Warning: Spoilers for The Avengers #7!The phrase “whatever it takes” means something to the Avengers, but it just got twisted in the worst way and out of their favor. Readers will remember that phrase as the rallying sentiment echoed in Avengers: Endgame, one that served as a means to inspire the team to defeat Thanos for good. Before joining hands for the final battle, leader Captain America tells everyone, “We are going to win. Whatever it takes.”
That same phrase gets a callback in The Avengers #7 by Jed MacKay, C.F. Villa, Federico Blee, VC’s Cory Petit, and Tom Brevoort. However, rather than making for another rousing march toward victory for the Avengers, it plunges them into their deaths.
This use of the “whatever it takes” line not only puts a twist on the classic Endgame moment, but proves to be a dark twist on inspirational hero speeches as well.
Captain Marvel Rallies The Avengers – And They Still Fail
The Avengers are placed into a deep sleep by Nightmare and, thus, are forced to endure a harrowing shared experience that feels all too real. After losing their comrade Vision, morale could not be lower across the team, but leader Captain Marvel (who, for unexplained reasons, is wearing her old Ms. Marvel outfit) must rally the troops. She inspires them to believe that all they can do now is avenge the Earth, even dropping the “whatever it takes” line. But unlike inspirational speeches in movies like the MCU, it’s just words. Words aren’t enough to prevent the Avengers from failing their final mission, as everyone is killed almost instantly after.
A Dark Twist on the Stereotypical Inspiring Speech
Readers have seen such rousing speeches often throughout pop culture, including in comics, movies, and video games. This moment puts a spin on the classic trope of a hero who has their back against the wall until hearing or saying a big speech to inspire them. It happens in sports movies all the time when the main team is not anywhere close to winning until after the coach’s big speech. The Avengers #7 goes to show that inspiring speeches don’t always lead to a big win like in the movies, especially in a no-win scenario like the Avengers are facing.
Perhaps that’s another struggle for the team. The fact that this nightmare is designed for the Avengers to face an absolute no-win scenario means they were all doomed from the start. There was no chance they were ever going to defeat the threat that this nightmare is composed of and thus never had a chance, with or without a climactic battle speech. This is especially a dreary thought considering how the Avengers have the Twilight Court waiting for them when they wake up, the same force of evil that left Kang the Conqueror for dead not too long ago. Hopefully, this nightmare won’t prove to be foreshadowing for the Avengers.
