History ComicBook / AvengersForever

* CallBack: The 50s Avengers are based on an old issue of ''What If...?" that explored a world where the Avengers were founded by 3-D Man and a bunch of obscure Atlas Comics (Marvel's predecessor) characters like Marvel Boy, Gorilla Man, Venus and the Human Robot. A canonical version of this team would later be introduced as the ''Comicbook/AgentsOfAtlas''.

* ExpendableAlternateUniverse: Averted. The casual destruction of alternate timelines is not just an undesirable thing, it's the very thing that the Avengers are fighting to prevent.

** The final battle in issues #11-12 features a clash between two armies of Avengers from across the Multiverse, with the appendix listing where they all come from in exhaustive detail. The Multiverse Avengers come from various sources like ''Comicbook/WhatIf'', ''[[Comicbook/MarvelComics2 A-Next]]'', ''Comicbook/EarthX'', ''Comicbook/SpiderMan2099'' and even the ''WesternAnimation/TheAvengersUnitedTheyStand'' cartoon.

** A lot of this story was basically damage control for ''ComicBook/TheCrossing'', revealing that it was Immortus and not Kang who was the main villain, that ComicBook/IronMan was only under Immortus's control since the events of ''ComicBook/OperationGalacticStorm'' (and that Iron Man leading half of the Avengers to kill the Kree Supreme Intelligence was an attempt to keep the Avengers out of intergalactic affairs that [[NiceJobFixingItVillain backfired]]) and not since the Avengers first fought Kang, the "Mantis" who worked with "Kang" and many other of his minions were Space Phantoms, and that Kang didn't cause [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym]]'s breakdowns.

* ThrowingOffTheDisability: Rick Jones begins the story paralyzed due to injuries he sustained from the Hulk. He managed to heal himself with the Destiny Force.

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Black Panther spares Mourning Prey's children and allows them to continue living in the vibranium mine despite them being a bunch of bug-like monsters. The fact that Jocasta could die during childbirth is also treated with seriousness by the characters present despite she and her baby being machines.

* DevelopmentGag: The final issue features alternate universe versions of Wasp, Iron Cross, Thor, and [[Comicbook/TheIncredibleHercules Hercules]] sporting their designs from ''Avengers: World in Chains'', the rejected Avengers project Kurt Busiek and Carlos Pacheo had pitched before ''Avengers Forever''.

* ContinuityNod: Plenty, but among the most important are Rick Jones starting the series paralyzed due to having been crippled in Creator/PeterDavid's ''Comicbook/TheIncredibleHulk'' run. The Supreme Intelligence is also now imprisoned by Comicbook/{{SHIELD}} on the Blue Area of the Moon as a result of the then-recent ''Live Kree or Die'' crossover.

* ThrowingOffTheDisability: The Hulk had left Rick Jones crippled, and he begins the story that way. He managed to heal himself with the Destiny Force.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: The Time-Keepers have very legitimate concerns about humanity becoming TheEmpire. Their solution? Exterminate countless timelines. A mass-murder that would leave Galactus or even the Anti-Monitor as mere amateurs.

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Black Panther spares Mourning Prey's children and allows them to continue living in the vibranium mine despite them being a bunch of bug-like monsters. The fact that Jocasta could die during childbirth is also treated with seriousness by the characters present despite the two of them being machines.

* AnimalEyes: The older Comicbook/BlackPanther Cap and Giant-Man encounter in one of the {{Bad Future}}s has eyes like an actual jungle cat.

** The final battle in issues #11-12 features a clash between two armies of Avengers from across the Multiverse, with the appendix listing where they all come from in exhaustive detail. The Multiverse Avengers come from various sources like ''Comicbook/WhatIf'', ''[[Comicbook/MarvelComics2 A-Next]]'', ''Comicbook/EarthX'', ''Comicbook/SpiderMan2099'' and even the ''WesternAnimation/AvengersUnitedTheyStand'' cartoon.

* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Averted. Black Panther spares Mourning Prey's children and allows them to continue living in the vibranium mine despite them being a bunch of bug-like monsters.

* HeelFaceTurn: Libra

** These details are explained as [[spoiler:Rick being subjected to accelerated aging after he temporarily became the host to Death and was later separated from Death by Thanos]].

** While talking about the threat humanity poses, the Time Keepers mention "the mechanations of the Infinites." They appear in the Avengers Infinity miniseries.
** After the heroes win, Kang [[HesBack regains his zest for life and conquest]] and leaves to rebuild his empire. This will be followed up in ComicBook/TheKangWar.
** After everyone else leaves, the Supreme Intelligence summons the Forever Crystal. This was followed up on in the Maximum Security event.

* CallBack: In ''[[ComicBook/{{Maestro}} Future Imperfect]]'', [[spoiler:a much older version of Rick Jones]] maintains a memorial room featuring the costumes, gadgets and weapons of the many heroes and villains who died in the NuclearHolocaust that wiped out most of humanity. Here, a less aged version of the same character wears an outfit made up from parts of other heroes, including Comicbook/GhostRider's jacket, Comicbook/DoctorStrange's Eye of Agamotto and Comicbook/TheFaclon's boots.

* AbortedArc: Both Songbird and Genis-Vell are from the near future, where they are (unlike in the present day) members of the Avengers. Since Kurt Busiek was writing the main ''[[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]]'' book at the time, it seemed that he would eventually introduce Songbird and Genis into the Avengers roster there, with the present day catching up with their future. But this never happened, and none of the later Avengers writers have chosen to follow up on Busiek's {{foreshadowing}} either. (In 2015, 616-Songbird finally became a member of the ''Comicbook/{{New Avengers|2015}}'', but even though the writer of that book Creator/AlEwing is very big on ContinuityPorn, Songbird eventually left the team without Ewing having made any references to this story.) Genis is even harder to reconcile with Busiek's depiction here, as the following years saw him lose his connection to Rick Jones, change his superhero name to Photon (with the Captain Marvel title later passing to Comicbook/CarolDanvers, who has used it since 2012) and ultimately get KilledOffForReal during a ''Comicbook/{{Thunderbolts}}'' storyline, all without ever officially becoming an Avenger.

* CallBack: In [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Future Imperfect]], [[spoiler:a much older version of Rick Jones]] maintains a memorial room of the many heroes who died over the years (presumably murdered by the Maestro, but that's neither here nor there). Here, a less aged version of the same character wears an outfit made up from parts of other heroes.

* BroadStrokes: Despite all the ContinuityPorn on display, there are a few tidbits that can't be spelled out directly. A panel showing Doctor Octopus escaping prison with Lex Luthor in tow from the first Superman/Spider-Man crossover is mentioned in the annotations as being Doc Ock and a "striking-looking bald man."

** Also, the one visited by Giant Man and Captain America, the "War of the Worlds" previously associated with Killraven and the ''Guardians of the Galaxy''.

* AbortedArc: Both Songbird and Genis-Vell are from the near future, where they are (unlike in the present day) members of the Avengers. Since Kurt Busiek was writing the main ''[[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]]'' book at the time, it seemed that he would eventually introduce Songbird and Genis into the Avengers roster there, with the present day catching up with their future. But this never happened, and none of the later Avengers writers have chosen to follow up on Busiek's {{foreshadowing}} either. (In 2015, 616-Songbird finally became a member of the ''Comicbook/{{New Avengers|2015}}'', but even though the writer of that book Creator/AlEwing is very big on ContinuityPorn, Songbird eventually left the team without Ewing having made any references to this story.) Genis is even harder to reconcile with Busiek's depiction here, as the following years saw him lose his connection to Rick Jones, change his superhero name to Photon (with the Captain Marvel title later passing to Comicbook/CarolDanvers, who has used it since 2012) and ultimately get KilledOffForeReal during a ''Comicbook/{{Thunderbolts}}'' storyline, all without ever officially becoming an Avenger.

* AbortedArc: Both Songbird and Genis-Vell are from the near future, where they are (unlike in the present day) members of the Avengers. Since Kurt Busiek was writing the main ''[[ComicBook/TheAvengers Avengers]]'' book at the time, it seemed that he would eventually introduce Songbird and Genis into the Avengers roster there, with the present day catching up with their future. But this never happened, and none of the later Avengers writers have chosen to follow up on Busiek's {{foreshadowing}} either. (In 2015, 616-Songbird finally became a member of the ''Comicbook/{{New Avengers|2015}}'', but even though the writer of that book Creator/AlEwing is very big on ContinuityPorn, Songbird eventually left the team without Ewing having made any references to this story.)

* ArchivedArmy: During the final battle, the Time Keepers summon all the Avengers from the past, present and future that became evil and destructive. Rick Jones reinforces the goods guys by using the Destiny Force to summon ''every other Avenger'' from all the myriad timelines.

** It begins with one. Earth and humanity become TheEmpire of the Universe, and the Avengers are the PraetorianGuard as humanity carves a campaign of subjugation across the cosmos.

* DealWithTheDevil: The deal of Yellowjacket and Immortus, it's even described as such by both parties.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: On full display with the 50s Avengers, who are more concerned with the threat of commies and pinkos than, oh, alien infiltration (or worse, ''alien commie pinkos''.)

* EnemyMine: The way the Avengers fought alongside Kang, Libra and the Supreme Intelligence

** Taken up to eleven. Here, "Future me is the single being I hate the most in all the multiverse".

-->'''Space Phantom:''' It's... it's complicated.

* LetsYouAndHimFight: That ol' superhero stable comes up with Wasp and Genis meeting the Avengers of the 1950s. 3-D Man overheard Wasp saying that Nixon ''has'' to get to China, and comes to the conclusion the two are filthy Commie spies, and refuses to let Wasp explain what's going on. It's not until Marvel Boy uses his telepathy to read her mind that he learns what's up.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Immortus had to make the Avengers return to Earth immediately after "Operation: Galactic Storm", so he influenced the Avengers with xenophobia, so that they refused to stay among alien races. He miscalculated: this xenophobia led them to execute the Supreme Intelligence for destroying its own empire (long story). And worse: this would begin actions that laid the first steps of the Avengers Stellar Corps, the antecedent of the First Terran Empire... the very timeline that Immortus was instructed to prevent!
* NoodleIncident: Exactly how does [[spoiler:future Rick Jones]] end up losing an arm and wearing an outfit that includes Ghost Rider's jacket, Falcon's boots, [[spoiler:Superman's cape]], and [[spoiler:Batman's utility belt]]? The world may never know.

* {{Retcon}}: A lot of this story was basically damage control for ''ComicBook/TheCrossing'', revealing that it was Immortus and not Kang who was the main villain, that ComicBook/IronMan was only under Immortus's control since the events of ''ComicBook/OperationGalacticStorm'' (and that Iron Man leading half of the Avengers to kill the Kree Supreme Intelligence was an attempt to keep the Avengers out of intergalactic affairs that [[NiceJobFixingItVillain backfired]]) and not since the Avengers first fought Kang, the "Mantis" who worked with "Kang" and many other of his minions were Space Phantoms, and that Kang didn't cause [[ComicBook/AntMan Hank Pym]]'s breakdowns.

* RetGone: The timeline visited by the Wasp and Captain Marvel. Immortus erases it completely.
* RidiculouslyHumanRobot: The Jocasta Cap and Giant-Man meet in the bad future has managed to become pregnant by her reality's Machine Man.
* ScrewDestiny: All this was because the indomitable warrior Kang, as a time traveler, knows that he will eventually become Immortus, a scholar who relies on manipulation and schemes. He hates the idea, fights against the universe to prevent himself from becoming Immortus... and wins.

** After the heroes win, Kang [[HesBack regains his zest for life and conquest]] and leaves to rebuild his empire. Followed up in ComicBook/TheKangWar.

* BadFuture: It begins with one. Earth and humanity become TheEmpire of the Universe, and the Avengers are the PraetorianGuard as humanity carves a campaign of subjugation across the cosmos. Also, the one visited by Giant Man and Captain America, similar to the "War of the Worlds".

* DealWithTheDevil: The deal of Yellowjacket and Immortus has been described as such.

** It also counts, in a lower degree, for Yellowjacket towards Giant-Man.

* {{Homage}}: The future visited by Giant-Man and Captain America is an homage to ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'', complete with "walkers" and all the stuff. Didn't you wonder why would the Badoon claim to come from Mars, in a comic book line filled with more fancy galaxies?

-->'''Space Phantom:''' It's...it's complicated.

* MeaningfulEcho: Captain Marvel has two big secrets that he was not telling: [[spoiler:That he was bound to an older Rick Jones, and that he loves Songbird; but this one was from before that]]. In both cases, he delivers some lines here and there that hinted those things.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Immortus had to make the Avengers return to Earth immediately after "Operation: Galactic Storm", so he influenced the Avengers with xenophobia, so that they refused to stay among alien races. He miscalculated: this xenophobia led them to execute the Supreme Intelligence for destroying its own empire (long story). And worse: this would begin actions that laid the first steps of the Avengers Stellar Corps, the antecedent of the First Terran Empire...the very timeline that Immortus was instructed to prevent!

* RetGone: In-story, the timeline visited by the Wasp and Captain Marvel. Immortus erases it completely.
* ScrewDestiny: All this was because the indomitable warrior Kang, as a time traveler, knows that he will eventually become Immortus, a scholar who relies on manipulation schemes. He hates the idea, fights against the universe to prevent himself from becoming Immortus...and wins.

** While talking about the threat humanity poses, the Time Keepers mention "the mechanations of the Infinates." They appear in the Avengers Infinity miniseries.

''Avengers Forever'' is a twelve-issue comic book limited series of ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'' published from December 1998 to November 1999 by Marvel Comics. The series was written by Creator/KurtBusiek and Creator/RogerStern and drawn by Carlos Pacheco and Jesus Merino. It has a massively complex plot, with a battle between Kang (a ConquerorFromTheFuture) and Immortus (a GuardianOfTheMultiverse); actually, Immortus is the future self of Kang.

Let's try to make it short. Rick Jones suffers a strange paralysis, and the Avengers send him to the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree (who's held "captive" at the Blue Area of the Moon), to see if he could heal him. Immortus tries to kill Rick Jones, but Kang intervenes on his behalf. Rick Jones, mastering once more the "Destiny Force", an all-powerful force he once wielded during ComicBook/TheKreeSkrullWar, summons several Avengers from many points of time: Henry Pym and the Wasp (from the present), Yellowjacket (Henry Pym when he had a mental disorder; yes, he summoned the same man from 2 time periods), Captain America (right after the Secret Empire storyline, demoralized by it and on the verge of giving up the superhero thing), Hawkeye (right after the Kree-Skrull War) & Songbird and Captain Marvel (from a future). The fight moves to Cronopolis, Kang's stronghold: Immortus destroyed it and turned it into the "Forever Crystal", which allows him to change timelines or destroy them at will.

The Avengers use a time machine of Kang's to escape into the timestream, where Immortus would not locate Rick. Not knowing what is Immortus up to, or why he wants to kill Jones, the Avengers explore 3 points of time, to no avail. Then, they visit Limbo, Immortus' stronghold, and take a Space Phantom captive. The problem is basically this: with the "Destiny Force", humanity would become a conquering empire. Immortus spent years [[TheChessmaster manipulating human development]] to keep humanity confined to planet Earth, to keep the Time Keepers from destroying it, but Rick Jones' death was non-negotiable. Immortus then captures the Avengers and sends them to a trial.

The Time Keepers decide that humanity is a menace and that they should destroy most timelines, leaving the bare minimum needed to guarantee their own existence. Reinforced by Kang, Rick, and the Supreme Intelligence, the Avengers follow the Time Keepers to the end of time, where they are finally destroyed.

* ArchivedArmy: At the final battle, the Time Keepers summon all the Avengers from the past, present and future that became evil and destructive. Rick Jones reinforces the goods guys by using the Destiny Force to summon ''every other Avenger'' from all the myriad timelines.
* ArmyOfTheAges: Immortus' army
* BadFuture: It begins with one. Earth and humanity become TheEmpire of the Universe, and the Avengers are the PraetorianGuard as humanity carves a campaign of subjugation across the cosmos as a brutal, enslaving army. Also, the one visited by Giant Man and Captain America, similar to the "War of the Worlds".

* ButYouWereThereAndYouAndYou: When Songbird returns to the future, with a vague memory of the Destiny War ... she was with the Wasp and Jack of Hearts, and tells the Wasp that "you were there".
* CallBack: In [[ComicBook/IncredibleHulk Future Imperfect]], [[spoiler:a much older version of Rick Jones]] maintains a memorial room of the many heroes who died over the years (most, presumably, murdered by the Maestro, but that's neither here nor there). Here, a less aged version of the same character wears an outfit made up from parts of other heroes.

* EnemyMine: The way the Avengers fought alongside Kang and the Supreme Intelligence

-->'''Space Phantom:''' It's... it's complicated.
* LawyerFriendlyCameo: In a single panel, there's the presence of Thorion, from the Comicbook/AmalgamUniverse, which is a merge of Thor with [[ComicBook/NewGods Orion]]. He's shown only partially and not named, as Marvel shares ownership over him by Creator/DCComics, as with all the other characters from the Amalgam Universe. A pic can be seen in [[https://comicvine.gamespot.com/thorion/4005-48661/ Thorion's page at Comicvine]].
* LostAesop: Everything was set in motion because, in the future, humanity may become TheEmpire. As things go on, the Time Keepers become the villains of the story, then they die and everything is right again. But... what about those bad futures? What's preventing them from coming to pass? A mere lecture from Captain America and that's it? At least they could have used the Forever Crystal to erase the "Destiny Force" from the human race.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Immortus had to make the Avengers return to Earth immediately after "Operation: Galactic Storm", so he influenced the Avengers with xenophobia, so that they refused to stay among alien races. He miscalculated: this xenophobia led them to execute the Supreme Intelligence for destroying its own empire (long story). And worse: this would begin actions that laid the first steps of the Avengers Stellar Corps, the antecedent of the First Terran Empire... the very timeline that Immortus was instructed to prevent!

** Also for Kang. In his place of greatest strength, backed by all his armies, he fights against his most hated enemy, for the highest stakes he could conceive... and loses.

* [[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy Richard Nixon Was an Alien Spy]]: Lampshaded. He had already been discovered, and the men in black were going to deal with him; but Immortus simply erases the whole timeline as a result. He couldn't risk humanity arming against enemies from the stars.
* ScrewDestiny: All this was because the indomitable warrior Kang, as a time traveler, knows that he will eventually become Immortus, a scholar who relies on manipulation schemes. He hates the idea, fights against the universe to prevent himself from becoming Immortus... and wins.

** Don't tell Yellowjacket that it's pointless from him to hate Henry Pym, that he ''is'' Henry Pym: he will deny any relation whatsoever with him.

* HeelRealization: When Yellowjacket realizes the ultimate plan of the Time-Keepers, he declines his deal with Immortus and silently calls in the cavalry.

* TheKirk: the Wasp

* TheMcCoy: Hawkeye

* TheSpock: Libra

* BroadStrokes: Despite all the ContinuityPorn on display, there are a few tidbits that can't be spelled out directly. A panel showing Doctor Octopus escaping prison with Lex Luthor in tow from the first Superman/Spider-Man crossover is mentioned in the annotations as being Doc Ock and a "distinguished gentleman."
* ButYouWereThereAndYouAndYou: When Songbird returns to the future, with a vague memory of the Destiny War... she was with the Wasp and Jack of Hearts, and tells the Wasp that "you were there".