Battleworld: Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies

Comic Info

Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies #1 Variant

Reprints Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies #1-4 and Age of Ultron #1 (May 2013-November 2015).  The land beyond the walls of Doom’s Battleworld have a hierarchy of their own.  The zombies control part of the lands while Annihilus controls another part.  Keeping everything in check is an army of Ultrons that lives in the section called Perfection.  There is another faction growing in the land…Salvation.  Designed by Wonder Man, Vision, and Jim Hammond, Sanctuary provides a haven for those ejected from the wall.  When Hank Pym of finds himself in Sanctuary, he learns that he could be the key to building a new world…but that it could also mean a sacrifice.

Written by James Robinson, Battleworld:  Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies is a Marvel Comics Secret Wars spin-off title.  Featuring art by Steve Pugh, the collection also contains Age of Ultron #1 written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Bryan Hitch.

I can’t say that I was particularly excited about Battleworld:  Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies.  Not only does it have one of the clunkiest titles, but it also focuses on two of Marvel’s least interesting storylines.  Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies was kind as you expected.

I won’t say that the Marvel Zombies was all bad.  The first book in the series was kind of fun, but I was already growing weary of zombies.  I also didn’t mind the idea of the Marvel Zombies being in Battleworld and serving as kind of an outlander location though in general the idea of Secret Wars was a bit confusing with multiple versions of character inhabiting one world under Doom…sort of (Doom’s role only seems to affect some titles).

Battleworld: Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies #3 Variant

This book deals a bit with the duplicate issues.  The Hank Pym banished beyond the wall isn’t the Hank Pym who created Ultron, but it plays with the idea of the “shared past” of the characters.  It is something that was interesting about Secret Wars, but it feels like Secret Wars never truly explored.  It feels like a treatise on reincarnation and predestination.  The characters of the different worlds of Battleworld grew up different but all end on the same path.  Things change but they never change much and that is where Secret Wars really could have explored new territory (along with the repetition of comic books and the worlds they inhabit).

Like a lot of the Secret Wars spin-off titles, I feel that the series doesn’t get enough room to establish itself.  Marvel was asking a lot with all the titles and with four or five issues each in most runs, that was more than most collectors could designate for a one-off type story.  As a result, a lot of these Battleworld and Warzones titles feel like test runs to test the water of fans…if a fan likes it, maybe it will continue.  Unfortunately, this also means a lot of stories feel abrupt and incomplete like this title.

Battleworld:  Age of Ultron vs. Marvel Zombies really seems to lack an identity.  The comic is an intentional mash-up (as the title implies), but I didn’t feel that Age of Ultron had enough impact on Marvel when it was released to be paired with Marvel Zombies…maybe Midnight Sons vs. Marvel Zombies would have been more interesting or inspired.  If you are completionist check it out, but if not, you aren’t missing much.