The Avengers of 2099 are facing their biggest threat yet: a giant, world-devouring octopus that feeds on fear. This enemy requires the combined forces of Nueva York’s Avengers and Defenders. As a single issue, Peter David and Will Sliney deliver a fun, action-packed, humor-filled battle, but as a finale to this mini-series, Secret Wars 2099 #5 fails to deliver on the themes of identity and personal vs corporate ethos.  Even more regrettably, the great investment in character-building throughout this arc is left nearly completely unfulfilled.

After spending three of the first four issues with Captain America 2099 as the main character, it’s disappointing that her arc gets no closure in this issue. Easily the most interesting part of this entire series has been her dual personality as Alchemax field general and pacifist civilian mother. The cliffhanger of issue #4 gave the impression that Roberta Mendez was finally going to have to come to terms with the fact that she’s actually a member of the Avengers, but this personal conflict gets just a brief glazing, and within a few panels, good ole Cap is back to punch stuff. Even her apparent revolt from Alchemax programming from issue #4 is ignored, as the trigger word “Assemble” works like clockwork to get her to transform from Roberta to Cap. There’s also no encounter between Roberta/Cap and Miguel Stone, who had been pulling the strings of her deception the entire time. Instead, the blame is shifted to her husband, Harold, a character who’s only appeared for a few panels this entire series, but even that revelation has no consequences, except for the humorous line, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to have a long talk with my husband.” It’s a conversation that deserves to be shared with the readers.

What’s surprising about these failures is that the villain of this issue could have been used to pay off a lot of David’s character-building. The Dweller exposes one’s fears with just a glance; an ideal way for our heroes to come to terms with their own senses of identity. Finally, there’s an opportunity for Captain America to reconcile her dual personality and for Hercules to confront his own anachronism, but instead, the monster faces Iron Man, Silver Surfer and Hulk, some of the most one-dimensional characters of the series. Hercules gets a glimmer of an interesting moment, when he and Valkyrie work together to stop Baron Mondo, but that beat gets the rug pulled out from under it in the form of a punchline from Cap.

The other main character of Secret Wars 2099 is Alchemax boss, Miguel Stone. He receives the closest thing to a dynamic moment, when he realizes that his father (who we just met an issue earlier) was undermining the Avengers operation. We get a mini-lecture about company cogs, which is the only comment about the role of the corporation in this issue but instead of the realization causing Miguel’s mindset to change, we only see another example of his utter ruthlessness.

The art team of Will Sliney and Antonio Fabela deliver another solid issue. The highlights here include some great full page spreads of The Dweller that show just how massive the creature as part of the Nueva York skyline. I also appreciate the slender build Sliney gives Baron Mordo. Every shirtless character in a comic typically has traps and a six-pack, so it’s refreshing to see someone who doesn’t spend every minute off-panel in the gym. If there’s any critique, it’s that the big final battle didn’t quite meet my action quota. Hulk doesn’t get any solid smashing, Hawkeye and Black Widow play no role in the battle, and Valkyrie hardly gets an assist. Part of this is understandable; it shows just how formidable The Dweller is, but where’s the fun in a puny Hulk?

Once again, I find myself wondering if I’m expecting too much from these comic books. Demanding a touch of Faulkner from a story of spandex superheroes from the future is like trying to squeeze Scorsese out of Sandler. Am I setting the bar so high, that it’s impossible for me to find fulfillment? Or did David and Sliney deliver a story that was “just ok” into a highly-saturated crossover event and comic book marketplace? This corner of Battleworld was never really explored, outside of the halls of Alchemax and the majority of its characters were neither beloved or hated, they certainly weren’t dynamic.  Unfortunately, at this time, I have to say that Secret Wars 2099 failed to achieve its great potential and will likely join the pile of forgettable “Secret Wars” stories.