Avengers: No Surrender Finale Rundown

WARNING: This article contains spoilers for Avengers #690 by Mark Waid, Al Ewing, Jim Zub, Pepe Larraz, David Curiel and Cory Petit, on sale now.

After 15 issues of twists, turns and resurrections, the Avengers "No Surrender" weekly series has come to its epic conclusion. It took the combined efforts of three different Avengers teams -- plus a retconned original Avenger -- to put an end to the Grandmaster and Challenger's cosmic game.

As Earth's Mightiest Heroes lick their wounds and look to rebuild their broken home, Avengers #690 sets up future adventures for the weekly storyline's heroes and villains, while also bringing long-simmering conflicts to a suitable end.

Voyager And Challenger Bid Farewell

"No Surrender" introduced two new Elders of the Universe in Voyager, the daughter of the Grandmaster, and the original Grandmaster, who now goes by the name Challenger. Grandmaster secretly inserted Voyager into the Avengers ranks to shift the game in his favor, but Voyager eventually rebelled against her father to help the heroes. Challenger, on the other hand, wanted revenge against his brother for banishing him eons ago and stealing his name.

With Challenger defeated, Voyager hopes to find a way to rekindle the kindness that once existed inside him. Also, the Avengers let it be known that they're open to having Voyager be an official member of the team. Afterall, they're used to helping reformed villains like Hawkeye, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch walk the righteous path.

Black Order Gets A New Master, The Lethal Legion Stays Together

Additional villains for "No Surrender" included Grandmaster’s Lethal Legion and Challenger’s Black Order. As the series progressed, both teams faded further and further into the background to give more of the spotlight to other characters. However, that just leaves their status and whereabouts up in the air. First, we find the Black Order on the planet Angargal, where they are confronted by the Grandmaster. It appears the Elder of the Universe was impressed by the group's performance during "No Surrender," and would now like to employ the villains for his own mysterious agenda. Could Grandmaster be looking to make a play at revenge against Earth's Mightiest Heroes for his humiliating poker loss to Lightning?

Next, we find the Lethal Legion on Knowhere as they debate the merits of staying together as a team. Individually, each member would be dead if the Grandmaster hadn't plucked them from obscurity, so the crew comes to the realization that they would fare much better if they remained together. We can probably expect to see them pop up again in the Marvel Universe down the line.

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The New Dynamic Duo

Two Avengers that ran under the radar for the most part, though both did have some big moments, are Red Wolf and Lightning. The pair have a background in law enforcement, making them perfectly suited to work together in Texas to take on bad guys.

After stopping some rogue A.I.M. agents, Lightning quips that they don't save the day to be remembered, but they'll never let anyone forget it. Lightning really stepped up as "No Surrender" progressed, even besting the Grandmaster in a card game with the fate of the Earth in the balance. We wouldn't be surprised to see him and Red Wolf guest-star in other series as the "Fresh Start" rollout continues.

A.I.M. No More -- Say Hello To R.E.S.C.U.E.

Roberto da Costa, aka Sunspot, took control of A.I.M. in a previous volume of Avengers and retooled the scientific group into a force of good. As their new Supreme Leader, A.I.M. played a vital role in U.S.Avengers until a crossover with Secret Empire brought Hydra on their tail. After being shot in the head and almost dying, Roberto passed the Supreme Leader role over to Toni Ho, who helped save his life.

However, now that the world crisis is over, Toni is ready to put A.I.M. in her rearview mirror. She's moving on to bigger and better things -- specifically a new organization called R.E.S.C.U.E.

Going Back To Your Roots

Roberto has been busy the last few years with his profile growing exponentially, thanks to his run as an Avenger. But before he was counted as one of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Sunspot was a New Mutant and X-Man. It's been some time since he dabbled in mutant-human affairs, but Roberto has missed his prior lessons of fighting against a world that fears and hates you.

So say goodbye to Citizen X and the Supreme Leader, and welcome back Sunspot, mutant hero and the strongest X-Man in the Marvel Universe.

The Search For Quicksilver

Not every hero on Earth got to participate in the "No Surrender" weekly event. Random players were taken off the game board by being frozen in place at various points. The only person to discover what was behind this trick was Quicksilver, thanks to his accelerated metabolism. There was a small energy signature that was racing too fast for the normal eye to see, but once Quicksilver was able to grab it, the frozen state that our heroes were left in disappeared -- the only problem is, Quicksilver vanished with it.

Quicksilver's sister, Scarlet Witch, and Brother Voodoo believe the speedster is still alive, and are planning a quest to go find him. Their Uncanny Avengers teammate Synapse has decided to join them, since she and Pietro were beginning to develop feelings for one another. The upcoming Quicksilver: No Surrender miniseries will fill in the blanks on exactly what happened to Pietro after he disappeared.

A Hulk-Sized Resolution

One of the major events to take place during Civil War II was Hawkeye's execution of Bruce Banner. Even though Bruce approached Hawkeye with the request, the act still left some bad feelings between the former teammates. Clint Barton was made to stand trial, ultimately walking away a free man. As for Bruce Banner, he was resurrected by the Challenger as his secret player.

After so many brushes with death, Bruce has come away with the realization that he, and the Hulk, can never die. Bruce is cursed to forever walk the Earth as the Immortal Hulk, unable to rest in peace.

To quote Jarvis, "This may be the end of an era, but also the beginning of a new age." The "No Surrender" finale really does bring this iteration of the Avengers to a close. With the series relaunching under Jason Aaron and Ed McGuinness, there will only be one Avengers title published by Marvel going forward. And with that being the case, there was no better way to bring things to a close than with an action-packed, star-studded weekly event like "No Surrender."