Earth’s mightiest heroes are scattered. Lost among the nine realms searching for allies and battling Malakiths forces wherever they can. War of the Realms issue #4 pays off the nailbiting set up of issue #3 reuniting our beloved characters all whilst laying the groundwork for an all mighty battle in the future. That doesn’t mean issue #4 is short on action because it has the single best showdown I’ve seen in this entire series with some truly epic action and a heartwarming yet tragic conclusion.
This Review Will Contain Spoilers
Plot
The War of the Realms #4, written by Jason Aaron with artwork from Russell Dauterman, Matthew Wilson and, Joe Sambino begins to pay off the ending of issue #3. The Bifrost is destroyed despite the Devil of Hells Kitchen’s best attempt to protect it and now our stranded heroes have only one way home, The Balck Bifrost. Being held open by Lady Freyja. She wields the Bitterbalde and gets a serious buff in this issue fending off hundreds if not thousands of dark elves leaving the Bifrost open for her allies. We then cut to various Marvel heroes across the nine realms recruiting those who have already been defeated by Malakith to rise up and fight with them including the light elves, Dwarves of Nidavellir, Vanir Gods and even the Lords of Hel. This felt a little rushed in my opinion, mainly due to the huge roster of characters that War of the Realms has to juggle. We get a quick glimpse of a few heroes before being rushed off to see the next group and then the next. We never really get to stay with one hero for too long which at times made some of them feel quite detached. I’d say I only really care about a handful of the characters shown because I just haven’t spent enough time with the other to properly care.
Shortly after our heroes regroup at Avengers Mountain and fend off an attack using the power of the dead celestial thats there, a very cool moment if only a short one. We cut to Malakith, who appears to be using dark magic on the now captured Venom and whilst this was a really cool set up it unfortunately never really goes anywhere, which was a real shame espcially after the epic cover art. Hopefully, we’ll see this play out in issue #5.
I loved seeing how easily Malakith swatted Lady Freyja away. She has just shown how strong she is and he plays with her like she’s a toy. Malakith is still yet to properly show off his power in real combat, aside from his brief fight with Venom last issue, and whilst this was a true demonstration of his power I still feel like we haven’t seen him at his strongest. Speaking of people at their strongest, what happens next is arguably the coolest moment of War of the Realms so far, made all the better by Russell Dauterman and Matthew Wilson’s incredible artwork. Odin Borson arrives to save his dying wife, now titled the Iron All-Farther! Thats right, in a Vibranium, lined suit designed by Tony Stark, Shuri and Screwbeard the Dwarf Odin arrives in a seriously cool looking suit of power armor and he doesn’t waste any time using it.
This issue slows down a little here despite the action, which I actually appreciated. Unlike this rest of the issue and issue #3, it takes time to really focus on two characters rather than quickly show off 20. Their back and fourths whilst they fight back to back not only have some nice comic relief to them but feel genuinely heartfelt and meaningful. Both of them hold their own extremely well, Freyja with the Bitterbalde and Odin in his power armor with it all leading up to a climactic final moment between the two lovers. Both of them give their lives to destroy the Back Bifrost and cut off Malakiths forces giving the heroes of Earth a chance. Whilst I did find the moment to be emotional, Odins previous fake-out in issue #1 did detract from it a little. Part of me is still wondering if War of the Realms has tricked us yet again and these two will reappear at some point but for now, we’ll assume they are staying dead. A nice goodbye to two characters I personally have enjoyed throughout the series.
The issue wraps up with everyone assembled, planning how they will bring the fight to Malakith when a very pissed looking Thor rocks up, with an all-new metal arm, announcing he will be leading the charge. Hopefully, we will finally get to see Thor in action next issue after he has been criminally underused so far in my opinion. I love the look he now has, metal arm and all and with his arrival, issue #5 will hopefully spend some time focusing on just him and Malakith to give both of them some much-needed devolvement and action.
Characters
Once again, with issue #5 juggling so many characters at once it’s hard to focus on just a few. Lady Freyja and her husband Odin Borson are obviously the standouts in the issues second half. Odin hasn’t been too involved in past issues but he more than made up for it this time, with his kick-ass suit of armor and whilst Lady Freyja hasn’t been my favorite character of War of the realms her send-off felt fitting which I appreciated. Honestly, no one else really stood out to me, aside from Malakiths small interactions with Freyja and his underwhelming time spend with Venom.
Artwork
Russell Dauterman and Matthew Wilson’s work is incredible here. It really helps keep your attention in these heavily crowded issues. The action looked epic, especially The Iron All-Father suit. This issue feels more like a medieval fantasy story than most with the inclusion of the dwarves and light elves, something I enjoyed and something that was reflected very well in issue’s artwork. I can’t wait to see what issue #5 looks like.
I still enjoyed War of the Realms #5 despite some of its pacing problems. The first half feels extremely crowded and at times a little rushed to fit so many characters in but when it takes the time to slow down and really focus on just two of those characters it shines. The action was great, the artwork amazing as always and now I really want to see more of Thor and a more personal confrontation between the God of Thunder and the Dark Elf leader himself.
