The true payoff in this issue is for Avengers fans as we get the image of Steve Rogers as Captain America flanked by Iron Man and Thor. The mighty triumvirate is reunited finally and they have a world to save. Unfortunately this isn't the climax of the series so the trio is immediately split up and go off on missions to turn the tide against the Serpent and his minions. Which is somewhat deflating. Thor reveals a prophecy that he is destined to stop the Serpent and die in the process. Perhaps this prophecy was discovered in a different issue somewhere because if not it seems very strange that Odin doesn't reference it when trying to stop Thor from siding with Midgard. "My son you are destined to die at the Serpent's hands and I cannot allow this!" would seem to be a more plausible, understandable and less draconian motivation to Odin's actions than "I know better than you, but I can't tell you why, so do as I say or I'll kick your teeth in!" If Thor knows the prophecy then surely Odin would. It just feels like something Fraction added later after figuring it would give a nice added sense of doom and tension but seeing as Thor hasn't been back for very long I would hate to think his death would be considered again. Particularly as we know that death for Marvel gods is a transient thing and we've seen it too recently before. Mainly though this is another set-up issue, the latest pieces are put into place in anticipation of next issue's big throwdown between Thor, Hulk and Thing. As much as I want to see this, there's an anxiety that we will see only glimpses and the meat of the story will play out in tie-ins. I like the idea of Fear Itself and I think some issues have been excellent, but most of those have been in issues like Avengers and the core title often feels like an advertisement for other books. It is an adequate issue with strong pencils but I get a growing feeling that the length of this title is based purely on the amount of stories that can be created in ancillary books. So far the Serpent has risen, the Worthy have attacked, Thor has been imprisoned by Odin, then released very shortly after and Bucky has been killed with little reaction to his death being afforded in this issue (I understand it's a war and the time to grieve will come later). It just doesn't feel like four issues were needed for this so far when the ramifications of each event have been treated with cursory attention. Hopefully things will pick up as we head towards the final showdown.