We’re back once again, joining the heroes of Earth in their last-ditch attempt to protect their home and the last realm standing. After allowing New York to fall in issue #2 Malakith and his dark forces have spread across the entire globe, destroying any who stand against them claiming Earth for themselves with the new Kingdoms of Midgard. Our heroes are scattered, separating into different teams trying to find the God of Thunder and push back Malakith any way they can, all of it leading to the most action-packed issue of The War of the Realms we’ve seen thus far. And thats saying something…
Story
The War of the Realms #3, written by Jason Aaron with artwork from Russell Dauterman, Matthew Wilson and, Joe Sambino picks up shortly after issue #2 with Freyja instructing Captain America to find her son and bring him home. The entire issue is then narrated by the Devil of Hells Kitchen who is swapping jobs with Heimdall for a short while as the guardian of the Bifrost. Matt Murdock can’t just see again, he can see everything! We swap between various superhero teams and locations throughout the issue. Caps rescue mission on Jotunheim with Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Wolverine and, Spider-man sees them battling the freezing temperatures as well as frost giants with an unsurprising level of humor from Spidey and Wolverine. Lady Freyja infiltrates the land of the Dark Elves; Svartalfheim alongside The Punisher, Blade, She-Hulk and, Ghost Rider to knock out the Black Bifrost and cut off Malakiths dark forces. Both of these separate missions are great, both gripping, intense, action-packed and at times funny in their own right. Issue #3 feels way more story driven rather than character driven, it’s a cool moment to see your favorite character in action but the story isn’t about them, rather about what they are doing. Speaking of favorite characters this issue isn’t light on cameos with appearances from the likes of tech heads Tony Stark and Shuri or even lesser known heroes like Namor and Union Jack.
The action ramps up in the issues second half when Dark Elf saboteurs try to disable the Bifrost, trapping our heroes off-world and the War Avengers try to take on Malakith directly. Once again both these battles, not only looked incredible but served the story beautifully. The war Avengers was an interesting bunch, to say the least, led by Captain Marvel with the likes of Venom, Winter Soldier and Deadpool in their ranks. They’re nothing if not entertaining. The issue ends similarly to how issue #1 opened only on a much larger scale. We see glimpses across the globe of people standing up against Malakith…and failing. From the Dora Milaje in Wakanda to the Fantastic Four in New York City the last surviving realm is looking pretty beat up.
We finally get to see a glimpse of Thor at the end, who desperately needs to step back into the forefront of this series and, without giving too much away, he looks like he has seen better days.
The War of The Realms issue #3 is great for a lot of reasons. Not only do we see a huge roster of our favorite heroes and not only is the action epic but it serves the story in a fantastic way. It captures the core feel of War of the Realms with nail-biting action, epic stakes and just a dash of lighthearted humor.
Characters
This issue has so many characters and it jumps between them so frequently it’s hard to really focus on them for too long. As I said this issue is far more story-driven rather than character-driven but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some standouts. Out of Cap’s team, I adored Spider-Man and Wolverine. Once again Spidey stole the show and his back and fourths with Logan were hilarious. They served as some nice comic relief in an issue that was, for the most part, quite serious. Lady Freyja’s team didn’t stand out to me as much as Cap’s group but I did enjoy Ghost Rider and She-Hulk. Both of them were a lot of fun. The Punisher also had a pretty sweet moment where he recalled just how ridiculous this war is compared to his old army days. The War Avengers had some pretty hard hitters but personally, none of them blew me away apart from a certain symbiotic anti-hero who had a throw down with the Dark Elf leader Malakith himself.
Speaking of I really enjoyed Malakith in this issue. Again, not wanting to spoil too much his power is easily demonstrated when he plays with a member of the War Avengers as if they’re a toy. His evil comrades aren’t shown here other than in passing reference but that wasn’t a huge problem for me. I still want to see what Malakith can do when he goes 110% especially because he’s a villain most will either not know about or simply disregard after his appearance in 2013’s Thor: The Dark World. He is nothing like that in this comic series and I genuinely am excited to see more of him. Oh, and I’m not saying I hate The Dark World, I actually enjoy it. Yeah thats right, I said it.
Artwork
Once again, War of the Realms looks absolutely great. Constantly switching between teams and locations gives this issue a mixed and more varied look to it that the previous two issues haven’t had. From the bright blue frozen wastelands of Jotunheim to the darker black and purple Svartalfheim every location looks unique throughout his issue. It goes without saying that the action, of which there is plenty, looks absolutely fantastic. Malakiths, mythical armies of giants and elves look as good as they always have and I appreciated the way certain characters were shown off using their abilities.
The war of the Realms #3 is a great continuation for the series after issue #2 left me feeling a little unsure about the direction the event was taking. I still want to see more of Thor, which we will almost certainly get in issue #4, and I really want to see Malakith reach his full potential as a villain but yet again it’s another solid entry to the series. Fantastic character moments along with great action which now actually moves the story forward means issue #3 of War of the Realms just got me a whole lot more excited for issue #4.
