Warning! Spoilers ahead for Heroes Reborn #7
Marvel's Heroes Reborn missed its chance to be bigger than past events involving alternate realities. The latest issue of the Avengers event reveals how the world was changed with the Squadron Supreme replacing the Avengers as Earth's Mightiest Heroes, but it's pretty on par with what's come before. As a result, the event now has some fairly underwhelming origins when it could have been something far more unique and brand new being introduced into the Marvel Universe.
Thus far in Heroes Reborn, readers have seen a reality where the Avengers never assembled (resulting in several major changes to the world entirely). Instead of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, the Squadron Supreme of America are the world's premier heroes under the command of President Phil Coulson, who himself serves the demon lord Mephisto. Interestingly enough, Agent Coulson and his master have brainwashed and reprogrammed the SSA as their pawns for quite a while, even before they decided to rewrite reality, as they're both revealed to be the culprits in Heroes Reborn #7, from writer Jason Aaron and artists Aaron Kuder and Ed McGuinness.
However, the way in which this corrupted president changed the world and removed the Avengers from history is underwhelming and fairly predictable. Apparently, Coulson was given a Pandemonium Cube from Mephisto, otherwise known as a Hellahedron. However, it's basically just a red version of a classic Cosmic Cube, which has been Marvel's go-to artifact for rewriting reality and making alterations to heroes' lives. Cosmic Cubes have frequently been used recently. The living cube shards known as Kobik were responsible for the creation of Pleasant Hill in Avengers: Standoff, as well as the subsequent Secret Empire event where Captain America's past was rewritten so that he had always been a secret agent of HYDRA. As a result, having Heroes Reborn being the creation of another Cube feels redundant.
This all seems to be a plot by Mephisto himself who's seeking to grow his numbers and allies with a mysterious council. That being said, it seems as though the demon lord could have done any number of things established or new to create the reality of Heroes Reborn beyond the use of another Cosmic Cube. For example, why couldn't Mephisto have done something different like embracing a new power to reform the world, or even offer his own soul to create this new reality, risking his own existence should he and Coulson fail to maintain it? Something along those lines would have been far more dynamic and interesting than reusing a recently used concept.
All in all, renaming the Cosmic Cube and making it red just doesn't seem like it's enough for the origins of Heroes Reborn. Now, the event doesn't feel as big as it should due to coming from a fairly known and predictable quantity. Barring any major differences between the standard Cosmic Cube and the Pandemonium Cube (which there doesn't appear to be), it certainly feels like a missed opportunity for the new Avengers event as it soon comes to a close.