From 2012 to 2013 Marvel launched what I believe was one of their boldest titles ever Avengers Arena. This Battle Royale inspired (also a little Lord of the Flies and a tiny bit Hunger Games) story saw a group of teenage heroes actually be forced to murder each other. Taking a page right out of Battle Royale the first two deaths happen very early on, one by accident, the other death by the series Antagonist Arcade. It’s brutal, hellish and unforgiving; the series was brilliant, taking two of my favorite Runaway’s characters Nico and Chase and putting them back on the main stage.
Nico and Chase are back with a few of their fellow survivors Cullen Bloodstone, Anachronism, Cammi, Death Locket and Hazmat. These kids start out in search of the missing Cullen but end up going after Arcade, seeking much deserved revenge.
After the events of Murder world Arcade released all the footage and uploaded it onto YouTube. Now the whole world knows what the kids did and what they where put through. Most stay silent about it, Cullen goes off the grid and posts a few videos of his own destroying Arcades mansion, while Chase uses his new found celebrity status to gain fame and fortune. Nico helps reunite a few of the survivors to seek out Cullen, still suffering from what he did in Murderworld. It’s implied that one of the heroes has shifted alignment to the villain team and it may not be who we expect. The series is already a few issues in and there has been some nice cameos from Baron Zemo, Constrictor and even one time Runaway’s villain Excavator (he has a magic shovel – so think evil Shoveler).
Our main cast is as follows –
| Character | Real Name | Basic Info |
| Anachronism | Aiden | Anachronism inherited the body of an immortal Celtic warlord and fights with a big axe. Anachronism has half his mind shared with the previous inheritor of the body who constantly seeks violence. Anachronism fights to keep control of his body. |
| Bloodstone | Cullen Bloodstone | Due to the Bloodstone ring, Cullen possesses superhuman abilities similar to those of his father Ulysses Bloodstone and his sister Elsa Bloodstone. He is superhumanly strong and durable, has greater than normal stamina, agility, and reflexes. Cullen is also able to rapidly regenerate from any damage he has sustained.The Bloodstone ring also prevents him from transforming into the form of a creature from another dimension called a Glaratrox (a creature that can engulf the soul of its host and feed on the host’s anger and fear to become more powerful).Cullen has shown a high degree of marksmanship with firearms. |
| Cammi | Camille Benally | Cammi is highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat, gymnastics, survival instincts, and piloting. She wears a spacesuit, and uses a jetpack, a plasma pistol, and anti-personnel mines. |
| Chase | Chase Stein | Chase is amred with a special set of weapons know as the Fistigons that produce and let him control flames. |
| Death Locket | Rebecca Ryker | The full extent of her powers has not been disclosed but standard powers deisplayed by DethLockes include – Cybernetic enhancements granting superhuman speed, strength, durability and reflexesAbility to repair bodily damageAbility to track multiple objects (Interesting note that the Deathlocke program is now in marvels agents of shield, only very different) |
| Hazmat | Jennifer Takeda | Originally Hazmat constantly emits harmful radiation from her body. As a result, she is forced to wear a protective suit at all times when around others. The suit is now longer necessary as she has full control over her powers. |
| Nico | Nico Minoru | She is a powerful spell caster, and all she needs to do is say any word and it creates a spell, the catch is she cant use the same word twice. Since Arena she has gained a massive power up and is a serious contender for most powerful in the series. |
Categories: Comics/Graphic Novels
NERDGEIST 
