Marvel Debuts AVENGERS #44 Final Issue Variant by Jim Cheung

This April, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes face extinction. As Secret Wars and the final incursion looms, our heroes stand shoulder to shoulder for their cataclysmic end. Today, Marvel is pleased to present your look at superstar artist Jim Cheung’s FINAL ISSUE VARIANT to Avengers #44 – the last, epic issue!

Available to retailers only through Marvel’s Exchange Program, the AVENGERS 44 FINAL ISSUE VARIANT is exclusive to comic shops and can only be received by qualifying retailers who exchange stripped covers of unsold AVENGERS & X-MEN: AXIS #1 standard covers for this stunning variant!

Before the highly-anticipated SECRET WARS begins in May, close out Jonathan Hickman’s sprawling Avengers saga in style with this stunning variant rendered by one of the top artists in the industry! What changes await Earth’s Mightiest in the pages of Secret Wars? You’ll have to wait till May to find out. But before that, no fan should miss out on an opportunity to own this one of a kind variant cover when it hits stores this April!

Retailers: Retailers qualifying for the AVENGERS #44 FINAL ISSUE VARIANT should be receiving an email with details on how to order and receive this limited edition variant cover. If a retailer has not received the information, they are encouraged to contact their Diamond Customer Service Representative.

AVENGERS 44 FINAL ISSUE VARIANT

Written by JONATHAN HICKMAN

Art by MIKE DEODATO

Cover by JIM CHEUNG

On Sale in April!

They look like they're waiting for a bus.

I actually love this cover. Having the characters in their 2002ish looks kind of closes the loop on things that all started with Disassemble up till now.

I don't doubt that was probably the intention since that is really the starting point of the modern Marvel Universe and we are now at it's ending point.

Ha!

@teerack: Disassembled is why I prefer animated continuities.

@darkmount1: It's been a decade. It's time to let go. lol

And I'm not sure if you remember what the Avengers were like back before that... but it was really bad >.< It was just cap and some D-list heroes. the Avengers didn't become big until Bendis pitched to Marvel destroying everything and rebuilding it with their actual A-List cast of characters.

I mean marvel is even open about this, and acknowledges disassemble as their attempt of putting effort into the Avengers.

Looks cool

Ha! They couldn't make to and end it at 45 huh?

Anyways, great variant

Back when they still looked like super heroes

This cover brings an imaginary tear to my eyes. I'd never thought I'd miss that type of Avengers.

I wish this were a sign of things to come but I really feel like it's more of a bone to throw us old warhorses who've been with Marvel for a long time. I really miss the team looking like this. At least there's a cover with them, I might get it first for that. Old school Cap is worth the price alone.

That cover brings back some strange feeling of nostalgia.

Thanks for ruining the mood! :P

@pingclang: Sorry, but that cover is just characters that are going to be in the movie.

@scarlet_rogue: They're also some of the most well known and iconic "classic" avengers. They also left out some characters from the movie so I'm not sure what you're trying to say.

Back when they WERE super heroes

QFT

Nice

So to qualify for variant covers of the start of the next crossover event (more or less) Comic Stores have to turn in copies they didn't sell of the last event?

If I've got that worked out right, its a counter-intuitive system isn't it?

@teerack:

I actually didn't get into the comics till 2008, and grew up with mostly the 90's and 2000's animated programs. Seeing Justice League Unlimited made me believe that even D-list characters could carry interesting stories. So, I'll let it go when Marvel's creatives start taking that to heart. They didn't need to rip everything to shreds (for the umpteenth time) just to get more attention--they just needed to use their imaginations a bit more wisely.

If you got into comics late like that I can understand how hard it would be to really grasp what the Avengers used to be. There are a few famous and great stories from the Avengers with all the Jim Starlin cosmic events and some of the Ultron stuff, but the kind of stories they used to tell back then were all mostly really pointless with a very "Super hero beats up bad guy" like story. Superior Foes of Spider-Man is all D-listers and it was amazing book so I'm not say that D-Listers can't have good stories I'm saying that Marvel didn't try to do much with the Avengers back then.

Not to mention the characters that were there like Jack or Hearts and Ant-Man(Lang)... no one cared about them and no creators really put that much effort into making them something great. Even just looking at the team present of Disassemble with the exception of Wanda and Vision everyone had had their personally completely changed in the past ten years.

• Iron Man - Wasn't even part of the Avengers, had become such a dick he was on his last legs when it came to his fan base. There was humor in the character.
• Captain America - Super boring with hardly and personality
• Hawkeye - Just a completely different person from the Hawkeye.
• Scott Lang - No one liked Scott in the comics and in the real world.
• Jack of Hearts - hahaha
• She-Hulk - That one hulk who couldn't hold a series of her own back then.

I know it's hard to believe at this point and it's kind of weird to even think about for me now, but back in 2000 if you didn't read comic books it was uncommon people even knew who the Avengers were. People would often be shocked when you told them that Hulk and Iron Man founded a team together with some other guys.

I think that Disassemble might have been a little cruel to people who have read Avengers for so long, but I think it was what the Avengers needed. It all had to be torn down to be built back up. Vision, Scott, Wanda, and Hawkeye have all been alive again for years now so there isn't anything to be upset about... unless you're one of the three fans Jack of Hearts had.

The Avengers has always been one of my favorite teams and is one of the few Marvel titles I still collect.

Love the variant cover. Can't wait to see the new team post Secret Wars/Battleworld.