The Annihilators Might Want A Different Pitchman

I kind of like Ronan and Gladiator calling out the Avengers for their limited sense of scale in Annihilators: Earthfall #2, but I think it would have carried more weight coming from different characters.

If you haven't read the issue, Ronan's trying to beat down Captain America so the Annihilators can get on with their mission and tells him to get lost, he has no place here. Cap responds that this is his planet. Ronan flattens Cap and 3 other Avengers while stating 'Hardly a courtesy you extended to my world during the Kree-Skrull War, Avenger!'

Then Gladiator (who's trying to melt Iron Man with eye beams, go Kallark!) chimes in, asking where the Avengers were during Annihilation or War of Kings. The answer to the first is they were too busy punching each other over stupid legislation. As for the second, um, that was during Dark Reign wasn't it? So they were busy dealing with the incompetence on their part which let Norman Osborn get a hold of everything. Still, those are pretty small potatoes compared to what as going on in space. And the heroes on Earth really don't ever get involved in the big stuff until it shows up on their doorstep. Then they'll get involved, but until then, out of sight, out of mind.

Yet, there are a few holes in the arguments. I'm pretty sure the Avengers got involved in the Kree-Skrull War because those two parties brought their conflict to Earth. I really dig ya, Ronan, cause you like to hit people with a giant hammer, you're totally devoted to your people, even when they don't deserve it, and you've even displayed a romantic side. Still, once you drag other people into your fight by having it in their house, you can't really complain when they come to your house to wreck your stuff.

As for Gladiator, well, I don't recall seeing the Shi'ar anywhere during Annihilation. And Gladiator could have averted War of Kings if he'd popped Vulcan's head like a pimple and put Lilandra back on the throne well beforehand. I distinctly recall he was the one who whipped that Summers brat's butt when Vulcan first entered Shi'ar space looking for revenge, so he was more than capable of it. But noooooo, Kallark just sat around twiddling his thumbs, and look where that got him.

The overall points are good ones, but they'd be stronger if Quasar, or Beta Ray Bill had delivered them. Guys who have been mixed up in the cosmic badness, but don't have quite the checkered history of the other two. Of course, if they'd kept Quasar there, and sent one of the other two with Ikon, he could have probably defused the whole thing in short order. Which makes me wonder if they sent him away on purpose. Ronan was the one who told Wendell to go with Ikon, and he and Gladiator didn't seem shy about kicking the Avengers around. Maybe Ronan just wanted to crack some Earth skulls, and the zealots from the UCT weren't proving satisfying enough.