With the big reveal in this week’s Fear Itself #7.1, I can’t be the only person wondering whether or not the next two FI “epilogues” are going to feature similarly important denouements to events in the main series – and if so, what are they? Speculation and potential spoilers ahead, so be warned.

The next Fear Itself issue to be released is #7.2, the Thor epilogue issue by Matt Fraction and Adam Kubert. It’s not a massive leap to assume that this’ll be the issue that’ll set up the new status quo for that character over the next few months – Yes, he’s “dead,” but that’s particularly meaningless for a character who’s already returned from the dead in the last five years and whose brother and father have both come back to “life” without any difficulty whatsoever in Fraction’s first storyline (You’d think that at least one character would’ve pointed those facts out at the end of Fear Itself, but that might have pointed out how undramatic that particular climax really was). Given that the solicit for January’s issue of Thor actually names Thor as being an active participant, I think it’s a safe bet that we’ll know exactly where Thor really is – Reborn? In Hel, having to journey back to Midgard through some epic adventure? – this time next week.

And then we come to the wild card, Fear Itself #7.3, and Iron Man’s epilogue by Fraction and Sal Larocca. What lies in store for him? I can’t think of anything that’d match either of the earlier two issues’ “They’re not really dead!” reveals, and that’s actually what makes the issue seem the most interesting – Fraction has said multiple times that the issue is the fallout from Tony Stark’s confrontation with Odin earlier in the series, which means we might possibly get some level of payoff for the “sacrifice” of Tony’s sobriety and an explanation as to why Odin would care, but I can’t help but wonder if something else, something much more unexpected, is waiting around the corner. But what? Anyone who’s been paying more attention to Invincible Iron Man than me – I read it in trades – care to offer some suggestions?

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