Avengers: Twilight #1 went on sale earlier today and, thus far, it has all the makings of Marvel Comics' own Kingdom Come. Taking us to a future where heroes have largely been rejected by the public following "H-Day," we find an older Captain America who has had the Super Soldier Serum removed from his veins.
As a result, he's an elderly man with failing health and, when he meets up with Matt Murdock (who is still a lawyer and fights for those oppressed by the government) and Luke Cage, they all share their disapproval over what America has become. The latter's bulletproof skin, meanwhile, has become immovable, limiting his motion and ability to fight back.
A new team of "Avengers" now protects the world from HYDRA, including a different Captain America, Thor, and an unknown Iron Man. Tony Stark and The Wasp's son, James, lives with Jarvis' brother and Stark Industries CEO, Kyle, and later confronts Steve on a talk show in which the former Avenger shares his dismay about a new documentary painting Red Skull as a hero.
Cap later remembers part of "H-Day" and we learn Ultron enhanced the world's supervillains and exposed the secret identities of the Avengers. Teams of these powerful baddies were then sent after the heroes' loved ones to draw them out and, in Spider-Man's case, it resulted in his death.
James Stark visits The Raft and comes face-to-face with his father, now little more than a head connected to an arc reactor; he hooks himself up to seemingly make use of Tony's intellect.
As for Steve, he confronts some armoured cops who are beating up a group of kids and takes a pounding himself until he's rescued by a mysterious group. He later wakes up in front of Cage and learns that Matt is dead. Also, those New Avengers are laying waste to other countries and things are even worse than they appear on the surface. The solution? For Steve to take the Super Soldier Serum again.
He does so, and with that, Captain America is back. Now, he plans to assemble The Avengers and free the world from the tyrannical rule of the government and men like James Stark!
In a gleaming new world of prosperity, Captain America is no more. But Steve Rogers still exists, floating through an America where freedom is an illusion, where THE AVENGERS are strangers and his friends are long dead. But is the Dream? How do you assemble Avengers in a world that doesn’t want them? PLUS: A behind-the-scenes look at the making of this issue!