Warning! Spoilers for The Death of Doctor Strange: Avengers #1 ahead!
One of the most widely known movie clichés, especially found in superhero movies, is the villainous giant sky beam that threatens mass destruction, though Iron Man’s latest win flips the cliche on its head. No matter who the movie hero is, whether it by Spider-Man, the Suicide Squad, or even the MCU version of Iron Man, whenever they are faced with a giant sky beam, their mission is to stop it at all costs. However, the Avengers were just faced with their very own sky beam, and Iron Man did everything he could to help the seemingly threatening ray of light complete its objective.
The Avengers isn’t the only film targeted by the comic, but a number of others as well cementing the giant sky beam as a true movie cliché. In The Amazing Spider-Man, the titular hero must stop the Lizard from turning the entire city of New York into human/lizard hybrids and the Lizard plans on carrying out his mission through the use of a giant sky beam. Similarly, in the first Suicide Squad film, the Worst Heroes Ever have to stop Enchantress from some form of CGI mayhem with her sky beam.
In The Death of Doctor Strange: Avengers #1 written by Alex Paknadel with art by Ryan Bodenheim and Rachelle Rosenberg, the Avengers are faced with a multiplied version of a familiar, destructive threat. A small army of Juggernauts are wreaking havoc on a city, with their power tied to a portal leading to another dimension. Iron Man enters the portal while the other Avengers fight the Juggernauts, and he learns that the threat the team is facing isn’t a threat at all. Inside one of the Juggernauts is an interdimensional child who has lost their people and only wants to emit a worldwide signal telling the world their story so as to not be forgotten to time. Iron Man helps the child, and a giant beam blasts into the sky with the telepathic story of the child’s race broadcasted into everyone’s mind.
The latest Avengers story flips the giant sky beam movie cliché by having the hero, in this case Iron Man, be on the side of the giant sky beam instead of against it. In a way, Iron Man just took a shot at himself in this issue in more ways than one. Just like in the first MCU Avengers film, Iron Man went through a strange portal in order to blow up what’s on the other side to stop the incoming invasion. In the film, Iron Man does blow up the space portal being created by the sky beam, playing right into the cliché and saving the day in the process. In his comic adventure, Iron Man goes through the portal and learns that the beam needs to be protected, not destroyed and does what he can to ensure the mission is completed.
From Avengers to Suicide Squad, sky beams are proven to be one of the most deadly threats a villain can impose. Though just as much a part of the cliché, the heroes are always able to take that threatening sky beam down! However, Iron Man just proved that not all sky beams are evil, and some can be used as a message of hope and remembrance rather than simply causing mayhem. Iron Man’s latest win takes a shot at the giant sky beam movie cliché, and proves that sometimes there is more to them than meets the eye.