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By Davey Nieves

Marvel not one to let irons cool announced on CBR and Comicbooked that two more books would join Magneto on the Last Days list of possible casualties during Secret Wars. Loki: Agent of Asgard and Captain America & The Mighty Avengers will both see issues under the Last Days tie-in banner. Both books will be written by current series scribe Al Ewing and he had cautious excitement over both.

Mighty Avengers will be a two-part story about Cap Falcon’s Avengers squad dealing with the upcoming cataclysm on a global scale. Ewing didn’t give many story details but did offer two interesting tidbits about it. This story, which buttresses the events of the current Time Runs Out arc in the Avengers books, will pick up right where it leaves off and return the team to a positon of being “Avengers for the people.” To play on this, Ewing will tell the events of the Mighty Avengers final moments through the eyes of as he put it, “most unexpected Mighty Avenger of all – you! The person reading this!” When asked who he would choose to write for his dream team, Ewing jokingly offered a list of some heavyweight non-Marvel characters: Doctor Who, Acroyear, , Zoidzilla, ROM, Pinsor, Bill S Preston Esquire, Indiana Jones, Ren Hoek and Superman.

Loki: Agent of Asgard also joins the impending doom of Last Days. May’s Agent of Asgard #14 kicks off a four part arc chronicling how the cast will spend the final hours of the current Marvel universe. With issues 11-13 focusing on the repercussions of Loki killing his child incarnation in the form of a trial; issue 14 will start a pressed countdown through the remanning moments of the world as they know it. Ewing did mention we’ll see the ramifications both in Asgard and on earth through Loki’s friend Verity Willis. What’s most exciting about this tie-in is how eclectic the series has been thus far, which sets it up to end its place in the current Marvel U with both a bang and a whimper.

When asked about the finality a suggestive banner like LastDays has, Ewing would neither confirm nor deny anything. All of the writers orbiting Secret Wars aren’t taking being on the ship at the end of the Marvel Universe lightly, as Ewing would put it “I suppose part of me is always wondering what I’d do if I was given the brief of “this is the final story of so-and-so”… well, now that moment is here! In the present day! And it turns out this is the story I’d do.” With Loki and the Mighty Avengers squad joining Magneto on the possible hit list, it remains to be seen who in the Marvel universe will be left to draw arms in Secret Wars.

Despite living in the age of the hype machine, it appears Marvel still know how to make the wait for May feel that much longer. Who else do you think will have their Last Days numbered?

By Davey Nieves

Marvel pulled another piece out of their Secret Wars puzzle box today when they announced, on Newsarama, the ongoing Magneto book by writer Cullen Bunn and artist Javi Fernandez would be under the umbrella of the Last Days banner during Secret Wars. Starting with May’s issue #18, the master of magnetism faces off against the end of the world in a four issue story the writer described as being about Magneto’s legacy. He’ll see the events leading up to end of the Marvel 616 and attempt to use every bit of his power to halt them.

The arc is also set to feature appearances from Briar, the Marauders and various S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who’ve been in pursuit of Magneto throughout the series. Readers will also see a surprise appearance in the form a character related to Magneto with a controversial past. With the terminability surrounding these Last Days tie-in books it would suggest an end to the series and maybe even the character himself upon conclusion. Could Marvel be revealing what characters won’t make it into Secret War? Magneto was a major part of the original 1984 Secret Wars, but it looks also though he may not even make it to this one. When asked if this would be the series finale Cullen Bunn had this to say: “If the book were to end, I think this arc would wrap things up quite nicely,” Bunn explains. “But what I’m doing also positions Magneto for some really exciting stuff that’s coming up. Really, do you think something like the end of the world is going to stop the Master of Magnetism?”

No other story details were revealed but we expect to hear more soon as the rest of the tie-in books are revealed including titles for the other two banners Battleworld and Warzones!.

What do you think of Marvel’s latest tease? Could Marvel leave Magneto out of their new world order?