55 Years Ago, Marvel Made the Avengers Cosmic and the MCU Should Take Notes

The Avengers, as any MCU fan will tell you, were C-list nobodies until the Marvel Cinematic Universe came along, pulling them from obscurity. This is patently false; there were several times when the Avengers were some of the most popular heroes in the Marvel Universe, their adventures presented as the center of the universe’s overall narrative. They were the Justice League of the House of Ideas, bringing together the first stars of the publisher to give readers a place they could read all of their favorites at once. When the group first debuted, they were second-most popular after the Fantastic Four (and eventually Spider-Man) throughout the ’60s. However, all of that would change in 1971. Lee and Kirby’s Fantastic Four run had ended a year earlier and Lee protege Roy Thomas had been building the Avengers into something special while his mentor turned heads on “the World’s Greatest Comic Magazine”.

Thomas was working with John and Sal Buscema on Avengers, creating characters like the Vision and expanded the team, setting up one of the best Avengers roster ever – Cap, Iron Man, Thor, Hank Pym, Hawkeye, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Black Panther. Thomas was making them the superstars they always should have been and this would lead to the story that made Earth’s Mightiest Heroes into the universe’s greatest defenders – “Kree/Skrull War”. This nine-issue story ran though Avengers (Vol. 1) #89-97, with Thomas and the Buscemas joined by Neal Adams on pencils. What followed was one of the greatest Avengers stories ever, a classic that changed the course of the Marvel Universe forever and could do the same with the MCU.

Kree-Skrull War Changed the Order of Marvel Comics

Nowadays, we think of the Avengers as the foremost defenders of the Earth, but that wasn’t the case in 1971. They were powerful and important to the superhero community from the word go, but it was the Fantastic Four who were the ones defending the world from the threats from outer space and beyond. The Avengers fought formidable villains, but they weren’t the ones who dealt with the alien invasions and interdimensional incursions. It’s this reason that “Kree/Skrull War” is so important to the history of the team – it showed they could deal with the biggest threats.

One of the interesting things about this book is that it honestly should have been a Fantastic Four story. The Skrull had first appeared as enemies of the First Family of the Marvel Universe. Meanwhile, the Kree weren’t technically Avengers bad guys either; they were Captain Marvel villains. Marvel could have easily chosen to have this story be an FF one with Mar-Vell and the Avengers teaming with them, but instead, Thomas was allowed to bring it to the Avengers, a move that changed everything. The story itself is rather simple – the Kree and Skrull turn their eyes to Earth to jumpstart their evolution and gain access to the Destiny Force, which would have allowed one side to win their longrunning war, with the Avengers, Captain Marvel, and eventually the Fantastic Four teaming up to defeat them.

This is one of those brilliant classic Marvel stories that pulls you in immediately. Thomas is definitely a student of Stan Lee, but there’s a love for the character that really shines through on every page. Thomas grew up a comic fan and he treated “Kree/Skrull War” as an excuse to play with every toy in the Marvel toy box that he could, even bringing in a group of Golden Age Timely heroes for the story’s endgame. Thomas keeps you on the edge of your seat the whole story, throwing plot twists and surprises at you in every issue, all leading to a resounding crescendo of awesome. However, Thomas isn’t the only reason that this story succeeded.

A lot is made of Neal Adams drawing part of this story and I want to go on record as saying that it definitely deserves to be talked about. Adams is one of the all-time greats; most modern pencilers owe their entire style to him. He was able to capture the power and majesty of these larger than life heroes, and was the perfect choice for the issues he did. He was able to bring a certain je ne sais quoi to the battles, his clean, detailed style capturing the insane stakes of the war. The sequence where Adams drew Pym traveling through the inside of the Vision is one of the coolest scenes in Avengers comic.

However, it’s the brothers Buscema who did most of the heavy lifting for the story. Sal Buscema’s simple, angular lines are some of the most distinct in comics; you can see the craft of every drawing on display and it’s astounding. His work on the Hulk made him a legend, but his time with the Avengers is just as amazing. His action pages have to be seen to be believed, fluid and hard-hitting, his character acting nailing the emotion of every panel. John has his own style, and is one of the greatest action pencilers of all time. John would go on to become one of the most praised artists in the medium’s history (him and Thomas’s Conan the Barbarian is next level) and his work on “Kree/Skrull War” show his talent growing with every panel. These ingredients allowed the story to become the legend that took the Avengers to the next level, positioning them at the head of the Marvel Universe.

“Kree-Skrull War” Is Ripe for the MCU

Roy Thomas is the Avengers’ greatest writer and, working with the Buscemas and Adams, was able to take the team to another level with “Kree/Skrull War”. It is the Avengers story, the one that established what they could trulybe, and it needs to move beyond the panels to the big screen. The Avengers are about to be overshadowed by the X-Men at Marvel Studios, but there are plenty of major stories that could put them back on top. “Kree/Skrull War” is one such story; in fact, it can be an entire phase.

The basics have already been set up by the Captain Marvel movies and Secret Invasion; the Kree and the Skrull are in position for their war in the MCU. All we need now is for the rest. This nine issue story could easily run across numerous shows and movies. In fact, Marvel Studios doesn’t even have to use the Avengers for this one; they can use any characters they have handy and ready to use. It’s a story with infinite potential for adaptation, a stone cold classic that changed the Marvel Universe forever and could do the same to the MCU.

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