely failed to kill anyone. This is a good new direction for the character, I think; he now has the power to kill whoever he wants with ease, but is so insane and sadistic (as always) that he'd rather kidnap a bunch of kids and force them to kill each other.

I like this book because, despite being little more than a Battle Royal rip off with super powers, it is forcing us to care about all these minor characters nobody's heard of because they actually seem to be in genuine peril, in circumstances where the choices they make really matter. I can picture whoever survives going on to become a major player in the Marvel universe.

@chocobojam said:

My problem with this series is, im almost not familiar with all of the characters. the only character that im somehow familiar is X-23 and the others i dont care if they die because they really look like expendables. And is it Arcade too strong for a supervillain?? i mean what kind of power can instantly kill a superhero with just a snap of a finger and can create a whole new place that no one can get out. And im curious, do the Avengers or the X-men has encountered Arcade before?? what did they do to beat this guy up??

@soir8:

I'm actually thinking after reading the first book that he is just using some virtual reality machine ala Sword Art Online and is handling the control of everything in that game.

@c2thaj: True, but there's some characters who aren't put in every cartoon or video game.

@soir8 said: Please, I barely am hardcore in comics! I never even read Killing Joke! But I'm very mad that my favorite ongoing, Avengers Academy, is now turned into "Killing off teenage characters!" And they already killed one of the best characters from Academy. And now people are hopping on going "I only care about X-23, the rest can die" is infuriating! Some knockoff Wolverine with boobs is what people care about?!

And we're losing great characters because people have some fetish for gore and off goes these characters they probably would have liked but never tried because they never had a cartoon or movie based around them!

No, I have all the damn rights to be mad. Especially when they almost celebrate when these well liked characters are killed!

I really do think people who like this series do not have attachment to the characters in the Arena. Pity, as the Avengers Academy was an excellent series. I'm upset the best way Marvel could think of to use them and the Runaways was to throw them in this book. Darkhawk being there is only because the writer likes the character so, he's there for absolutely no reason what so ever.But as Darkhawk is on par with Silver Surfer he's overkill and thus the writer assures will not participate in the Arena at all. As for X-23 fans, excuse me! She's probably my favorite character there but not real sure how liking her means anything what so ever.

@blackkitty said:

I really do think people who like this series do not have attachment to the characters in the Arena. Pity, as the Avengers Academy was an excellent series. I'm upset the best way Marvel could think of to use them and the Runaways was to throw them in this book. Darkhawk being there is only because the writer likes the character so, he's there for absolutely no reason what so ever.But as Darkhawk is on par with Silver Surfer he's overkill and thus the writer assures will not participate in the Arena at all.

Agreed. Instead of making an interesting series featuring these characters they thought it was easier to just kill them off to appeal to new readers who know nothing about them. I still can't understand why they didn't use only brand-new characters for this series...

As for X-23 fans, excuse me! She's probably my favorite character there but not real sure how liking her means anything what so ever.

I think it has something to do with the fact that in nearly every Avengers Arena thread people post stuff like "I only care about X-23, the rest can die". Granted, the same goes for a few Runaways or Darkhawk fans but all those so-called fans can be really annoying at times. They don't give a damn about anybody else and I'd be surprised if they really care about the characters they're rooting for.

But yeah, that's just a few misguided people and there's no reason to blame any character or their reasonable fans for this. Let's just blame the guys at Marvel who thought this was a good idea.

@Adriell2124 said:

@DrLove: To be fair, at least they're getting revived and have their own movie.

Think about it, the Avengers reaaallyy got popular around the time Bendis got his hands on it.

And I'm sure the reason'll be explained in his actual series.

He's got some good runs and has the potential to really nail the atmosphere.

Loeb... I'm just waiting and hoping.

ya i hope so too.. marvel cosmic is just as good if not better then any other cosmic book.

@blackkitty said:

I really do think people who like this series do not have attachment to the characters in the Arena. Pity, as the Avengers Academy was an excellent series. I'm upset the best way Marvel could think of to use them and the Runaways was to throw them in this book. Darkhawk being there is only because the writer likes the character so, he's there for absolutely no reason what so ever.But as Darkhawk is on par with Silver Surfer he's overkill and thus the writer assures will not participate in the Arena at all. As for X-23 fans, excuse me! She's probably my favorite character there but not real sure how liking her means anything what so ever.

X-23 fans have gotten on my nerves with this book and their attitude of "Oh, I don't care if they all dead except for her." It makes me very angry.

I can blame X-23 for being so popular that she's put in this book just to kill other kids.

@Cafeterialoca said:

@chocobojam said:

My problem with this series is, im almost not familiar with all of the characters. the only character that im somehow familiar is X-23 and the others i dont care if they die because they really look like expendables. And is it Arcade too strong for a supervillain?? i mean what kind of power can instantly kill a superhero with just a snap of a finger and can create a whole new place that no one can get out. And im curious, do the Avengers or the X-men has encountered Arcade before?? what did they do to beat this guy up??

You're the reason this book exists. Avengers Academy, Runaways, Annhilation, Darkhawk, you should have learned about these characters. But because you didn't try titles that weren't mainstream, now they're dying like this.

I hate X-23 fans. I really do.

Oh, and Arcade was a joke before. He would build giant size Pinball machines to kill the X-Men. Now he's uber powerful and picking on kids.

But as you say, you don't care because you didn't try stuff that wasn't mainstream.

I hate this book so much.

Im not a fan of x-23 at all. in fact, i havent read any comics that is involved with her (well...except this one). But the real reason i dont like this series is not because im not familiar with the characters. but its because i think the plot of the story is very cheap. I mean, Instead of these characters killing each other out of fear, they should team up and act as team to find Arcades weaknesses and try to beat up this enemy just like any other group of super heroes usually does.

I can understand the writers intent to force the readers to care about these unfamiliar characters by telling us a little bit of their past. but if they will just die in the end, then whats the point in caring at all. Not unless those characters who will die will be revive somehow in the end of the series.

@chocobojam said:

@Cafeterialoca said:

@chocobojam said:

My problem with this series is, im almost not familiar with all of the characters. the only character that im somehow familiar is X-23 and the others i dont care if they die because they really look like expendables. And is it Arcade too strong for a supervillain?? i mean what kind of power can instantly kill a superhero with just a snap of a finger and can create a whole new place that no one can get out. And im curious, do the Avengers or the X-men has encountered Arcade before?? what did they do to beat this guy up??

You're the reason this book exists. Avengers Academy, Runaways, Annhilation, Darkhawk, you should have learned about these characters. But because you didn't try titles that weren't mainstream, now they're dying like this.

I hate X-23 fans. I really do.

Oh, and Arcade was a joke before. He would build giant size Pinball machines to kill the X-Men. Now he's uber powerful and picking on kids.

But as you say, you don't care because you didn't try stuff that wasn't mainstream.

I hate this book so much.

Im not a fan of x-23 at all. in fact, i havent read any comics that is involved with her (well...except this one). But the real reason i dont like this series is not because im not familiar with the characters. but its because i think the plot of the story is very cheap. I mean, Instead of these characters killing each other out of fear, they should team up and act as team to find Arcades weaknesses and try to beat up this enemy just like any other group of super heroes usually does.

I can understand the writers intent to force the readers to care about these unfamiliar characters by telling us a little bit of their past. but if they will just die in the end, then whats the point in caring at all. Not unless those characters who will die will be revive somehow in the end of the series.

EXACTLY! THe problem is that this series is killing great characters for cheap thrills. I mean, what would people think if a story just starts with Iron Man getting his head blown off? No dignity?

Cause this book is basically gleefully making fun of the character deaths.

I've gone from being perplexed by this book to admiring how completely insane this book is and how little it gives a sh*t what people think about it.

@Jonny_Anonymous:

because you don't like it, don't make it trash.

@Cafeterialoca: Yeah, you have a right to be mad, but not to take it out on other people. Saying you hate other posters because of their character preferences and blaming them for the state of comics is just whiny.

Anyway, don't get too upset. It's just a comic.

And it's all just a dream anyway.

@RedheadedAtrocitus said:

Yeah that cover isn't Hunger Games inspired at all now, is it? I don't know, I've been hearing so many not liking this series much. It looks mildly interesting to me, even if the concept really isn't that original. After all, Hunger Games beats it by a few years, and The Culling by at least six months.

Its also marvels version of Battle Royale manga series.

@soir8 said:

@Cafeterialoca: Yeah, you have a right to be mad, but not to take it out on other people. Saying you hate other posters because of their character preferences and blaming them for the state of comics is just whiny.

Anyway, don't get too upset. It's just a comic.

And it's all just a dream anyway.

At this point, I've given up hope on these characters being saved.

I'm sure the most bland characters will win. Ugh.

@soir8 said: I guess I'm running off paranoia. I mean, when this is set to happen in the future issues?

You could sense that I'm a bit worried.

Hazmat was my favorite Academy kid, and she could be gutted by X-23 in the final issues! How is that reassuring to me?!

@Jonny_Anonymous: The reused plot is trash but the writing and art is top notch.

I really do not understand how X-23 can be blamed for being so popular. I find that notion laughable. I'm an X-23 fan, and she was the first comic to remotely spark my interest in the world of comics in general. Of course her fans are going to care if she live or dies in this series. If you were a fan of Nico of course you would want her to win. If you were a fan of Hazmat of course you would want her to win. The same goes for every character in this series. Even though I do not really understand the whole concept of this series and how it fits into the characters lives,and I can't really show much sympathy for all the characters there since I don't know most of them , I will stick with it to the end as long as my favorite character is there......That is my honest opinion.

waaahhh waaaaahhh waaaaah

use original material

waaaahhhh waaahh

hunger games rip off BR rip off

waaaahhhh

look at the cover art. Marvel is pointing out that this series was inspired by previous material.

wuaaaahhh I don't want my favorite character to die wuaaahh

Marvel is making people care about these characters more than before.

and more importantly this series wont magically stop with all your whinnying.

If

other

people

like

it(+)

@mxl23: The reason some people are lashing out at X-23 fans is the fact that they have been saying I hope the rest dies and X-23 lives. Things like that can be seen as troubling and disrespectful to other fans.

I hate this book so much. I'm only downloading it because I want to see who dies and if it can possibly take a turn around. Waaay too much of a Hunger Games knockoff not one speck of originality here, aside from new characters who'll get killed off in an issue.

i bet you that none of the players in Avengers Arena actually died, they're in stasis or something and that's one of the big reveals of the story. Possibly. Maybe.

i'm interested to see the covers every week, to see what they reference next.

Battle royale. lord of the flies and hunger games, what can they use next?

@Bonzi161 said:

im sorry, but i love how mad this run is making some people, i have no ties to any of these characters (i have not read any of the books they come from) so when this comes out it tpb i am all over it. side note, isnt the fact that it makes you angry to see the characters die a sign that it is good? dont you want the stuff you read to make you feel real emotions? maybe its just me

Not just you -- [p.e.t.e.r. p.a.r.k.e.r.]