The Avengers Just Replaced a Founding Member of the Team

Avengers #8 features Storm joining the team while Thor takes a leave of absence.

By Timothy Adams

While one Marvel hero has joined the roster of Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes say goodbye to a member who was there when the team was founded. The Avengers are rebounding after the Blood Hunt event changed the landscape of the Marvel Universe. Doctor Doom is now the Sorcerer Supreme, vampires are no longer effected by sunlight, and Miles Morales is now a permanent creature of the night. With everything in disarray, the Avengers have looked to fill out their roster with a new recruit, who is no stranger to being among Earth's Mightiest Heroes. But what we didn't know was that the addition of a hero would come with someone else stepping away from the team.

*WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Avengers #18. Continue reading at your own risk!

Avengers #18 comes from the creative team  of Jed MacKay, Valerio Schiti, Bryan Valenza, and VC's Cory Petit. The Avengers are trying to come up with a plan to stop Hyperion, who is rocketing towards Earth with the intention of splitting it in half. Hyperion is reeling from having his world wiped from existence in the Heroes Reborn event series, and wants to take his frustrations out on our world. Captain America (Sam Wilson) had just asked Storm of the X-Men to join their team when they got alerted to Hyperion's actions.

Luckily, the Avengers are able to stop Hyperion and come up with a solution that saves not only his life, but the lives of everyone on Earth. Afterwards, Thor and Storm catch up inside the Impossible City, the new floating headquarters of the Avengers. Thor asks Storm if she has given more thought into her invitation to the team, and when she asks Thor for his thoughts on the matter, we learn the God of Thunder has an ulterior motive for wanting Storm to become an Avenger.

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Why Storm replaces Thor on The Avengers

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(Photo:

Storm joins the Avengers while Thor takes a leave of absence

- Marvel Comics)

Thor wants Storm to join the Avengers because he plans on taking a leave of absence. Recent events in Immortal Thor have led the Thunder God to be falsely accused of murder, and it's starting to weigh heavily on him. Thor doesn't want the bad publicity that he's receiving to rub off on the Avengers, and he doesn't want his distractions to put his teammates in danger. 

So in essence, the Avengers are replacing one God of Thunder with another. Storm is an omega-level mutant that can control the weather, putting her on par with Thor as far as power levels go. The Avengers won't be the same without Thor, but at least they can now count an X-Man amongst their ranks. The X-Men's battle with Orchis saw the Avengers entery the fray, and their alliance continues here. They will need all the help they can get, because the next issue of Avengers features a showdown with Doctor Doom.

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