It did reach the point where it became blatant that editorial was fukking with Hickman's run with some of the nonsensical stuff that would occur, like Thanos in Infinity.
Also, I actually think Cap was supposed to be more involved, his descent to crazed obsession with stopping Stark was intended to be fleshed out better. Remember how after the infinity gem traveled him through space/time to meet old hawkeye, adult franklin richards, kang, etc, he was told he had to stop Stark at all costs, and then he remembered that it was the illuminati that brainwashed him?
That issue ended with him gathering all the Avengers and confronting Tony on some
Hickman was about to blow the roof off the house right there, but Marvel still needed the Avengers 'together' for geriatric Steve to happen and the Axis event. So next thing you know, that cliffhanger completely disappeared and those plot points of him traveling deep into the future was essentially dropped. which made steve's obsession with the illuminati later on a bit ridiculous with the multi-verse at stake.. when really, i believe hickman's point was to drive home that Steve thought that the Illuminati (and Stark in particular) would be the ones destined to destroy the universe, not the Cabal nor the incursions.
They fukked up Hickman's world building completely and undermined anything that garnered fan and critic attention that he tried to do.
Everything from his Fantastic Four up to the end of Secret Wars was supposed to be one big story.
I'm not gonna call no names that you guys may be tired of me whining about, but it's easy to go look at the cover of Secret Warriors number 1 look who's listed as the head writer (and who didn't write a fukking word) and see who it was all to the benefit of.
But honestly, I think Storm & Forge are the best pairing.
