Marvel’s upcoming ARMAGEDDON event is expected to be the biggest upheaval for the Avengers in over twenty years. Specifically, the publisher cited 2004’s Avengers: Disassembled as the closest equivalent to what it has in store for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and how consequential the new crossover is going to be for Marvel’s long-term future.
ARMAGEDDON is coming in 2026. Marvel is touting this as the end of an era for the Avengers and the wider Marvel Universe.
So, if an era is ending, when did it begin? There are arguably a few different starting points for modern Marvel, but keep pulling that thread, and it unravels all the way back to Disassembled.
Warning! Spoilers ahead for Avengers: Disassembled!
Marvel Teases Its Upcoming “ARMAGEDDON” Event As The “Avengers: Disassembled” Of Its Day
Disassembled Changed Marvel Comics Back In 2004; Will ARMAGEDDON Do The Same In 2026?
The Avengers premiered in 1963 as Marvel’s A-list superhero team-up book. 41 years later, the franchise reached a massive milestone, hitting the 500-issue mark. To celebrate, Marvel did something shocking: it tore the team apart from the inside out. An iconic Avenger (who we’ll name later), with the team since the 1960s, did what no Marvel villain ever could.
Disassembled was a major effort on Marvel’s part, a storyline that had ramifications in practically every corner of the Marvel Universe. It wasn’t the first of its kind, but in retrospect, Avengers: Disassembled was the prelude to Marvel’s current event-heavy era. In-universe, it kicked off a chain of narrative events that still has lasting consequences to this day.
Evoking Disassembled to set the tone for ARMAGEDDON is a deliberate move on Marvel’s part. It suggests that the plan for the series is to set the stage for the next five, or ten, or perhaps even twenty years of Marvel Comics. That makes it worth taking a closer look at how, exactly, Disassembled did this for the last two decades.
Marvel “Disassembled” The Avengers So The Franchise Could Be Revitalized Into Something New
The Current Era Of Avengers Started With Disassembled; It Ends With ARMAGEDDON
Avengers: Disassembled is, of course, a play on the classic “Avengers assemble” rallying cry. During the course of its run, Disassembled lived up to its name and then some: characters were killed off, relationships were fractured, and the team’s long-time headquarters, Avengers Mansion, was completely leveled. It also served as the finale for the then-ongoing third volume of Avengers.
It is surprising to hear now, but following Disassembled, there was no main Avengers title until 2010. Disassembled spawned New Avengers and Young Avengers, but for years, these titles were meant to serve as replacements, rather than extensions. In Marvel lore, the team was officially disbanded for some time after the event.
The plot of Disassembled reverberated through the Marvel Universe like a shockwave. It led directly to Marvel’s next several major events, some of which had even more profound impacts on Marvel canon than Disassembled itself, but which were built on the Avengers event’s foundation. We are talking, of course, about what happened to the X-Men franchise next.
Seriously, major spoilers for Disassembled beyond this point!
Scarlet Witch’s Antagonistic Turn In “Avengers: Disassembled” Had A Profound Impact On X-Men History
Wanda’s Disassembled Role Precipitated 15 Years Of X-Men Lore
The apex of Avengers: Disassembled came when Scarlet Witch was revealed to be the source of the chaos engulfing the team. Traumatized by the loss of her children, Wanda had lost herself to grief, which then transmuted into a desire to punish her teammates, who she perceived as being responsible for her plight.
Wanda used her reality-warping powers to cause Tony Stark to relapse after years of sobriety; to send a phantom Kree war fleet to attack the Avengers, killing Hawkeye in the process; and to unleash a false-Ultron on the team, just to cite a few examples of the havoc she wreaked on the team.
Scarlet Witch’s dark turn in Disassembled did more than just take out Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. In the follow-up House of M series, it led directly to Marvel’s controversial decision to reduce its mutant population by 99%. Wanda’s infamous “no more mutants” decree instigated the DeciMation-era, often considered X-Men’s low point.
Everything that happened in the X-Men franchise between 2005’s DeciMation and 2019’s Krakoan Era reboot was the product of Disassembled. In other words, fifteen years of X-Men stories were defined by an Avengers plotline. Which is why Marvel fans are already wondering: could similar happen again with ARMAGEDDON from 2026 onward?
“ARMAGEDDON” Is Still A Huge Mystery For Marvel Fans; “Disassembled” Is A Potential Blueprint
20 Years Later, Disassembled’s Impact Is Still Being Felt
In addition to its dramatic influence on X-Men, Avengers: Disassembled defined the next generation of Marvel stories at large, either directly, or indirectly, leading to the next decade’s worth of major events and plot developments. If nothing else, Disassembled set the stage for more and more events of its kind, arguably to the point where they have gone from exceptional to expected.
ARMAGEDDON is Marvel’s “next big thing,” but Marvel readers have long since become accustomed to “next big things.” The publisher’s nod to Disassembled indicates that it is serious about treating this like the closing chapter of the current Avengers era and starting a new, significantly different period for the franchise.
Of course, the title suggests that Marvel is once more ready to engage in some creative destruction before starting fresh. ARMAGEDDON is still firmly under wraps at Marvel, and until more details come to light, all readers can do is meditate on how it could truly be the Avengers: Disassembled of its time.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
