In what should come as no surprise to anyone who saw the Thunderbolts* movie, Marvel Comics has revealed next month’s relaunch of the comic, originally titled New Thunderbolts*, is in fact a new volume of The New Avengers. Check out of the new version of Stephen Segovia‘s cover for the first issue of the series, written by Sam Humphries with art by Ton Lima, after the jump.
Carnage. The Hulk. Namor. Clea. Wolverine. Five of the most dangerous loners and antiheroes in the Marvel Universe. Nothing could make them work together… but Bucky Barnes and the Black Widow are going to give it a shot. Demented duplicates of the Illuminati are threatening the world, and if they figure out how to work together, they’ll be as unstoppable as the originals. Bucky and Natasha need allies who will do anything to take the duplicates out – but wrangling a team of killers and monsters presents its own dangers. Welcome to the New [Avengers] – hope you survive the experience!
Spoilers for those who haven’t seen the Thunderbolts* movie yet: it’s apparent Marvel Comics are following the film, where the lead cast are only known informally known as the Thunderbolts until the ending, and the title, mysterious asterisk and all, gives way during the end credits to reveal the name The New Avengers. Earlier this week, Marvel Studios went open with the spoiler, revealing rebranded posters and more.
Humphries pays homage to WandaVision and Agatha All Along too while he’s at it in the press release, stating, “Plot twist, it’s been New Avengers all along! I promised surprises, and this is the first of many. It’s a thrill and an honor to continue the grand New Avengers tradition of team dynamics that are as explosive as the threats. And this era has two combustible teams: the New Avengers and the Killuminati!” His run will mark the first New Avengers series since Al Ewing et al.’s 2015-17 run, and the fifth volume overall.
Issue #1 will be released on June 11 with a host of variant covers, including one by Thunderbolts co-creator Mark Bagley, and a homage to David Finch‘s original New Avengers #1 cover by Whilce Portacio. The latest Thunderbolts comic, Thunderbolts: Doomstrike (also starring Bucky), will conclude in the meantime with issue #5 on May 21.
Snore. More of the same tedious “tail wagging the dog” cycle Marvel has been churning out for years now to little success.
At least it was done out of awareness of what everyone was doing, unlike when Marvel Comics clearly didn’t know who Annette Bening was playing in Captain Marvel, and retconned 616 Carol’s mother into being Kree as a result. (Though at least we got Lauri-Ell out of that.)
That Josemaria Casanovas variant cover is freaking me out. I kinda wanna know what’s going on there.