Warning: Contains spoilers for Savage Avengers #2!
The Avengers are known as the Earth Mightiest Heroes because they are able to tackle the challenges no single hero can handle alone, but there is one place and time where even the lethal Savage Avengers feel outclassed and outmatched: Conan the Barbarian's Hyborian Age. The Savage Avengers are trapped in an era of steel and sorcery, and the harsh environment that forged Conan into an unstoppable force is proving too much to handle.
All-New, All-Different Savage Avengers is the sequel to the critically acclaimed series that brought Conan the Cimmerian into the mainstream Marvel Universe (after the publisher re-acquired the character's rights in 2018), having him interact with many iconic characters in an adventure across space and time to stop the evil Sorcerer Supreme Kulan Gath. After the end of that epic saga, Conan found himself attacked by a Deathlok cyborg, accusing Conan of "crimes against the timestream." During their battle, Conan and a group of nearby heroes and vigilantes were flung into a time portal, landing in Conan's native time, the Hyborian Age, an era of sword and sorcery where life is worth very little, and the heroes will need both strength and wits to survive.
Savage Avengers #2, by David Pepose, Carlos Magno, Esper Grundetjern, and Travis Lanham shows the heroes divided into small groups, trying to understand what is going on. Conan, Dagger, and the new Anti-Venom are caught in the middle of a bloody battle and are easily captured by Zingarian soldiers. Elektra and Cloak have to survive the assault of Devil Dinosaur inside a deadly Gladiator's arena, while the Black Knight and Weapon H land in a den of lawless mercenaries. In the end, the heroes are able to regroup and escape, but not before they have been beaten, captured, or forced to flee.
It looks like this series is trying to establish the Hyborian Age as a place so dangerous that even modern superheroes have a hard time surviving it. The previous Savage Avengers title did almost the opposite, focusing on showing how Conan was so deadly that he had no trouble catching up with modern-day heroes with their fancy powers and high-tech gadgets. This sequel, instead, wants to explain just why Conan is so tough, showing that the environment where he grew up and thrived is so dangerous that the modern heroes are actually struggling to keep up. It's a very interesting premise that flips the classic trope of time travel, and makes it clear that even the most lethal Avengers team has limits.
Despite being forged in iron and blood in the Hyborian Age, Conan also has his share of troubles during this adventure, as the Deathlok cyborg is still in hot pursuit, and he seems completely unstoppable. Considering that this will be Conan's last adventure at Marvel before the publisher loses the rights to the character, it will be very intriguing to see how the story will develop. Conan will have to find a way to best his technologically superior opponent, and in the process he will perhaps lead this ragtag band of heroes to truly earn the title of Avengers.