This is the second part of my two part epic reimagining of the Marvel Comic event Fear Itself. If you didn’t read the first part, you won’t have any idea what I am talking about here, so go back, read the first part, then marvel at this massive testament to my ridiculous nerdish tendencies.

[Major Spoilers Below...Obviously]

So, Odin starts gearing up. The Avatars and followers continue to reign death and destruction amongst the people of earth. The heroes are at a total loss of what to do, because everyone has succumbed to the worst aspects of human nature. Right then, who shows up? The freaking Hulk, massive on the horizon, with an army bigger than any of the others. Thor decides to meet him in battle because he will literally destroy everything and potentially threaten Asgard and the other heroes if he can join with the other armies. So, Thor flies out there, rage faced, hammer about to strike, and then Hulk growls ”wait.”

Hold on, the Hulk, massive, easily the most dangerous Avatar, is calmly saying ”wait”? That’s right, because guess what? All those years of trying to suppress Hulk have given Bruce a sense of self that is surprisingly powerful, so when the hammer took him over, he bypassed it and went into the Bruce mindset. He still has the massive Hulk avatar form, but is actually speaking and thinking like Bruce. His army, his enormous army, has been instructed by him to keep calm and that they should not be manipulated, finally, a force for good has emerged. the heroes now see an opportunity, and the final battle can begin.

So, this is the final issue. In the regular comic, a stupid deus ex machina took place wherein Thor as part of some prophecy that is never really explored, apparently can fight and kill the Serpent at the cost of his own life. Oh, also, Odin gives him weapons and armor that are really good at killing the serpent. For whatever reason these are kept under wraps until the final episode. Also, Iron Man makes weapons in an Asgardian forge (with cursing dwarves, which doesn’t work at all as a humor or dramatic device) and hands those out because they are super weapons. It is silly and doesn’t make sense and we are ignoring all of this for the purposes of making the comic way better.

So the heroes, in their normal forms, decide that the only thing they can do is contain the corrupted Avatars and their armies while Hulk and Thor march on the Serpent himself (and Sin/Skadi, more on that In a minute). The heroes start attacking the avatars full force. Meanwhile, Invisible Woman and any other characters with ”shield” abilities, separate the conflicting humans. Gradually, as the fight with the avatars grows increasingly brutal, and they see their fellow man in Hulk’s army all fighting Serpent and whatever minions he has drudged up, the corrupt people have a change of heart. Starting with one faction, then another, they appeal to the heroes to let them fight. Finally, the shield heroes acquiesce, and all of humanity joins the battle against the avatars.

Finally, Serpent has enough of this. With one gigantic bellow he screams ”Enough! I am a God!” and slams his weapon into the ground, causing the earth to quiver and pits to emerge that trap all the human combatants and most of the heroes as unbreakable spikes cover the top of the pits. Only Thor and Hulk remain, dual-battling Serpent and Skadi. They notice Serpent is getting weaker, no longer fueled by the fear of humanity, and they battle him to a standstill. Finally, he attempts a coup de grace and transforms into his massive dragon form. He incapacitates Hulk and wraps Thor in his clutches. Just as he is about to rip Thor in half, Odin shows up.

”Drop. My. Son.”

The two begin to do battle, and as they do so the spikes weaken enough for Cap to force his way through. Skadi sees him and rushes at him. They both meet, he throws his shield, she catches it and shatters it. Then she smacks Cap with her hammer. He is thrown far away and severely damaged. The battle between Odin and Serpent continues to rage. Cap wakes up, right next to Thor’s hammer. He grasps the handle, and of course can’t budge it. He looks at Odin, who looks back for a split second. Then, with reserve, nods. Cap can now wield Thor’s hammer. Skadi finally reaches him. With an all-powerful bellow she rushes to meet him and their hammers strike each other in mid-air. Close up on both. Hers cracks a little, then a lot, then shatters. She is no longer Skadi, but regular ol dumb looking Sin. She looks at Cap, who proceeds to punch her in the face and knock her out.

So now it is just Odin and Serpent, fighting to the death. They trade blows, Serpent trying to squeeze Odin to death, Odin smashing with his weapons. Finally, the two are exhausted, but Serpent rears his head for a killing blow to Odin. Just then he stops. Looks down. Thor, awakens, flies up, summons his Hammer. Cap, using all his strength, hurls a shard of his shield into the air. Thor hammers the shard into Serpent’s heart with a massive bolt of lightning accompanying. Serpent releases Odin, slumps, and reverts to old man form. He looks at Odin. Odin looks at him. His eyes close, and he is dead.

In the aftermath humanity is ravaged and devastated. But the heroes decide that they should be forgiven, they were afraid. Still, the damage is done. Closing shot is the same as the comics, with Odin carrying the Serpent’s body into Asgard. Same line too. ”I am finally my brothers keeper.”

So that’s what I would do. I think it makes it way better. You still get massive battles, but there is an ethos. There is genuine horror at what humanity itself has become, and the heroes get a sense of powerlessness they are not used to.

There is just one more thing. In the comic, Bucky gets killed. I would keep that. It was pretty cool and showed just how powerful Skadi was. It also makes it way more awesome when Cap whoops her ass.

What do you think? Do you like my version or Marvel’s?