First Look: AVENGERS ARENA #18 - Final Issue

AVENGERS ARENA has struck a nerve with a lot of readers. Some have been outraged while others have been captivated by seeing the outcome of the battles. With the fate of these young heroes in the balance, the time has come for us to (hopefully) get some answers. With the final issue approaching (and leading into a new series), we're bound to get some closure and surprises.

Check out the first look Marvel has released for next month's issue.

It’s all come down to this! Marvel is pleased to present your first look at Avengers Arena #18, the shocking series finale – from the award winning creative team of Dennis Hopeless & Kev Walker! Sixteen young, troubled superheroes trapped on an island, forced to fight to the death for the amusement of a mad man! Now, as the surviving teens stand battered, bruised, and bleeding – who will remain when the dust clears?! As Arcade’s master plan reaches its climax – it’s still anyone’s game! Who lives? Who dies? What will be left of the survivors when it’s over? And how will the seeds planted here bear bitter fruit in the upcoming Avengers Undercover #1? Find out this November in the jaw-dropping Avengers Arena 18!

AVENGERS ARENA #18 (SEP130680)

Written by DENNIS HOPELESS

Art by KEV WALKER

Cover by DAVE JOHNSON

FOC 11/04/14, ON-SALE 11/27/13

Uh-oh. S**ts about to go down.

Awesome series I've enjoyed since #1

Man, I hate this book. I have never hated a book more in my life. It made me upset to no end. (THEY BLEW UP METTLE IN THE FIRST ISSUE! HE WAS MY FAVORITE ACADEMY KID!)

Still, if Nico and Chase survived for this long, they should be in the clear. Reptil seems vague. But God, I hate this book so much. So mean spirited and just taunting fans.

Also, Hazmat is gonna go boom, like I predicted.
Arcade better die though. That jackass needs to be put down.
God, I hate this book. Never has a book ruined me for a full year like this one. I just hate it so much. SO MUCH!!!

I feel like every story that includes arcade has fans wish the same thing.

"Why can't HE JUST DIE ALREADY?" and I really hope this time fans get their wish.

So 6 kids are confirmed alive until the final issue: Reptil, Nico, Chase, Cammi, Anachronism, and Hazmat. We also know that Cullen, Death Locket, Cammi, Anachronism, Hazmat, and X-23 make it out of Murderworld alive. That leaves either Darkhawk (Chris) or Apex as potential deaths for issue 17. I'm betting there'll be only one more death for the series and it'll be in the final issue. I'm hoping for Katy/Tim just because it looks like they now have control of Murderworld now.

As for who I hope survives, well, the only characters I desperately want to live are Nico, Chase, and Cullen.

@cafeterialoca: She's in Avengers Undercover, keep your underwear together. Also are you actually reading this book ? And if your are then you are so dumb.

@matkrenz I don't blame him though, it's the comic reader curse where you keep reading to see if it gets better (In their point of view).

Well I dropped it right after Darkhawk got put to shit so eh.

@crackedversion00:

I thought Hopeless made it really obvious that she was going to live through this though. Mettle's death only matters if she lives, plus for two weeks (in-game) she was left alone by both the other kids and Arcade. And then she spent like three issues bleeding out? Yeah, that's a red herring if I ever saw one.

On a side note, can we talk about how amazing Walker's art is here? He draws the best action scenes in comics I've ever seen.

@crackedversion00: But in this guys case he's hated this since the announcement last year and he's been complaining (or in my eyes whining) about it the whole year. And if he's been paying money for it then he's dumb.

@matkrenz: Yes because you're smarter than him for insulting him for his opinion. He loves some of these characters and this book is a fan's worst nightmare if your favorite is in it so I understand why he would hate this book.

So X-23 is dead?

@br_havoc: What I am saying is that he hates this book, and if he is buying it than he is dumb. You don't support something you hate just so can complain about it, that's silly.

@raggedscarecrow: @darkknightdetective:

Who is will Survive and who's left to ask, What of?

Who will survive

X-23, Hazmat, Bloodstone/Cullen, Deathlocket, Cammi, and Anachronism.

Who's left to ask, What of?

Nico, Chase, Apex, Reptil & Chris Powell?

Also checkout

Avengers Undercover (Who Survived?)(Spoilers)

In regards to X-23, Checkout

......New Romantic Interest (Spoilers)

......2nd issue after Arena »

Hate on fangirls, Hate on, for MetH enjoyed tHis series.

-ABstract4$$#073-

I don't disagree.

But I spent many months talking about my loathing for the book and many people told me if I wasn't reading it I wasn't allowed to complain.

So if you can't complain when you're reading it, and you can't complain when you're not reading it, then what, you're never allowed to complain? Or is it that anyone who wants to complain must pirate it, so that they are reading it but not financially supporting it?

None of those positions are tenable. I think that paying for the "right" to complain about something is stupid but considering all the grief I got when complaining without buying it, it seems to me there's a certain tenability to that decision.

@akbogert: Look im just sick and tired of people complaining about crap. I mean isn't it tiring to complain about a single comic book for an entire year ?

@matkrenz: Yes, it is tiring.

You know what's more tiring?

Being put through sustained uncertainty and emotional strain for an entire year. For other people's entertainment.

@akbogert: But over fictional characters. I mean I get attachment but I don't know, I don't seem to have the same level as you for whatever reason.

@matkrenz: I actually research parasocial relationships. People developing attachment to fictional characters which are psychologically and emotionally akin to the relationships we develop with other people is a very common phenomenon. I'm drafting potential research that explores why some people are more or less prone to developing those relationships -- when I have an answer, I'm sure I'll make a point of writing about it here.

The salient point is that people do indeed form those relationships, and that the emotional duress produced by this book is similar to (though perhaps not as strong as) it would be were actual friends or acquaintances put in dire situations and/or killed. As such, it's not something simply gotten over or accepted, because the existence of the book as an ongoing reality provides a very real emotional (negative) stimulus to people to whom these characters matter.

@akbogert: Well that's interesting.

He isn't dead and he ends up taking out Arcade. Only question is if he will get his armor back when the series ends.

I'd say odds are good, since both Chase and Cammi are able to give the armour away.

@matkrenz: How many people still do that with Superior Spider-Man? Comic fans are gluttons for punishment they will hate read something because they live with that hope that it will get better. It is silly yes but the industry knows people will do that so they can do silly books like this one.

I hope they don't kill off Darkhawk! I am still hoping for a Darkhawk solo series again!

Best series out now without a doubt. Proves only good stories come from putting heroes in real peril.

Thank god this trash rag of a book is ending.

Thing is this book succeeded at.

• Destroyed a ton of motivation to read Marvel Comics if you actually liked younger heroes
• Killed off and completely wasted a bunch of great characters
• Created dislike for Tigra because she talked Hank Pym out of solving the case

This book was literally Marvel going "So.... what are we going to do about all of these characters we probably can't whore out in the movies?" "Lets have them fight to the death heh heh."

Obviously this book is controversial, but I like it. I felt no attachment to any of the characters at the beginning and none of the deaths have upset me yet. But I do like the Braddock Academy kids as characters and I have enjoyed the series immensely.

See, you say that. And maybe you agree with it.

But I really do wonder, if this were truly Avengers Arena, and they took all the characters currently headlining in Avengers (you know, Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, etc.) and forced them in some convoluted way to fight each other to the death -- and had some of them actually die -- whether people would still praise it and call it revolutionary and the best thing ever.

Well, X-23 and Nico live so, I'm not going postal about this book. However, they announced Arcade is going to be in the next series. As a result, I'm not sure anything gets accomplished. As a result we have a bunch of heroes put in an arena where they kill each other for no reason at all rather than band together to take out Arcade and in the end they don't even kill the enemy. All in all a useless book with a rehashed premise. Very glad I didn't waste money on this tripe.

@akbogert: They would and here's why. When I told people why I didn't like this series I was met with, who cares, it's not like death is permanent at Marvel.

I like this book

There's something I was told for quite a while myself. Now that I've had time to do more digging into the psychological research, I've found studies which demonstrate that even temporary separation from characters can result in the same emotional discomfort as long-term separation, so long as there is uncertainty as to when and whether the separation will end.

In other words, not knowing for sure that the characters will come back AND exactly when means that the impact is identical to if they definitely weren't.