I have by this point managed to track down the last three tie-in issues for the Age of Ultron, so I thought I'd read them, just to break up the main series. Though this issue was published around the same time as the last issue of AoU, it's set a little farther back in the story as far as I can tell, though it certainly sets up some of the more magical twists that we'll see in the story as we continue.
One of the questions the New York-based heroes have been asking throughout the series is whether what's happened in Marvel New York has indeed happened all over the world. Leaving aside, but not forgetting, the ridiculous North America-centrism that this represents, it's great to get a glimpse of what's happened to the world outside of that hub of superhuman craziness, and, unsurprisingly, it's much the same as our focal location. Captain Marvel tells us that it took 8 1/2 minutes for Ultron to take Britain, which actually begs an interesting question: how long has the occupation been a thing before we come into the story? With the size of the building that Ultron has erected over Manhattan, we're led to believe that it's been some time, but how long would it really take to construct something like that when you have an unlimited work force? The longest part of the occupation would be taking down the majority of the superheroes. If we go by Spider-Man's tale from early in the series, he wakes up during the initial attack, goes out to help, and is then captured by Owl and Hammerhead. It's hard to believe that Hawkeye's rescue comes too much later on, as Spider-Man does not appear to be malnourished or particularly weakened as they escape. So it's been, what? Days, maybe. This adds a certain ominousness and a certain immediacy to the story which I think would have brought a lot to the story if it had been played up a bit more. Ultron came and in days took over the world. It certainly makes his level of power in some ways inconceivable, which, as Lovecraft teaches us, is the best way of making your reader think of something far worse that you would ever write.
It also highlights the resourcefulness of the heroes, if we consider that they come up with a series of "solutions" pretty quickly. On the flipside, it also highlights just how quickly these characters can fall to killing as a solution. Days from paragons of justice to brutal survivalists.
We'll get back to the main story tomorrow, and then a couple more glimpses into the new world that Wolverine and Sue Richards have created. Will it be better? Worse? Time, in many senses of the word, will tell.
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