Avengers: Twilight is a 2024 limited series by Marvel Comics, written by Chip Zdarsky with art by Daniel Acuna.
Set in a Alternate Universe Bad Future, where in the aftermath of a catastrophic battle between The Avengers and a group of supervillains led by Ultron, public opinion of superheroes has been tarnished beyond measure, leading to the rise of an authoritarian society.
Avengers: Twilight provides examples of:
- Action Mom: Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel is now a mother.
- All Your Powers Combined: Red Skull mounts his attack using an armor based on Ultron's design, but despite the prospect of facing the two foes in one form, Rogers simply observes that the Avengers have defeated Ultron before.
- Antagonistic Offspring: Ultimately Jimmy Stark, the son of Iron Man and the Wasp, allies with the Red Skull against the Avengers, believing that the world "needs" the devastation the Skull plans to achieve true peace.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: The main antagonists of the mini-series are Mr. Jarvis and his adoptive son, Iron Man and Wasp's kid. Jarvis is actually the Red Skull, who is allied with Ultron, kept alive as a cybernetic conscience.
- Big Brother Is Watching: SHIELD has turned America into a police state that's constantly under surveillance.
- Body Horror: Luke Cage’s bulletproof skin has hardened as he aged, and he can barely move without a cane and brace. Said skin is very, very cracked.
- Brain in a Jar: Tony Stark has basically been reduced to this, as he is kept in the former Raft and occasionally used to design weapons for his son. Once he is rescued, he is moved into a new Iron Man armor.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Ultron somehow managed to take control of the Hulk, leading to a large quantity of deaths.
- Control Freak: Jimmy Stark rants about how the people are safe and entertained in this new world and Rogers just objects to the loss of some minor freedoms, but Rogers rejects the idea that this kind of control has ever been a good thing.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: When Thor confronts a group of the Red Skull's soldiers, he shuts down their weapons and armour with one electrical discharge that barely even requires him to move.
- Death by Adaptation: Spider-Man died during the battle against Ultron.
- Depower: Captain America had the Super-Soldier Serum forcibly extracted after the events of the battle, forcing him into retirement.
- Deus ex Machina: After Rogers has been beaten around by Jimmy Stark in a new Iron Man suit, he observes that he's been praying for aid, at which point Jimmy is struck by a bolt of lightning and Thor is revealed to be standing above them.
- Foreshadowing: The documentary on the Red Skull foreshadows the later revelation that the Red Skull is the one behind the current state of affairs, attempting to set up a scenario where he can present himself as the world's savior rather than its conqueror.
- He Knows Too Much: Matt Murdock (the former Daredevil) is killed on the government’s orders for daring to expose the government’s dirty work.
- He's Back!: Steve agrees to retake the Super-Soldier Serum and become Captain America again.
- It's All About Me: Realising that the man posing as the Stark Enterprises CEO is actually the Red Skull, other Avengers question why the Skull is campaigning to make himself president when he's basically already in power, but Tony observes that people like the Skull want everyone to know they were the ones to win, rather than operate under an alias.
- Manipulative Bastard: "Jarvis" is actually the Red Skull, manipulating Tony Stark's son to see the Avengers as simply wanting to preserve the status quo to justify their conflict where the Skull is "really" a good man who just wants to take charge to "protect" the world, rather than acknowledge that the Avengers fight to save lives rather than just to fight.
- Power Incontinence: In the years that have gone by, Luke Cage's powers have advanced to the point that his body is too rigid to move under his own strength. He needs a robotic exoskeleton to regain mobility, and his body is riddled with cracks, although he is still basically bulletproof.
- Puppet King: In issue #2, the United States president refuses to deploy the Thunderbolts against Captain America, when a guest at the Oval Office says he is the C.E.O of America, and the president is just their "mascot".
- Rose-Tinted Narrative: A documentary tries to paint the Red Skull in a positive light, which infuriates Steve Rogers; when the filmmakers try to argue that he fought against Hitler, Rogers clarifies that the Skull only turned on Hitler so that he could be the one in charge rather than because he wanted to "save the world" himself.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!:
- After Matt Murdock is assassinated for trying to fight the system the legal way, Steve decides to join Luke Cage and his Defenders, retaking the Super-Soldier Serum.
- Later on, the Thunderbolts' Bullseye, when given orders to assassinate Rogers, instead helps him escape the Raft with Tony Stark's extracted brain, prompting Rogers to observe that even if she calls herself "Bullseye", he recognises a Hawkeye when he sees one.
- Spin-Offspring: Iron Man and the Wasp had a son, Jimmy Stark.
- Twilight of the Supers: The series takes place years after a catastrophic battle between The Avengers and a group of supervillains led by Ultron, which becomes known in public conscience as "Hero Day" or "H-Day". This leads to public opinion of superheroes becoming tarnished beyond measure, and the the rise of an authoritarian society.
- Upgrade vs. Prototype Fight: Basically applies when Tony Stark faces Jimmy in the final battle. While Jimmy has his own 'Iron Legion' of drones and a more advanced armor, his father's greater experience allows Tony to hack the other suits and use them to stop the nuclear missiles the Skull had previously launched, preventing their main attack from succeeding.
